23 CFR 230.411 - Guidance for conducting reviews.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

..., implementing rules and regulations regarding sex discrimination are outlined in 41 CFR part 60-20. It is the... exclusive referral, failed to refer minority or female employees. (ii) Discrimination in referral for...

Available processing resources influence encoding-related brain activity before an event

PubMed Central

Galli, Giulia; Gebert, A. Dorothea; Otten, Leun J.

2013-01-01

Effective cognitive functioning not only relies on brain activity elicited by an event, but also on activity that precedes it. This has been demonstrated in a number of cognitive domains, including memory. Here, we show that brain activity that precedes the effective encoding of a word into long-term memory depends on the availability of sufficient processing resources. We recorded electrical brain activity from the scalps of healthy adult men and women while they memorized intermixed visual and auditory words for later recall. Each word was preceded by a cue that indicated the modality of the upcoming word. The degree to which processing resources were available before word onset was manipulated by asking participants to make an easy or difficult perceptual discrimination on the cue. Brain activity before word onset predicted later recall of the word, but only in the easy discrimination condition. These findings indicate that anticipatory influences on long-term memory are limited in capacity and sensitive to the degree to which attention is divided between tasks. Prestimulus activity that affects later encoding can only be engaged when the necessary cognitive resources can be allocated to the encoding process. PMID:23219383

Differential autoshaping to common and distinctive elements of positive and negative discriminative stimuli1

PubMed Central

Wasserman, Edward A.; Anderson, Patricia A.

1974-01-01

The learning by hungry pigeons of a discrimination between two successively presented compound visual stimuli was investigated using a two-key autoshaping procedure. Common and distinctive stimulus elements were simultaneously presented on separate keys and either followed by food delivery, S+, or not, S−. The subjects acquired both between-trial and within-trial discriminations. On S+ trials, pigeons pecked the distinctive stimulus more than the common stimulus; before responding ceased on S− trials, they pecked the common stimulus more than the distinctive one. Mastery of the within-display discrimination during S+ trials preceded mastery of the between-trials discrimination. These findings extend the Jenkins-Sainsbury analysis of discriminations based upon a single distinguishing feature to discriminations in which common and distinctive elements are associated with both the positive and negative discriminative stimuli. The similarity of these findings to other effects found in autoshaping—approach to signals that forecast reinforcement and withdrawal from signals that forecast nonreinforcement—is also discussed. PMID:16811812

Differential autoshaping to common and distinctive elements of positive and negative discriminative stimuli.

PubMed

Wasserman, E A; Anderson, P A

1974-11-01

The learning by hungry pigeons of a discrimination between two successively presented compound visual stimuli was investigated using a two-key autoshaping procedure. Common and distinctive stimulus elements were simultaneously presented on separate keys and either followed by food delivery, S+, or not, S-. The subjects acquired both between-trial and within-trial discriminations. On S+ trials, pigeons pecked the distinctive stimulus more than the common stimulus; before responding ceased on S- trials, they pecked the common stimulus more than the distinctive one. Mastery of the within-display discrimination during S+ trials preceded mastery of the between-trials discrimination. These findings extend the Jenkins-Sainsbury analysis of discriminations based upon a single distinguishing feature to discriminations in which common and distinctive elements are associated with both the positive and negative discriminative stimuli. The similarity of these findings to other effects found in autoshaping-approach to signals that forecast reinforcement and withdrawal from signals that forecast nonreinforcement-is also discussed.

Crossing the Divide: Infants Discriminate Small from Large Numerosities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cordes, Sara; Brannon, Elizabeth M.

2009-01-01

Although young infants have repeatedly demonstrated successful numerosity discrimination across large sets when the number of items in the sets changes twofold (E. M. Brannon, S. Abbott, & D. J. Lutz, 2004; J. N. Wood & E. S. Spelke, 2005; F. Xu & E. S. Spelke, 2000), they consistently fail to discriminate a twofold change in number when one set…

Metabolomic Change Precedes Apple Superficial Scald Symptoms

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Metabolic profiling of 621 metabolites was employed to characterize metabolomic changes associated with ‘Granny Smith’ apple superficial scald development following 1-MCP or DPA treatment. Partial least squares-discriminant analyses were used to link metabolites with scald, postharvest treatments, ...

Sounds activate visual cortex and improve visual discrimination.

PubMed

Feng, Wenfeng; Störmer, Viola S; Martinez, Antigona; McDonald, John J; Hillyard, Steven A

2014-07-16

A recent study in humans (McDonald et al., 2013) found that peripheral, task-irrelevant sounds activated contralateral visual cortex automatically as revealed by an auditory-evoked contralateral occipital positivity (ACOP) recorded from the scalp. The present study investigated the functional significance of this cross-modal activation of visual cortex, in particular whether the sound-evoked ACOP is predictive of improved perceptual processing of a subsequent visual target. A trial-by-trial analysis showed that the ACOP amplitude was markedly larger preceding correct than incorrect pattern discriminations of visual targets that were colocalized with the preceding sound. Dipole modeling of the scalp topography of the ACOP localized its neural generators to the ventrolateral extrastriate visual cortex. These results provide direct evidence that the cross-modal activation of contralateral visual cortex by a spatially nonpredictive but salient sound facilitates the discriminative processing of a subsequent visual target event at the location of the sound. Recordings of event-related potentials to the targets support the hypothesis that the ACOP is a neural consequence of the automatic orienting of visual attention to the location of the sound. Copyright © 2014 the authors 0270-6474/14/349817-08$15.00/0.

Stable Individual Differences in Number Discrimination in Infancy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Libertus, Melissa E.; Brannon, Elizabeth M.

2010-01-01

Previous studies have shown that as a group 6-month-old infants successfully discriminate numerical changes when the values differ by at least a 1:2 ratio but fail at a 2:3 ratio (e.g. 8 vs. 16 but not 8 vs. 12). However, no studies have yet examined individual differences in number discrimination in infancy. Using a novel numerical change…

Language discrimination without language: Experiments on tamarin monkeys

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tincoff, Ruth; Hauser, Marc; Spaepen, Geertrui; Tsao, Fritz; Mehler, Jacques

2002-05-01

Human newborns can discriminate spoken languages differing on prosodic characteristics such as the timing of rhythmic units [T. Nazzi et al., JEP:HPP 24, 756-766 (1998)]. Cotton-top tamarins have also demonstrated a similar ability to discriminate a morae- (Japanese) vs a stress-timed (Dutch) language [F. Ramus et al., Science 288, 349-351 (2000)]. The finding that tamarins succeed in this task when either natural or synthesized utterances are played in a forward direction, but fail on backward utterances which disrupt the rhythmic cues, suggests that sensitivity to language rhythm may rely on general processes of the primate auditory system. However, the rhythm hypothesis also predicts that tamarins would fail to discriminate languages from the same rhythm class, such as English and Dutch. To assess the robustness of this ability, tamarins were tested on a different-rhythm-class distinction, Polish vs Japanese, and a new same-rhythm-class distinction, English vs Dutch. The stimuli were natural forward utterances produced by multiple speakers. As predicted by the rhythm hypothesis, tamarins discriminated between Polish and Japanese, but not English and Dutch. These findings strengthen the claim that discriminating the rhythmic cues of language does not require mechanisms specialized for human speech. [Work supported by NSF.

Age Discrimination--Notice--Filing Notice of Intent to Sue Within 180 Days After the Alleged Violation Is a Jurisdictional Prerequisite to an Action Under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act. Hiscott v. General Elec. Co., 521 F. 2d 632 (6th Cir. 1975)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stiltner, L. Del

1976-01-01

The Hiscott decision indicates that the court will require notice to meet specific standards before an individual's right to maintain a civil action under the ADEA becomes operative. It also suggests that strict compliance with the 180-day notice provision will continue to be a condition precedent to suit. (Author/LBH)

Fighting for Scholarships in Oklahoma.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Roach, Ronald

1999-01-01

Fearing a federal court in Oklahoma might end a state-financed merit-scholarship program targeted by a discrimination lawsuit, black legislators passed a bill making the program race and gender neutral. State regents are criticized for failing to develop effective policy to remedy past discrimination. (MSE)

Workplace Victimization and Discrimination in China: A Nationwide Survey.

PubMed

Zhang, Huiping

2017-09-01

Workplace victimization and discrimination have been intensively studied in the West, especially on the antecedents and consequences of this phenomenon. Surprisingly, little is known about the incidence and associated health problems of workplace victimization and discrimination in contemporary China. Using a representative nationwide sample of 1,138 Chinese employees conducted in 2015, this study attempted to estimate the prevalence, risk factors, and associated consequences of workplace victimization and discrimination in China. It is found that the prevalence rate of preceding 5-year workplace discrimination and victimization was 33% and 12.9%, respectively. Male employees who perceived higher work gains were less likely to experience workplace victimization and those who had higher career efficacy and unemployment anxiety were more likely to experience job discrimination or victimization. Female employees who received tertiary education were less likely to experience job discrimination and being married tended not to experience workplace victimization. Perceived job discrimination had negative impact on male employees' job satisfaction as well as on female employees' happiness. The implications of these findings are finally discussed in the Chinese context.

The Yearbook of Education Law, 2001.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Russo, Charles J., Ed.

This yearbook presents legal precedents for a broad spectrum of education-related issues. Drawing on 25 experts' research in education and law, the book opens with legalities concerning school employees. It examines discrimination, constitutional rights, due process, dismissal, nonrenewal, demotion, and discipline; duty; involuntary leaves;…

Confidentiality and Public Policy Regarding Children with HIV Infection.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Harvey, David C.

1994-01-01

Addresses the relationship between law and policy, examining significant gains in establishing legal precedents for protecting the educational rights of children with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection in confronting HIV-related discrimination. The article looks at legal principles of confidentiality, disclosure, negligence and potential…

Cultural Contexts of Exclusion: Women College Band Directors

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gould, Elizabeth S.

2003-01-01

Despite gender affirmative employment practices, women constitute little more than 5% of all U.S. college band directors. Researchers have investigated this situation in terms of historical precedent, traditional socialization, discrimination, segregation, professional identity, and lack of role models. They have not, however, addressed the…

Capturing the state transitions of seizure-like events using Hidden Markov models.

PubMed

Guirgis, Mirna; Serletis, Demitre; Carlen, Peter L; Bardakjian, Berj L

2011-01-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate the number of states present in the progression of a seizure-like event (SLE). Of particular interest is to determine if there are more than two clearly defined states, as this would suggest that there is a distinct state preceding an SLE. Whole-intact hippocampus from C57/BL mice was used to model epileptiform activity induced by the perfusion of a low Mg(2+)/high K(+) solution while extracellular field potentials were recorded from CA3 pyramidal neurons. Hidden Markov models (HMM) were used to model the state transitions of the recorded SLEs by incorporating various features of the Hilbert transform into the training algorithm; specifically, 2- and 3-state HMMs were explored. Although the 2-state model was able to distinguish between SLE and nonSLE behavior, it provided no improvements compared to visual inspection alone. However, the 3-state model was able to capture two distinct nonSLE states that visual inspection failed to discriminate. Moreover, by developing an HMM based system a priori knowledge of the state transitions was not required making this an ideal platform for seizure prediction algorithms.

22 CFR 229.115 - Assurance required.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... Foreign Relations AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT NONDISCRIMINATION ON THE BASIS OF SEX IN EDUCATION... fails to commit itself to take whatever remedial action is necessary in accordance with § 229.110(a) to eliminate existing discrimination on the basis of sex or to eliminate the effects of past discrimination...

22 CFR 229.115 - Assurance required.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... Foreign Relations AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT NONDISCRIMINATION ON THE BASIS OF SEX IN EDUCATION... fails to commit itself to take whatever remedial action is necessary in accordance with § 229.110(a) to eliminate existing discrimination on the basis of sex or to eliminate the effects of past discrimination...

22 CFR 229.115 - Assurance required.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... Foreign Relations AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT NONDISCRIMINATION ON THE BASIS OF SEX IN EDUCATION... fails to commit itself to take whatever remedial action is necessary in accordance with § 229.110(a) to eliminate existing discrimination on the basis of sex or to eliminate the effects of past discrimination...

22 CFR 229.115 - Assurance required.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... Foreign Relations AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT NONDISCRIMINATION ON THE BASIS OF SEX IN EDUCATION... fails to commit itself to take whatever remedial action is necessary in accordance with § 229.110(a) to eliminate existing discrimination on the basis of sex or to eliminate the effects of past discrimination...

22 CFR 229.115 - Assurance required.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... Foreign Relations AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT NONDISCRIMINATION ON THE BASIS OF SEX IN EDUCATION... fails to commit itself to take whatever remedial action is necessary in accordance with § 229.110(a) to eliminate existing discrimination on the basis of sex or to eliminate the effects of past discrimination...

13 CFR 113.3 - Discrimination prohibited.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

..., because of race, color, religion, sex, handicap, or national origin of a person, or fail or refuse to... not operated for profit; fail or refuse, because of race, color, religion, sex or national origin of a... compensation and changes in compensation; (4) Job assignments, job classifications, organizational structures...

13 CFR 113.3 - Discrimination prohibited.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

..., because of race, color, religion, sex, handicap, or national origin of a person, or fail or refuse to... not operated for profit; fail or refuse, because of race, color, religion, sex or national origin of a... compensation and changes in compensation; (4) Job assignments, job classifications, organizational structures...

13 CFR 113.3 - Discrimination prohibited.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

..., because of race, color, religion, sex, handicap, or national origin of a person, or fail or refuse to... not operated for profit; fail or refuse, because of race, color, religion, sex or national origin of a... compensation and changes in compensation; (4) Job assignments, job classifications, organizational structures...

13 CFR 113.3 - Discrimination prohibited.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

..., because of race, color, religion, sex, handicap, or national origin of a person, or fail or refuse to... not operated for profit; fail or refuse, because of race, color, religion, sex or national origin of a... compensation and changes in compensation; (4) Job assignments, job classifications, organizational structures...

Within-trial contrast: when you see it and when you don't.

PubMed

Zentall, Thomas R

2008-02-01

Within-trial contrast occurs when a discriminative stimulus that is preceded by a relatively aversive event is preferred over another that is preceded by a less aversive event. Recent failures to replicate (Arantes & Grace, 2008; Vasconcelos, Urcuioli, & Lionello-DeNolf, 2007) may allow us to identify factors that may be responsible. In the case of Vasconcelos et al., it is likely that insufficient training was provided (often 35-65 sessions are required). In the case of Arantes and Grace (Experiment 2), these pigeons had been involved in prior experiments involving lean schedules of reinforcement, and we find that prior experience its occurrence. with lean (relatively aversive) schedules appears to reduce the presumed aversiveness of the many-peck requirement, thus obviating the contrast effect. Finally, in the case of Vasconcelos and Urcuioli (2008), although the contrast effect with a simultaneous discrimination was not reliable, it was not reliably smaller than with a successive discrimination that did show a reliable effect, and the contrast effect was also similar in magnitude to a reliable effect reported by Kacelnik and Marsh (2002). Thus, although there have been several failures to replicate the original effects reported by Clement, Feltus, Kaiser and Zentall (2000), insufficient training, prior history with lean schedules of reinforcement, and low statistical power may have been responsible for those failures.

How Equal is "Equity"?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Segal, David R.

1981-01-01

Criticizes the preceding article by Michael Useem, which holds that compulsory military service in the U.S. has discriminated against the lower classes. Argues that the draft was more equitable than the current volunteer system, and that military service has been an important mobility channel for disadvantaged people. (Author/GC)

49 CFR 25.115 - Assurance required.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... Transportation Office of the Secretary of Transportation NONDISCRIMINATION ON THE BASIS OF SEX IN EDUCATION... fails to commit itself to take whatever remedial action is necessary in accordance with § 25.110(a) to eliminate existing discrimination on the basis of sex or to eliminate the effects of past discrimination...

10 CFR 1042.115 - Assurance required.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY (GENERAL PROVISIONS) NONDISCRIMINATION ON THE BASIS OF SEX IN EDUCATION PROGRAMS OR... fails to commit itself to take whatever remedial action is necessary in accordance with § 1042.110(a) to eliminate existing discrimination on the basis of sex or to eliminate the effects of past discrimination...

10 CFR 1042.115 - Assurance required.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY (GENERAL PROVISIONS) NONDISCRIMINATION ON THE BASIS OF SEX IN EDUCATION PROGRAMS OR... fails to commit itself to take whatever remedial action is necessary in accordance with § 1042.110(a) to eliminate existing discrimination on the basis of sex or to eliminate the effects of past discrimination...

49 CFR 25.115 - Assurance required.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... Transportation Office of the Secretary of Transportation NONDISCRIMINATION ON THE BASIS OF SEX IN EDUCATION... fails to commit itself to take whatever remedial action is necessary in accordance with § 25.110(a) to eliminate existing discrimination on the basis of sex or to eliminate the effects of past discrimination...

49 CFR 25.115 - Assurance required.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... Transportation Office of the Secretary of Transportation NONDISCRIMINATION ON THE BASIS OF SEX IN EDUCATION... fails to commit itself to take whatever remedial action is necessary in accordance with § 25.110(a) to eliminate existing discrimination on the basis of sex or to eliminate the effects of past discrimination...

49 CFR 25.115 - Assurance required.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... Transportation Office of the Secretary of Transportation NONDISCRIMINATION ON THE BASIS OF SEX IN EDUCATION... fails to commit itself to take whatever remedial action is necessary in accordance with § 25.110(a) to eliminate existing discrimination on the basis of sex or to eliminate the effects of past discrimination...

22 CFR 146.115 - Assurance required.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... Foreign Relations DEPARTMENT OF STATE CIVIL RIGHTS NONDISCRIMINATION ON THE BASIS OF SEX IN EDUCATION... fails to commit itself to take whatever remedial action is necessary in accordance with § 146.110(a) to eliminate existing discrimination on the basis of sex or to eliminate the effects of past discrimination...

10 CFR 1042.115 - Assurance required.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY (GENERAL PROVISIONS) NONDISCRIMINATION ON THE BASIS OF SEX IN EDUCATION PROGRAMS OR... fails to commit itself to take whatever remedial action is necessary in accordance with § 1042.110(a) to eliminate existing discrimination on the basis of sex or to eliminate the effects of past discrimination...

10 CFR 1042.115 - Assurance required.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY (GENERAL PROVISIONS) NONDISCRIMINATION ON THE BASIS OF SEX IN EDUCATION PROGRAMS OR... fails to commit itself to take whatever remedial action is necessary in accordance with § 1042.110(a) to eliminate existing discrimination on the basis of sex or to eliminate the effects of past discrimination...

22 CFR 146.115 - Assurance required.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... Foreign Relations DEPARTMENT OF STATE CIVIL RIGHTS NONDISCRIMINATION ON THE BASIS OF SEX IN EDUCATION... fails to commit itself to take whatever remedial action is necessary in accordance with § 146.110(a) to eliminate existing discrimination on the basis of sex or to eliminate the effects of past discrimination...

22 CFR 146.115 - Assurance required.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... Foreign Relations DEPARTMENT OF STATE CIVIL RIGHTS NONDISCRIMINATION ON THE BASIS OF SEX IN EDUCATION... fails to commit itself to take whatever remedial action is necessary in accordance with § 146.110(a) to eliminate existing discrimination on the basis of sex or to eliminate the effects of past discrimination...

10 CFR 1042.115 - Assurance required.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY (GENERAL PROVISIONS) NONDISCRIMINATION ON THE BASIS OF SEX IN EDUCATION PROGRAMS OR... fails to commit itself to take whatever remedial action is necessary in accordance with § 1042.110(a) to eliminate existing discrimination on the basis of sex or to eliminate the effects of past discrimination...

49 CFR 25.115 - Assurance required.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... Transportation Office of the Secretary of Transportation NONDISCRIMINATION ON THE BASIS OF SEX IN EDUCATION... fails to commit itself to take whatever remedial action is necessary in accordance with § 25.110(a) to eliminate existing discrimination on the basis of sex or to eliminate the effects of past discrimination...

22 CFR 146.115 - Assurance required.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... Foreign Relations DEPARTMENT OF STATE CIVIL RIGHTS NONDISCRIMINATION ON THE BASIS OF SEX IN EDUCATION... fails to commit itself to take whatever remedial action is necessary in accordance with § 146.110(a) to eliminate existing discrimination on the basis of sex or to eliminate the effects of past discrimination...

22 CFR 146.115 - Assurance required.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... Foreign Relations DEPARTMENT OF STATE CIVIL RIGHTS NONDISCRIMINATION ON THE BASIS OF SEX IN EDUCATION... fails to commit itself to take whatever remedial action is necessary in accordance with § 146.110(a) to eliminate existing discrimination on the basis of sex or to eliminate the effects of past discrimination...

30 CFR 725.18 - Grant reduction and termination.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

...) Conditions for reduction or termination. (1) If an agency fails to carry out its responsibilities pursuant to... authorized designee may reduce or terminate the grant. (3) If an agency fails to enforce the initial... applicants for employment not be discriminated against because of race, creed, color, sex or national orgin...

30 CFR 725.18 - Grant reduction and termination.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

...) Conditions for reduction or termination. (1) If an agency fails to carry out its responsibilities pursuant to... authorized designee may reduce or terminate the grant. (3) If an agency fails to enforce the initial... applicants for employment not be discriminated against because of race, creed, color, sex or national orgin...

30 CFR 725.18 - Grant reduction and termination.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

...) Conditions for reduction or termination. (1) If an agency fails to carry out its responsibilities pursuant to... authorized designee may reduce or terminate the grant. (3) If an agency fails to enforce the initial... applicants for employment not be discriminated against because of race, creed, color, sex or national orgin...

30 CFR 725.18 - Grant reduction and termination.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

...) Conditions for reduction or termination. (1) If an agency fails to carry out its responsibilities pursuant to... authorized designee may reduce or terminate the grant. (3) If an agency fails to enforce the initial... applicants for employment not be discriminated against because of race, creed, color, sex or national orgin...

30 CFR 725.18 - Grant reduction and termination.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

...) Conditions for reduction or termination. (1) If an agency fails to carry out its responsibilities pursuant to... authorized designee may reduce or terminate the grant. (3) If an agency fails to enforce the initial... applicants for employment not be discriminated against because of race, creed, color, sex or national orgin...

You can't always get what you want: infants understand failed goal-directed actions.

PubMed

Brandone, Amanda C; Wellman, Henry M

2009-01-01

At what age do infants understand that goals exist independently of the actions that result from them? Exploring infants' understanding of failed intentional actions-when the goal of the action is unfulfilled and thus not apparent in the actor's movements-is a critical step in answering this question. Using a visual habituation paradigm, we assessed when infants understand that a failed intentional action is goal directed and whether an understanding of successful intentional actions (actions that do overtly attain their goals) precedes an understanding of failed intentional actions. Results demonstrated that 10- and 12-month-olds recognized the goal directedness of both successful and failed reaching actions. Eight-month-olds also recognized the goal directedness of successful actions, but not of unsuccessful attempts. Thus, by the end of the 1st year of life, infants possess an impressive understanding of intentional action, and an understanding of failed intentional actions follows an earlier understanding of successful ones.

Separation of Church and State? Remarks on "Rosenberger v. University of Virginia".

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Morris, Arval A.

1996-01-01

"Rosenberger" revises Establishment Clause jurisprudence in several aspects: (1) ends "Lemon versus Kurtzman" as a main precedent; (2) alters First Amendment law by holding that government efforts to treat religious speech differently amounts to discrimination against people based on their "viewpoint"; and (3)…

Does Operational Diagnosis of Schizophrenia Significantly Impact Intellectual Deficits in Psychotic Disorders?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kitamura, H.; Shioiri, T.; Itoh, M.; Sato, Y.; Shichiri, K.; Someya, T.

2007-01-01

Background: Evidence suggests that, as a group, patients with schizophrenia have intellectual deficits that may precede the manifestation of psychotic symptoms; however, how successfully intelligence tests are able to discriminate schizophrenia from other psychotic disorders has yet to be investigated in detail. Methods: Using Wechsler Adult…

Processing of Color Words Activates Color Representations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Richter, Tobias; Zwaan, Rolf A.

2009-01-01

Two experiments were conducted to investigate whether color representations are routinely activated when color words are processed. Congruency effects of colors and color words were observed in both directions. Lexical decisions on color words were faster when preceding colors matched the color named by the word. Color-discrimination responses…

The Effectiveness of a Patient Communication Course.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Marsden, Harue J.

2000-01-01

Reports data from three consecutive classes of first- year optometry students at the Southern California College of Optometry, who were tested preceding and following completion of a patient communication course. Findings indicated that students improved their ability to respond to patients and were better able to discriminate among various levels…

Unambiguous discrimination between linearly dependent equidistant states with multiple copies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Wen-Hai; Ren, Gang

2018-07-01

Linearly independent quantum states can be unambiguously discriminated, but linearly dependent ones cannot. For linearly dependent quantum states, however, if C copies of the single states are available, then they may form linearly independent states, and can be unambiguously discriminated. We consider unambiguous discrimination among N = D + 1 linearly dependent states given that C copies are available and that the single copies span a D-dimensional space with equal inner products. The maximum unambiguous discrimination probability is derived for all C with equal a priori probabilities. For this classification of the linearly dependent equidistant states, our result shows that if C is even then adding a further copy fails to increase the maximum discrimination probability.

45 CFR 83.10 - General obligations.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... not discriminate on the basis of sex, in violation of this part, in the admission of individuals to... fails to take whatever remedial action in accordance with § 83.3(a) that is necessary for such entity to eliminate the effects of any discrimination on the basis of sex in the admission of individuals to its...

45 CFR 83.10 - General obligations.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... not discriminate on the basis of sex, in violation of this part, in the admission of individuals to... fails to take whatever remedial action in accordance with § 83.3(a) that is necessary for such entity to eliminate the effects of any discrimination on the basis of sex in the admission of individuals to its...

45 CFR 83.10 - General obligations.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... not discriminate on the basis of sex, in violation of this part, in the admission of individuals to... fails to take whatever remedial action in accordance with § 83.3(a) that is necessary for such entity to eliminate the effects of any discrimination on the basis of sex in the admission of individuals to its...

45 CFR 83.10 - General obligations.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... not discriminate on the basis of sex, in violation of this part, in the admission of individuals to... fails to take whatever remedial action in accordance with § 83.3(a) that is necessary for such entity to eliminate the effects of any discrimination on the basis of sex in the admission of individuals to its...

45 CFR 83.10 - General obligations.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... not discriminate on the basis of sex, in violation of this part, in the admission of individuals to... fails to take whatever remedial action in accordance with § 83.3(a) that is necessary for such entity to eliminate the effects of any discrimination on the basis of sex in the admission of individuals to its...

Is inhibitory control involved in discriminating pseudowords that contain the reversible letters b and d?

PubMed

Brault Foisy, Lorie-Marlène; Ahr, Emmanuel; Masson, Steve; Houdé, Olivier; Borst, Grégoire

2017-10-01

Children tend to confuse reversible letters such as b and d when they start learning to read. According to some authors, mirror errors are a consequence of the mirror generalization (MG) process that allows one to recognize objects independently of their left-right orientation. Although MG is advantageous for the visual recognition of objects, it is detrimental for the visual recognition of reversible letters. Previous studies comparing novice and expert readers demonstrated that MG must be inhibited to discriminate reversible single letters. In this study, we investigated whether MG must also be inhibited by novice readers to discriminate between two pseudowords containing reversible letters. Readable pseudowords, rather than words, were used to mimic early non-automatic stages of reading when reading is achieved by decoding words through grapheme-phoneme pairing and combination. We designed a negative priming paradigm in which school-aged children (10-year-olds) were asked to judge whether two pseudowords were identical on the prime and whether two animals were identical on the probe. Children required more time to determine that two animals were mirror images of each other when preceded by pseudowords containing the reversible letter b or d than when preceded by different pseudowords containing the control letter f or t (Experiment 1) or by different pseudowords that differed only by the target letter f or k (Experiment 2). These results suggest that MG must be inhibited to discriminate between pseudowords containing reversible letters, generalizing the findings regarding single letters to a context more representative of the early stages of reading. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Corrections--Past and Present.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Carlson, Norman A.

Today we honor Charlie Lankford, a former prison inmate, who has turned his back on crime and is now involved in rehabilitation efforts in Fairfax County. Sadly, Charlie is the exception; our efforts toward rehabilitation have generally failed. In recent years, emphasis on rehabilitation and diagnosis has taken precedence over protecting society,…

A public utility model for managing public land recreation enterprises.

Treesearch

Tom Quinn

2002-01-01

Through review of relevant economic principles and judicial precedent, a case is made that public-land recreation enterprises are analogous to traditionally recognized public utilities. Given the historical concern over the societal value of recreation and associated pricing issues, public-land management policies failing to acknowledge these utility-like...

Coping with the 10th anniversary of 9/11: Muslim Americans' sadness, fear, and anger.

PubMed

Rodriguez Mosquera, Patricia M; Khan, Tasmiha; Selya, Arielle

2013-01-01

The events of 9/11 marked an increase in prejudice, discrimination, and other forms of unfair treatment toward Muslim Americans. We present a study that examined the emotions of Muslim Americans in the days preceding the ten-year 9/11 anniversary. We measured the antecedents (concerns) and consequences (coping) of sadness, fear, and anger. The 9/11 anniversary precipitated intense concerns with loss and discrimination, and intense feelings of sadness, fear, and anger. We measured three coping responses: rumination, avoidance of public places, and religious coping. Participants engaged in all three coping responses, with seeking solace in one's religion being the most frequent response. Moreover, emotions mediated the relationship between concerns and coping responses. Sadness accounted for the association between concern with loss and rumination. Fear explained the association between concern with discrimination and avoidance. Anger accounted for the association between concern with discrimination and religious coping.

Multisensory Cues Capture Spatial Attention Regardless of Perceptual Load

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Santangelo, Valerio; Spence, Charles

2007-01-01

We compared the ability of auditory, visual, and audiovisual (bimodal) exogenous cues to capture visuo-spatial attention under conditions of no load versus high perceptual load. Participants had to discriminate the elevation (up vs. down) of visual targets preceded by either unimodal or bimodal cues under conditions of high perceptual load (in…

The United Church of Christ: Defending Access to Broadcasting.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brill, Bettye Wright

The 20-year conflict of the United Church of Christ (UCC) with the broadcast industry concerning discrimination is described in this report, which first details in part how UCC's challenge to the license renewal of station WLBT-TV in Jackson, Mississippi, established important legal precedents. It then describes UCC's groundbreaking work in…

The Development of Age-Discrimination Ability and Stereotyping of the Elderly.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Montepare, Joann M.; McArthur, Leslie Z.

It has traditionally been assumed that children's ability to label individuals as older precedes their tendency to associate particular behavioral competencies with individuals who vary in age. To systematically test this assumption, 64 preschool children were presented with 9 pairs of stimulus faces reflecting different ages. The children were…

Moderation effects of perfectionism and discrimination on interpersonal factors and suicide ideation.

PubMed

Wang, Kenneth T; Wong, Y Joel; Fu, Chu-Chun

2013-07-01

This study examined the moderating effects of 3 risk factors-perfectionistic personal discrepancy, perfectionistic family discrepancy, and discrimination-on the associations between interpersonal risk factors (i.e., perceived burdensomeness and thwarted belongingness) and suicide ideation in a sample of 466 Asian international students studying in the United States. We focused specifically on perceived discrimination and maladaptive perfectionism as moderating risk factors to Joiner's (2005) interpersonal theory of suicidal behavior. We incorporated both personal and family discrepancy as indicators of maladaptive perfectionism. Personal discrepancy refers to the tendency of individuals to perceive that they failed to meet their own standards, whereas family discrepancy refers to individuals' tendency to perceive that they failed to meet their families' standards. Results highlight the significance of studying this overlooked population in the suicide ideation literature. Maladaptive perfectionism (i.e., personal and family discrepancy) as well as discrimination were found to be positively associated with suicide ideation. Moreover, family discrepancy and perceived discrimination were found to intensify the associations between interpersonal risk factors (i.e., perceived burdensomeness and thwarted belongingness) and suicide ideation. These findings underscore the importance of considering interpersonal factors in addressing suicidal risks with populations from collectivistic cultures. Research and clinical implications are also addressed. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved.

Use of NMR spectroscopy and magnetic resonance imaging for discriminating Juglans nigra L. seeds

Treesearch

John A. Vozzo; J.M. Halloin; T.G. Cooper; E.J. Potechen

1996-01-01

Black walnut (JuglamnigraL.) seeds are large and require stratification for germination. However, many seeds fail to germinate following stratification. Radiography can be used to select empty seeds, but cannot determine which full seeds will germinate. The objective of this study was to determine if any discrimination could bc achieved through use...

24 CFR 100.120 - Discrimination in the making of loans and in the provision of other financial assistance.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... which is or is to be secured by a dwelling, because of race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial..., religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or national origin. (2) Providing, failing to provide, or... rate or otherwise discriminates in their availability because of race, color, religion, sex, handicap...

24 CFR 100.120 - Discrimination in the making of loans and in the provision of other financial assistance.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... which is or is to be secured by a dwelling, because of race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial..., religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or national origin. (2) Providing, failing to provide, or... rate or otherwise discriminates in their availability because of race, color, religion, sex, handicap...

Motility precedes egress of malaria parasites from oocysts

PubMed Central

Klug, Dennis; Frischknecht, Friedrich

2017-01-01

Malaria is transmitted when an infected Anopheles mosquito deposits Plasmodium sporozoites in the skin during a bite. Sporozoites are formed within oocysts at the mosquito midgut wall and are released into the hemolymph, from where they invade the salivary glands and are subsequently transmitted to the vertebrate host. We found that a thrombospondin-repeat containing sporozoite-specific protein named thrombospondin-releated protein 1 (TRP1) is important for oocyst egress and salivary gland invasion, and hence for the transmission of malaria. We imaged the release of sporozoites from oocysts in situ, which was preceded by active motility. Parasites lacking TRP1 failed to migrate within oocysts and did not egress, suggesting that TRP1 is a vital component of the events that precede intra-oocyst motility and subsequently sporozoite egress and salivary gland invasion. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.19157.001 PMID:28115054

34 CFR 682.700 - Purpose and scope.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... organization fails to meet the definition of “eligible lender” in section 435(d)(1) of the Act or the...(d)(5) of the Act; or (ii) To a determination that an organization fails to meet the standards in... of 1972 (relating to sex discrimination), which is governed by 34 CFR part 106. (c) This subpart does...

34 CFR 682.700 - Purpose and scope.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... organization fails to meet the definition of “eligible lender” in section 435(d)(1) of the Act or the...(d)(5) of the Act; or (ii) To a determination that an organization fails to meet the standards in... of 1972 (relating to sex discrimination), which is governed by 34 CFR part 106. (c) This subpart does...

34 CFR 682.700 - Purpose and scope.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... organization fails to meet the definition of “eligible lender” in section 435(d)(1) of the Act or the...(d)(5) of the Act; or (ii) To a determination that an organization fails to meet the standards in... of 1972 (relating to sex discrimination), which is governed by 34 CFR part 106. (c) This subpart does...

34 CFR 682.700 - Purpose and scope.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... organization fails to meet the definition of “eligible lender” in section 435(d)(1) of the Act or the...(d)(5) of the Act; or (ii) To a determination that an organization fails to meet the standards in... of 1972 (relating to sex discrimination), which is governed by 34 CFR part 106. (c) This subpart does...

Altering the near-miss effect in slot machine gamblers.

PubMed

Dixon, Mark R; Nastally, Becky L; Jackson, James E; Habib, Reza

2009-01-01

This study investigated the potential for recreational gamblers to respond as if certain types of losing slot machine outcomes were actually closer to a win than others (termed the near-miss effect). Exposure to conditional discrimination training and testing disrupted this effect for 10 of the 16 participants. These 10 participants demonstrated high percentages of conditional discrimination testing performance, and the remaining 6 participants failed the discrimination tests. The implications for a verbally based behavioral explanation of gambling are presented.

The Legitimization of the Radical Tradition in France, 1789-1901.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gough, Hugh

1988-01-01

Traces the development of radicalism from the 1789 French Revolution to the present. States that radical philosophy has its roots in rationalism and Enlightenment thought and was linked to positivism during the nineteenth century. Despite the failings of radicalism and the Radical Party, the radical tradition set precedents for current political…

26 CFR 54.4980B-4 - Qualifying events.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... there is a decrease in the hours that a covered employee is required to work or actually works, but only... employment. For example, an absence from work due to disability, a temporary layoff, or any other reason..., such as the preceding month or quarter, and an employee covered under the plan fails to work the...

Optimal Decision Stimuli for Risky Choice Experiments: An Adaptive Approach.

PubMed

Cavagnaro, Daniel R; Gonzalez, Richard; Myung, Jay I; Pitt, Mark A

2013-02-01

Collecting data to discriminate between models of risky choice requires careful selection of decision stimuli. Models of decision making aim to predict decisions across a wide range of possible stimuli, but practical limitations force experimenters to select only a handful of them for actual testing. Some stimuli are more diagnostic between models than others, so the choice of stimuli is critical. This paper provides the theoretical background and a methodological framework for adaptive selection of optimal stimuli for discriminating among models of risky choice. The approach, called Adaptive Design Optimization (ADO), adapts the stimulus in each experimental trial based on the results of the preceding trials. We demonstrate the validity of the approach with simulation studies aiming to discriminate Expected Utility, Weighted Expected Utility, Original Prospect Theory, and Cumulative Prospect Theory models.

Assessing Auditory Discrimination Skill of Malay Children Using Computer-based Method.

PubMed

Ting, H; Yunus, J; Mohd Nordin, M Z

2005-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the auditory discrimination skill of Malay children using computer-based method. Currently, most of the auditory discrimination assessments are conducted manually by Speech-Language Pathologist. These conventional tests are actually general tests of sound discrimination, which do not reflect the client's specific speech sound errors. Thus, we propose computer-based Malay auditory discrimination test to automate the whole process of assessment as well as to customize the test according to the specific speech error sounds of the client. The ability in discriminating voiced and unvoiced Malay speech sounds was studied for the Malay children aged between 7 and 10 years old. The study showed no major difficulty for the children in discriminating the Malay speech sounds except differentiating /g/-/k/ sounds. Averagely the children of 7 years old failed to discriminate /g/-/k/ sounds.

Discriminative stimulus properties of intragastrically administered d-amphetamine and pentobarbital in rhesus monkeys.

PubMed

de la Garza, R; Johanson, C E

1987-12-01

Rhesus monkeys were trained to discriminate intragastrically administered d-amphetamine (AMPH) or pentobarbital (PENTO) from saline using a signaled shock-avoidance trail procedure. All monkeys maintained criterion levels (greater than 90% drug-appropriate responding) throughout the duration of the study during training sessions. In the AMPH experiment, the anorectics diethylpropion, mazindol, phendimetrazine, phenmetrazine and phentermine completely substituted for the training dose of AMPH. The atypical antidepressant bupropion and the psychomotor stimulant methylphenidate also completely substituted for AMPH. Other anorectics including benzphetamine, clortermine, fenetylline, mefenorex and the psychomotor stimulant pemoline that share some pharmacological properties with AMPH substituted for AMPH in some, but not all, of the monkeys tested. The anorectics fenfluramine and chlorphentermine failed to substitute for AMPH. Drugs from other pharmacological classes such as morphine, diazepam, nortripyline and PENTO also failed to substitute for AMPH, indicating pharmacological specificity. In the PENTO experiment, the benzodiazepines alprazolam, bromazepam, diazepam, flurazepam, halazepam, lorazepam, midazolam, oxazepam, temazepam and triazolam and the sedatives methaqualone and phenobarbital completely substituted for the training dose of PENTO. The nonbenzodiazepine anxiolytic CL 218,872 only partially substituted for PENTO. In addition, morphine and AMPH failed to substitute for PENTO, indicating pharmacological specificity. In summary, drugs delivered intragastrically functioned as discriminative stimuli in a drug-class specific manner. The ability to use drugs delivered by this route as discriminative stimuli provides a way to compare anorectic drugs to AMPH or sedative drugs to PENTO under conditions that resemble the mode of human consumption to determine whether these drugs are likely to be associated with AMPH-like or PENTO-like drug dependence.

Children's understanding of death as the cessation of agency: a test using sleep versus death.

PubMed

Barrett, H Clark; Behne, Tanya

2005-06-01

An important problem faced by children is discriminating between entities capable of goal-directed action, i.e. intentional agents, and non-agents. In the case of discriminating between living and dead animals, including humans, this problem is particularly difficult, because of the large number of perceptual cues that living and dead animals share. However, there are potential costs of failing to discriminate between living and dead animals, including unnecessary vigilance and lost opportunities from failing to realize that an animal, such as an animal killed for food, is dead. This might have led to the evolution of mechanisms specifically for distinguishing between living and dead animals in terms of their ability to act. Here we test this hypothesis by examining patterns of inferences about sleeping and dead organisms by Shuar and German children between 3 and 5-years old. The results show that by age 4, causal cues to death block agency attributions to animals and people, whereas cues to sleep do not. The developmental trajectory of this pattern of inferences is identical across cultures, consistent with the hypothesis of a living/dead discrimination mechanism as a reliably developing part of core cognitive architecture.

A Decision Model for Steady-State Choice in Concurrent Chains

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Christensen, Darren R.; Grace, Randolph C.

2010-01-01

Grace and McLean (2006) proposed a decision model for acquisition of choice in concurrent chains which assumes that after reinforcement in a terminal link, subjects make a discrimination whether the preceding reinforcer delay was short or long relative to a criterion. Their model was subsequently extended by Christensen and Grace (2008, 2009a,…

Mrs. Klein and Paulo Freire: Coda for the Pain of Symbolization in the Lifeworld of the Mind

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Britzman, Deborah P.

2017-01-01

The preceding symposium articles speculate on the psychosocial dynamics of discrimination as reverberating with grief, mourning, melancholia, and denial. They invite a psychoanalytic paradox on the fate of inchoate loss and its complex relation to oppression and depression: constellations of attachment to loss met with its social and psychical…

Evaluation of selected auditory tests in school-age children suspected of auditory processing disorders.

PubMed

Vanniasegaram, Iyngaram; Cohen, Mazal; Rosen, Stuart

2004-12-01

To compare the auditory function of normal-hearing children attending mainstream schools who were referred for an auditory evaluation because of listening/hearing problems (suspected auditory processing disorders [susAPD]) with that of normal-hearing control children. Sixty-five children with a normal standard audiometric evaluation, ages 6-14 yr (32 of whom were referred for susAPD, with the rest age-matched control children), completed a battery of four auditory tests: a dichotic test of competing sentences; a simple discrimination of short tone pairs differing in fundamental frequency at varying interstimulus intervals (TDT); a discrimination task using consonant cluster minimal pairs of real words (CCMP), and an adaptive threshold task for detecting a brief tone presented either simultaneously with a masker (simultaneous masking) or immediately preceding it (backward masking). Regression analyses, including age as a covariate, were performed to determine the extent to which the performance of the two groups differed on each task. Age-corrected z-scores were calculated to evaluate the effectiveness of the complete battery in discriminating the groups. The performance of the susAPD group was significantly poorer than the control group on all but the masking tasks, which failed to differentiate the two groups. The CCMP discriminated the groups most effectively, as it yielded the lowest number of control children with abnormal scores, and performance in both groups was independent of age. By contrast, the proportion of control children who performed poorly on the competing sentences test was unacceptably high. Together, the CCMP (verbal) and TDT (nonverbal) tasks detected impaired listening skills in 56% of the children who were referred to the clinic, compared with 6% of the control children. Performance on the two tasks was not correlated. Two of the four tests evaluated, the CCMP and TDT, proved effective in differentiating the two groups of children of this study. The application of both tests increased the proportion of susAPD children who performed poorly compared with the application of each test alone, while reducing the proportion of control subjects who performed poorly. The findings highlight the importance of carrying out a complete auditory evaluation in children referred for medical attention, even if their standard audiometric evaluation is unremarkable.

The Legal Status of Homemakers in the District of Columbia.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Glass, Elsa Dik

The document explores the legal status of the homemaker and the law in the District of Columbia, emphasizing those laws and judicial precedents that fail to give proper recognition to the value of the homemaker. The rights given to the homemaker under support, property, divorce, and inheritance laws are said to be the concrete measure of the…

State court rejects estoppel in job accommodation case.

PubMed

1997-07-25

The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts ruled that a person who applies for disability benefits does not forfeit his right to pursue an employment discrimination claim if the employer refuses to accommodate his disability. The court ruled in favor of [name removed], who sued the law firm of [name removed] and [name removed] in Boston for violating the State's Anti-Discrimination Law. The law firm cited Federal and State precedents to show that [name removed] should be estopped from pursuing his lawsuit. [Name removed], who had multiple sclerosis, proved that he was capable of performing the tasks required of him as long as his schedule was flexible.

Involuntary orienting of attention to a sound desynchronizes the occipital alpha rhythm and improves visual perception.

PubMed

Feng, Wenfeng; Störmer, Viola S; Martinez, Antigona; McDonald, John J; Hillyard, Steven A

2017-04-15

Directing attention voluntarily to the location of a visual target results in an amplitude reduction (desynchronization) of the occipital alpha rhythm (8-14Hz), which is predictive of improved perceptual processing of the target. Here we investigated whether modulations of the occipital alpha rhythm triggered by the involuntary orienting of attention to a salient but spatially non-predictive sound would similarly influence perception of a subsequent visual target. Target discrimination was more accurate when a sound preceded the target at the same location (validly cued trials) than when the sound was on the side opposite to the target (invalidly cued trials). This behavioral effect was accompanied by a sound-induced desynchronization of the alpha rhythm over the lateral occipital scalp. The magnitude of alpha desynchronization over the hemisphere contralateral to the sound predicted correct discriminations of validly cued targets but not of invalidly cued targets. These results support the conclusion that cue-induced alpha desynchronization over the occipital cortex is a manifestation of a general priming mechanism that improves visual processing and that this mechanism can be activated either by the voluntary or involuntary orienting of attention. Further, the observed pattern of alpha modulations preceding correct and incorrect discriminations of valid and invalid targets suggests that involuntary orienting to the non-predictive sound has a rapid and purely facilitatory influence on processing targets on the cued side, with no inhibitory influence on targets on the opposite side. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Aging and visual length discrimination: sequential dependencies, biases, and the effects of multiple implicit standards.

PubMed

Norman, J Farley; Cheeseman, Jacob R; Baxter, Michael W; Thomason, Kelsey E; Adkins, Olivia C; Rogers, Connor E

2014-05-01

Younger (20-25 years of age) and older (61-79 years) adults were evaluated for their ability to visually discriminate length. Almost all experiments that have utilized the method of single stimuli to date have required participants to judge test stimuli relative to a single implicit standard (for a rare exception, see Morgan, On the scaling of size judgements by orientational cues, Vision Research, 1992, 32, 1433-1445). In the current experiments, we not only asked participants to judge lengths relative to a single implicit standard, but they also compared test stimuli to two different implicit standards within the same blocks of trials. We analyzed our participants' judgments to evaluate whether significant sequential dependencies occurred. We found that while individual younger and older adults possessed similar length difference thresholds and exhibited similar overall biases, the judgments of older adults within individual blocks of trials were more strongly biased (than younger adults) by preceding responses (i.e., their judgments on any given trial were more strongly affected by responses to previously viewed stimuli). In addition, the judgments of both younger and older adults were more strongly biased by preceding responses in the blocks of trials with multiple implicit standards. Overall, our results are consistent with the operation of the tracking mechanism described by Criterion-setting theory (Lages and Treisman, Spatial frequency discrimination: Visual long-term memory or criterion setting? Vision Research, 1998, 38, 557-572). Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Optimal Decision Stimuli for Risky Choice Experiments: An Adaptive Approach

PubMed Central

Cavagnaro, Daniel R.; Gonzalez, Richard; Myung, Jay I.; Pitt, Mark A.

2014-01-01

Collecting data to discriminate between models of risky choice requires careful selection of decision stimuli. Models of decision making aim to predict decisions across a wide range of possible stimuli, but practical limitations force experimenters to select only a handful of them for actual testing. Some stimuli are more diagnostic between models than others, so the choice of stimuli is critical. This paper provides the theoretical background and a methodological framework for adaptive selection of optimal stimuli for discriminating among models of risky choice. The approach, called Adaptive Design Optimization (ADO), adapts the stimulus in each experimental trial based on the results of the preceding trials. We demonstrate the validity of the approach with simulation studies aiming to discriminate Expected Utility, Weighted Expected Utility, Original Prospect Theory, and Cumulative Prospect Theory models. PMID:24532856

Upregulation of Neurotrophic Factors Selectively in Frontal Cortex in Response to Olfactory Discrimination Learning

PubMed Central

Naimark, Ari; Barkai, Edi; Matar, Michael A.; Kaplan, Zeev; Kozlovsky, Nitzan; Cohen, Hagit

2007-01-01

We have previously shown that olfactory discrimination learning is accompanied by several forms of long-term enhancement in synaptic connections between layer II pyramidal neurons selectively in the piriform cortex. This study sought to examine whether the previously demonstrated olfactory-learning-task-induced modifications are preceded by suitable changes in the expression of mRNA for neurotrophic factors and in which brain areas this occurs. Rats were trained to discriminate positive cues in pair of odors for a water reward. The relationship between the learning task and local levels of mRNA for brain-derived neurotrophic factor, tyrosine kinase B, nerve growth factor, and neurotrophin-3 in the frontal cortex, hippocampal subregions, and other regions were assessed 24 hours post olfactory learning. The olfactory discrimination learning activated production of endogenous neurotrophic factors and induced their signal transduction in the frontal cortex, but not in other brain areas. These findings suggest that different brain areas may be preferentially involved in different learning/memory tasks. PMID:17710248

Counselor Bias in Working with Gay Men and Lesbians: A Commentary on Barret and Barzan (1996).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Donaldson, Steven M.

1998-01-01

Comments on R. Barret and R. Barzan (1996), who do well in exploring the spiritual experiences of gay men and lesbians but in the process set up a precedent of reverse discrimination against clients whose religious beliefs proscribe homosexual behavior. Suggestions are offered to sensitize counseling professionals to such bias. (Author/MKA)

Eye Movements while Reading Biased Homographs: Effects of Prior Encounter and Biasing Context on Reducing the Subordinate Bias Effect

PubMed Central

Leinenger, Mallorie; Rayner, Keith

2013-01-01

Readers experience processing difficulties when reading biased homographs preceded by subordinate-biasing contexts. Attempts to overcome this processing deficit have often failed to reduce the subordinate bias effect (SBE). In the present studies, we examined the processing of biased homographs preceded by single-sentence, subordinate-biasing contexts, and varied whether this preceding context contained a prior instance of the homograph or a control word/phrase. Having previously encountered the homograph earlier in the sentence reduced the SBE for the subsequent encounter, while simply instantiating the subordinate meaning produced processing difficulty. We compared these reductions in reading times to differences in processing time between dominant-biased repeated and non-repeated conditions in order to verify that the reductions observed in the subordinate cases did not simply reflect a general repetition benefit. Our results indicate that a strong, subordinate-biasing context can interact during lexical access to overcome the activation from meaning frequency and reduce the SBE during reading. PMID:24073328

Federal Precedents and the Origins of the Charter School Movement in Florida, USA, 1981-1996

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Terzian, Sevan G.; Boyd, Donald C.

2004-01-01

After four years of failed attempts, lawmakers in the State of Florida sanctioned charter schools in 1996. This paper traces the political origins of the charter school movement in Florida and the USA as a whole. Examining legislation and reforms at the federal level, as well as state legislative proceedings, this paper identifies key political…

Demonstration of Advanced EMI Models for Live-Site UXO Discrimination at Waikoloa, Hawaii

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-12-01

magnetic source models PNN Probabilistic Neural Network SERDP Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program SLO San Luis Obispo...SNR Signal to noise ratio SVM Support vector machine TD Time Domain TEMTADS Time Domain Electromagnetic Towed Array Detection System TOI... intrusive procedure, which was used by Parsons at WMA, failed to document accurately all intrusive results, or failed to detect and clear all UXO like

Persistence and withdrawal by students in a preservice science and mathematics teacher education course

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tulip, David F.; Lucas, Keith B.

1991-12-01

At a time when recruitment into preservice teacher education courses in mathematics and science is difficult, one strategy to increase the number of graduates is to minimise the number of students who fail to complete their university courses. This study sought to determine factors which distinguish withdrawers from persisters in the first semester of a B.Ed course. Discriminant analysis was employed; a discriminant function employing seven factors resulted in correct classification in 81% of cases. Further analysis distinguishing between dropouts and transferees resulted in two discriminant functions with some common variables.

Electroencephalography (EEG) in the Study of Equivalence Class Formation. An Explorative Study.

PubMed

Arntzen, Erik; Steingrimsdottir, Hanna S

2017-01-01

Teaching arbitrary conditional discriminations and testing for derived relations may be essential for understanding changes in cognitive skills. Such conditional discrimination procedures are often used within stimulus equivalence research. For example, the participant is taught AB and BC relations and tested if emergent relations as BA, CB, AC and CA occur. The purpose of the current explorative experiment was to study stimulus equivalence class formation in older adults with electroencephalography (EEG) recordings as an additional measure. The EEG was used to learn about whether there was an indication of cognitive changes such as those observed in neurocognitive disorders (NCD). The present study included four participants who did conditional discrimination training and testing. The experimental design employed pre-class formation sorting and post-class formation sorting of the stimuli used in the experiment. EEG recordings were conducted before training, after training and after testing. The results showed that two participants formed equivalence classes, one participant failed in one of the three test relations, and one participant failed in two of the three test relations. This fourth participant also failed to sort the stimuli in accordance with the experimenter-defined stimulus equivalence classes during post-class formation sorting. The EEG indicated no cognitive decline in the first three participants but possible mild cognitive impairment (MCI) in the fourth participant. The results suggest that equivalence class formation may provide information about cognitive impairments such as those that are likely to occur in the early stages of NCD. The study recommends replications with broader samples.

Effect of GABA agonists and GABA-A receptor modulators on cocaine- and food-maintained responding and cocaine discrimination in rats.

PubMed

Barrett, Andrew C; Negus, S Stevens; Mello, Nancy K; Caine, S Barak

2005-11-01

Recent studies indicate that GABAergic ligands modulate abuse-related effects of cocaine. The goal of this study was to evaluate the effects of a mechanistically diverse group of GABAergic ligands on the discriminative stimulus and reinforcing effects of cocaine in rats. One group of rats was trained to discriminate 5.6 mg/kg cocaine from saline in a two-lever, food-reinforced, drug discrimination procedure. In two other groups, responding was maintained by cocaine (0-3.2 mg/kg/injection) or liquid food (0-100%) under a fixed ratio 5 schedule. Six GABA agonists were tested: the GABA-A receptor agonist muscimol, the GABA-B receptor agonist baclofen, the GABA transaminase inhibitor gamma-vinyl-GABA (GVG), and three GABA-A receptor modulators (the barbiturate pentobarbital, the high-efficacy benzodiazepine midazolam, and the low-efficacy benzodiazepine enazenil). When tested alone, none of the compounds substituted fully for the discriminative stimulus effects of cocaine. As acute pretreatments, select doses of midazolam and pentobarbital produced 2.2- to 3.6-fold rightward shifts in the cocaine dose-effect function. In contrast, muscimol, baclofen, GVG, and enazenil failed to alter the discriminative stimulus effects of cocaine. In assays of cocaine- and food-maintained responding, midazolam and pentobarbital decreased cocaine self-administration at doses 9.6- and 3.3-fold lower, respectively, than those that decreased food-maintained responding. In contrast, muscimol, baclofen, and GVG decreased cocaine self-administration at doses that also decreased food-maintained responding. Enazenil failed to alter cocaine self-administration. Together with previous studies, these data suggest that among mechanistically diverse GABA agonists, high-efficacy GABA-A modulators may be the most effective for modifying the abuse-related effects of cocaine.

Forced sterilization of women as discrimination.

PubMed

Patel, Priti

2017-01-01

There has been a long history of subjecting marginalized women to forced and coerced sterilization. In recent years, the practice has been documented in countries in North and South America, Europe, Asia, and Africa. It has targeted women who are ethnic and racial minorities, women with disabilities, women living with HIV, and poor women. A handful of courts have issued decisions on the recent forced sterilization of marginalized women finding that such actions violate the women's rights. However, they have all failed to address the women's claims of discrimination. The failure to acknowledge that forced sterilization is at its core a violation of the prohibition of discrimination undermines efforts to eradicate the practice. It further fails to recognize that coerced and forced sterilization fundamentally seeks to deny women deemed as "unworthy" the ability to procreate. Four key principles outlined in the human rights in patient care framework highlight the importance of a finding that the prohibition of discrimination was violated in cases of forced sterilization: the need to highlight the vulnerability of marginalized populations to discrimination in health care settings; the importance of the rights of medical providers; the role of the state in addressing systemic human rights violations in health care settings; and the application of human rights to patient care. Based on these principles, it is clear that finding a violation of the prohibition of discrimination in forced sterilization cases is critical in addressing the systemic nature of the practice, acknowledging the marginalization of specific groups and effectively ending forced sterilization through addressing the underlying purpose of the practice. If litigators, non-governmental organizations and judicial officers are mindful of these principles when dealing with cases of forced sterilization, it is likely that they will be better able to eradicate forced sterilization.

Streptococcus sanguinis meningitis following endoscopic ligation for oesophageal variceal haemorrhage.

PubMed

Liu, Yu-Ting; Lin, Chin-Fu; Lee, Ya-Ling

2013-05-01

We report a case of acute purulent meningitis caused by Streptococcus sanguinis after endoscopic ligation for oesophageal variceal haemorrhage in a cirrhotic patient without preceding symptoms of meningitis. Initial treatment with flomoxef failed. The patient was cured after 20 days of intravenous penicillin G. This uncommon infection due to S. sanguinis adds to the long list of infectious complications among patients with oesophageal variceal haemorrhage.

Threshold of the precedence effect in noise

PubMed Central

Freyman, Richard L.; Griffin, Amanda M.; Zurek, Patrick M.

2014-01-01

Three effects that show a temporal asymmetry in the influence of interaural cues were studied through the addition of masking noise: (1) The transient precedence effect—the perceptual dominance of a leading transient over a similar lagging transient; (2) the ongoing precedence effect—lead dominance with lead and lag components that extend in time; and (3) the onset capture effect—determination by an onset transient of the lateral position of an otherwise ambiguous extended trailing sound. These three effects were evoked with noise-burst stimuli and were compared in the presence of masking noise. Using a diotic noise masker, detection thresholds for stimuli with lead/lag interaural delays of 0/500 μs were compared to those with 500/0 μs delays. None of the three effects showed a masking difference between those conditions, suggesting that none of the effects is operative at masked threshold. A task requiring the discrimination between stimuli with 500/0 and 0/500 μs interaural delays was used to determine the threshold for each effect in noise. The results showed similar thresholds in noise (10–13 dB SL) for the transient and ongoing precedence effects, but a much higher threshold (33 dB SL) for onset capture of an ambiguous trailing sound. PMID:24815272

Examination of the relation between an assessment of skills and performance on auditory-visual conditional discriminations for children with autism spectrum disorder.

PubMed

Kodak, Tiffany; Clements, Andrea; Paden, Amber R; LeBlanc, Brittany; Mintz, Joslyn; Toussaint, Karen A

2015-01-01

The current investigation evaluated repertoires that may be related to performance on auditory-to-visual conditional discrimination training with 9 students who had been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. The skills included in the assessment were matching, imitation, scanning, an auditory discrimination, and a visual discrimination. The results of the skills assessment showed that 4 participants failed to demonstrate mastery of at least 1 of the skills. We compared the outcomes of the assessment to the results of auditory-visual conditional discrimination training and found that training outcomes were related to the assessment outcomes for 7 of the 9 participants. One participant who did not demonstrate mastery of all assessment skills subsequently learned several conditional discriminations when blocked training trials were conducted. Another participant who did not demonstrate mastery of the auditory discrimination skill subsequently acquired conditional discriminations in 1 of the training conditions. We discuss the implications of the assessment for practice and suggest additional areas of research on this topic. © Society for the Experimental Analysis of Behavior.

Suicide and general elections in Austria: do preceding regional suicide rate differentials foreshadow subsequent voting behavior swings?

PubMed

Voracek, Martin; Formann, Anton K; Fülöp, Gerhard; Sonneck, Gernot

2003-05-01

Suicide-epidemiological research on short-term effects of elections on national/regional suicide and parasuicide incidence has yielded contradictory evidence. Reversing the cause-effect relationship of this line of research we investigated whether preceding regional suicide rates are related to subsequent election results. For Austria's 121 districts, we regressed averaged standardized suicide rates for the preceding period (1988-1994) on political parties' subsequent electoral gains/losses (1999-to-1995) while controlling for a set of 12 domain-relevant psychosocial/economic indices. Stepwise weighted multiple regression led to a significant model. The 1999-to-1995 electoral gains/losses of two opposition parties, together with the population variation caused by migration balance and by births/deaths balance, accounted for a substantial part (30%) of the variability in preceding district-level suicide rates. Various other social indices failed to contribute further substantial increments to this model. This finding suggests that variations in preceding regional suicide incidence might be mirrored in subsequent changes in voting behavior. A speculative post hoc explanation for the finding is offered: on a community level, suicide's aftermath might produce socially and politically alienated survivors of suicide who co-shape swings towards opposition parties in subsequent general elections. The finding calls for more research on suicide's long-term aftermath. Within-country replicability and cross-national generalizability await further investigation. At present, the factor/mechanism accounting for this finding is neither well-established nor has been directly tested.

The precedence effect and its buildup and breakdown in ferrets and humans

PubMed Central

Tolnai, Sandra; Litovsky, Ruth Y.; King, Andrew J.

2014-01-01

Although many studies have examined the precedence effect (PE), few have tested whether it shows a buildup and breakdown in nonhuman animals comparable to that seen in humans. These processes are thought to reflect the ability of the auditory system to adjust to a listener's acoustic environment, and their mechanisms are still poorly understood. In this study, ferrets were trained on a two-alternative forced-choice task to discriminate the azimuthal direction of brief sounds. In one experiment, pairs of noise bursts were presented from two loudspeakers at different interstimulus delays (ISDs). Results showed that localization performance changed as a function of ISD in a manner consistent with the PE being operative. A second experiment investigated buildup and breakdown of the PE by measuring the ability of ferrets to discriminate the direction of a click pair following presentation of a conditioning train. Human listeners were also tested using this paradigm. In both species, performance was better when the test clicks and conditioning train had the same ISD but deteriorated following a switch in the direction of the leading and lagging sounds between the conditioning train and test clicks. These results suggest that ferrets, like humans, experience a buildup and breakdown of the PE. PMID:24606278

Improving speech outcomes after failed palate repair: evaluating the safety and efficacy of conversion Furlow palatoplasty.

PubMed

Nayar, Harry S; Cray, James J; MacIsaac, Zoe M; Argenta, Anne E; Ford, Matthew D; Fenton, Regina A; Losee, Joseph E; Grunwaldt, Lorelei J

2014-03-01

Velopharyngeal insufficiency occurs in a nontrivial number of cases following cleft palate repair. We hypothesize that a conversion Furlow palatoplasty allows for long-term correction of VPI resulting from a failed primary palate repair, obviating the need for pharyngoplasty and its attendant comorbidities. A retrospective review of patients undergoing a conversion Furlow palatoplasty between 2003 and 2010 was performed. Patients were grouped according to the type of preceding palatal repair. Velopharyngeal insufficiency was assessed using Pittsburgh Weighted Speech Scale (PWSS). Scores were recorded and compared preoperatively and postoperatively at 3 sequential visits. Sixty-two patients met inclusion criteria and were grouped by preceding repair (straight-line repair (n = 37), straight-line repair with subsequent oronasal fistula (n = 14), or pharyngeal flap (n = 11). Median PWSS scores at individual visits were as follows: preoperative = 11, first postoperative = 3 (mean, 114.0 ± 6.7 days), second postoperative = 1 (mean, 529.0 ± 29.1 days), and most recent postoperative = 3 (mean, 1368.6 ± 76.9 days). There was a significant difference between preoperative and postoperative PWSS scores in the entire cohort (P < 0.001) with overall improvement, and post hoc analysis showed improvement between each postoperative visit (P < 0.05) with the exception of the second to the most recent visit. There were no differences between postoperative PWSS scores in the operative subgroupings (P > 0.05). Eight patients failed to improve and showed no differences in PWSS scores over time (P > 0.05). Patients with a PWSS score of 7 or greater (n = 8) at the first postoperative visit (0-6 months) displayed improvement at the most recent visit (P< 0.05). Conversion Furlow palatoplasty is an effective means for salvaging speech. Future studies should elucidate which factors predict the success of this technique following failed palate repair.

Autoshaping with common and distinctive stimulus elements, compact and dispersed arrays.

PubMed

Sperling, S E; Perkins, M E

1979-05-01

Four groups of pigeons were trained with a standard autoshaping procedure in which a brief fixed-duration interval always followed by a grain delivery alternated with a longer variable-duration interval never associated with grain delivery. One of two stimuli was always presented during each interval. One of them contained three black dots and a black star on a green background; the other contained four black dots on a green background. The four elements of each stimulus were arranged in a more compact array for two groups and in a more dispersed array for the other two groups. Which of the two stimuli preceded grain delivery was counterbalanced within each pair of groups. The speed of occurrence of the first autoshaped peck was not affected by whether the stimulus containing the distinctive star element preceded grain delivery, but autoshaping was faster when the stimulus arrays were compact than when they were dispersed. During 560 response-independent training trials that followed the first autoshaped peck, this pattern reversed; both discriminative control over responding and the relative frequency of pecking the stimulus that preceded grain delivery were greater for the two groups where this stimulus contained the discriminative element than for the two groups where it contained only common elements. During subsequent testing with stimuli containing only a single element each, the distinctive feature was responded to proportionately more often by the two groups for which it had been an element of the stimulus preceding grain delivery than by the two groups for which it had been an element of the stimulus complex that never was associated with grain delivery. These data add further support to the hypothesis that the initial occurrence of autoshaped responding and its subsequent maintenance are not affected by the same variables. They also suggest that automaintenance is as sensitive as response-dependent training to the presence or absence of a distinctive stimulus element among several common elements and that this sensitivity appears to be independent of the specific method used for presenting the stimuli during automaintenance.

Autoshaping with common and distinctive stimulus elements, compact and dispersed arrays1

PubMed Central

Sperling, Sally E.; Perkins, Mark E.

1979-01-01

Four groups of pigeons were trained with a standard autoshaping procedure in which a brief fixed-duration interval always followed by a grain delivery alternated with a longer variable-duration interval never associated with grain delivery. One of two stimuli was always presented during each interval. One of them contained three black dots and a black star on a green background; the other contained four black dots on a green background. The four elements of each stimulus were arranged in a more compact array for two groups and in a more dispersed array for the other two groups. Which of the two stimuli preceded grain delivery was counterbalanced within each pair of groups. The speed of occurrence of the first autoshaped peck was not affected by whether the stimulus containing the distinctive star element preceded grain delivery, but autoshaping was faster when the stimulus arrays were compact than when they were dispersed. During 560 response-independent training trials that followed the first autoshaped peck, this pattern reversed; both discriminative control over responding and the relative frequency of pecking the stimulus that preceded grain delivery were greater for the two groups where this stimulus contained the discriminative element than for the two groups where it contained only common elements. During subsequent testing with stimuli containing only a single element each, the distinctive feature was responded to proportionately more often by the two groups for which it had been an element of the stimulus preceding grain delivery than by the two groups for which it had been an element of the stimulus complex that never was associated with grain delivery. These data add further support to the hypothesis that the initial occurrence of autoshaped responding and its subsequent maintenance are not affected by the same variables. They also suggest that automaintenance is as sensitive as response-dependent training to the presence or absence of a distinctive stimulus element among several common elements and that this sensitivity appears to be independent of the specific method used for presenting the stimuli during automaintenance. PMID:16812139

Intrinsic two-dimensional features as textons

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Barth, E.; Zetzsche, C.; Rentschler, I.

1998-01-01

We suggest that intrinsic two-dimensional (i2D) features, computationally defined as the outputs of nonlinear operators that model the activity of end-stopped neurons, play a role in preattentive texture discrimination. We first show that for discriminable textures with identical power spectra the predictions of traditional models depend on the type of nonlinearity and fail for energy measures. We then argue that the concept of intrinsic dimensionality, and the existence of end-stopped neurons, can help us to understand the role of the nonlinearities. Furthermore, we show examples in which models without strong i2D selectivity fail to predict the correct ranking order of perceptual segregation. Our arguments regarding the importance of i2D features resemble the arguments of Julesz and co-workers regarding textons such as terminators and crossings. However, we provide a computational framework that identifies textons with the outputs of nonlinear operators that are selective to i2D features.

Statistical classification approach to discrimination between weak earthquakes and quarry blasts recorded by the Israel Seismic Network

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kushnir, A. F.; Troitsky, E. V.; Haikin, L. M.; Dainty, A.

1999-06-01

A semi-automatic procedure has been developed to achieve statistically optimum discrimination between earthquakes and explosions at local or regional distances based on a learning set specific to a given region. The method is used for step-by-step testing of candidate discrimination features to find the optimum (combination) subset of features, with the decision taken on a rigorous statistical basis. Linear (LDF) and Quadratic (QDF) Discriminant Functions based on Gaussian distributions of the discrimination features are implemented and statistically grounded; the features may be transformed by the Box-Cox transformation z=(1/ α)( yα-1) to make them more Gaussian. Tests of the method were successfully conducted on seismograms from the Israel Seismic Network using features consisting of spectral ratios between and within phases. Results showed that the QDF was more effective than the LDF and required five features out of 18 candidates for the optimum set. It was found that discrimination improved with increasing distance within the local range, and that eliminating transformation of the features and failing to correct for noise led to degradation of discrimination.

A Longitudinal Examination of First Term Attrition and Reenlistment among FY1999 Enlisted Accessions

DTIC Science & Technology

2005-11-01

Army mission 0 High 0Very low - 0 Possibility of being subjected to sexual or racial 0 Moderate - discriminaton - 0 None of the above ,- 60. Have you... racial discrimination). The third factor, Problems Adjusting, included three items (57b, 57h, and 57i) about failing to adjust to Army life (e.g...leaving because of racial or gender discrimination. The second factor was called Medical Reasons and consisted of Items 35h and 35o, which asked about

Electroencephalography (EEG) in the Study of Equivalence Class Formation. An Explorative Study

PubMed Central

Arntzen, Erik; Steingrimsdottir, Hanna S.

2017-01-01

Teaching arbitrary conditional discriminations and testing for derived relations may be essential for understanding changes in cognitive skills. Such conditional discrimination procedures are often used within stimulus equivalence research. For example, the participant is taught AB and BC relations and tested if emergent relations as BA, CB, AC and CA occur. The purpose of the current explorative experiment was to study stimulus equivalence class formation in older adults with electroencephalography (EEG) recordings as an additional measure. The EEG was used to learn about whether there was an indication of cognitive changes such as those observed in neurocognitive disorders (NCD). The present study included four participants who did conditional discrimination training and testing. The experimental design employed pre-class formation sorting and post-class formation sorting of the stimuli used in the experiment. EEG recordings were conducted before training, after training and after testing. The results showed that two participants formed equivalence classes, one participant failed in one of the three test relations, and one participant failed in two of the three test relations. This fourth participant also failed to sort the stimuli in accordance with the experimenter-defined stimulus equivalence classes during post-class formation sorting. The EEG indicated no cognitive decline in the first three participants but possible mild cognitive impairment (MCI) in the fourth participant. The results suggest that equivalence class formation may provide information about cognitive impairments such as those that are likely to occur in the early stages of NCD. The study recommends replications with broader samples. PMID:28377704

Time to address gender inequalities against female physicians.

PubMed

Hannawi, Suad; Al Salmi, Issa

2017-11-10

Although the health care system depends heavily on female physicians, it discriminates against women and tends to concentrate female physicians' work in lower status occupations. Gender discrimination has structural, social, and cultural dimensions. Such discrimination is perceived differently by various stakeholders and the public. In addition, there is reluctance to publicly acknowledge gender discrimination, especially in the culturally conservative Middle East region. Gender discrimination leads to underrepresentation of female physicians in leadership roles and certain specialties and hence leads to less attention and understanding of the working conditions of female physicians and their roles in the health care system. The lack of accessible data in the region regarding gender discrimination among physicians leads to stakeholders failing to recognize the existence and magnitude of this type of discrimination. This article takes up the relatively neglected issue of gender discrimination in the health care workforce among the stakeholders of the Ministry of Health and Prevention of the United Arab Emirates. Future research should explore the extent of gender discrimination among physicians and the gender remuneration gap, together with other sorts of discrimination, perception of equal opportunity, and dominant stereotypes of men and women working in health care in relation to job obligation, promotion, retention, remuneration, and education. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Failure to obtain value enhancement by within-trial contrast in simultaneous and successive discriminations.

PubMed

Arantes, Joana; Grace, Randolph C

2008-02-01

The present research tested the generality of the "work ethic" effect described by Clement, Feltus, Kaiser, and Zentall (2000). In Experiment 1, we trained 10 pigeons on a pair of either simultaneous or successive discriminations. One discrimination followed a high-effort requirement (20 pecks to the center key) and the other followed a low-effort requirement (1 peck). Contrary to Clement et al.'s results, we found that preferences between the S+ and S- stimuli in transfer tests depended on the event that initiated the trial: Pigeons preferred the stimulus from the baseline discrimination whose initiating event was most dissimilar from that preceding the test trial. Preferences were similar but less extreme in the successive condition. In Experiment 2, we investigated whether test preferences depended on the amount of training. A total of 12 pigeons were trained on a pair of simultaneous discriminations, except that test sessions were scheduled after every three baseline sessions. Preferences increased across test sessions but were similar to those in Experiment 1. Together with Vasconcelos, Urcuioli, and Lionello-DeNolf (2007a), our study represents a second failure to replicate Clement et al.'s work ethic effect. The finding that preference depends on the event that initiates the test trial suggests that choice probes may not provide unambiguous assessments of stimulus value.

Partial Least Squares for Discrimination in fMRI Data

PubMed Central

Andersen, Anders H.; Rayens, William S.; Liu, Yushu; Smith, Charles D.

2011-01-01

Multivariate methods for discrimination were used in the comparison of brain activation patterns between groups of cognitively normal women who are at either high or low Alzheimer's disease risk based on family history and apolipoprotein-E4 status. Linear discriminant analysis (LDA) was preceded by dimension reduction using either principal component analysis (PCA), partial least squares (PLS), or a new oriented partial least squares (OrPLS) method. The aim was to identify a spatial pattern of functionally connected brain regions that was differentially expressed by the risk groups and yielded optimal classification accuracy. Multivariate dimension reduction is required prior to LDA when the data contains more feature variables than there are observations on individual subjects. Whereas PCA has been commonly used to identify covariance patterns in neuroimaging data, this approach only identifies gross variability and is not capable of distinguishing among-groups from within-groups variability. PLS and OrPLS provide a more focused dimension reduction by incorporating information on class structure and therefore lead to more parsimonious models for discrimination. Performance was evaluated in terms of the cross-validated misclassification rates. The results support the potential of using fMRI as an imaging biomarker or diagnostic tool to discriminate individuals with disease or high risk. PMID:22227352

Eye-gaze control of the computer interface: Discrimination of zoom intent

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

Goldberg, J.H.; Schryver, J.C.

1993-10-01

An analysis methodology and associated experiment were developed to assess whether definable and repeatable signatures of eye-gaze characteristics are evident, preceding a decision to zoom-in, zoom-out, or not to zoom at a computer interface. This user intent discrimination procedure can have broad application in disability aids and telerobotic control. Eye-gaze was collected from 10 subjects in a controlled experiment, requiring zoom decisions. The eye-gaze data were clustered, then fed into a multiple discriminant analysis (MDA) for optimal definition of heuristics separating the zoom-in, zoom-out, and no-zoom conditions. Confusion matrix analyses showed that a number of variable combinations classified at amore » statistically significant level, but practical significance was more difficult to establish. Composite contour plots demonstrated the regions in parameter space consistently assigned by the MDA to unique zoom conditions. Peak classification occurred at about 1200--1600 msec. Improvements in the methodology to achieve practical real-time zoom control are considered.« less

International Union, UAW v. Johnson Controls, Inc.

PubMed

1991-03-20

Johnson Controls, a battery manufacturing plant, instituted a policy barring women of child-bearing capacity from jobs involving actual or potential lead exposure exceeding the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) standard. Employees affected by this policy sued under Title VII, which forbids sex discrimination in the work place. The Supreme Court held that Title VII, as amended by the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, forbids sex-specific fetal protection policies. Johnson Controls' policy discriminates against women by disregarding evidence of lead's effect on the male reproductive system. Further, Johnson Controls' defense that their policy was justified by an occupational qualification, here safety, fails as well because any qualification must be related to the essential interests of the business. As fetuses are neither customers nor parties whose safety is essential to battery manufacturing, fetal safety cannot justify the discrimination.

Somatosensory discrimination deficits following pediatric cerebral malaria.

PubMed

Dugbartey, A T; Spellacy, F J; Dugbartey, M T

1998-09-01

Pathologic studies of central nervous system damage in human falciparum malaria indicate primary localization in the cerebral white matter. We report a sensory-perceptual investigation of 20 Ghanaian children with a recent history of cerebral malaria who were age-, gender-, and education-matched with 20 healthy control subjects. Somatosensory examinations failed to show any evidence of hemianesthesia, pseudohemianesthesia, or extinction to double simultaneous tactile stimulation. While unilateral upper limb testing revealed intact unimanual tactile roughness discrimination, bimanual tactile discrimination, however, was significantly impaired in the cerebral malaria group. A strong negative correlation (r = -0.72) between coma duration and the bimanual tactile roughness discrimination test was also found. An inefficiency in the integrity of callosal fibers appear to account for our findings, although alternative subcortical mechanisms known to be involved in information transfer across the cerebral hemispheres may be compromised as well.

Parallel and competitive processes in hierarchical analysis: perceptual grouping and encoding of closure.

PubMed

Han, S; Humphreys, G W; Chen, L

1999-10-01

The role of perceptual grouping and the encoding of closure of local elements in the processing of hierarchical patterns was studied. Experiments 1 and 2 showed a global advantage over the local level for 2 tasks involving the discrimination of orientation and closure, but there was a local advantage for the closure discrimination task relative to the orientation discrimination task. Experiment 3 showed a local precedence effect for the closure discrimination task when local element grouping was weakened by embedding the stimuli from Experiment 1 in a background made up of cross patterns. Experiments 4A and 4B found that dissimilarity of closure between the local elements of hierarchical stimuli and the background figures could facilitate the grouping of closed local elements and enhanced the perception of global structure. Experiment 5 showed that the advantage for detecting the closure of local elements in hierarchical analysis also held under divided- and selective-attention conditions. Results are consistent with the idea that grouping between local elements takes place in parallel and competes with the computation of closure of local elements in determining the selection between global and local levels of hierarchical patterns for response.

Teaching receptive naming of Chinese characters to children with autism by incorporating echolalia.

PubMed

Leung, J P; Wu, K I

1997-01-01

The facilitative effect of incorporating echolalia on teaching receptive naming of Chinese characters to children with autism was assessed. In Experiment 1, echoing the requested character name prior to the receptive naming task facilitated matching a character to its name. In addition, task performance was consistently maintained only when echolalia preceded the receptive manual response. Positive results from generalization tests suggested that learned responses occurred across various novel conditions. In Experiment 2, we examined the relation between task difficulty and speed of acquisition. All 3 participants achieved 100% correct responding in training, but learning less discriminable characters took more trials than learning more discriminable characters. These results provide support for incorporating echolalia as an educational tool within language instruction for some children with autism.

Teaching receptive naming of Chinese characters to children with autism by incorporating echolalia.

PubMed Central

Leung, J P; Wu, K I

1997-01-01

The facilitative effect of incorporating echolalia on teaching receptive naming of Chinese characters to children with autism was assessed. In Experiment 1, echoing the requested character name prior to the receptive naming task facilitated matching a character to its name. In addition, task performance was consistently maintained only when echolalia preceded the receptive manual response. Positive results from generalization tests suggested that learned responses occurred across various novel conditions. In Experiment 2, we examined the relation between task difficulty and speed of acquisition. All 3 participants achieved 100% correct responding in training, but learning less discriminable characters took more trials than learning more discriminable characters. These results provide support for incorporating echolalia as an educational tool within language instruction for some children with autism. PMID:9157099

Atypical vertical sound localization and sound-onset sensitivity in people with autism spectrum disorders.

PubMed

Visser, Eelke; Zwiers, Marcel P; Kan, Cornelis C; Hoekstra, Liesbeth; van Opstal, A John; Buitelaar, Jan K

2013-11-01

Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are associated with auditory hyper- or hyposensitivity; atypicalities in central auditory processes, such as speech-processing and selective auditory attention; and neural connectivity deficits. We sought to investigate whether the low-level integrative processes underlying sound localization and spatial discrimination are affected in ASDs. We performed 3 behavioural experiments to probe different connecting neural pathways: 1) horizontal and vertical localization of auditory stimuli in a noisy background, 2) vertical localization of repetitive frequency sweeps and 3) discrimination of horizontally separated sound stimuli with a short onset difference (precedence effect). Ten adult participants with ASDs and 10 healthy control listeners participated in experiments 1 and 3; sample sizes for experiment 2 were 18 adults with ASDs and 19 controls. Horizontal localization was unaffected, but vertical localization performance was significantly worse in participants with ASDs. The temporal window for the precedence effect was shorter in participants with ASDs than in controls. The study was performed with adult participants and hence does not provide insight into the developmental aspects of auditory processing in individuals with ASDs. Changes in low-level auditory processing could underlie degraded performance in vertical localization, which would be in agreement with recently reported changes in the neuroanatomy of the auditory brainstem in individuals with ASDs. The results are further discussed in the context of theories about abnormal brain connectivity in individuals with ASDs.

Women on the Move.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stevens, George; Marquette, R. Penny

1979-01-01

While the progress made by women in medicine and other fields seems promising, it nonetheless fails to meet the rising expectations created by various legal actions and legislation. People must begin to recognize the social and economic costs of continued discrimination against women and others. (Author)

The number of functional olfactory receptor genes and the relative size of olfactory brain structures are poor predictors of olfactory discrimination performance with enantiomers.

PubMed

Laska, Matthias; Genzel, Daria; Wieser, Alexandra

2005-02-01

The ability of four squirrel monkeys and three pigtail macaques to distinguish between nine enantiomeric odor pairs sharing an isopropenyl group at the chiral center was investigated in terms of a conditioning paradigm. All animals from both species were able to discriminate between the optical isomers of limonene, carvone, dihydrocarvone, dihydrocarveole and dihydrocarvyl acetate, whereas they failed to distinguish between the (+)- and (-)-forms of perillaaldehyde and limonene oxide. The pigtail macaques, but not the squirrel monkeys, also discriminated between the antipodes of perillaalcohol and isopulegol. A comparison of the across-task patterns of discrimination performance shows a high degree of similarity among the two primate species and also between these nonhuman primates and human subjects tested in an earlier study on the same tasks. These findings suggest that between-species comparisons of the relative size of olfactory brain structures or of the number of functional olfactory receptor genes are poor predictors of olfactory discrimination performance with enantiomers.

Reduced Data Dualscale Entropy Analysis of HRV Signals for Improved Congestive Heart Failure Detection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kuntamalla, Srinivas; Lekkala, Ram Gopal Reddy

2014-10-01

Heart rate variability (HRV) is an important dynamic variable of the cardiovascular system, which operates on multiple time scales. In this study, Multiscale entropy (MSE) analysis is applied to HRV signals taken from Physiobank to discriminate Congestive Heart Failure (CHF) patients from healthy young and elderly subjects. The discrimination power of the MSE method is decreased as the amount of the data reduces and the lowest amount of the data at which there is a clear discrimination between CHF and normal subjects is found to be 4000 samples. Further, this method failed to discriminate CHF from healthy elderly subjects. In view of this, the Reduced Data Dualscale Entropy Analysis method is proposed to reduce the data size required (as low as 500 samples) for clearly discriminating the CHF patients from young and elderly subjects with only two scales. Further, an easy to interpret index is derived using this new approach for the diagnosis of CHF. This index shows 100 % accuracy and correlates well with the pathophysiology of heart failure.

The endogenous cannabinoid anandamide shares discriminative stimulus effects with ∆(9)-tetrahydrocannabinol in fatty acid amide hydrolase knockout mice.

PubMed

Walentiny, D Matthew; Gamage, Thomas F; Warner, Jonathan A; Nguyen, Thanh K; Grainger, Darren B; Wiley, Jenny L; Vann, Robert E

2011-04-10

The endogenous cannabinoid system has been noted for its therapeutic potential, as well as the psychoactivity of cannabinoids such as Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). However, less is known about the psychoactivity of anandamide (AEA), an endocannabinoid ligand. Thus, the goals of this study were to establish AEA as a discriminative stimulus in transgenic mice lacking fatty acid amide hydrolase (i.e., FAAH -/- mice unable to rapidly metabolize AEA), evaluate whether THC or oleamide, a fatty acid amide, produced AEA-like responding, and assess for CB(1) mediation of AEA's discriminative stimulus. Mice readily discriminated between 6mg/kg AEA and vehicle in a two-lever drug discrimination task. AEA dose-dependently generalized to itself. THC elicited full AEA-like responding, whereas oleamide failed to substitute. The CB(1) antagonist rimonabant attenuated AEA- and THC-induced AEA-appropriate responding, demonstrating CB(1) mediation of AEA's discriminative stimulus. These findings suggest that, in the absence of FAAH, AEA produces intoxication comparable to THC, and consequently to marijuana. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Relationships between stereotyped beliefs about mental illness, discrimination experiences, and distressed mood over 1 year among persons with schizophrenia enrolled in rehabilitation.

PubMed

Lysaker, Paul H; Tunze, Chloe; Yanos, Philip T; Roe, David; Ringer, Jamie; Rand, Kevin

2012-06-01

Research suggests stereotype endorsement or self-stigma serves as a barrier to functioning and well-being among persons with schizophrenia. Little is known about how stable self-stigma is and whether it is linked over time with related constructs such as discrimination experiences and psychological distress. Stereotype endorsement and discrimination experiences were assessed using the Internalized Stigma of Mental Illness Scale and psychological distress was assessed using the Emotional Discomfort component of the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale, at three points in time across 1 year. Path analyses indicated that the constructs of stereotype endorsement and discrimination experiences are stable over periods of 5-7 months and may fluctuate over 12 months. Further, the constructs of stereotype endorsement and discrimination experiences were related to one another concurrently, but analyses failed to detect a relationship over time. Neither construct was related to psychological distress over time. Self-stigma is a stable construct in the short term, and is distinct from related constructs such as discrimination experiences and psychological distress.

Detecting the tipping points in a three-state model of complex diseases by temporal differential networks.

PubMed

Chen, Pei; Li, Yongjun; Liu, Xiaoping; Liu, Rui; Chen, Luonan

2017-10-26

The progression of complex diseases, such as diabetes and cancer, is generally a nonlinear process with three stages, i.e., normal state, pre-disease state, and disease state, where the pre-disease state is a critical state or tipping point immediately preceding the disease state. Traditional biomarkers aim to identify a disease state by exploiting the information of differential expressions for the observed molecules, but may fail to detect a pre-disease state because there are generally little significant differences between the normal and pre-disease states. Thus, it is challenging to signal the pre-disease state, which actually implies the disease prediction. In this work, by exploiting the information of differential associations among the observed molecules between the normal and pre-disease states, we propose a temporal differential network based computational method to accurately signal the pre-disease state or predict the occurrence of severe disease. The theoretical foundation of this work is the quantification of the critical state using dynamical network biomarkers. Considering that there is one stationary Markov process before reaching the tipping point, a novel index, inconsistency score (I-score), is proposed to quantitatively measure the change of the stationary processes from the normal state so as to detect the onset of pre-disease state. In other words, a drastic increase of I-score implies the high inconsistency with the preceding stable state and thus signals the upcoming critical transition. This approach is applied to the simulated and real datasets of three diseases, which demonstrates the effectiveness of our method for predicting the deterioration into disease states. Both functional analysis and pathway enrichment also validate the computational results from the perspectives of both molecules and networks. At the molecular network level, this method provides a computational way of unravelling the underlying mechanism of the dynamical progression when a biological system is near the tipping point, and thus detecting the early-warning signal of the imminent critical transition, which may help to achieve timely intervention. Moreover, the rewiring of differential networks effectively extracts discriminatively interpretable features, and systematically demonstrates the dynamical change of a biological system.

Definition of cutoff values for the hypoxia test used for preflight testing in young children with neonatal chronic lung disease.

PubMed

Martin, Andrew C; Verheggen, Maureen; Stick, Stephen M; Stavreska, Vaska; Oostryck, Jan; Wilson, Andrew C; Hall, Graham L

2008-04-01

The hypoxia test can be performed to identify potential hypoxia that might occur in an at-risk individual during air travel. In 2004, the British Thoracic Society increased the hypoxia test cutoff guideline from 85 to 90% in young children. The aim of this study was to investigate how well the cutoff values of 85% and 90% discriminated between healthy children and those with neonatal chronic lung disease (nCLD). We performed a prospective, interventional study in young children with nCLD who no longer required supplemental oxygen and healthy control subjects. A hypoxia test (involving the administration of 14% oxygen for 20 min) was performed in all children, and the nadir in pulse oximetric saturation (Spo(2)) recorded. Hypoxia test results were obtained in 34 healthy children and 35 children with a history of nCLD. Baseline Spo(2) in room air was unable to predict which children would "fail" the hypoxia test. In those children < 2 years of age, applying a cutoff value of 90% resulted in 12 of 24 healthy children and 14 of 23 nCLD children failing the hypoxia test (p = 0.56), whereas a cutoff value of 85% was more discriminating, with only 1 of 24 healthy children and 6 of 23 nCLD children failing the hypoxia test (p = 0.048). In the present study, using a hypoxia test limit of 90% did not discriminate between healthy children and those with nCLD. A cutoff value of 85% may be more appropriate in this patient group. The clinical relevance of fitness to fly testing in young children remains to be determined.

Mechanisms of midsession reversal accuracy: Memory for preceding events and timing.

PubMed

Smith, Aaron P; Beckmann, Joshua S; Zentall, Thomas R

2017-01-01

The midsession reversal task involves a simultaneous discrimination between 2 stimuli (S1 and S2) in which, for the first half of each session, choice of S1 is reinforced and, for the last half, choice of S2 is reinforced. On this task, pigeons appear to time the occurrence of the reversal rather than using feedback from previous trials, resulting in increased numbers of errors. In the present experiments, we tested the hypothesis that pigeons make so many errors because they fail to remember the last response made and/or the consequence of making that response both of which are needed ideally as cues to respond on the next trial. To facilitate memory, during the 5-s intertrial interval, we differentially lit a houselight correlated with the prior response to S1 or S2 and maintained the hopper light when that response was correct. A control group received uncorrelated houselights and no maintained hopper light. To test for continued use of temporal information, both groups received probe sessions in which the intertrial interval was either halved or doubled. Providing relevant reminder cues of the stimulus chosen and its consequence resulted in improved reversal accuracy and reduced disruption from probe sessions compared with irrelevant cues. Nevertheless, despite the reminder cues, the pigeons in both groups appeared to continue to time the point in the session at which the reversal occurred. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Pitch chroma discrimination, generalization, and transfer tests of octave equivalence in humans.

PubMed

Hoeschele, Marisa; Weisman, Ronald G; Sturdy, Christopher B

2012-11-01

Octave equivalence occurs when notes separated by an octave (a doubling in frequency) are judged as being perceptually similar. Considerable evidence points to the importance of the octave in music and speech. Yet, experimental demonstration of octave equivalence has been problematic. Using go/no-go operant discrimination and generalization, we studied octave equivalence in humans. In Experiment 1, we found that a procedure that failed to show octave equivalence in European starlings also failed in humans. In Experiment 2, we modified the procedure to control for the effects of pitch height perception by training participants in Octave 4 and testing in Octave 5. We found that the pattern of responding developed by discrimination training in Octave 4 generalized to Octave 5. We replicated and extended our findings in Experiment 3 by adding a transfer phase: Participants were trained with either the same or a reversed pattern of rewards in Octave 5. Participants transferred easily to the same pattern of reward in Octave 5 but struggled to learn the reversed pattern. We provided minimal instruction, presented no ordered sequences of notes, and used only sine-wave tones, but participants nonetheless constructed pitch chroma information from randomly ordered sequences of notes. Training in music weakly hindered octave generalization but moderately facilitated both positive and negative transfer.

Optimal discrimination of M coherent states with a small quantum computer

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

Silva, Marcus P. da; Guha, Saikat; Dutton, Zachary

2014-12-04

The ability to distinguish between coherent states optimally plays in important role in the efficient usage of quantum resources for classical communication and sensing applications. While it has been known since the early 1970’s how to optimally distinguish between two coherent states, generalizations to larger sets of coherent states have so far failed to reach optimality. In this work we outline how optimality can be achieved by using a small quantum computer, building on recent proposals for optimal qubit state discrimination with multiple copies.

An Arab NATO in the Making Middle Eastern Military Cooperation Since 2011

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-09-01

with a focus on strategy and security. In addition to monitoring post -conflict devel- opments in Iraq, Lebanon, and Libya, she researches Arab...non-Arab states such as Iran, Turkey, or post -conflict Israel. Announced at the 2010 Sirte Summit, the League’s Arab Neighbor- hood Policy has failed...preceding de- cade. For example, Saudi Arabia had increased its air 14 force to 305 fighter jets—and currently has a de facto monopoly on Airborne

Optimum measurement for unambiguously discriminating two mixed states: General considerations and special cases

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Herzog, Ulrike; Bergou, János A.

2006-04-01

Based on our previous publication [U. Herzog and J. A. Bergou, Phys. Rev. A 71, 050301(R)(2005)] we investigate the optimum measurement for the unambiguous discrimination of two mixed quantum states that occur with given prior probabilities. Unambiguous discrimination of nonorthogonal states is possible in a probabilistic way, at the expense of a nonzero probability of inconclusive results, where the measurement fails. Along with a discussion of the general problem, we give an example illustrating our method of solution. We also provide general inequalities for the minimum achievable failure probability and discuss in more detail the necessary conditions that must be fulfilled when its absolute lower bound, proportional to the fidelity of the states, can be reached.

Stimuli that signal the absence of reinforcement are paid more attention than are irrelevant stimuli.

PubMed

Dopson, Jemma C; Williams, Natalie A; Esber, Guillem R; Pearce, John M

2010-11-01

According to established theories of attention (e.g., Mackintosh, 1975; Sutherland & Mackintosh, 1971), simple discriminations of the form AX+ BX- result in an increase in attention to stimuli A and B, which are relevant to the outcome that follows them, at the expense of X, which is irrelevant. Experiments that have apparently shown such changes in attention have failed to determine whether attention is enhanced to both A and B, which signal reinforcement and nonreinforcement, respectively, or just to A. In Experiments 1 and 2, pigeons were trained with a number of discriminations of the kind AX+ BX-, before compounds that had been consistently nonreinforced were involved in a subsequent discrimination. Both experiments provided support for theories that propose that more attention is paid to stimuli that consistently signal nonreinforcement than to irrelevant stimuli in simple discriminations.

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Extensive cytotoxic lesions of the rat retrosplenial cortex reveal consistent deficits on tasks that tax allocentric spatial memory.

PubMed

Vann, Seralynne D; Aggleton, John P

2002-02-01

Despite the connections of the retrosplenial cortex strongly suggesting a role in spatial memory, the lesion data to date have been equivocal. Whether subjects are impaired after retrosplenial lesions seems to depend on whether the lesions were aspirative or excitotoxic, with the latter failing to produce an impairment. A shortcoming of previous excitotoxic lesion studies is that they spared the most caudal part of the retrosplenial cortex. The present study thus used rats with extensive neurotoxic lesions of the retrosplenial cortex that encompassed the entire rostrocaudal extent of this region. These rats were consistently impaired on several tests that tax allocentric memory. In contrast, they were unimpaired on an egocentric discrimination task. Although the lesions did not appear to affect object recognition, clear deficits were found for an object-in-place discrimination. The present study not only demonstrates a role for the retrosplenial cortex in allocentric spatial memory, but also explains why previous excitotoxic lesions have failed to detect any deficits.

Effects of stimulus order on discrimination processes in comparative and equality judgements: data and models.

PubMed

Dyjas, Oliver; Ulrich, Rolf

2014-01-01

In typical discrimination experiments, participants are presented with a constant standard and a variable comparison stimulus and their task is to judge which of these two stimuli is larger (comparative judgement). In these experiments, discrimination sensitivity depends on the temporal order of these stimuli (Type B effect) and is usually higher when the standard precedes rather than follows the comparison. Here, we outline how two models of stimulus discrimination can account for the Type B effect, namely the weighted difference model (or basic Sensation Weighting model) and the Internal Reference Model. For both models, the predicted psychometric functions for comparative judgements as well as for equality judgements, in which participants indicate whether they perceived the two stimuli to be equal or not equal, are derived and it is shown that the models also predict a Type B effect for equality judgements. In the empirical part, the models' predictions are evaluated. To this end, participants performed a duration discrimination task with comparative judgements and with equality judgements. In line with the models' predictions, a Type B effect was observed for both judgement types. In addition, a time-order error, as indicated by shifts of the psychometric functions, and differences in response times were observed only for the equality judgement. Since both models entail distinct additional predictions, it seems worthwhile for future research to unite the two models into one conceptual framework.

What happens before? A field experiment exploring how pay and representation differentially shape bias on the pathway into organizations.

PubMed

Milkman, Katherine L; Akinola, Modupe; Chugh, Dolly

2015-11-01

Little is known about how discrimination manifests before individuals formally apply to organizations or how it varies within and between organizations. We address this knowledge gap through an audit study in academia of over 6,500 professors at top U.S. universities drawn from 89 disciplines and 259 institutions. In our experiment, professors were contacted by fictional prospective students seeking to discuss research opportunities prior to applying to a doctoral program. Names of students were randomly assigned to signal gender and race (White, Black, Hispanic, Indian, Chinese), but messages were otherwise identical. We hypothesized that discrimination would appear at the informal "pathway" preceding entry to academia and would vary by discipline and university as a function of faculty representation and pay. We found that when considering requests from prospective students seeking mentoring in the future, faculty were significantly more responsive to White males than to all other categories of students, collectively, particularly in higher-paying disciplines and private institutions. Counterintuitively, the representation of women and minorities and discrimination were uncorrelated, a finding that suggests greater representation cannot be assumed to reduce discrimination. This research highlights the importance of studying decisions made before formal entry points into organizations and reveals that discrimination is not evenly distributed within and between organizations. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

The Reagan Civil Rights Record.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mincberg, Elliot M.

1984-01-01

The Reagan administration has retreated from bipartisan commitment to civil rights enforcement. It has initiated hardly any enforcement action in education and has failed to support even voluntary desegregation efforts. It has opposed affirmative action in employment. Inaction has been especially pronounced in the field of housing discrimination.…

Young Children's Perceptions of the Dimensions of Sound.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McMahon, Olive

School children frequently fail to adequately understand terms associated with musical pitch although research shows that even infants with normal hearing can perceptually discriminate fine pitch variations. This study investigated children's perceptions of dimensions of sound by focusing on their choice of musical sounds and relevant…

The Americans with Disabilities Act in Higher Education: The Plight of Disabled Faculty.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Abram, Suzanne

2003-01-01

Explores reasons why disability discrimination lawsuits by university professors usually fail. Reviews the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Analyzes cases involving disabled professors who lost their cases and those who won them. Compares successful and unsuccessful ADA litigation. (Contains 86 references.) (PKP)

Analyzing Faculty Salaries When Statistics Fail.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Simpson, William A.

The role played by nonstatistical procedures, in contrast to multivariant statistical approaches, in analyzing faculty salaries is discussed. Multivariant statistical methods are usually used to establish or defend against prima facia cases of gender and ethnic discrimination with respect to faculty salaries. These techniques are not applicable,…

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2014-01-01

... REGULATORY COMMISSION NONDISCRIMINATION ON THE BASIS OF SEX IN EDUCATION PROGRAMS OR ACTIVITIES RECEIVING... official if the applicant or recipient to whom such assurance applies fails to commit itself to take... the basis of sex or to eliminate the effects of past discrimination whether occurring prior to or...

14 CFR 1253.115 - Assurance required.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... OF SEX IN EDUCATION PROGRAMS OR ACTIVITIES RECEIVING FEDERAL FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE Introduction § 1253... such assurance applies fails to commit itself to take whatever remedial action is necessary in accordance with § 1253.110(a) to eliminate existing discrimination on the basis of sex or to eliminate the...

6 CFR 17.115 - Assurance required.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... OF SEX IN EDUCATION PROGRAMS OR ACTIVITIES RECEIVING FEDERAL FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE Introduction § 17... such assurance applies fails to commit itself to take whatever remedial action is necessary in accordance with § 17.110(a) to eliminate existing discrimination on the basis of sex or to eliminate the...

44 CFR 19.115 - Assurance required.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... HOMELAND SECURITY GENERAL NONDISCRIMINATION ON THE BASIS OF SEX IN EDUCATION PROGRAMS OR ACTIVITIES... official if the applicant or recipient to whom such assurance applies fails to commit itself to take... on the basis of sex or to eliminate the effects of past discrimination whether occurring prior to or...

36 CFR 1211.115 - Assurance required.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... RULES NONDISCRIMINATION ON THE BASIS OF SEX IN EDUCATION PROGRAMS OR ACTIVITIES RECEIVING FEDERAL... official if the applicant or recipient to whom such assurance applies fails to commit itself to take... on the basis of sex or to eliminate the effects of past discrimination whether occurring prior to or...

45 CFR 2555.115 - Assurance required.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... SERVICE NONDISCRIMINATION ON THE BASIS OF SEX IN EDUCATION PROGRAMS OR ACTIVITIES RECEIVING FEDERAL... official if the applicant or recipient to whom such assurance applies fails to commit itself to take... on the basis of sex or to eliminate the effects of past discrimination whether occurring prior to or...

10 CFR 5.115 - Assurance required.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... REGULATORY COMMISSION NONDISCRIMINATION ON THE BASIS OF SEX IN EDUCATION PROGRAMS OR ACTIVITIES RECEIVING... official if the applicant or recipient to whom such assurance applies fails to commit itself to take... the basis of sex or to eliminate the effects of past discrimination whether occurring prior to or...

10 CFR 5.115 - Assurance required.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... REGULATORY COMMISSION NONDISCRIMINATION ON THE BASIS OF SEX IN EDUCATION PROGRAMS OR ACTIVITIES RECEIVING... official if the applicant or recipient to whom such assurance applies fails to commit itself to take... the basis of sex or to eliminate the effects of past discrimination whether occurring prior to or...

45 CFR 2555.115 - Assurance required.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... SERVICE NONDISCRIMINATION ON THE BASIS OF SEX IN EDUCATION PROGRAMS OR ACTIVITIES RECEIVING FEDERAL... official if the applicant or recipient to whom such assurance applies fails to commit itself to take... on the basis of sex or to eliminate the effects of past discrimination whether occurring prior to or...

28 CFR 54.115 - Assurance required.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... Judicial Administration DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE (CONTINUED) NONDISCRIMINATION ON THE BASIS OF SEX IN... assurance applies fails to commit itself to take whatever remedial action is necessary in accordance with § 54.110(a) to eliminate existing discrimination on the basis of sex or to eliminate the effects of...

40 CFR 5.115 - Assurance required.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY GENERAL NONDISCRIMINATION ON THE BASIS OF SEX IN... assurance applies fails to commit itself to take whatever remedial action is necessary in accordance with § 5.110(a) to eliminate existing discrimination on the basis of sex or to eliminate the effects of...

34 CFR 106.4 - Assurance required.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... NONDISCRIMINATION ON THE BASIS OF SEX IN EDUCATION PROGRAMS OR ACTIVITIES RECEIVING FEDERAL FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE... or recipient to whom such assurance applies fails to commit itself to take whatever remedial action is necessary in accordance with § 106.3(a) to eliminate existing discrimination on the basis of sex...

14 CFR 1253.115 - Assurance required.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... OF SEX IN EDUCATION PROGRAMS OR ACTIVITIES RECEIVING FEDERAL FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE Introduction § 1253... such assurance applies fails to commit itself to take whatever remedial action is necessary in accordance with § 1253.110(a) to eliminate existing discrimination on the basis of sex or to eliminate the...

44 CFR 19.115 - Assurance required.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... HOMELAND SECURITY GENERAL NONDISCRIMINATION ON THE BASIS OF SEX IN EDUCATION PROGRAMS OR ACTIVITIES... official if the applicant or recipient to whom such assurance applies fails to commit itself to take... on the basis of sex or to eliminate the effects of past discrimination whether occurring prior to or...

44 CFR 19.115 - Assurance required.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... HOMELAND SECURITY GENERAL NONDISCRIMINATION ON THE BASIS OF SEX IN EDUCATION PROGRAMS OR ACTIVITIES... official if the applicant or recipient to whom such assurance applies fails to commit itself to take... on the basis of sex or to eliminate the effects of past discrimination whether occurring prior to or...

The South China Sea Territorial Disputes: The Catalyst for a United States-Vietnamese Security Partnership

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-06-12

INTRODUCTION The rise of Chi na, and of Asia, will over the next decades, bring about a substantial reordering of the international system . The center of...Nationalist Chinese claim. China has failed to provide the UN a legal explanation for its claim and cites naval missions through the SCS and to the...of conflict on to land. Vietnam’s history as a French colony provides a legal precedent for claiming control over the Spratly and Paracel Islands

Contingent Stimuli Signal Subsequent Reinforcer Ratios

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Boutros, Nathalie; Davison, Michael; Elliffe, Douglas

2011-01-01

Conditioned reinforcer effects may be due to the stimulus' discriminative rather than its strengthening properties. While this was demonstrated in a frequently-changing choice procedure, a single attempt to replicate in a relatively static choice environment failed. We contend that this was because the information provided by the stimuli was…

15 CFR 8a.115 - Assurance required.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... SEX IN EDUCATION PROGRAMS OR ACTIVITIES RECEIVING FEDERAL FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE Introduction § 8a.115... assurance applies fails to commit itself to take whatever remedial action is necessary in accordance with § 8a.110(a) to eliminate existing discrimination on the basis of sex or to eliminate the effects of...

38 CFR 23.115 - Assurance required.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

...) NONDISCRIMINATION ON THE BASIS OF SEX IN EDUCATION PROGRAMS OR ACTIVITIES RECEIVING FEDERAL FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE... recipient to whom such assurance applies fails to commit itself to take whatever remedial action is necessary in accordance with § 23.110(a) to eliminate existing discrimination on the basis of sex or to...

41 CFR 101-4.115 - Assurance required.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... System FEDERAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT REGULATIONS GENERAL 4-NONDISCRIMINATION ON THE BASIS OF SEX IN... assurance applies fails to commit itself to take whatever remedial action is necessary in accordance with § 101-4.110(a) to eliminate existing discrimination on the basis of sex or to eliminate the effects of...

43 CFR 41.115 - Assurance required.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... Public Lands: Interior Office of the Secretary of the Interior NONDISCRIMINATION ON THE BASIS OF SEX IN... assurance applies fails to commit itself to take whatever remedial action is necessary in accordance with § 41.110(a) to eliminate existing discrimination on the basis of sex or to eliminate the effects of...

13 CFR 113.115 - Assurance required.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Sex in Education Programs or Activities Receiving Federal Financial Assistance... recipient to whom such assurance applies fails to commit itself to take whatever remedial action is necessary in accordance with § 113.110(a) to eliminate existing discrimination on the basis of sex or to...

41 CFR 101-4.115 - Assurance required.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... Regulations System FEDERAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT REGULATIONS GENERAL 4-NONDISCRIMINATION ON THE BASIS OF SEX IN... assurance applies fails to commit itself to take whatever remedial action is necessary in accordance with § 101-4.110(a) to eliminate existing discrimination on the basis of sex or to eliminate the effects of...

38 CFR 23.115 - Assurance required.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

...) NONDISCRIMINATION ON THE BASIS OF SEX IN EDUCATION PROGRAMS OR ACTIVITIES RECEIVING FEDERAL FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE... recipient to whom such assurance applies fails to commit itself to take whatever remedial action is necessary in accordance with § 23.110(a) to eliminate existing discrimination on the basis of sex or to...

41 CFR 101-4.115 - Assurance required.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... System FEDERAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT REGULATIONS GENERAL 4-NONDISCRIMINATION ON THE BASIS OF SEX IN... assurance applies fails to commit itself to take whatever remedial action is necessary in accordance with § 101-4.110(a) to eliminate existing discrimination on the basis of sex or to eliminate the effects of...

18 CFR 1317.115 - Assurance required.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... NONDISCRIMINATION ON THE BASIS OF SEX IN EDUCATION PROGRAMS OR ACTIVITIES RECEIVING FEDERAL FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE... recipient to whom such assurance applies fails to commit itself to take whatever remedial action is necessary in accordance with § 1317.110(a) to eliminate existing discrimination on the basis of sex or to...

24 CFR 3.115 - Assurance required.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... NONDISCRIMINATION ON THE BASIS OF SEX IN EDUCATION PROGRAMS OR ACTIVITIES RECEIVING FEDERAL FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE... recipient to whom such assurance applies fails to commit itself to take whatever remedial action is necessary in accordance with § 3.110(a) to eliminate existing discrimination on the basis of sex or to...

13 CFR 113.115 - Assurance required.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Sex in Education Programs or Activities Receiving Federal Financial Assistance... recipient to whom such assurance applies fails to commit itself to take whatever remedial action is necessary in accordance with § 113.110(a) to eliminate existing discrimination on the basis of sex or to...

29 CFR 36.115 - Assurance required.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... the Secretary of Labor NONDISCRIMINATION ON THE BASIS OF SEX IN EDUCATION PROGRAMS OR ACTIVITIES... official if the applicant or recipient to whom such assurance applies fails to commit itself to take... on the basis of sex or to eliminate the effects of past discrimination whether occurring prior to or...

15 CFR 8a.115 - Assurance required.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... SEX IN EDUCATION PROGRAMS OR ACTIVITIES RECEIVING FEDERAL FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE Introduction § 8a.115... assurance applies fails to commit itself to take whatever remedial action is necessary in accordance with § 8a.110(a) to eliminate existing discrimination on the basis of sex or to eliminate the effects of...

38 CFR 23.115 - Assurance required.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

...) NONDISCRIMINATION ON THE BASIS OF SEX IN EDUCATION PROGRAMS OR ACTIVITIES RECEIVING FEDERAL FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE... recipient to whom such assurance applies fails to commit itself to take whatever remedial action is necessary in accordance with § 23.110(a) to eliminate existing discrimination on the basis of sex or to...

38 CFR 23.115 - Assurance required.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

...) NONDISCRIMINATION ON THE BASIS OF SEX IN EDUCATION PROGRAMS OR ACTIVITIES RECEIVING FEDERAL FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE... recipient to whom such assurance applies fails to commit itself to take whatever remedial action is necessary in accordance with § 23.110(a) to eliminate existing discrimination on the basis of sex or to...

13 CFR 113.115 - Assurance required.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Sex in Education Programs or Activities Receiving Federal Financial Assistance... recipient to whom such assurance applies fails to commit itself to take whatever remedial action is necessary in accordance with § 113.110(a) to eliminate existing discrimination on the basis of sex or to...

43 CFR 41.115 - Assurance required.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... Public Lands: Interior Office of the Secretary of the Interior NONDISCRIMINATION ON THE BASIS OF SEX IN... assurance applies fails to commit itself to take whatever remedial action is necessary in accordance with § 41.110(a) to eliminate existing discrimination on the basis of sex or to eliminate the effects of...

43 CFR 41.115 - Assurance required.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... Public Lands: Interior Office of the Secretary of the Interior NONDISCRIMINATION ON THE BASIS OF SEX IN... assurance applies fails to commit itself to take whatever remedial action is necessary in accordance with § 41.110(a) to eliminate existing discrimination on the basis of sex or to eliminate the effects of...

7 CFR 3565.8 - Civil rights compliance.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... regard to race, color, religion, national origin, sex, marital status, age, income from public assistance... discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, familial status or handicap. It is... Housing and Urban Development in Washington, DC. (d) Lenders and borrowers that fail to comply with the...

15 CFR 8a.115 - Assurance required.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... SEX IN EDUCATION PROGRAMS OR ACTIVITIES RECEIVING FEDERAL FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE Introduction § 8a.115... assurance applies fails to commit itself to take whatever remedial action is necessary in accordance with § 8a.110(a) to eliminate existing discrimination on the basis of sex or to eliminate the effects of...

29 CFR 36.115 - Assurance required.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... the Secretary of Labor NONDISCRIMINATION ON THE BASIS OF SEX IN EDUCATION PROGRAMS OR ACTIVITIES... official if the applicant or recipient to whom such assurance applies fails to commit itself to take... on the basis of sex or to eliminate the effects of past discrimination whether occurring prior to or...

18 CFR 1317.115 - Assurance required.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... NONDISCRIMINATION ON THE BASIS OF SEX IN EDUCATION PROGRAMS OR ACTIVITIES RECEIVING FEDERAL FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE... recipient to whom such assurance applies fails to commit itself to take whatever remedial action is necessary in accordance with § 1317.110(a) to eliminate existing discrimination on the basis of sex or to...

38 CFR 23.115 - Assurance required.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

...) NONDISCRIMINATION ON THE BASIS OF SEX IN EDUCATION PROGRAMS OR ACTIVITIES RECEIVING FEDERAL FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE... recipient to whom such assurance applies fails to commit itself to take whatever remedial action is necessary in accordance with § 23.110(a) to eliminate existing discrimination on the basis of sex or to...

18 CFR 1317.115 - Assurance required.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... NONDISCRIMINATION ON THE BASIS OF SEX IN EDUCATION PROGRAMS OR ACTIVITIES RECEIVING FEDERAL FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE... recipient to whom such assurance applies fails to commit itself to take whatever remedial action is necessary in accordance with § 1317.110(a) to eliminate existing discrimination on the basis of sex or to...

15 CFR 8a.115 - Assurance required.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... SEX IN EDUCATION PROGRAMS OR ACTIVITIES RECEIVING FEDERAL FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE Introduction § 8a.115... assurance applies fails to commit itself to take whatever remedial action is necessary in accordance with § 8a.110(a) to eliminate existing discrimination on the basis of sex or to eliminate the effects of...

41 CFR 101-4.115 - Assurance required.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... System FEDERAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT REGULATIONS GENERAL 4-NONDISCRIMINATION ON THE BASIS OF SEX IN... assurance applies fails to commit itself to take whatever remedial action is necessary in accordance with § 101-4.110(a) to eliminate existing discrimination on the basis of sex or to eliminate the effects of...

7 CFR 3565.8 - Civil rights compliance.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... regard to race, color, religion, national origin, sex, marital status, age, income from public assistance... discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, familial status or handicap. It is... Housing and Urban Development in Washington, DC. (d) Lenders and borrowers that fail to comply with the...

7 CFR 3565.8 - Civil rights compliance.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... regard to race, color, religion, national origin, sex, marital status, age, income from public assistance... discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, familial status or handicap. It is... Housing and Urban Development in Washington, DC. (d) Lenders and borrowers that fail to comply with the...

7 CFR 3565.8 - Civil rights compliance.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... regard to race, color, religion, national origin, sex, marital status, age, income from public assistance... discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, familial status or handicap. It is... Housing and Urban Development in Washington, DC. (d) Lenders and borrowers that fail to comply with the...

13 CFR 113.115 - Assurance required.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Sex in Education Programs or Activities Receiving Federal Financial Assistance... recipient to whom such assurance applies fails to commit itself to take whatever remedial action is necessary in accordance with § 113.110(a) to eliminate existing discrimination on the basis of sex or to...

24 CFR 3.115 - Assurance required.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... NONDISCRIMINATION ON THE BASIS OF SEX IN EDUCATION PROGRAMS OR ACTIVITIES RECEIVING FEDERAL FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE... recipient to whom such assurance applies fails to commit itself to take whatever remedial action is necessary in accordance with § 3.110(a) to eliminate existing discrimination on the basis of sex or to...

43 CFR 41.115 - Assurance required.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... Public Lands: Interior Office of the Secretary of the Interior NONDISCRIMINATION ON THE BASIS OF SEX IN... assurance applies fails to commit itself to take whatever remedial action is necessary in accordance with § 41.110(a) to eliminate existing discrimination on the basis of sex or to eliminate the effects of...

13 CFR 113.115 - Assurance required.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Sex in Education Programs or Activities Receiving Federal Financial Assistance... recipient to whom such assurance applies fails to commit itself to take whatever remedial action is necessary in accordance with § 113.110(a) to eliminate existing discrimination on the basis of sex or to...

36 CFR § 1211.115 - Assurance required.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... ADMINISTRATION GENERAL RULES NONDISCRIMINATION ON THE BASIS OF SEX IN EDUCATION PROGRAMS OR ACTIVITIES RECEIVING... official if the applicant or recipient to whom such assurance applies fails to commit itself to take... on the basis of sex or to eliminate the effects of past discrimination whether occurring prior to or...

24 CFR 3.115 - Assurance required.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... NONDISCRIMINATION ON THE BASIS OF SEX IN EDUCATION PROGRAMS OR ACTIVITIES RECEIVING FEDERAL FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE... recipient to whom such assurance applies fails to commit itself to take whatever remedial action is necessary in accordance with § 3.110(a) to eliminate existing discrimination on the basis of sex or to...

43 CFR 41.115 - Assurance required.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... Public Lands: Interior Office of the Secretary of the Interior NONDISCRIMINATION ON THE BASIS OF SEX IN... assurance applies fails to commit itself to take whatever remedial action is necessary in accordance with § 41.110(a) to eliminate existing discrimination on the basis of sex or to eliminate the effects of...

15 CFR 8a.115 - Assurance required.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... SEX IN EDUCATION PROGRAMS OR ACTIVITIES RECEIVING FEDERAL FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE Introduction § 8a.115... assurance applies fails to commit itself to take whatever remedial action is necessary in accordance with § 8a.110(a) to eliminate existing discrimination on the basis of sex or to eliminate the effects of...

29 CFR 36.115 - Assurance required.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... the Secretary of Labor NONDISCRIMINATION ON THE BASIS OF SEX IN EDUCATION PROGRAMS OR ACTIVITIES... official if the applicant or recipient to whom such assurance applies fails to commit itself to take... on the basis of sex or to eliminate the effects of past discrimination whether occurring prior to or...

29 CFR 36.115 - Assurance required.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... the Secretary of Labor NONDISCRIMINATION ON THE BASIS OF SEX IN EDUCATION PROGRAMS OR ACTIVITIES... official if the applicant or recipient to whom such assurance applies fails to commit itself to take... on the basis of sex or to eliminate the effects of past discrimination whether occurring prior to or...

24 CFR 3.115 - Assurance required.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... NONDISCRIMINATION ON THE BASIS OF SEX IN EDUCATION PROGRAMS OR ACTIVITIES RECEIVING FEDERAL FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE... recipient to whom such assurance applies fails to commit itself to take whatever remedial action is necessary in accordance with § 3.110(a) to eliminate existing discrimination on the basis of sex or to...

18 CFR 1317.115 - Assurance required.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... NONDISCRIMINATION ON THE BASIS OF SEX IN EDUCATION PROGRAMS OR ACTIVITIES RECEIVING FEDERAL FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE... recipient to whom such assurance applies fails to commit itself to take whatever remedial action is necessary in accordance with § 1317.110(a) to eliminate existing discrimination on the basis of sex or to...

18 CFR 1317.115 - Assurance required.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... NONDISCRIMINATION ON THE BASIS OF SEX IN EDUCATION PROGRAMS OR ACTIVITIES RECEIVING FEDERAL FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE... recipient to whom such assurance applies fails to commit itself to take whatever remedial action is necessary in accordance with § 1317.110(a) to eliminate existing discrimination on the basis of sex or to...

29 CFR 36.115 - Assurance required.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... the Secretary of Labor NONDISCRIMINATION ON THE BASIS OF SEX IN EDUCATION PROGRAMS OR ACTIVITIES... official if the applicant or recipient to whom such assurance applies fails to commit itself to take... on the basis of sex or to eliminate the effects of past discrimination whether occurring prior to or...

24 CFR 3.115 - Assurance required.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... NONDISCRIMINATION ON THE BASIS OF SEX IN EDUCATION PROGRAMS OR ACTIVITIES RECEIVING FEDERAL FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE... recipient to whom such assurance applies fails to commit itself to take whatever remedial action is necessary in accordance with § 3.110(a) to eliminate existing discrimination on the basis of sex or to...

Lower Pay for Women's Coaches: Refuting Some Common Justifications.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Williams, Joseph P.

1995-01-01

The two standard justifications for different salaries paid to male and female coaches under 1963 and 1964 civil rights/equal pay legislation must fail under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, which independently prohibits gender discrimination in employment and mandates equal athletic opportunity for female students. Some suggestions…

29 CFR 1902.43 - Affirmative 18(e) decision.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... Regulations Relating to Labor (Continued) OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF LABOR... discrimination against employees because of the exercise of any right afforded to the employee by the Act; (3... the State has substantially failed to maintain a program which is at least as effective as operations...

Inter-relationships among Diet, Obesity and Hippocampal-dependent Cognitive Function

PubMed Central

Davidson, Terry L.; Hargrave, Sara L.; Swithers, Susan E.; Sample, Camille H.; Fu, Xue; Kinzig, Kimberly P.; Zheng, Wei

2013-01-01

Intake of a Western diet (WD), which is high in saturated fat and sugar, is associated with deficits in hippocampal-dependent learning and memory processes as well as with markers of hippocampal pathology. In the present study, rats were trained to asymptote on hippocampal-dependent serial feature negative (FN) and hippocampal-independent simple discrimination problems. Performance was then assessed following 7 days on ad libitum chow and after 10, 24, 40, 60, and 90 days of maintenance on WD, on ketogenic (KETO) diet which is high in saturated fat and low in sugar and other carbohydrates, or continued maintenance on chow (CHOW). Confirming and extending previous findings, diet-induced obese (DIO) rats fed WD showed impaired FN performance, increased BBB permeability, and increased fasting blood glucose levels compared to CHOW controls and to diet resistant (DR) rats that did not become obese when maintained on WD. For rats fed the KETO diet, FN performance and BBB integrity was more closely associated with level of circulating ketone bodies than with obesity phenotype (DR or DIO) with higher levels of ketones appearing to provide a protective effect. The evidence also indicated that FN deficits preceded and predicted increased body weight and adiposity. This research (a) further substantiates previous findings of WD-induced deficits in hippocampal-dependent feature negative discriminations, (b) suggests that ketones may be protective against diet-induced cognitive impairment, and (c) provides evidence that diet-induced cognitive impairment precedes weight gain and obesity. PMID:23999121

Atypical vertical sound localization and sound-onset sensitivity in people with autism spectrum disorders

PubMed Central

Visser, Eelke; Zwiers, Marcel P.; Kan, Cornelis C.; Hoekstra, Liesbeth; van Opstal, A. John; Buitelaar, Jan K.

2013-01-01

Background Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are associated with auditory hyper- or hyposensitivity; atypicalities in central auditory processes, such as speech-processing and selective auditory attention; and neural connectivity deficits. We sought to investigate whether the low-level integrative processes underlying sound localization and spatial discrimination are affected in ASDs. Methods We performed 3 behavioural experiments to probe different connecting neural pathways: 1) horizontal and vertical localization of auditory stimuli in a noisy background, 2) vertical localization of repetitive frequency sweeps and 3) discrimination of horizontally separated sound stimuli with a short onset difference (precedence effect). Results Ten adult participants with ASDs and 10 healthy control listeners participated in experiments 1 and 3; sample sizes for experiment 2 were 18 adults with ASDs and 19 controls. Horizontal localization was unaffected, but vertical localization performance was significantly worse in participants with ASDs. The temporal window for the precedence effect was shorter in participants with ASDs than in controls. Limitations The study was performed with adult participants and hence does not provide insight into the developmental aspects of auditory processing in individuals with ASDs. Conclusion Changes in low-level auditory processing could underlie degraded performance in vertical localization, which would be in agreement with recently reported changes in the neuroanatomy of the auditory brainstem in individuals with ASDs. The results are further discussed in the context of theories about abnormal brain connectivity in individuals with ASDs. PMID:24148845

Velocity-based motion categorization by pigeons.

PubMed

Cook, Robert G; Beale, Kevin; Koban, Angie

2011-04-01

To examine if animals could learn action-like categorizations in a manner similar to noun-based categories, eight pigeons were trained to categorize rates of object motion. Testing 40 different objects in a go/no-go discrimination, pigeons were first trained to discriminate between fast and slow rates of object rotation around their central y-axis. They easily learned this velocity discrimination and transferred it to novel objects and rates. This discrimination also transferred to novel types of motions including the other two axes of rotation and two new translations around the display. Comparable tests with rapid and slow changes in the objects' size, color, and shape failed to support comparable transfer. This difference in discrimination transfer between motion-based and property-based changes suggests the pigeons had learned motion concept rather than one based on change per se. The results provide evidence that pigeons can acquire an understanding of motion-based actions, at least with regard to the property of object velocity. This may be similar to our use of verbs and adverbs to categorize different classes of behavior or motion (e.g., walking, jogging, or running slow vs. fast).

Social discrimination, stress, and risk of unintended pregnancy among young women.

PubMed

Hall, Kelli Stidham; Kusunoki, Yasamin; Gatny, Heather; Barber, Jennifer

2015-03-01

Prior research linking young women's mental health to family planning outcomes has often failed to consider their social circumstances and the intersecting biosocial mechanisms that shape stress and depression as well as reproductive outcomes during adolescence and young adulthood. We extend our previous work to investigate relationships between social discrimination, stress and depression symptoms, and unintended pregnancy among adolescent and young adult women. Data were drawn from 794 women aged 18-20 years in a longitudinal cohort study. Baseline and weekly surveys assessed psychosocial information including discrimination (Everyday Discrimination Scale), stress (Perceived Stress Scale), depression (Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression Scale), and reproductive outcomes. Multilevel, mixed-effects logistic regression and discrete-time hazard models estimated associations between discrimination, mental health, and pregnancy. Baron and Kenny's method was used to test mediation effects of stress and depression on discrimination and pregnancy. The mean discrimination score was 19/45 points; 20% reported moderate/high discrimination. Discrimination scores were higher among women with stress and depression symptoms versus those without symptoms (21 vs. 18 points for both, p < .001). Pregnancy rates (14% overall) were higher among women with moderate/high (23%) versus low (11%) discrimination (p < .001). Discrimination was associated with stress (adjusted relative risk ratio, [aRR], 2.2; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.4-3.4), depression (aRR, 2.4; CI, 1.5-3.7), and subsequent pregnancy (aRR, 1.8; CI, 1.1-3.0). Stress and depression symptoms did not mediate discrimination's effect on pregnancy. Discrimination was associated with an increased risk of mental health symptoms and unintended pregnancy among these young women. The interactive social and biological influences on reproductive outcomes during adolescence and young adulthood warrant further study. Copyright © 2015 Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Mental rotation of body parts and sensory temporal discrimination in fixed dystonia.

PubMed

Katschnig, Petra; Edwards, Mark J; Schwingenschuh, Petra; Aguirregomozcorta, Maria; Kägi, Georg; Rothwell, John C; Bhatia, Kailash P

2010-06-15

Fixed dystonia is an uncommon but severely disabling condition typically affecting young women following a minor peripheral injury. There is no evidence of any structural lesions of the central nervous system nor any clear peripheral nerve or root damage. Electrophysiological techniques such as short intracortical inhibition, cortical silent period and a plasticity inducing protocol have revealed similarities but also differences compared to classical mobile dystonia. To further explore the pathophysiology of fixed dystonia we compared mental rotation of body parts and sensory temporal discrimination in 11 patients with fixed dystonia, 11 patients with classical mobile dystonia and 10 healthy controls. In the mental rotation task subjects were presented with realistic photos of left or right hands, feet and the head of a young women with a black patch covering the left or the right eye in six different orientations. Subjects had to verbally report the laterality of the presented stimuli. To assess sensory temporal discrimination subjects were asked to discriminate whether pairs of visual, tactile (electrical), or visuo-tactile stimuli were simultaneous or sequential (temporal discrimination threshold) and in the latter case which stimulus preceded the other (temporal order judgement). In accordance with previous studies patients with mobile dystonia were abnormal in mental rotation and temporal discrimination, whereas patients with fixed dystonia were only impaired in mental rotation. Possible explanations for this deficit may include the influence of the abnormal body posture itself, a shared predisposing pathophysiology for mobile and fixed dystonia, or a body image disturbance. These findings add information to the developing pathophysiological picture of fixed dystonia. (c) 2010 Movement Disorder Society.

Perceived discrimination and health outcomes a gender comparison among Asian-Americans nationwide.

PubMed

Hahm, Hyeouk Chris; Ozonoff, Al; Gaumond, Jillian; Sue, Stanley

2010-09-01

We examined whether similarities and differences exist in the association between perceived discrimination and poor mental and physical health among Asian-American adult women and men. We also tested whether Asian-American women would have a lower perceived discrimination threshold for developing negative health outcomes than Asian-American men. Data were derived from the National Latino and Asian-American Study (2002-2003). A nationally representative sample of Asian-American adults (1,075 women and 972 men) was examined. There were more gender similarities than differences in the strong association between discrimination and health. More prominent gender differences were found for the specific level of discrimination and its potential health effects. Specifically, for both Asian women and men, a high level of perceived discrimination showed stronger associations with mental health than with physical health outcomes. And yet, compared with men, the threshold of discrimination was lower for women in affecting mental and physical health status. The findings underscore that a high level of discrimination was associated with negative mental and physical health outcomes for both women and men. However, women had more negative mental and physical health outcomes when exposed to a lower threshold of discrimination than men. These findings suggest that failing to examine women and men separately in discrimination research may no longer be appropriate among the Asian-American population. Future research should focus attention on the biological, social, and political mechanisms that mitigate the adverse health effects of discrimination in order to develop a more comprehensive approach to eliminate disparities in health. 2010 Jacobs Institute of Women

The Primary Visual Cortex Is Differentially Modulated by Stimulus-Driven and Top-Down Attention

PubMed Central

Bekisz, Marek; Bogdan, Wojciech; Ghazaryan, Anaida; Waleszczyk, Wioletta J.; Kublik, Ewa; Wróbel, Andrzej

2016-01-01

Selective attention can be focused either volitionally, by top-down signals derived from task demands, or automatically, by bottom-up signals from salient stimuli. Because the brain mechanisms that underlie these two attention processes are poorly understood, we recorded local field potentials (LFPs) from primary visual cortical areas of cats as they performed stimulus-driven and anticipatory discrimination tasks. Consistent with our previous observations, in both tasks, we found enhanced beta activity, which we have postulated may serve as an attention carrier. We characterized the functional organization of task-related beta activity by (i) cortical responses (EPs) evoked by electrical stimulation of the optic chiasm and (ii) intracortical LFP correlations. During the anticipatory task, peripheral stimulation that was preceded by high-amplitude beta oscillations evoked large-amplitude EPs compared with EPs that followed low-amplitude beta. In contrast, during the stimulus-driven task, cortical EPs preceded by high-amplitude beta oscillations were, on average, smaller than those preceded by low-amplitude beta. Analysis of the correlations between the different recording sites revealed that beta activation maps were heterogeneous during the bottom-up task and homogeneous for the top-down task. We conclude that bottom-up attention activates cortical visual areas in a mosaic-like pattern, whereas top-down attentional modulation results in spatially homogeneous excitation. PMID:26730705

Cryopreserved embryo transfer: adjacent or non-adjacent to failed fresh long GnRH-agonist protocol IVF cycle.

PubMed

Volodarsky-Perel, Alexander; Eldar-Geva, Talia; Holzer, Hananel E G; Schonberger, Oshrat; Reichman, Orna; Gal, Michael

2017-03-01

The optimal time to perform cryopreserved embryo transfer (CET) after a failed oocyte retrieval-embryo transfer (OR-ET) cycle is unknown. Similar clinical pregnancy rates were recently reported in immediate and delayed CET, performed after failed fresh OR-ET, in cycles with the gonadotrophin-releasing hormone (GnRH) antagonist protocol. This study compared outcomes of CET performed adjacently (<50 days, n = 67) and non-adjacently (≥50 to 120 days, n = 62) to the last OR-day of cycles with the GnRH agonist down-regulation protocol. Additional inclusion criteria were patients' age 20-38 years, the transfer of only 1-2 cryopreserved embryos, one treatment cycle per patient and artificial preparation for CET. Significantly higher implantation, clinical pregnancy and live birth rates were found in the non-adjacent group than in the adjacent group: 30.5% versus 11.3% (P = 0.001), 41.9% versus 17.9% (P = 0.003) and 32.3% versus 13.4% (P = 0.01), respectively. These results support the postponement of CET after a failed OR-ET for at least one menstrual cycle, when a preceding long GnRH-agonist protocol is used. Copyright © 2016 Reproductive Healthcare Ltd. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Discriminative stimulus effects of the imidazoline I2 receptor ligands BU224 and phenyzoline in rats.

PubMed

Qiu, Yanyan; Zhang, Yanan; Li, Jun-Xu

2015-02-15

Although imidazoline I2 receptor ligands have been used as discriminative stimuli, the role of efficacy of I2 receptor ligands as a critical determinant in drug discrimination has not been explored. This study characterized the discriminative stimulus effects of selective imidazoline I2 receptor ligands BU224 (a low-efficacy I2 receptor ligand) and phenyzoline (a higher efficacy I2 receptor ligand) in rats. Two groups of male Sprague-Dawley rats were trained to discriminate 5.6mg/kg BU224 or 32mg/kg phenyzoline (i.p.) from their vehicle in a two-lever food-reinforced drug discrimination procedure, respectively. All rats acquired the discriminations after an average of 18 (BU224) and 56 (phenyzoline) training sessions, respectively. BU224 and phenyzoline completely substituted for one another symmetrically. Several I2 receptor ligands (tracizoline, CR4056, RS45041, and idazoxan) all occasioned>80% drug-associated lever responding in both discriminations. The I2 receptor ligand 2-BFI and a monoamine oxidase inhibitor harmane occasioned>80% drug-associated lever responding in rats discriminating BU224. Other drugs that occasioned partial or less substitution to BU224 cue included clonidine, methamphetamine, ketamine, morphine, methadone and agmatine. Clonidine, methamphetamine and morphine also only produced partial substitution to phenyzoline cue. Naltrexone, dopamine D2 receptor antagonist haloperidol and serotonin (5-HT)2A receptor antagonist MDL100907 failed to alter the discriminative stimulus effects of BU224 or phenyzoline. Combined, these results are the first to demonstrate that BU224 and phenyzoline can serve as discriminative stimuli and that the low-efficacy I2 receptor ligand BU224 shares similar discriminative stimulus effects with higher-efficacy I2 receptor ligands such as phenyzoline and 2-BFI. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Second-order contrast based on the expectation of effort and reinforcement.

PubMed

Clement, Tricia S; Zentall, Thomas R

2002-01-01

Pigeons prefer signals for reinforcement that require greater effort (or time) to obtain over those that require less effort to obtain (T. S. Clement, J. Feltus, D. H. Kaiser, & T. R. Zentall, 2000). Preference was attributed to contrast (or to the relatively greater improvement in conditions) produced by the appearance of the signal when it was preceded by greater effort. In Experiment 1, the authors of the present study demonstrated that the expectation of greater effort was sufficient to produce such a preference (a second-order contrast effect). In Experiments 2 and 3, low versus high probability of reinforcement was substituted for high versus low effort, respectively, with similar results. In Experiment 3, the authors found that the stimulus preference could be attributed to positive contrast (when the discriminative stimuli represented an improvement in the probability of reinforcement) and perhaps also negative contrast (when the discriminative stimuli represented reduction in the probability of reinforcement).

Subliminal stimuli modulate somatosensory perception rhythmically and provide evidence for discrete perception.

PubMed

Baumgarten, Thomas J; Königs, Sara; Schnitzler, Alfons; Lange, Joachim

2017-03-09

Despite being experienced as continuous, there is an ongoing debate if perception is an intrinsically discrete process, with incoming sensory information treated as a succession of single perceptual cycles. Here, we provide causal evidence that somatosensory perception is composed of discrete perceptual cycles. We used in humans an electrotactile temporal discrimination task preceded by a subliminal (i.e., below perceptual threshold) stimulus. Although not consciously perceived, subliminal stimuli are known to elicit neuronal activity in early sensory areas and modulate the phase of ongoing neuronal oscillations. We hypothesized that the subliminal stimulus indirectly, but systematically modulates the ongoing oscillatory phase in S1, thereby rhythmically shaping perception. The present results confirm that, without being consciously perceived, the subliminal stimulus critically influenced perception in the discrimination task. Importantly, perception was modulated rhythmically, in cycles corresponding to the beta-band (13-18 Hz). This can be compellingly explained by a model of discrete perceptual cycles.

Human Decision Making Based on Variations in Internal Noise: An EEG Study

PubMed Central

Amitay, Sygal; Guiraud, Jeanne; Sohoglu, Ediz; Zobay, Oliver; Edmonds, Barrie A.; Zhang, Yu-Xuan; Moore, David R.

2013-01-01

Perceptual decision making is prone to errors, especially near threshold. Physiological, behavioural and modeling studies suggest this is due to the intrinsic or ‘internal’ noise in neural systems, which derives from a mixture of bottom-up and top-down sources. We show here that internal noise can form the basis of perceptual decision making when the external signal lacks the required information for the decision. We recorded electroencephalographic (EEG) activity in listeners attempting to discriminate between identical tones. Since the acoustic signal was constant, bottom-up and top-down influences were under experimental control. We found that early cortical responses to the identical stimuli varied in global field power and topography according to the perceptual decision made, and activity preceding stimulus presentation could predict both later activity and behavioural decision. Our results suggest that activity variations induced by internal noise of both sensory and cognitive origin are sufficient to drive discrimination judgments. PMID:23840904

Adults Show Less Sensitivity to Phonetic Detail in Unfamiliar Words, Too

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

White, Katherine S.; Yee, Eiling; Blumstein, Sheila E.; Morgan, James L.

2013-01-01

Young word learners fail to discriminate phonetic contrasts in certain situations, an observation that has been used to support arguments that the nature of lexical representation and lexical processing changes over development. An alternative possibility, however, is that these failures arise naturally as a result of how word familiarity affects…

Development and Validation of a Response Bias Scale (RBS) for the MMPI-2

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gervais, Roger O.; Ben-Porath, Yossef S.; Wygant, Dustin B.; Green, Paul

2007-01-01

This study describes the development of a Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI-2) scale designed to detect negative response bias in forensic neuropsychological or disability assessment settings. The Response Bias Scale (RBS) consists of 28 MMPI-2 items that discriminated between persons who passed or failed the Word Memory Test…

24 CFR 100.65 - Discrimination in terms, conditions and privileges and in services and facilities.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... facilities. (a) It shall be unlawful, because of race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or..., religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or national origin. (2) Failing or delaying maintenance or repairs of sale or rental dwellings because of race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or...

Using Behavioural Skills Training to Treat Aggression in Adults with Mild Intellectual Disability in a Forensic Setting

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Travis, Robert W.; Sturmey, Peter

2013-01-01

Background: Previous studies of anger management in people with intellectual disability failed to control for the effects of the number of provocative stimuli presented and lacked direct measures of behaviour and treatment integrity data. Methods: This experiment systematically assessed and presented discriminative stimuli for aggressive…

Technology-Enhanced Formative Assessment: A Research-Based Pedagogy for Teaching Science with Classroom Response Technology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Beatty, Ian D.; Gerace, William J.

2009-01-01

"Classroom response systems" (CRSs) are a promising instructional technology, but most literature on CRS use fails to distinguish between technology and pedagogy, to define and justify a pedagogical perspective, or to discriminate between pedagogies. "Technology-enhanced formative assessment" (TEFA) is our pedagogy for CRS-based science…

24 CFR 100.120 - Discrimination in the making of loans and in the provision of other financial assistance.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... which is or is to be secured by a dwelling, because of race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial..., failing or refusing to provide to any person, in connection with a residential real estate-related..., religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or national origin. ...

24 CFR 100.120 - Discrimination in the making of loans and in the provision of other financial assistance.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... which is or is to be secured by a dwelling, because of race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial..., failing or refusing to provide to any person, in connection with a residential real estate-related..., religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or national origin. ...

24 CFR 100.120 - Discrimination in the making of loans and in the provision of other financial assistance.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... which is or is to be secured by a dwelling, because of race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial..., failing or refusing to provide to any person, in connection with a residential real estate-related..., religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or national origin. ...

24 CFR 100.65 - Discrimination in terms, conditions and privileges and in services and facilities.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... facilities. (a) It shall be unlawful, because of race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or..., religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or national origin. (2) Failing or delaying maintenance or repairs of sale or rental dwellings because of race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or...

24 CFR 100.65 - Discrimination in terms, conditions and privileges and in services and facilities.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... facilities. (a) It shall be unlawful, because of race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or..., religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or national origin. (2) Failing or delaying maintenance or repairs of sale or rental dwellings because of race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or...

24 CFR 100.65 - Discrimination in terms, conditions and privileges and in services and facilities.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... facilities. (a) It shall be unlawful, because of race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or..., religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or national origin. (2) Failing or delaying maintenance or repairs of sale or rental dwellings because of race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or...

24 CFR 100.65 - Discrimination in terms, conditions and privileges and in services and facilities.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... facilities. (a) It shall be unlawful, because of race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or..., religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or national origin. (2) Failing or delaying maintenance or repairs of sale or rental dwellings because of race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or...

Community Mental Health Services: Dropping-In and Dropping-Out.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lonigan, Christopher J.; Muzekari, Louis H.

A number of studies have examined variables that discriminate individuals who drop out of mental health programs. However, relatively little attention has been focused on determining characteristics of individuals who fail to follow through after their initial contact with mental health services. This study was designed to provide a profile of…

Discrimination of tooth layers and dental restorative materials using cutting sounds.

PubMed

Zakeri, Vahid; Arzanpour, Siamak; Chehroudi, Babak

2015-03-01

Dental restoration begins with removing carries and affected tissues with air-turbine rotary cutting handpieces, and later restoring the lost tissues with appropriate restorative materials to retain the functionality. Most restoration materials eventually fail as they age and need to be replaced. One of the difficulties in replacing failing restorations is discerning the boundary of restorative materials, which causes inadvertent removal of healthy tooth layers. Developing an objective and sensor-based method is a promising approach to monitor dental restorative operations and to prevent excessive tooth losses. This paper has analyzed cutting sounds of an air-turbine handpiece to discriminate between tooth layers and two commonly used restorative materials, amalgam and composite. Support vector machines were employed for classification, and the averaged short-time Fourier transform coefficients were selected as the features. The classifier performance was evaluated from different aspects such as the number of features, feature scaling methods, classification schemes, and utilized kernels. The total classification accuracies were 89% and 92% for cases included composite and amalgam materials, respectively. The obtained results indicated the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed method.

Tagging radon daughters in low-energy scintillation detectors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McCarty, Kevin B.

2011-12-01

One problematic source of background in scintillator-based low-energy solar neutrino experiments such as Borexino is the presence of radon gas and its daughters. The mean lifetime of the α-emitter 214Po in the radon chain is sufficiently short, 0.24 ms, that its decay, together with that immediately preceding of 214Bi, is easily recognized as a “coincidence event.” This fact, combined with the capability of α/β pulse-shape discrimination, makes it possible to tag decays of 222Rn and its first four daughters via a likelihood-based method.

Phasic alertness enhances processing of face and non-face stimuli in congenital prosopagnosia.

PubMed

Tanzer, Michal; Weinbach, Noam; Mardo, Elite; Henik, Avishai; Avidan, Galia

2016-08-01

Congenital prosopagnosia (CP) is a severe face processing impairment that occurs in the absence of any obvious brain damage and has often been associated with a more general deficit in deriving holistic relations between facial features or even between non-face shape dimensions. Here we further characterized this deficit and examined a potential way to ameliorate it. To this end we manipulated phasic alertness using alerting cues previously shown to modulate attention and enhance global processing of visual stimuli in normal observers. Specifically, we first examined whether individuals with CP, similarly to controls, would show greater global processing when exposed to an alerting cue in the context of a non-facial task (Navon global/local task). We then explored the effect of an alerting cue on face processing (upright/inverted face discrimination). Confirming previous findings, in the absence of alerting cues, controls showed a typical global bias in the Navon task and an inversion effect indexing holistic processing in the upright/inverted task, while CP failed to show these effects. Critically, when alerting cues preceded the experimental trials, both groups showed enhanced global interference and a larger inversion effect. These results suggest that phasic alertness may modulate visual processing and consequently, affect global/holistic perception. Hence, these findings further reinforce the notion that global/holistic processing may serve as a possible mechanism underlying the face processing deficit in CP. Moreover, they imply a possible route for enhancing face processing in individuals with CP and thus shed new light on potential amelioration of this disorder. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Conditional automaticity in subliminal morphosyntactic priming.

PubMed

Ansorge, Ulrich; Reynvoet, Bert; Hendler, Jessica; Oettl, Lennart; Evert, Stefan

2013-07-01

We used a gender-classification task to test the principles of subliminal morphosyntactic priming. In Experiment 1, masked, subliminal feminine or masculine articles were used as primes. They preceded a visible target noun. Subliminal articles either had a morphosyntactically congruent or incongruent gender with the targets. In a gender-classification task of the target nouns, subliminal articles primed the responses: responses were faster in congruent than incongruent conditions (Experiment 1). In Experiment 2, we tested whether this congruence effect depended on gender relevance. In line with a relevance-dependence, the congruence effect only occurred in a gender-classification task but was absent in another categorical discrimination of the target nouns (Experiment 2). The congruence effect also depended on correct word order. It was diminished when nouns preceded articles (Experiment 3). Finally, the congruence effect was replicated with a larger set of targets but only for masculine targets (Experiment 4). Results are discussed in light of theories of subliminal priming in general and of subliminal syntactic priming in particular.

Organizational identification and commitment: correlates of sense of belonging and affective commitment.

PubMed

Dávila, Ma Celeste; Jiménez García, Gemma

2012-03-01

The general purpose of this work is to analyze the overlap between organizational identification and commitment. Specifically, our study focuses on the analysis of the differences and similarities between sense of belonging (a dimension of organizational identification) and affective commitment (a dimension of organizational commitment). In order to do this, we analyzed their discriminant validity and raised their relationship with variables that previous research had showed like precedent and subsequent variables of them: value congruence, perceived support, organizational citizenship behavior, and intention to continue in the organization. A total of 292 people at one organization completed surveys measuring the variables previously described. The results showed that sense of belonging and affective commitment are different concepts and they have different relationships with relation to precedent and subsequent variables. Affective commitment seems to be more useful than sense of belonging to predict organizational citizenship behavior aimed at the organization and intention to continue. Some practical implications are described.

Conflict monitoring and adaptation in individuals at familial risk for developing bipolar disorder.

PubMed

Patino, Luis R; Adler, Caleb M; Mills, Neil P; Strakowski, Stephen M; Fleck, David E; Welge, Jeffrey A; DelBello, Melissa P

2013-05-01

To examine conflict monitoring and conflict-driven adaptation in individuals at familial risk for developing bipolar disorder. We recruited 24 adolescents who had a parent with bipolar disorder and 23 adolescents with healthy parents. Participants completed an arrow version of the Eriksen Flanker Task that included trials with three levels of conflict: neutral, congruent, and incongruent flanks. Differences in performance were explored based upon the level of conflict in the current and previous trials. Individuals at risk for developing bipolar disorder performed more slowly than youth with healthy parents in all trials. Analyses evaluating sequential effects revealed that at-risk subjects responded more slowly than youth of healthy parents for all trial types when preceded by an incongruent trial, for incongruent trials preceded by congruent trials, and for neutral and congruent trials when preceded by neutral trials. In contrast to the comparison group, at-risk adolescents failed to display a response time advantage for incongruent trials preceded by an incongruent trial. When removing subjects with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), differences between groups in response time fell below significant level, but a difference in sequence modulation remained significant. Subjects at risk for bipolar disorder also displayed greater intra-subject response time variability for incongruent and congruent trials compared with the comparison adolescents. No differences in response accuracy were observed between groups. Adolescents at risk for developing bipolar disorder displayed specific deficits in cognitive flexibility, which might be useful as a potential marker related to the development of bipolar disorder. © 2013 John Wiley and Sons A/S. Published by Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Failure mechanisms of thermal barrier coatings exposed to elevated temperatures

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Miller, R. A.; Lowell, C. E.

1982-01-01

The failure of a ZrO2-8%Y2O3/Ni-14% Al-0.1% Zr coating system on Rene 41 in Mach 0.3 burner rig tests was characterized. High flame and metal temperatures were employed in order to accelerate coating failure. Failure by delamination was shown to precede surface cracking or spalling. This type of failure could be duplicated by cooling down the specimen after a single long duration isothermal high temperature cycle in a burner rig or a furnace, but only if the atmosphere was oxidizing. Stresses due to thermal expansion mismatch on cooling coupled with the effects of plastic deformation of the bond coat and oxidation of the irregular bond coat are the probable life limiting factors. Heat up stresses alone could not fail the coating in the burner rig tests. Spalling eventually occurs on heat up but only after the coating has already failed through delamination.

Discriminative stimulus properties of beta-phenylethylamine, deuterated beta-phenylethylamine, phenylethanolamine and some metabolites of phenylethylamine in rodents

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

Reid, D.; Goudie, A.J.

The discriminative stimulus (cue) properties of phenylethylamine (PEA) were analysed in rodents in a conventional two lever FR10 operant drug discrimination task. Rats trained to discriminate phenylethylamine at 30 mg/kg showed complete dose-related generalization to PEA and to two potential PEA metabolites: phenylethanolamine (PEOH) and N-Methyl PEA (NMPEA). Only partial (50%) generalization was seen with N-Methylphenylethanolamine (NMPEOH), another potential PEA metabolite. The specificity of PEA's action as a discriminative stimulus was demonstrated by the finding that fenfluramine, a substituted phenylethylamine, failed to generalize to PEA even at high doses with marked behavioural effects which are known to have discriminative stimulusmore » properties themselves. These data suggest that NMPEA and PEOH may be functionally important active metabolites of PEA, particularly if the major pathway of PEA metabolism to phenylacetic acid under the influence of MAO Type B is for any reason impaired. A long acting deuterium substituted form of PEA (alpha, alpha, d2 PEA), which is resistant to metabolism by MAO, produced complete dose-related generalization to the PEA cue but was more potent than PEA, due presumably to its resistance to metabolism by MAO. Deuterated PEA may therefore be a useful agent to use in future studies of the PEA cue, because the discriminability of PEA itself appears to be low due to its very rapid metabolism in vivo.« less

Gardner-Diamond syndrome: Difficulties in the management of patients with unexplained medical symptoms

PubMed Central

Meeder, Robert; Bannister, Susan

2006-01-01

The case of an adolescent girl who presented with unexplained bruising is reported. Subsequent investigations failed to elucidate an organic etiology. The diagnosis of Gardner-Diamond syndrome – a syndrome of predictable bruising preceded by pain and warmth at the bruise site, often associated with physical or psychosocial stress – was made. In the present report, the authors use their experience with this rare syndrome to highlight some important ethical and practical considerations with regard to investigation, treatment and communication in illnesses with unexplained medical symptoms. PMID:19030312

Legal hurdles for gastroenterologists in India.

PubMed

Nagpal, Neeraj

2017-05-01

Litigation and compensation claims have started occurring with increasing frequency against gastroenterologists in India. A study of few such cases decided by Indian Courts shows that commonest reason for allegations of negligence being upheld by Indian Courts is an improper consent being taken. Professional organisations need to focus on these issues more aggressively than has been done in the past. Judgments which do not appear to be in conformity with standard medical practices need to be challenged in higher courts, failing in which they would become precedents for future similar judgments.

Will students pass a competitive exam that they failed in their dreams?

PubMed

Arnulf, Isabelle; Grosliere, Laure; Le Corvec, Thibault; Golmard, Jean-Louis; Lascols, Olivier; Duguet, Alexandre

2014-10-01

We tested whether dreams can anticipate a stressful exam and how failure/success in dreams affect next-day performance. We collected information on students' dreams during the night preceding the medical school entrance exam. Demographic, academic, sleep and dream characteristics were compared to the students' grades on the exam. Of the 719 respondents to the questionnaire (of 2324 total students), 60.4% dreamt of the exam during the night preceding it. Problems with the exam appeared in 78% of dreams and primarily involved being late and forgetting answers. Reporting a dream about the exam on the pre-exam night was associated with better performance on the exam (p=.01). The frequency of dreams concerning the exam during the first term predicted proportionally higher performance on the exam (R=0.1, p=.01). These results suggest that the negative anticipation of a stressful event in dreams is common and that this episodic simulation provides a cognitive gain. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The market for precedent: shifting visions of the role of clinical negligence claims and trials.

PubMed

Mulcahy, Linda

2014-01-01

This article considers the interface between the standard setting activity of the NHS Litigation Authority, and the courts and uses the clinical negligence action as a prism through which to examine it. It is suggested that despite its many disadvantages, the clinical negligence action remains an important safety valve when internal regulatory systems fail or are insufficiently transparent to gain full legitimacy. More specifically, it explores the ways in which attitudes about the usefulness of the data contained in claims against the NHS have changed in the aftermath of a number of high profile inquiries which have focused on issues of poor performance. The article concludes that while much greater use is now been made of the data contained in claims when setting standards, strategies for prompting judicial precedent as an alternative way of mobilising standard setting behaviour remain under developed. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press; all rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Energy Metabolism Rewiring Precedes UVB-Induced Primary Skin Tumor Formation.

PubMed

Hosseini, Mohsen; Dousset, Léa; Mahfouf, Walid; Serrano-Sanchez, Martin; Redonnet-Vernhet, Isabelle; Mesli, Samir; Kasraian, Zeinab; Obre, Emilie; Bonneu, Marc; Claverol, Stephane; Vlaski, Marija; Ivanovic, Zoran; Rachidi, Walid; Douki, Thierry; Taieb, Alain; Bouzier-Sore, Anne-Karine; Rossignol, Rodrigue; Rezvani, Hamid Reza

2018-06-19

Although growing evidence indicates that bioenergetic metabolism plays an important role in the progression of tumorigenesis, little information is available on the contribution of reprogramming of energy metabolism in cancer initiation. By applying a quantitative proteomic approach and targeted metabolomics, we find that specific metabolic modifications precede primary skin tumor formation. Using a multistage model of ultraviolet B (UVB) radiation-induced skin cancer, we show that glycolysis, tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle, and fatty acid β-oxidation are decreased at a very early stage of photocarcinogenesis, while the distal part of the electron transport chain (ETC) is upregulated. Reductive glutamine metabolism and the activity of dihydroorotate dehydrogenase (DHODH) are both necessary for maintaining high ETC. Mice with decreased DHODH activity or impaired ETC failed to develop pre-malignant and malignant lesions. DHODH activity represents a major link between DNA repair efficiency and bioenergetic patterning during skin carcinogenesis. Copyright © 2018 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Contribution of different taste cells and signaling pathways to the discrimination of "bitter" taste stimuli by an insect.

PubMed

Glendinning, John I; Davis, Adrienne; Ramaswamy, Sudha

2002-08-15

Animals can discriminate among many different types of foods. This discrimination process involves multiple sensory systems, but the sense of taste is known to play a central role. We asked how the taste system contributes to the discrimination of different "bitter" taste stimuli in Manduca sexta caterpillars. This insect has approximately eight bilateral pairs of taste cells that respond selectively to bitter taste stimuli. Each bilateral pair of bitter-sensitive taste cells has a different molecular receptive range (MRR); some of these taste cells also contain two signaling pathways with distinctive MRRs and temporal patterns of spiking. To test for discrimination, we habituated the caterpillar's taste-mediated aversive response to one bitter taste stimulus (salicin) and then asked whether this habituation phenomenon generalized to four other bitter taste stimuli (caffeine, aristolochic acid, Grindelia extract, and Canna extract). We inferred that the two compounds were discriminable if the habituation phenomenon failed to generalize (e.g., from salicin to aristolochic acid). We found that M. sexta could discriminate between salicin and those bitter taste stimuli that activate (1) different populations of bitter-sensitive taste cells (Grindelia extract and Canna extract) or (2) different signaling pathways within the same bitter-sensitive taste cell (aristolochic acid). M. sexta could not discriminate between salicin and a bitter taste stimulus that activates the same signaling pathway within the same bitter-sensitive taste cell (caffeine). We propose that the heterogeneous population of bitter-sensitive taste cells and signaling pathways within this insect facilitates the discrimination of bitter taste stimuli.

Dissociable Hippocampal and Amygdalar D1-like receptor contribution to Discriminated Pavlovian conditioned approach learning

PubMed Central

Andrzejewski, Matthew E; Ryals, Curtis

2016-01-01

Pavlovian conditioning is an elementary form of reward-related behavioral adaptation. The mesolimbic dopamine system is widely considered to mediate critical aspects of reward-related learning. For example, initial acquisition of positively-reinforced operant behavior requires dopamine (DA) D1 receptor (D1R) activation in the basolateral amygdala (BLA), central nucleus of the amygdala (CeA), and the ventral subiculum (vSUB). However, the role of D1R activation in these areas on appetitive, non-drug-related, Pavlovian learning is not currently known. In separate experiments, microinfusions of the D1-like receptor antagonist SCH-23390 (3.0 nmol/0.5 μL per side) into the amygdala and subiculum preceded discriminated Pavlovian conditioned approach (dPCA) training sessions. D1-like antagonism in all three structures impaired the acquisition of discriminated approach, but had no effect on performance after conditioning was asymptotic. Moreover, dissociable effects of D1-like antagonism in the three structures on components of discriminated responding were obtained. Lastly, the lack of latent inhibition in drug-treated groups may elucidate the role of D1-like in reward-related Pavlovian conditioning. The present data suggest a role for the D1 receptors in the amygdala and hippocampus in learning the significance of conditional stimuli, but not in the expression of conditional responses. PMID:26632336

On the Limits of Infants' Quantification of Small Object Arrays

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Feigenson, Lisa; Carey, Susan

2005-01-01

Recent work suggests that infants rely on mechanisms of object-based attention and short-term memory to represent small numbers of objects. Such work shows that infants discriminate arrays containing 1, 2, or 3 objects, but fail with arrays greater than 3 [Feigenson, L., & Carey, S. (2003). Tracking individuals via object-files: Evidence from…

Gender Labeling and the Adoption of Sex-Typed Behaviors

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fagot, Beverly I.; And Others

1986-01-01

Tests the ability of 43 children, ranging in age from 20 months to 40 months, to discriminate between pictures of boys and girls and male and female adults. Compares children who passed this gender-task with those who failed it on three behaviors most often categorized as sex-typed: toy choice, aggression, and peer playmate selection. (HOD)

Enhancing Title Ix Due Process Standards in Campus Sexual Assault Adjudication: Considering the Roles of Distributive, Procedural, and Restorative Justice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Harper, Shannon; Maskaly, Jon; Kirkner, Anne; Lorenz, Katherine

2017-01-01

Title IX prohibits sex discrimination--including sexual assault--in higher education. The Department of Education Office for Civil Rights' 2011 "Dear Colleague Letter" outlines recommendations for campus sexual assault adjudication allowing a variety of procedures that fail to protect accused students' due process rights and victims'…

Higher Education Weighs the Impact of a Ruling on Gender Equity in Sports.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Naughton, Jim

1996-01-01

In Cohen vs. Brown University, a federal appeals court upheld a ruling favoring maintenance of college women's sports programs. The decision makes it clear that institutions should equalize athletic opportunities for men and women, but fails to resolve the debate over whether anti-discrimination statutes require numerical parity between men and…

Correlations of decision weights and cognitive function for the masked discrimination of vowels by young and old adults

PubMed Central

Lutfi, Robert A.

2014-01-01

Older adults are often reported in the literature to have greater difficulty than younger adults understanding speech in noise [Helfer and Wilber (1988). J. Acoust. Soc. Am, 859–893]. The poorer performance of older adults has been attributed to a general deterioration of cognitive processing, deterioration of cochlear anatomy, and/or greater difficulty segregating speech from noise. The current work used perturbation analysis [Berg (1990). J. Acoust. Soc. Am., 149–158] to provide a more specific assessment of the effect of cognitive factors on speech perception in noise. Sixteen older (age 56–79 years) and seventeen younger (age 19–30 years) adults discriminated a target vowel masked by randomly selected masker vowels immediately preceding and following the target. Relative decision weights on target and maskers resulting from the analysis revealed large individual differences across participants despite similar performance scores in many cases. On the most difficult vowel discriminations, the older adult decision weights were significantly correlated with inhibitory control (Color Word Interference test) and pure-tone threshold averages (PTA). Young adult decision weights were not correlated with any measures of peripheral (PTA) or central function (inhibition or working memory). PMID:25256580

Inter-relationships among diet, obesity and hippocampal-dependent cognitive function.

PubMed

Davidson, T L; Hargrave, S L; Swithers, S E; Sample, C H; Fu, X; Kinzig, K P; Zheng, W

2013-12-03

Intake of a Western diet (WD), which is high in saturated fat and sugar, is associated with deficits in hippocampal-dependent learning and memory processes as well as with markers of hippocampal pathology. In the present study, rats were trained to asymptote on hippocampal-dependent serial feature negative (FN) and hippocampal-independent simple discrimination problems. Performance was then assessed following 7 days on ad libitum chow and after 10, 24, 40, 60, and 90 days of maintenance on WD, on ketogenic (KETO) diet, which is high in saturated fat and low in sugar and other carbohydrates, or continued maintenance on chow (CHOW). Confirming and extending previous findings, diet-induced obese (DIO) rats fed WD showed impaired FN performance, increased blood-brain barrier (BBB) permeability, and increased fasting blood glucose levels compared to CHOW controls and to diet-resistant (DR) rats that did not become obese when maintained on WD. For rats fed the KETO diet, FN performance and BBB integrity were more closely associated with level of circulating ketone bodies than with obesity phenotype (DR or DIO), with higher levels of ketones appearing to provide a protective effect. The evidence also indicated that FN deficits preceded and predicted increased body weight and adiposity. This research (a) further substantiates previous findings of WD-induced deficits in hippocampal-dependent FN discriminations, (b) suggests that ketones may be protective against diet-induced cognitive impairment, and (c) provides evidence that diet-induced cognitive impairment precedes weight gain and obesity. Copyright © 2013 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Urinary excretion study following consumption of various poppy seed products and investigation of the new potential street heroin marker ATM4G.

PubMed

Maas, Alexandra; Krämer, Michael; Sydow, Konrad; Chen, Pai-Shan; Dame, Torsten; Musshoff, Frank; Diehl, Bernd W K; Madea, Burkhard; Hess, Cornelius

2017-03-01

Discrimination between street heroin consumption and poppy seed ingestion represents a major toxicological challenge in daily routine work. Several difficulties associated with conventional street heroin markers originate from their versatile occurrence in various poppy seed products and medications, respectively, as well as to small windows of detection. A novel opportunity to overcome these hindrances is represented by the new potential street heroin marker acetylated-thebaine-4-metabolite glucuronide (ATM4G), originating from thebaine during street heroin synthesis followed by metabolic reactions after administration. In this study, urine samples after consumption of different German poppy seed products and urine samples from subjects with suspicion of preceding heroin consumption were tested for ATM4G, 6-AC (6-acetylcodeine), papaverine, noscapine, 6-MAM (6-monoacetylmorphine), morphine, and codeine. Neither 6-AC and 6-MAM nor ATM4G but morphine and codeine could be detected in urine samples following poppy seed ingestion. As well, neither papaverine nor noscapine could be observed even after consumption of poppy seeds containing up to 37 µg noscapine and up to 9.8 µg papaverine, respectively. Concerning the urine samples with suspicion of preceding heroin consumption, ATM4G could be detected in 9 of 43 cases. By contrast, evidence of 6-AC and 6-MAM, respectively, could only be seen in 7 urine samples. In conclusion, ATM4G should be measured additionally in cases requiring discrimination of street heroin consumption from poppy seed intake. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The role of nicotinic receptor beta-2 subunits in nicotine discrimination and conditioned taste aversion.

PubMed

Shoaib, M; Gommans, J; Morley, A; Stolerman, I P; Grailhe, R; Changeux, J-P

2002-03-01

The subtypes of nicotinic receptors at which the behavioural effects of nicotine originate are not fully understood. These experiments use mice lacking the beta2 subunit of nicotinic receptors to investigate its role in nicotine discrimination and conditioned taste aversion (CTA). Wild-type and mutant mice were trained either in a two-lever nicotine discrimination procedure using a tandem schedule of food reinforcement, or in a counterbalanced two-flavour CTA procedure. Rates of lever-pressing of wild-type and mutant mice did not differ. Wild-type mice acquired discrimination of nicotine (0.4 or 0.8 mg/kg) rapidly and exhibited steep dose-response curves. Mutant mice failed to acquire these nicotine discriminations and exhibited flat dose-response curves. Both wild-type and mutant mice acquired discrimination of nicotine (1.6 mg/kg) although discrimination performance was weak in the mutants. Nicotine initially reduced response rates in wild-type and mutant mice, and tolerance developed to this effect in each genotype. Both genotypes acquired discrimination of morphine (3 mg/kg) with similar degrees of accuracy, and dose-response curves for morphine discrimination in the two genotypes were indistinguishable. Nicotine produced dose-related CTA in both genotypes, but the magnitude of the effect was less in the mutants than in the wild-type controls. It is concluded that nicotinic receptors containing the beta2 subunit play a major role in the discriminative stimulus and taste aversion effects of nicotine that may reflect psychological aspects of tobacco dependence. Such receptors appear to have a less crucial role in the response-rate, reducing effects of nicotine and in nicotine tolerance.

Nimodipine alters acquisition of a visual discrimination task in chicks.

PubMed

Deyo, R; Panksepp, J; Conner, R L

1990-03-01

Chicks 5 days old received intraperitoneal injections of nimodipine 30 min before training on either a visual discrimination task (0, 0.5, 1.0, or 5.0 mg/kg) or a test of separation-induced distress vocalizations (0, 0.5, or 2.5 mg/kg). Chicks receiving 1.0 mg/kg nimodipine made significantly fewer visual discrimination errors than vehicle controls by trials 41-60, but did not differ from controls 24 h later. Chicks in the 5 mg/kg group made significantly more errors when compared to controls both during acquisition of the task and during retention. Nimodipine did not alter separation-induced distress vocalizations at any of the doses tested, suggesting that nimodipine's effects on learning cannot be attributed to a reduction in separation distress. These data indicate that nimodipine's facilitation of learning in young subjects is dose dependent, but nimodipine failed to enhance retention.

Differentiating clinical groups using the serial color-word test (S-CWT).

PubMed

Hentschel, Uwe; Rubino, I Alex; Bijleveld, Catrien

2011-04-01

The present study attempted to differentiate 11 diagnostic groups by means of the Serial Color-Word Test (S-CWT), using multivariate discriminant analysis. Two alternative scoring systems of the S-CWT were outlined. Asample of 514 individuals who had clinical diagnoses of various types and 397 controls who had no diagnostic findings comprised the sample. The first discriminant analysis failed to differentiate the groups adequately. The groups were consequently reduced to four (schizophrenia, bipolar disorders, temporo-mandibular joint pain dysfunction syndrome, and eating disturbances), which gave better reclassification findings for a clinical application of the test. This classification gave over 55% correct assignments. The final four groups had a statistically significant discrimination on the test, which remained stable also in a bootstrap procedure. Implications for treatment indications and outcomes as well as strategies for further studies using the S-CWT are discussed.

Using PRECEDE to develop a weight management program for disadvantaged young adults.

PubMed

Walsh, Jennifer R; White, Adrienne A; Kattelmann, Kendra K

2014-01-01

To conduct a needs assessment using the PRECEDE model for the development of a weight management program for low-income young adults. Four phases were implemented using qualitative (focus groups and interviews) and quantitative (survey) methodologies, with steering committee guidance. Northeastern residential vocational center. Convenience sample of low-income young adults, 18-24 years old (total n = 203), who were attending a job training vocational center. General themes of life satisfaction determinants and issues related to weight, self-reported weight and related behavior, existing environmental supports, and desired changes of behavioral and environmental influences of weight. Content analysis of qualitative data; descriptive analysis and Student t test. Self-image and discrimination were themes for weight issues. More than half of participants were overweight or obese (57%) and had low levels of physical activity (58%). Self-reported fruit and vegetable intake was inadequate (<2.5 cups/d). Identified environmental factors most needing improvement were accessibility for walking and biking and availability of healthful food. Participants reported exercising, getting adequate sleep, eating healthful snacks, and effectively managing stress as behavior they were willing to change. The PRECEDE model was useful to identify concerns, priorities, and modifiable factors among a young adult community that can increase the relevancy of a weight management program. Copyright © 2014 Society for Nutrition Education and Behavior. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The influence of tectonic inheritance on crustal extension style following failed subduction of continental crust: applications to metamorphic core complexes in Papua New Guinea

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Biemiller, J.; Ellis, S. M.; Little, T.; Mizera, M.; Wallace, L. M.; Lavier, L.

2017-12-01

The structural, mechanical and geometric evolution of rifted continental crust depends on the lithospheric conditions in the region prior to the onset of extension. In areas where tectonic activity preceded rift initiation, structural and physical properties of the previous tectonic regime may be inherited by the rift and influence its development. Many continental rifts form and exhume metamorphic core complexes (MCCs), coherent exposures of deep crustal rocks which typically surface as arched or domed structures. MCCs are exhumed in regions where the faulted upper crust is displaced laterally from upwelling ductile material along a weak detachment fault. Some MCCs form during extensional inversion of a subduction thrust following failed subduction of continental crust, but the degree to which lithospheric conditions inherited from the preceding subduction phase control the extensional style in these systems remains unclear. For example, the Dayman Dome in Southeastern Papua New Guinea exposes prehnite-pumpellyite to greenschist facies rocks in a smooth 3 km-high dome exhumed with at least 24 km of slip along one main detachment normal fault, the Mai'iu Fault, which dips 21° at the surface. The extension driving this exhumation is associated with the cessation of northward subduction of Australian continental crust beneath the oceanic lithosphere of the Woodlark Plate. We use geodynamic models to explore the effect of pre-existing crustal structures inherited from the preceding subduction phase on the style of rifting. We show that different geometries and strengths of inherited subduction shear zones predict three distinct modes of subsequent rift development: 1) symmetric rifting by newly formed high-angle normal faults; 2) asymmetric rifting along a weak low-angle detachment fault extending from the surface to the brittle-ductile transition; and 3) extension along a rolling-hinge structure which exhumes deep crustal rocks in coherent rounded exposures. We propose the latter mode as an exhumation model for Dayman Dome and compare the model predictions to regional geophysical and geological evidence. Our models find that tectonically inherited subduction structures may strongly control subsequent extension style when the subduction thrust is weak and well-oriented for reactivation.

Cognitive Fatigue Influences Time-On-Task during Bodyweight Resistance Training Exercise

PubMed Central

Head, James R.; Tenan, Matthew S.; Tweedell, Andrew J.; Price, Thomas F.; LaFiandra, Michael E.; Helton, William S.

2016-01-01

Prior investigations have shown measurable performance impairments on continuous physical performance tasks when preceded by a cognitively fatiguing task. However, the effect of cognitive fatigue on bodyweight resistance training exercise task performance is unknown. In the current investigation 18 amateur athletes completed a full body exercise task preceded by either a cognitive fatiguing or control intervention. In a randomized repeated measure design, each participant completed the same exercise task preceded by a 52 min cognitively fatiguing intervention (vigilance) or control intervention (video). Data collection sessions were separated by 1 week. Participants rated the fatigue intervention with a significantly higher workload compared to the control intervention (p < 0.001). Additionally, participants self-reported significantly greater energetic arousal for cognitively fatiguing task (p = 0.02). Cognitive fatigue did not significantly impact number of repetitions completed during the exercise task (p = 0.77); however, when cognitively fatigued, participants had decreased percent time-on-task (57%) relative to the no fatigue condition (60%; p = 0.04). RPE significantly changed over time (p < 0.001), but failed to show significant differences between the cognitive fatigue intervention and control intervention (p > 0.05). There was no statistical difference for heart rate or metabolic expenditure as a function of fatigue intervention during exercise. Cognitively fatigued athletes have decreased time-on-task in bodyweight resistance training exercise tasks. PMID:27635122

Habituation, discrimination and anxiety in transgenic mice overexpressing acetylcholinesterase splice variants.

PubMed

Kofman, Ora; Shavit, Yehoshua; Ashkenazi, Sarit; Gabay, Shai

2007-12-14

TgS and TgR transgenic mice overexpress different splice variants of acetylcholinesterase and serve as models for genetic disruption of the cholinergic system. Whereas the TgS mouse overexpresses synaptic AChE, the TgR mouse overexpresses the rare readthrough variant whose C-terminal lacks the cysteine residue which permits adherence to the membrane. The two genotypes were compared to the parent strain, FVB/N mice on locomotion, discrimination learning and anxiety behavior following two exposures to the elevated plus maze. Male TgS mice were slower to acquire a simple odor discrimination, failed to habituate to a novel environment but were not impaired on reversal or set shifting compared to the FVB/N or TgR mice. In addition, TgS mice showed less avoidance behavior on the first exposure and but less exploration on the second exposure to the EPM. TgR mice were not impaired on discrimination learning; however, the females showed excessive running in circles in the activity meter. The findings suggest that the effects of overexpression of AChE are unique to different splice variants and may be sex-dependent.

Discrimination in lexical decision

PubMed Central

Feldman, Laurie Beth; Ramscar, Michael; Hendrix, Peter; Baayen, R. Harald

2017-01-01

In this study we present a novel set of discrimination-based indicators of language processing derived from Naive Discriminative Learning (ndl) theory. We compare the effectiveness of these new measures with classical lexical-distributional measures—in particular, frequency counts and form similarity measures—to predict lexical decision latencies when a complete morphological segmentation of masked primes is or is not possible. Data derive from a re-analysis of a large subset of decision latencies from the English Lexicon Project, as well as from the results of two new masked priming studies. Results demonstrate the superiority of discrimination-based predictors over lexical-distributional predictors alone, across both the simple and primed lexical decision tasks. Comparable priming after masked corner and cornea type primes, across two experiments, fails to support early obligatory segmentation into morphemes as predicted by the morpho-orthographic account of reading. Results fit well with ndl theory, which, in conformity with Word and Paradigm theory, rejects the morpheme as a relevant unit of analysis. Furthermore, results indicate that readers with greater spelling proficiency and larger vocabularies make better use of orthographic priors and handle lexical competition more efficiently. PMID:28235015

Mediators of the Relationship Between Racial Identity and Life Satisfaction in a Community Sample of African American Women and Men

PubMed Central

Yap, Stevie C. Y.; Settles, Isis H.; Pratt-Hyatt, Jennifer S.

2017-01-01

Few empirical studies have explored the mechanisms through which racial identity, the importance of racial group membership, affects well-being for racial/ethnic minorities. Using a community sample of 161 African American adults, the present study examined whether the association between racial identity (centrality, public regard, and private regard) and life satisfaction is mediated by two identity functions, belongingness and discrimination. Our results indicated that the relationships of centrality and private regard with life satisfaction were mediated by perceptions of belongingness. Furthermore, gender moderated the strength of each of these mediating effects, such that belongingness mediated these relationships for women but not for men. Our results also indicated that the relationship between public regard and life satisfaction was mediated by perceptions of discrimination. Furthermore, higher public regard was related to lower perceptions of discrimination for women but not men. However, a combined model for public regard and life satisfaction as mediated by discrimination failed to show moderated mediation. We discuss these results in relation to research and theory on racial identity and intersectionality. PMID:21341901

Mediators of the relationship between racial identity and life satisfaction in a community sample of African American women and men.

PubMed

Yap, Stevie C Y; Settles, Isis H; Pratt-Hyatt, Jennifer S

2011-01-01

Few empirical studies have explored the mechanisms through which racial identity, the importance of racial group membership, affects well-being for racial/ethnic minorities. Using a community sample of 161 African American adults, the present study examined whether the association between racial identity (centrality, public regard, and private regard) and life satisfaction is mediated by two identity functions, belongingness and discrimination. Our results indicated that the relationships of centrality and private regard with life satisfaction were mediated by perceptions of belongingness. Furthermore, gender moderated the strength of each of these mediating effects, such that belongingness mediated these relationships for women but not for men. Our results also indicated that the relationship between public regard and life satisfaction was mediated by perceptions of discrimination. Furthermore, higher public regard was related to lower perceptions of discrimination for women but not men. However, a combined model for public regard and life satisfaction as mediated by discrimination failed to show moderated mediation. We discuss these results in relation to research and theory on racial identity and intersectionality.

Discrimination in lexical decision.

PubMed

Milin, Petar; Feldman, Laurie Beth; Ramscar, Michael; Hendrix, Peter; Baayen, R Harald

2017-01-01

In this study we present a novel set of discrimination-based indicators of language processing derived from Naive Discriminative Learning (ndl) theory. We compare the effectiveness of these new measures with classical lexical-distributional measures-in particular, frequency counts and form similarity measures-to predict lexical decision latencies when a complete morphological segmentation of masked primes is or is not possible. Data derive from a re-analysis of a large subset of decision latencies from the English Lexicon Project, as well as from the results of two new masked priming studies. Results demonstrate the superiority of discrimination-based predictors over lexical-distributional predictors alone, across both the simple and primed lexical decision tasks. Comparable priming after masked corner and cornea type primes, across two experiments, fails to support early obligatory segmentation into morphemes as predicted by the morpho-orthographic account of reading. Results fit well with ndl theory, which, in conformity with Word and Paradigm theory, rejects the morpheme as a relevant unit of analysis. Furthermore, results indicate that readers with greater spelling proficiency and larger vocabularies make better use of orthographic priors and handle lexical competition more efficiently.

26 CFR 1.401(a)-4 - Optional forms of benefit (before 1994).

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... impermissibly favor employees in the highly compensated group, such plan may fail to satisfy section 401(a)(4... availability of each optional form of benefit must not discriminate in favor of the employees described in... paragraph (b) of this Q&A-1 for a description of the employees included in such group. This is true without...

Methodological Measurement Fruitfulness of Exploratory Structural Equation Modeling (ESEM): New Approaches to Key Substantive Issues in Motivation and Engagement

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Marsh, Herbert W.; Liem, Gregory Arief D.; Martin, Andrew J.; Morin, Alexandre J. S.; Nagengast, Benjamin

2011-01-01

The most popular measures of multidimensional constructs typically fail to meet standards of good measurement: goodness of fit, measurement invariance, lack of differential item functioning, and well-differentiated factors that are not so highly correlated as to detract from their discriminant validity. Part of the problem, the authors argue, is…

Poor Auditory Task Scores in Children with Specific Reading and Language Difficulties: Some Poor Scores Are More Equal than Others

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McArthur, Genevieve M.; Hogben, John H.

2012-01-01

Children with specific reading disability (SRD) or specific language impairment (SLI), who scored poorly on an auditory discrimination task, did up to 140 runs on the failed task. Forty-one percent of the children produced widely fluctuating scores that did not improve across runs (untrainable errant performance), 23% produced widely fluctuating…

The Recognition without Cued Recall Phenomenon: Support for a Feature-Matching Theory over a Partial Recollection Account

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ryals, Anthony J.; Cleary, Anne M.

2012-01-01

Among cues that fail to elicit successful recall, participants can still discriminate between cues that do and do not resemble studied items. This ability is referred to as recognition without cued recall (RWCR). We hypothesized that whereas recognition with cued recall is at least partly based on recalled studied information, RWCR results from a…

Paradigm Shift: Implementing "MEGA," a New Tool Proposed to Define and Assess Sexually Abusive Dynamics in Youth Ages 19 and Under

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rasmussen, Lucinda A.; Miccio-Fonseca, L. C.

2007-01-01

Previous definitions of sexually abusive behavior in children and adolescents were deficient in failing to (1) highlight salient neuropsychological elements and antisocial behaviors that may contribute to a youth's functioning; (2) discriminate among possible types of coercion (e.g., manipulation, threats, physical force, and use of weapons); and…

Social and nonsocial category discriminations in a chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) and American black bears (Ursus americanus).

PubMed

Vonk, Jennifer; Johnson-Ulrich, Zoe

2014-09-01

One captive adult chimpanzee and 3 adult American black bears were presented with a series of natural category discrimination tasks on a touch-screen computer. This is the first explicit comparison of bear and primate abilities using identical tasks, and the first test of a social concept in a carnivore. The discriminations involved a social relationship category (mother/offspring) and a nonsocial category involving food items. The social category discrimination could be made using knowledge of the overarching mother/offspring concept, whereas the nonsocial category discriminations could be made only by using perceptual rules, such as "choose images that show larger and smaller items of the same type." The bears failed to show above-chance transfer on either the social or nonsocial discriminations, indicating that they did not use either the perceptual rule or knowledge of the overarching concept of mother/offspring to guide their choices in these tasks. However, at least 1 bear remembered previously reinforced stimuli when these stimuli were recombined, later. The chimpanzee showed transfer on a control task and did not consistently apply a perceptual rule to solve the nonsocial task, so it is possible that he eventually acquired the social concept. Further comparisons between species on identical tasks assessing social knowledge will help illuminate the selective pressures responsible for a range of social cognitive skills.

Human Bertiella studeri in Spain, probably of African origin.

PubMed

Galan-Puchades, M T; Fuentes, M V; Mas-Coma, S

1997-06-01

A mature tapeworm and gravid proglottids of Bertiella studeri were reported from the stools of a 33-year-old pregnant Spanish woman. The patient had spent the six months preceding this discovery in Kenya. The evidence suggests a case of parasitism imported to Spain from the African continent. The patient presented no symptoms related to the parasite and the discovery in stools of a number of active, white structures led her to collect them. A morphologic and morphometric description of the material obtained is presented. Mebendazole failed to remove the parasite but niclosamide was effective.

Subliminal stimuli modulate somatosensory perception rhythmically and provide evidence for discrete perception

PubMed Central

Baumgarten, Thomas J.; Königs, Sara; Schnitzler, Alfons; Lange, Joachim

2017-01-01

Despite being experienced as continuous, there is an ongoing debate if perception is an intrinsically discrete process, with incoming sensory information treated as a succession of single perceptual cycles. Here, we provide causal evidence that somatosensory perception is composed of discrete perceptual cycles. We used in humans an electrotactile temporal discrimination task preceded by a subliminal (i.e., below perceptual threshold) stimulus. Although not consciously perceived, subliminal stimuli are known to elicit neuronal activity in early sensory areas and modulate the phase of ongoing neuronal oscillations. We hypothesized that the subliminal stimulus indirectly, but systematically modulates the ongoing oscillatory phase in S1, thereby rhythmically shaping perception. The present results confirm that, without being consciously perceived, the subliminal stimulus critically influenced perception in the discrimination task. Importantly, perception was modulated rhythmically, in cycles corresponding to the beta-band (13–18 Hz). This can be compellingly explained by a model of discrete perceptual cycles. PMID:28276493

Perception of biomechanical motions by infants: implementation of various processing constraints.

PubMed

Bertenthal, B I; Proffitt, D R; Kramer, S J

1987-11-01

Geometry informs us that there exist a large number of possible connectivity patterns consistent with a point-light display of a person walking. Yet there is only one pattern consistent with a "stick figure" representation of the human form, and that pattern is uniquely specified by those pairwise connections that remain locally rigid. In this study, sensitivity to local rigidity in biomechanical displays was investigated in 3- and 5-month-old infants. The results of Experiment 1 revealed that by 5 months of age, infants discriminate a locally rigid point-light walker display from one in which local rigidity is perturbed. In Experiment 2 we tested infants' sensitivity to the same stimuli when those stimuli were inverted. Contrary to the preceding experiment, the results revealed no evidence of discrimination. Taken together, these findings suggest that infants are sensitive to local rigidity in biomechanical displays but that this sensitivity is orientation specific. Possible mechanisms for this specificity are discussed in the context of additional constraints on the processing of biomechanical displays.

Performance of the Swedish version of the Revised Piper Fatigue Scale.

PubMed

Jakobsson, Sofie; Taft, Charles; Östlund, Ulrika; Ahlberg, Karin

2013-12-01

The Revised Piper Fatigue scale is one of the most widely used instruments internationally to assess cancer-related fatigue. The aim of the present study was to evaluate selected psychometric properties of a Swedish version of the RPFS (SPFS). An earlier translation of the SPFS was further evaluated and developed. The new version was mailed to 300 patients undergoing curative radiotherapy. The internal validity was assessed using Principal Axis Factor Analysis with oblimin rotation and multitrait analysis. External validity was examined in relation to the Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory-20 (MFI-20) and in known-groups analyses. Totally 196 patients (response rate = 65%) returned evaluable questionnaires. Principal axis factoring analysis yielded three factors (74% of the variance) rather than four as in the original RPFS. Multitrait analyses confirmed the adequacy of scaling assumptions. Known-groups analyses failed to support the discriminative validity. Concurrent validity was satisfactory. The new Swedish version of the RPFS showed good acceptability, reliability and convergent and- discriminant item-scale validity. Our results converge with other international versions of the RPFS in failing to support the four-dimension conceptual model of the instrument. Hence, RPFS suitability for use in international comparisons may be limited which also may have implications for cross-cultural validity of the newly released 12-item version of the RPFS. Further research on the Swedish version should address reasons for high missing rates for certain items in the subscale of affective meaning, further evaluation of the discriminative validity and assessment of its sensitivity in detecting changes over time. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Dichromatic Colour Vision in Wallabies as Characterised by Three Behavioural Paradigms

PubMed Central

Ebeling, Wiebke; Hemmi, Jan M.

2014-01-01

Despite lacking genetic evidence of a third cone opsin in the retina of any Australian marsupial, most species tested so far appear to be trichromatic. In the light of this, we have re-examined colour vision of the tammar wallaby which had previously been identified as a dichromat. Three different psychophysical tests, based on an operant conditioning paradigm, were used to confirm that colour perception in the wallaby can be predicted and conclusively explained by the existence of only two cone types. Firstly, colour-mixing experiments revealed a Confusion Point between the three primary colours of a LCD monitor that can be predicted by the cone excitation ratio of the short- and middle-wavelength sensitive cones. Secondly, the wavelength discrimination ability in the wallaby, when tested with monochromatic stimuli, was found to be limited to a narrow range between 440 nm and 500 nm. Lastly, an experiment designed to test the wallaby’s ability to discriminate monochromatic lights from a white light provided clear evidence for a Neutral Point around 485 nm where discrimination consistently failed. Relative colour discrimination seemed clearly preferred but it was possible to train a wallaby to perform absolute colour discriminations. The results confirm the tammar wallaby as a dichromat, and so far the only behaviourally confirmed dichromat among the Australian marsupials. PMID:24489742

Dichromatic colour vision in wallabies as characterised by three behavioural paradigms.

PubMed

Ebeling, Wiebke; Hemmi, Jan M

2014-01-01

Despite lacking genetic evidence of a third cone opsin in the retina of any Australian marsupial, most species tested so far appear to be trichromatic. In the light of this, we have re-examined colour vision of the tammar wallaby which had previously been identified as a dichromat. Three different psychophysical tests, based on an operant conditioning paradigm, were used to confirm that colour perception in the wallaby can be predicted and conclusively explained by the existence of only two cone types. Firstly, colour-mixing experiments revealed a Confusion Point between the three primary colours of a LCD monitor that can be predicted by the cone excitation ratio of the short- and middle-wavelength sensitive cones. Secondly, the wavelength discrimination ability in the wallaby, when tested with monochromatic stimuli, was found to be limited to a narrow range between 440 nm and 500 nm. Lastly, an experiment designed to test the wallaby's ability to discriminate monochromatic lights from a white light provided clear evidence for a Neutral Point around 485 nm where discrimination consistently failed. Relative colour discrimination seemed clearly preferred but it was possible to train a wallaby to perform absolute colour discriminations. The results confirm the tammar wallaby as a dichromat, and so far the only behaviourally confirmed dichromat among the Australian marsupials.

Categorical learning between 'male' and 'female' photographic human faces in jungle crows (Corvus macrorhynchos).

PubMed

Bogale, Bezawork Afework; Aoyama, Masato; Sugita, Shoei

2011-01-01

We trained jungle crows to discriminate among photographs of human face according to their sex in a simultaneous two-alternative task to study their categorical learning ability. Once the crows reached a discrimination criterion (greater than or equal to 80% correct choices in two consecutive sessions; binomial probability test, p<.05), they next received generalization and transfer tests (i.e., greyscale, contour, and 'full' occlusion) in Experiment 1 followed by a 'partial' occlusion test in Experiment 2 and random stimuli pair test in Experiment 3. Jungle crows learned the discrimination task in a few trials and successfully generalized to novel stimuli sets. However, all crows failed the greyscale test and half of them the contour test. Neither occlusion of internal features of the face, nor randomly pairing of exemplars affected discrimination performance of most, if not all crows. We suggest that jungle crows categorize human face photographs based on perceptual similarities as other non-human animals do, and colour appears to be the most salient feature controlling discriminative behaviour. However, the variability in the use of facial contours among individuals suggests an exploitation of multiple features and individual differences in visual information processing among jungle crows. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Comments on "Discrimination in the Pakistan Labour Market: Myth and Reality".

PubMed

Kazi, S

1991-01-01

While the paper critiqued by the author addresses the issue of labor market discrimination, it fails to focus upon the salient and pertinent issues at hand. The paper instead focuses mainly upon problems of underenumeration of women's work and argues that inadequate coverage of women's employment in official statistics has created or contributed to the myth that women do not work. To substantiate this position, the author then lists areas of women's involvement in productive activity to show that they are involved in all sectors of the economy. Women's contributions are, however, widely acknowledged, while underreporting has been debated as an issue. Furthermore, the author of the critique queries how underreporting may be considered discrimination; if anything, the phenomenon is a bias and failure of policymakers to collect pertinent data and not due to the labor market discrimination, and more typical in Western countries than in Pakistan. In the latter, the notion that women receive lower wages than men is seen as a myth, while the segregation of women into certain occupations is largely attributed to cultural constraints. The author also holds that it would have been good to incorporate premarket discrimination in the paper discussed whereby 1 group does not have access to factors such as education and skill training.

Learners' perspectives on the provision of condoms in South African public schools.

PubMed

de Bruin, W E; Panday-Soobrayan, S

2017-12-01

A stubborn health challenge for learners in South African public schools concerns sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). In 2015, the Department of Basic Education (DBE) proposed the provision of condoms and SRHR-services to learners in schools. This study aimed to contribute to the finalisation and implementation of DBE's policy by exploring learners' perspectives on the provision of condoms and SRHR-services in schools. Sixteen focus group discussions were conducted with learners (n = 116) from 33 public schools, to assess their attitudes, social influences, and needs and desires regarding condom provision and SRHR-services in schools. The majority of learners did not support condom provision in schools as they feared that it may increase sexual activity. Contrarily, they supported the provision of other SRHR-services as clinics fail to offer youth-friendly services. Learners' sexual behaviour and access to SRHR-services are strongly determined by their social environment, including traditional norms and values, and social-pressure from peers and adults. Learners' most pressing needs and desires to access condoms and SRHR-services in school concerned respect, privacy and confidentiality of such service provision. Implementation of DBE's policy must be preceded by an evidence-informed advocacy campaign to debunk myths about the risk of increased sexual activity, to advocate for why such services are needed, to shift societal norms towards open discussion of adolescent SRHR and to grapple with the juxtaposition of being legally empowered but socially inhibited to protect oneself from HIV, STIs and early pregnancy. Provision of condoms and other SRHR-services in schools must be sensitive to learners' privacy and confidentiality to minimise stigma and discrimination.

Usefulness of radiological signs of pulmonary congestion in predicting failed spontaneous breathing trials

PubMed Central

Antonio, Ana Carolina Peçanha; Teixeira, Cassiano; Castro, Priscylla Souza; Zanardo, Ana Paula; Gazzana, Marcelo Basso; Knorst, Marli

2017-01-01

ABSTRACT Objective: Inspiratory fall in intrathoracic pressure during a spontaneous breathing trial (SBT) may precipitate cardiac dysfunction and acute pulmonary edema. We aimed to determine the relationship between radiological signs of pulmonary congestion prior to an SBT and weaning outcomes. Methods: This was a post hoc analysis of a prospective cohort study involving patients in an adult medical-surgical ICU. All enrolled individuals met the eligibility criteria for liberation from mechanical ventilation. Tracheostomized subjects were excluded. The primary endpoint was SBT failure, defined as the inability to tolerate a T-piece trial for 30-120 min. An attending radiologist applied a radiological score on interpretation of digital chest X-rays performed before the SBT. Results: A total of 170 T-piece trials were carried out; SBT failure occurred in 28 trials (16.4%), and 133 subjects (78.3%) were extubated at first attempt. Radiological scores were similar between SBT-failure and SBT-success groups (median [interquartile range] = 3 [2-4] points vs. 3 [2-4] points; p = 0.15), which, according to the score criteria, represented interstitial lung congestion. The analysis of ROC curves demonstrated poor accuracy (area under the curve = 0.58) of chest x-rays findings of congestion prior to the SBT for discriminating between SBT failure and SBT success. No correlation was found between fluid balance in the 48 h preceding the SBT and radiological score results (ρ = −0.13). Conclusions: Radiological findings of pulmonary congestion should not delay SBT indication, given that they did not predict weaning failure in the medical-surgical critically ill population. (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT02022839 [http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/]) PMID:29364998

Cutaneous texture discrimination following transection of the dorsal spinal column in monkeys.

PubMed

Vierck, C J; Cooper, B Y

1998-01-01

Transection of the dorsal spinal column in monkeys has been shown to impair discrimination of the frequency or duration of repetitive tactile stimulation, without recovery over extended periods of postoperative testing. These deficits would be likely to prevent discrimination between textures presented passively and in sequence, if repetitive temporal sequences were distinguishing features of the textures. However, previous investigations of texture discrimination after dorsal column section did not obtain a deficit on tests involving active palpation of sandpaper surfaces. In the present study, rows of raised dots were stroked across the glabrous skin of one foot so that temporal entrainment of neural activity would constitute a prominent cue. The rows were oriented mediolaterally, and the textures moved proximodistally across the skin surface (varying the spacing between the rows). Four monkeys were trained to release a lever when the rougher of two textures was in contact with the skin, and the rough texture was preceded by one to three passes of a smooth texture. Stable levels of preoperative performance ranged from 78.6 to 85.7% correct responses. After interruption of the ipsilateral dorsal column, each monkey was impaired over at least 2 months of testing. One animal did not show evidence of recovery; two recovered partially from the initial deficit; and one returned to preoperative levels of performance after extensive retraining. These results are interpreted in terms of aberrant inhibitory influences which result from repetitive stimulation after a dorsal column lesion.

Pregnancy and employment leave: legal precedents and future policy.

PubMed

Gardin, S K; Richwald, G A

1986-01-01

An estimated 85% of female workers in the US become pregnant during their working lives; 62% of married US women were employed for some period during the 12 months preceding childbirth. Historically, US legislation has assumed a protectionist policy with regard to restricting prenatal and postpartum employment, yet this stance has not been backed up by protection of income, benefits, reinstatement, or seniority. The passage in 1964 of Title VII of the Federal Civil Rights Act banning discrimination on the basis of sex triggered a long string of legal battles fought on the premise that pregnancy is a disability. As a result of Congressional efforts, an amendment to Title VII--the Pregnancy Discrimination Act--was passed in 1978. This law requires that women disabled due to pregnancy or childbirth be provided with the same benefits as those provided other disabled employees. However, the law does not require an employer who does not provide disability benefits, paid sick leave, or medical benefits to other employees to provide them to pregnant women. A weakness of existing legislation is its failure to address the difficulties inherent in accommodating childbearing women in the labor force. Accommodation under the current employment system results in productivity disruption and financial losses for both employer and employee. In all other major industrial countries, maternity benefits such as paid leave before and after childbirth, reinstatement rights, and nursing breaks on the job are guaranteed through national legislation. Such benefits emanate from acknowledgment of women's essential participation in the labor force as well as their unique ability to give birth. Under a more flexible employment system, equal protection would not result in the denial of maternity leave to female employees, but rather the provision parental leave to male and female employees.

Alterations of carotid arterial mechanics preceding the wall thickening in patients with hypertension.

PubMed

Kim, Sung-Ai; Park, Sun-Hee; Jo, Sang-Ho; Park, Kyoung-Ha; Kim, Hyun-Sook; Han, Sang-Jin; Park, Woo-Jung; Ha, Jong-Won

2016-05-01

Carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT) is an established surrogate marker of atherosclerosis. However, cIMT may not reflect the whole arterial changes occurring in various pathologic conditions, such as hypertension. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether vascular properties of carotid artery (CA) in patients with hypertension differ from those of patients with diabetes and controls before the progression of cIMT. Vascular properties of CA were assessed in 402 consecutive asymptomatic subjects who have normal cIMT (131 with hypertension, 151 with diabetes mellitus, and 120 controls). Conventional carotid stiffness indices calculated from vessel diameter and blood pressure, and parameters from velocity-vector imaging (VVI), including vessel area, fractional area change (FAC), radial velocity, circumferential strain, and strain rate were measured to assess the differences between the groups. In univariate analysis, both patients with hypertension and diabetes showed higher elastic modulus, lower distensibility coefficients and FAC of VVI than those of controls. However, when adjusting for baseline covariates, only FAC (odds ratio [OR] = 0.82, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.70-0.97, p = 0.025) and vessel area (OR = 2.84, 95% CI = 1.64-4.91, p < 0.001) discriminated CA of patients with hypertension from those of controls. Also, patients with hypertension showed larger vessel area than diabetes (OR = 2.58, 95% CI = 1.75-3.80, p < 0.001) independent of baseline covariates. No significant vascular parameter was found to discriminate patients with diabetes from controls after adjustments. Despite normal cIMT, the CA of hypertensive patients was stiffer than those of controls and positive remodeling preceded the wall thickening independent of baseline covariates. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Getting it Right: The Art of Strategy and Operational Warfare

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-01-01

level strategic guidance. This latest revision reduces doctrinal clutter, and its crisp prose is a welcome stylistic improvement over previous...elements of power as “instruments,” joint doc- trine fails to make the cognitive discrimination necessary to deal with the challenges we face and...military, and economic elemental categories. This confusion creates a cognitive disso- nance within joint doctrine that remains unre- solved, seeing

The time course of shape discrimination in the human brain.

PubMed

Ales, Justin M; Appelbaum, L Gregory; Cottereau, Benoit R; Norcia, Anthony M

2013-02-15

The lateral occipital cortex (LOC) activates selectively to images of intact objects versus scrambled controls, is selective for the figure-ground relationship of a scene, and exhibits at least some degree of invariance for size and position. Because of these attributes, it is considered to be a crucial part of the object recognition pathway. Here we show that human LOC is critically involved in perceptual decisions about object shape. High-density EEG was recorded while subjects performed a threshold-level shape discrimination task on texture-defined figures segmented by either phase or orientation cues. The appearance or disappearance of a figure region from a uniform background generated robust visual evoked potentials throughout retinotopic cortex as determined by inverse modeling of the scalp voltage distribution. Contrasting responses from trials containing shape changes that were correctly detected (hits) with trials in which no change occurred (correct rejects) revealed stimulus-locked, target-selective activity in the occipital visual areas LOC and V4 preceding the subject's response. Activity that was locked to the subjects' reaction time was present in the LOC. Response-locked activity in the LOC was determined to be related to shape discrimination for several reasons: shape-selective responses were silenced when subjects viewed identical stimuli but their attention was directed away from the shapes to a demanding letter discrimination task; shape-selectivity was present across four different stimulus configurations used to define the figure; LOC responses correlated with participants' reaction times. These results indicate that decision-related activity is present in the LOC when subjects are engaged in threshold-level shape discriminations. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Element-specific spectral imaging of multiple contrast agents: a phantom study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Panta, R. K.; Bell, S. T.; Healy, J. L.; Aamir, R.; Bateman, C. J.; Moghiseh, M.; Butler, A. P. H.; Anderson, N. G.

2018-02-01

This work demonstrates the feasibility of simultaneous discrimination of multiple contrast agents based on their element-specific and energy-dependent X-ray attenuation properties using a pre-clinical photon-counting spectral CT. We used a photon-counting based pre-clinical spectral CT scanner with four energy thresholds to measure the X-ray attenuation properties of various concentrations of iodine (9, 18 and 36 mg/ml), gadolinium (2, 4 and 8 mg/ml) and gold (2, 4 and 8 mg/ml) based contrast agents, calcium chloride (140 and 280 mg/ml) and water. We evaluated the spectral imaging performances of different energy threshold schemes between 25 to 82 keV at 118 kVp, based on K-factor and signal-to-noise ratio and ranked them. K-factor was defined as the X-ray attenuation in the K-edge containing energy range divided by the X-ray attenuation in the preceding energy range, expressed as a percentage. We evaluated the effectiveness of the optimised energy selection to discriminate all three contrast agents in a phantom of 33 mm diameter. A photon-counting spectral CT using four energy thresholds of 27, 33, 49 and 81 keV at 118 kVp simultaneously discriminated three contrast agents based on iodine, gadolinium and gold at various concentrations using their K-edge and energy-dependent X-ray attenuation features in a single scan. A ranking method to evaluate spectral imaging performance enabled energy thresholds to be optimised to discriminate iodine, gadolinium and gold contrast agents in a single spectral CT scan. Simultaneous discrimination of multiple contrast agents in a single scan is likely to open up new possibilities of improving the accuracy of disease diagnosis by simultaneously imaging multiple bio-markers each labelled with a nano-contrast agent.

A hand and a field effect in on-line motor control in unilateral optic ataxia.

PubMed

Blangero, Annabelle; Gaveau, Valérie; Luauté, Jacques; Rode, Gilles; Salemme, Romeo; Guinard, Marine; Boisson, Dominique; Rossetti, Yves; Pisella, Laure

2008-05-01

Patients with bilateral optic ataxia fail to show rapid perturbation-induced corrections during manual aiming movements. Based on this, it has been proposed that this pathology results from a disruption of processes of on-line motor control in the posterior parietal cortex (PPC). Here, we show that on-line motor control performance in a patient with unilateral optic ataxia is similar to that of pointing towards stationary targets in peripheral vision, showing the same combination of hand and field effects. We also show that in the patient, manual correction towards his ataxic field was possible only when a preceding saccade (100msec earlier) rapidly provides foveal information about the new target location. In control subjects, manual correction was often, but not necessarily preceded by a saccade. These results allow us to put forward a model of visuo-manual transformation, which involves updating of the reach plan based on the target-eye error, and rely upon two dissociated spatial representations (of the hand and of the target, respectively) within the PPC.

Diagnosing the predisposition for diabetes mellitus by means of mid-IR spectroscopy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Frueh, Johanna; Jacob, Stephan; Dolenko, Brion; Haering, Hans-Ullrich; Mischler, Reinhold; Quarder, Ortrud; Renn, Walter; Somorjai, Raymond L.; Staib, Arnulf; Werner, Gerhard H.; Petrich, Wolfgang H.

2002-03-01

The vicious circle of insulin resistance and hyperinsulinemia is considered to precede the manifestation of diabetes type-2 by decades and the corresponding cluster of risk factors is described as the 'insulin resistance syndrome' or 'metabolic syndrome'. Since the present diagnosis of insulin resistance is expensive, time consuming and cumbersome, there is a need for diagnostic alternatives. We conducted a clinical study on 129 healthy volunteers and 99 patients suffering from the metabolic syndrome. We applied mid-infrared spectroscopy to dried serum samples from these donors and evaluated the spectra by means of disease pattern recognition (DPR). Substantial differences were found between the spectra originating from healthy volunteers and those spectra originating from patients with the metabolic syndrome. A linear discriminant analysis was performed using approximately one half of the sample set for teaching the classification algorithm. Within this teaching set, a classification sensitivity and specificity of 84 percent and 81 percent respectively can be derived. Furthermore, the resulting discriminant function was applied to an independent validation of the remaining half of the samples. For the discrimination between 'healthy' and 'metabolic syndrome' a sensitivity and a specificity of 80 percent and 82 percent respectively is obtained upon validating the algorithm with the independent validation set.

Neurological soft signs precede the onset of schizophrenia: a study of individuals with schizotypy, ultra-high-risk individuals, and first-onset schizophrenia.

PubMed

Chan, Raymond C K; Cui, Hui-Ru; Chu, Min-Yi; Zhang, Tian-Hong; Wang, Ya; Wang, Yi; Li, Zhi; Lui, Simon S Y; Wang, Ji-Jun; Cheung, Eric F C

2018-02-01

Neurological soft signs (NSS) are one of the biomarkers for schizophrenia spectrum disorders. However, a few studies have examined the prevalence of NSS across the schizophrenia spectrum. The present study adopted a quasi-longitudinal study design and examined the prevalence of NSS and their associations with clinical and behavioural manifestations in participants in different stages of the illness. The abridged version of the Cambridge Neurological Inventory was administered to 39 patients with the first-episode schizophrenia, 39 individuals with ultra-high risk (UHR) for psychosis, 39 individuals with schizotypy, and 39 healthy controls. Patients with the first-episode schizophrenia had a higher prevalence of NSS in motor coordination than healthy controls as well as individuals with UHR and schizotypy. Individuals with UHR exhibited a higher prevalence of sensory integration items than individuals with schizotypy and healthy controls. Discriminant analysis classified the membership of the individuals correctly across the spectrum with an accuracy of up to 60.9%. In particular, NSS could discriminate individuals with UHR from healthy controls at up to 85.9% accuracy. These findings suggest that NSS are robust biomarkers to detect and discriminate individuals in different stages of the schizophrenia spectrum from healthy controls.

Application of otolith shape analysis for stock discrimination and species identification of five goby species (Perciformes: Gobiidae) in the northern Chinese coastal waters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yu, Xin; Cao, Liang; Liu, Jinhu; Zhao, Bo; Shan, Xiujuan; Dou, Shuozeng

2014-09-01

We tested the use of otolith shape analysis to discriminate between species and stocks of five goby species ( Ctenotrypauchen chinensis, Odontamblyopus lacepedii, Amblychaeturichthys hexanema, Chaeturichthys stigmatias, and Acanthogobius hasta) found in northern Chinese coastal waters. The five species were well differentiated with high overall classification success using shape indices (83.7%), elliptic Fourier coefficients (98.6%), or the combination of both methods (94.9%). However, shape analysis alone was only moderately successful at discriminating among the four stocks (Liaodong Bay, LD; Bohai Bay, BH; Huanghe (Yellow) River estuary HRE, and Jiaozhou Bay, JZ stocks) of A. hasta (50%-54%) and C. stigmatias (65.7%-75.8%). For these two species, shape analysis was moderately successful at discriminating the HRE or JZ stocks from other stocks, but failed to effectively identify the LD and BH stocks. A large number of otoliths were misclassified between the HRE and JZ stocks, which are geographically well separated. The classification success for stock discrimination was higher using elliptic Fourier coefficients alone (70.2%) or in combination with shape indices (75.8%) than using only shape indices (65.7%) in C. stigmatias whereas there was little difference among the three methods for A. hasta. Our results supported the common belief that otolith shape analysis is generally more effective for interspecific identification than intraspecific discrimination. Moreover, compared with shape indices analysis, Fourier analysis improves classification success during inter- and intra-species discrimination by otolith shape analysis, although this did not necessarily always occur in all fish species.

View-invariant object recognition ability develops after discrimination, not mere exposure, at several viewing angles.

PubMed

Yamashita, Wakayo; Wang, Gang; Tanaka, Keiji

2010-01-01

One usually fails to recognize an unfamiliar object across changes in viewing angle when it has to be discriminated from similar distractor objects. Previous work has demonstrated that after long-term experience in discriminating among a set of objects seen from the same viewing angle, immediate recognition of the objects across 30-60 degrees changes in viewing angle becomes possible. The capability for view-invariant object recognition should develop during the within-viewing-angle discrimination, which includes two kinds of experience: seeing individual views and discriminating among the objects. The aim of the present study was to determine the relative contribution of each factor to the development of view-invariant object recognition capability. Monkeys were first extensively trained in a task that required view-invariant object recognition (Object task) with several sets of objects. The animals were then exposed to a new set of objects over 26 days in one of two preparatory tasks: one in which each object view was seen individually, and a second that required discrimination among the objects at each of four viewing angles. After the preparatory period, we measured the monkeys' ability to recognize the objects across changes in viewing angle, by introducing the object set to the Object task. Results indicated significant view-invariant recognition after the second but not first preparatory task. These results suggest that discrimination of objects from distractors at each of several viewing angles is required for the development of view-invariant recognition of the objects when the distractors are similar to the objects.

Timbre influences chord discrimination in black-capped chickadees (Poecile atricapillus) but not humans (Homo sapiens).

PubMed

Hoeschele, Marisa; Cook, Robert G; Guillette, Lauren M; Hahn, Allison H; Sturdy, Christopher B

2014-11-01

Timbre is an important attribute of sound both in music and nature. Previously, using an operant conditioning paradigm, we found that black-capped chickadees and humans show similar response patterns in discriminating triadic chords of the same timbre and transferred this discrimination to a novel key center (novel absolute pitch). The current study examined how varying the timbre of the chords influenced discrimination. Using a similar operant conditioning procedure, we trained humans (Experiment 1) and chickadees (Experiments 2 and 3) to discriminate a major chord from 6 other chord types that had semitone deviations from the major chord. The pattern of errors of the 2 species replicated our previous findings. We then tested participants with novel timbres. We found that humans readily transferred their discrimination to novel timbres, suggesting they were attending to triadic pitch relations. The chickadees failed to transfer to novel timbres, suggesting they were using a different strategy to perform the original chord discrimination. We conducted an acoustic analysis examining frequency ranges that are biologically relevant to chickadees. We found that the relative intensity within each chord of the frequencies used in black-capped chickadee song significantly correlated with chickadees' percent response during probe testing. In Experiment 3, we trained a new set of chickadees by including either expanded pitch or timbre training before testing. Although chickadees showed some transfer to novel chords following this expanded training, we found that neither type of expanded training helped the chickadees when probe tested with novel stimuli. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved).

Methodology of clinical trials evaluating the incorporation of new drugs in the first-line treatment of patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL): a critical review.

PubMed

Iacoboni, G; Zucca, E; Ghielmini, M; Stathis, A

2018-05-01

The first-line treatment of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is the combination of rituximab with CHOP (cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, prednisone) chemotherapy, curing approximately 60% of patients. Many clinical trials have been carried out over the last 10 years trying to improve the results of this treatment, but the appropriateness of their planning strategies could be rediscussed. Reports of phase III trials evaluating the addition of molecularly targeted agents or new monoclonal antibodies to the classic R-CHOP backbone in first-line induction or maintenance treatment were reviewed. The trial design, primary end point, number of patients enrolled, patient selection criteria, treatment schedule and results were registered for each one. In addition, the phases I and II trials which preceded these phase III trials were also reviewed. Among six phase III trials with results, only one trial evaluating lenalidomide maintenance after response to R-CHOP induction was positive and reached its primary end point. The other five trials did not show an improved outcome with the addition of the new agent. The preceding phases I and II trials were very heterogeneous in their end points and design. Even though most of these trials were considered positive, thus encouraging further investigation, so far they failed to predict the results of the subsequent phase III trials. The standard of care for DLBCL is still R-CHOP. Phase I/II trials failed to predict the results of subsequent phase III trials evaluating non-chemotherapeutic agents added to R-CHOP. The methodology of phase II trials evaluating new agents in DLBCL needs to be better defined in the future.

Blind Insight: Metacognitive Discrimination Despite Chance Task Performance

PubMed Central

Dienes, Zoltan; Barrett, Adam B.; Bor, Daniel; Seth, Anil K.

2014-01-01

Blindsight and other examples of unconscious knowledge and perception demonstrate dissociations between judgment accuracy and metacognition: Studies reveal that participants’ judgment accuracy can be above chance while their confidence ratings fail to discriminate right from wrong answers. Here, we demonstrated the opposite dissociation: a reliable relationship between confidence and judgment accuracy (demonstrating metacognition) despite judgment accuracy being no better than chance. We evaluated the judgments of 450 participants who completed an AGL task. For each trial, participants decided whether a stimulus conformed to a given set of rules and rated their confidence in that judgment. We identified participants who performed at chance on the discrimination task, utilizing a subset of their responses, and then assessed the accuracy and the confidence-accuracy relationship of their remaining responses. Analyses revealed above-chance metacognition among participants who did not exhibit decision accuracy. This important new phenomenon, which we term blind insight, poses critical challenges to prevailing models of metacognition grounded in signal detection theory. PMID:25384551

Ups and Downs in Auditory Development: Preschoolers' Sensitivity to Pitch Contour and Timbre.

PubMed

Creel, Sarah C

2016-03-01

Much research has explored developing sound representations in language, but less work addresses developing representations of other sound patterns. This study examined preschool children's musical representations using two different tasks: discrimination and sound-picture association. Melodic contour--a musically relevant property--and instrumental timbre, which is (arguably) less musically relevant, were tested. In Experiment 1, children failed to associate cartoon characters to melodies with maximally different pitch contours, with no advantage for melody preexposure. Experiment 2 also used different-contour melodies and found good discrimination, whereas association was at chance. Experiment 3 replicated Experiment 2, but with a large timbre change instead of a contour change. Here, discrimination and association were both excellent. Preschool-aged children may have stronger or more durable representations of timbre than contour, particularly in more difficult tasks. Reasons for weaker association of contour than timbre information are discussed, along with implications for auditory development. Copyright © 2015 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

Real-Time Wavelength Discrimination for Improved Neutron Discrimination in CLYC

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

Hornback, Donald Eric; Hu, Michael Z.; Bell, Zane W.

We investigated the effects of optical filters on the pulse shape discrimination properties of Cs 2LiYCl 6:Ce (CLYC) scintillator crystals. By viewing the scintillation light through various optical filters, we attempted to better distinguish between neutron and gamma ray events in the crystal. We applied commercial interference and colored glass filters in addition to fabricating quantum dot (QD) filters by suspending QDs in plastic films and glass. QD filters ultimately failed because of instability of the QDs with respect to oxidation when exposed to ambient air, and the tendency of the QDs to aggregate in the plastic. Of the commercialmore » filters, the best results were obtained with a bandpass interference filter covering the spectral region containing core-valence luminescence (CVL) light. However, the PSD response of filtered CLYC light was always poorer than the response exhibited by unfiltered light because filters always reduced the amount of light available for signal processing.« less

Heartburn in patients with achalasia.

PubMed Central

Spechler, S J; Souza, R F; Rosenberg, S J; Ruben, R A; Goyal, R K

1995-01-01

Heartburn, the main symptom of gastrooesophageal reflux disease (GORD), might be expected to occur infrequently in achalasia, a disorder characterised by a hypertensive lower oesophageal sphincter (LOS) that fails to relax. Nevertheless, it is often described by patients with achalasia. The medical records of 32 patients with untreated achalasia who complained of heartburn, and of 35 similar patients who denied the symptom, were reviewed to explore the implications of heartburn in this condition. Data on endoscopic and manometric findings, and on the onset and duration of oesophageal symptoms were collected. Three patterns of heartburn were observed: (1) in 8 patients (25%) the onset of heartburn followed the onset of dysphagia, (2) in 15 patients (47%) heartburn preceded the onset of dysphagia and persisted as dysphagia progressed, and (3) in 9 patients (28%), heartburn preceded the onset of dysphagia and stopped as dysphagia progressed. The mean (SD) basal LOS pressure in the patients with heartburn (38 (16) mm Hg) was significantly lower than that in patients without the symptom (52 (26) mm Hg); the lowest LOS pressure (29 (11) mm Hg) was observed in the subset of patients whose heartburn preceded the onset of dysphagia and then stopped. It is concluded that patients who have achalasia with heartburn have lower basal LOS pressures than patients who have achalasia without this symptom. In some patients with achalasia, the appearance of dysphagia is heralded by the disappearance of longstanding heartburn. For these patients, it is speculated that achalasia develops in the setting of underlying GORD. PMID:7590421

Discrimination learning and attentional set formation in a mouse model of Fragile X.

PubMed

Casten, Kimberly S; Gray, Annette C; Burwell, Rebecca D

2011-06-01

Fragile X Syndrome is the most prevalent genetic cause of mental retardation. Selective deficits in executive function, including inhibitory control and attention, are core features of the disorder. In humans, Fragile X results from a trinucleotide repeat in the Fmr1 gene that renders it functionally silent and has been modeled in mice by targeted deletion of the Fmr1 gene. Fmr1 knockout (KO) mice recapitulate many features of Fragile X syndrome, but evidence for deficits in executive function is inconsistent. To address this issue, we trained wild-type and Fmr1 KO mice on an experimental paradigm that assesses attentional set-shifting. Mice learned to discriminate between stimuli differing in two of three perceptual dimensions. Successful discrimination required attending only to the relevant dimension, while ignoring irrelevant dimensions. Mice were trained on three discriminations in the same perceptual dimension, each followed by a reversal. This procedure normally results in the formation of an attentional set to the relevant dimension. Mice were then required to shift attention and discriminate based on a previously irrelevant perceptual dimension. Wild-type mice exhibited the increase in trials to criterion expected when shifting attention from one perceptual dimension to another. In contrast, the Fmr1 KO group failed to show the expected increase, suggesting impairment in forming an attentional set. Fmr1 KO mice also exhibited a general impairment in learning discriminations and reversals. This is the first demonstration that Fmr1 KO mice show a deficit in attentional set formation.

Vowel Height Allophony and Dorsal Place Contrasts in Cochabamba Quechua.

PubMed

Gallagher, Gillian

2016-01-01

This paper reports on the results of two studies investigating the role of allophony in cueing phonemic contrasts. In Cochabamba Quechua, the uvularvelar place distinction is often cued by additional differences in the height of the surrounding vowels. An acoustic study documents the lowering effect of a preceding tautomorphemic or a following heteromorphemic uvular on the high vowels /i u/. A discrimination study finds that vowel height is a significant cue to the velar-uvular place contrast. These findings support a view of contrasts as collections of distinguishing properties, as opposed to oppositions in a single distinctive feature. © 2016 S. Karger AG, Basel.

The Effects of Different Standard Setting Methods and the Composition of Borderline Groups: A Study within a Law Curriculum

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dochy, Filip; Kyndt, Eva; Baeten, Marlies; Pottier, Sofie; Veestraeten, Marlies; Leuven, K. U.

2009-01-01

The aim of this study was to examine the effect of different standard setting methods on the size and composition of the borderline group, on the discrimination between different types of students and on the types of students passing with one method but failing with another. A total of 107 university students were classified into 4 different types…

Serotonin as a Biomarker: Stress Resilience among Battlefield Airmen Trainees

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-05-21

Report 3 . DATES COVERED (From – To) January 2015 – May 2016 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE Serotonin as a Biomarker: Stress Resilience among Battlefield...failed (33.3%), and 3 (14.3%) self-initiated elimination. Discriminant analysis showed that subjects with increased serotonin levels were more likely to... 3 Table 2. p-Values for t-Tests for Differences between Graduates and Failures and p-values for F

Why it's time to recognise Indigenous peoples in the Constitution.

PubMed

Williams, George

2015-06-01

This article provides an overview of why it is proposed that the Australian Constitution be changed to recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. It then establishes what changes are needed to the Constitution. The Australian Constitution fails to recognise Indigenous peoples, and still enables discrimination against them. This provides a sound case for changing the document. © The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists 2015.

Embedded measures of performance validity using verbal fluency tests in a clinical sample.

PubMed

Sugarman, Michael A; Axelrod, Bradley N

2015-01-01

The objective of this study was to determine to what extent verbal fluency measures can be used as performance validity indicators during neuropsychological evaluation. Participants were clinically referred for neuropsychological evaluation in an urban-based Veteran's Affairs hospital. Participants were placed into 2 groups based on their objectively evaluated effort on performance validity tests (PVTs). Individuals who exhibited credible performance (n = 431) failed 0 PVTs, and those with poor effort (n = 192) failed 2 or more PVTs. All participants completed the Controlled Oral Word Association Test (COWAT) and Animals verbal fluency measures. We evaluated how well verbal fluency scores could discriminate between the 2 groups. Raw scores and T scores for Animals discriminated between the credible performance and poor-effort groups with 90% specificity and greater than 40% sensitivity. COWAT scores had lower sensitivity for detecting poor effort. A combination of FAS and Animals scores into logistic regression models yielded acceptable group classification, with 90% specificity and greater than 44% sensitivity. Verbal fluency measures can yield adequate detection of poor effort during neuropsychological evaluation. We provide suggested cut points and logistic regression models for predicting the probability of poor effort in our clinical setting and offer suggested cutoff scores to optimize sensitivity and specificity.

The discriminant capabilities of stability measures, trunk kinematics, and step kinematics in classifying successful and failed compensatory stepping responses by young adults.

PubMed

Crenshaw, Jeremy R; Rosenblatt, Noah J; Hurt, Christopher P; Grabiner, Mark D

2012-01-03

This study evaluated the discriminant capability of stability measures, trunk kinematics, and step kinematics to classify successful and failed compensatory stepping responses. In addition, the shared variance between stability measures, step kinematics, and trunk kinematics is reported. The stability measures included the anteroposterior distance (d) between the body center of mass and the stepping limb toe, the margin of stability (MOS), as well as time-to-boundary considering velocity (TTB(v)), velocity and acceleration (TTB(a)), and MOS (TTB(MOS)). Kinematic measures included trunk flexion angle and angular velocity, step length, and the time after disturbance onset of recovery step completion. Fourteen young adults stood on a treadmill that delivered surface accelerations necessitating multiple forward compensatory steps. Thirteen subjects fell from an initial disturbance, but recovered from a second, identical disturbance. Trunk flexion velocity at completion of the first recovery step and trunk flexion angle at completion of the second step had the greatest overall classification of all measures (92.3%). TTB(v) and TTB(a) at completion of both steps had the greatest classification accuracy of all stability measures (80.8%). The length of the first recovery step (r ≤ 0.70) and trunk flexion angle at completion of the second recovery step (r ≤ -0.54) had the largest correlations with stability measures. Although TTB(v) and TTB(a) demonstrated somewhat smaller discriminant capabilities than trunk kinematics, the small correlations between these stability measures and trunk kinematics (|r| ≤ 0.52) suggest that they reflect two important, yet different, aspects of a compensatory stepping response. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

How to develop a company AIDS policy.

PubMed

Bompey, S H

1986-07-01

It is for most businesses only a matter of time before they will have experience with Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), and the experience could be very costly for companies which fail to implement an effective AIDS policy. Potential AIDS problems include: antidiscrimination suits based on firing or failing to hire an individual who had AIDS or carries the AIDS virus antibodies; defamation suits from employees who are wrongly identified; disability claims that do not fit the pattern for other diseases; civil rights penalties in some situations when AIDS victims are prevented from working; and run-ins with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration or the National Labor Relations Board if healthy workers refuse to work alongside AIDS victims. A company needs to think through its AIDS policy, but that does not mean establishing a "special" AIDS policy which may create paranoia among employees. The best approach is to develop a health policy that includes all catastrophic illnesses, not just AIDS. There have been few court decisions involving AIDS because AIDS is a recent illness, victims often do not live long enough to pursue the matter, and it often pays to settle AIDS cases out of court. Employers need to know that judges, administrative agencies, and arbitrators take the position that AIDS is a disability. As such, AIDS is treated under the anti-handicap discrimination laws on the books of most states. Additionally, the Federal Rehabilitation Act of 1973 prohibits discrimination against the disabled by companies that contract with the federal government or receive federal financial assistance. It usually is illegal to discriminate against the disabled workers, and in some states against workers who are perceived to have a disability. The best defense against the fear of working alongside and AIDs sufferer is education.

Learning Discriminative Binary Codes for Large-scale Cross-modal Retrieval.

PubMed

Xu, Xing; Shen, Fumin; Yang, Yang; Shen, Heng Tao; Li, Xuelong

2017-05-01

Hashing based methods have attracted considerable attention for efficient cross-modal retrieval on large-scale multimedia data. The core problem of cross-modal hashing is how to learn compact binary codes that construct the underlying correlations between heterogeneous features from different modalities. A majority of recent approaches aim at learning hash functions to preserve the pairwise similarities defined by given class labels. However, these methods fail to explicitly explore the discriminative property of class labels during hash function learning. In addition, they usually discard the discrete constraints imposed on the to-be-learned binary codes, and compromise to solve a relaxed problem with quantization to obtain the approximate binary solution. Therefore, the binary codes generated by these methods are suboptimal and less discriminative to different classes. To overcome these drawbacks, we propose a novel cross-modal hashing method, termed discrete cross-modal hashing (DCH), which directly learns discriminative binary codes while retaining the discrete constraints. Specifically, DCH learns modality-specific hash functions for generating unified binary codes, and these binary codes are viewed as representative features for discriminative classification with class labels. An effective discrete optimization algorithm is developed for DCH to jointly learn the modality-specific hash function and the unified binary codes. Extensive experiments on three benchmark data sets highlight the superiority of DCH under various cross-modal scenarios and show its state-of-the-art performance.

Lack of influence of cytokeratin-positive mini micrometastases in "Negative Node" patients with colorectal cancer: findings from the national surgical adjuvant breast and bowel projects protocols R-01 and C-01.

PubMed

Fisher, Edwin R; Colangelo, Linda; Wieand, Samuel; Fisher, Bernard; Wolmark, Norman

2003-08-01

Results of the few extant reports concerning the clinical significance of so-called "occult micrometastases" of lymph nodes of patients with Dukes A and B colorectal cancer have been variable. We examined the presumably negative nodes of a larger cohort of such patients who were enrolled in the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project clinical trials R-01 and C-01 for the influence of what we preferably designate as nodal mini micrometastases on parameters of survival. Mini micrometastases were detected by immunohistochemical staining of the original lymph node sections with anticytokeratin A1/A3 in a total of 241 Dukes A and B patients with rectal and 158 with colonic cancers. Their frequency, as well as that of nuclear and histologic grades, and an estimation of their relationship to relative risks were correlated with overall and recurrence-free survival by univariate and multivariate analyses. Nodal mini micrometastases were detected in 73 of 399 (18.3 percent) patients of this cohort. They failed to exhibit any significant relationship to overall or recurrence-free survival. No association between the assessments of tumor differentiation and mini micrometastases was found. Nuclear and histologic grades also failed to further discriminate overall or recurrence-free survival in patients with A or B stages of colonic or rectal cancers in this cohort. The immunohistochemical demonstration of nodal mini micrometastases failed to discriminate high- and low-risk groups of patients with colorectal cancer who were designated as being node-negative after routine pathologic examination.

Search for breast cancer biomarkers in fractionated serum samples by protein profiling with SELDI-TOF MS.

PubMed

Opstal-van Winden, Annemieke W J; Beijnen, Jos H; Loof, Arnoud; van Heerde, Waander L; Vermeulen, Roel; Peeters, Petra H M; van Gils, Carla H

2012-01-01

Many high-abundant acute phase reactants have been previously detected as potential breast cancer biomar-kers. However, they are unlikely to be specific for breast cancer. Cancer-specific biomarkers are thought to be among the lower abundant proteins. We aimed to detect lower abundant discriminating proteins by performing serum fractionation by strong anion exchange chromatography preceding protein profiling with SELDI-TOF MS. In a pilot study, we tested the different fractions resulting from fractionation, on several array types. Fraction 3 on IMAC30 and Fraction 6 on Q10 yielded the most discriminative proteins and were used for serum protein profiling of 73 incident breast cancer cases and 73 matched controls. Eight peaks showed statistically significantly different intensities between cases and controls (P⧁0.05), and had less than 10% chance to be a false-positive finding. Seven of these were tentatively identified as apolipoprotein C-II (m/z 8,909), oxidized apolipoprotein C-II (m/z 8,925), apolipoprotein C-III (m/z 8,746), fragment of coagulation factor XIIIa (m/z 3,959), heterodimer of apolipoprotein A-I and apolipoprotein A-II (m/z 45,435), hemoglobin B-chain (m/z 15,915), and post-translational modified hemoglobin (m/z 15,346). By extensive serum fractionation, we detected many more proteins than in previous studies without fractionation. However, discriminating proteins were still high abundant. Results indicate that either lower abundant proteins are less distinctive, or more rigorous fractionation and selective protein depletion, or a more sensitive assay, are needed to detect lower abundant discriminative proteins. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Second-order schedules: discrimination of components1

PubMed Central

Squires, Nancy; Norborg, James; Fantino, Edmund

1975-01-01

Pigeons were exposed to a series of second-order schedules in which the completion of a fixed number of fixed-interval components produced food. In Experiment 1, brief (2 sec) stimulus presentations occurred as each fixed-interval component was completed. During the brief-stimulus presentation terminating the last fixed-interval component, a response was required on a second key, the brief-stimulus key, to produce food. Responses on the brief-stimulus key before the last brief-stimulus presentation had no scheduled consequences, but served as a measure of the extent to which the final component was discriminated from preceding components. Whether there were one, two, four, or eight fixed-interval components, responses on the brief-stimulus key occurred during virtually every brief-stimulus presentation. In Experiment 2, an attempt was made to punish unnecessary responses on the brief-stimulus key, i.e., responses on the brief-stimulus key that occurred before the last component. None of the pigeons learned to withhold these responses, even though they produced a 15-sec timeout and loss of primary reinforcement. In Experiment 3, different key colors were associated with each component of a second-order schedule (a chain schedule). In contrast to Experiment 1, brief-stimulus key responses were confined to the last component. It was concluded that pigeons do not discriminate well between components of second-order schedules unless a unique exteroceptive cue is provided for each component. The relative discriminability of the components may account for the observed differences in initial-component response rates between comparable brief-stimulus, tandem, and chain schedules. PMID:16811868

A dual-channel fluorescent chemosensor for discriminative detection of glutathione based on functionalized carbon quantum dots.

PubMed

Huang, Yuanyuan; Zhou, Jin; Feng, Hui; Zheng, Jieyu; Ma, Hui-Min; Liu, Weidong; Tang, Cong; Ao, Hang; Zhao, Meizhi; Qian, Zhaosheng

2016-12-15

A convenient, fluorescent dual-channel chemosensor on the basis of bis(3-pyridylmethyl)amine-functionalized carbon quantum dots (BPMA-CQDs) nanoprobe was constructed, and it can discriminatively detect glutathione from its analogues cysteine and homocysteine based on two distinctive strategies. Two distinct fluorescence responses of BPMA-CQDs probe to Cu(II) and Ag(I) were identified and further employed to achieve selective detection of Cu(II) and Ag(I) respectively. Based on the BPMA-CQDs/Cu(II) conjugate, discriminative detection of GSH was achieved in terms of correlation between the amounts of GSH and fluorescence recovery. The addition of GSH into BPMA-CQDs/Cu(II) system induces the reduction of Cu(II) to Cu(I), which could efficiently block PET process resulting in the following fluorescence recovery. Based on the BPMA-CQDs/Ag(I) conjugate, GSH assay could also be established on the basis of fluorescence response to GSH. The introduction of GSH into the preceding system triggers the competitive coordination to Ag(I) between BPMA and GSH, and silver ions are finally taken away by GSH from the probe, where the fluorescence is restored to its original weak state. Both of the detection strategies can achieve discriminative detection of GSH from Cys and Hcy. The assays showed good stability and repeatability, and covered a broad linear range of up to 13.3μM with a lowest detection limit of 42.0nM. Moreover, both of them were utilized to monitor GSH level in live cells. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Cocaine-like discriminative stimulus effects of "norepinephrine-preferring" monoamine releasers: time course and interaction studies in rhesus monkeys.

PubMed

Kohut, Stephen J; Jacobs, David S; Rothman, Richard B; Partilla, John S; Bergman, Jack; Blough, Bruce E

2017-12-01

The therapeutic potential of monoamine releasers with prominent dopaminergic effects is hindered by their high abuse liability. The present study examined the effects of several novel "norepinephrine (NE)-preferring" monoamine releasers relative to non-selective monoamine releasers, d-amphetamine and d-methamphetamine, in rhesus monkeys trained to discriminate cocaine. NE-preferring releasers were approximately 13-fold more potent for NE compared to dopamine release and ranged in potency for serotonin release (PAL-329 < l-methamphetamine < PAL-169). Adult rhesus macaques were trained to discriminate 0.4 mg/kg, IM cocaine on a 30-response fixed ratio schedule of food reinforcement. Substitution studies determined the extent to which test drugs produced cocaine-like discriminative stimulus effects and their time course. Drug interaction studies determined whether pretreatment with test drugs altered the discriminable effects of cocaine. Results show that cocaine, d-amphetamine, and d-methamphetamine dose-dependently substituted for cocaine with similar potencies. Among the "NE-preferring" releasers, PAL-329 and l-methamphetamine also dose-dependently substituted for cocaine but differed in potency. PAL-169 failed to substitute for cocaine up to a dose that disrupted responding. When administered prior to cocaine, only d-amphetamine and PAL-329 significantly shifted the cocaine dose-effect function leftward indicating enhancement of cocaine's discriminative stimulus effects. These data suggest that greater potency for NE relative to dopamine release (up to 13-fold) does not interfere with the ability of a monoamine releaser to produce cocaine-like discriminative effects but that increased serotonin release may have an inhibitory effect. Further characterization of these and other "NE-preferring" monoamine releasers should provide insight into their potential for the management of cocaine addiction.

Dissociable contributions of the orbitofrontal and infralimbic cortex to pavlovian autoshaping and discrimination reversal learning: further evidence for the functional heterogeneity of the rodent frontal cortex.

PubMed

Chudasama, Y; Robbins, Trevor W

2003-09-24

To examine possible heterogeneity of function within the ventral regions of the rodent frontal cortex, the present study compared the effects of excitotoxic lesions of the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) and the infralimbic cortex (ILC) on pavlovian autoshaping and discrimination reversal learning. During the pavlovian autoshaping task, in which rats learn to approach a stimulus predictive of reward [conditional stimulus (CS+)], only the OFC group failed to acquire discriminated approach but was unimpaired when preoperatively trained. In the visual discrimination learning and reversal task, rats were initially required to discriminate a stimulus positively associated with reward. There was no effect of either OFC or ILC lesions on discrimination learning. When the stimulus-reward contingencies were reversed, both groups of animals committed more errors, but only the OFC-lesioned animals were unable to suppress the previously rewarded stimulus-reward association, committing more "stimulus perseverative" errors. In contrast, the ILC group showed a pattern of errors that was more attributable to "learning" than perseveration. These findings suggest two types of dissociation between the effects of OFC and ILC lesions: (1) OFC lesions impaired the learning processes implicated in pavlovian autoshaping but not instrumental simultaneous discrimination learning, whereas ILC lesions were unimpaired at autoshaping and their reversal learning deficit did not reflect perseveration, and (2) OFC lesions induced perseverative responding in reversal learning but did not disinhibit responses to pavlovian CS-. In contrast, the ILC lesion had no effect on response inhibitory control in either of these settings. The findings are discussed in the context of dissociable executive functions in ventral sectors of the rat prefrontal cortex.

A multitrait-multisource confirmatory factor analytic approach to the construct validity of ADHD and ODD rating scales with Malaysian children.

PubMed

Gomez, Rapson; Burns, G Leonard; Walsh, James A; Hafetz, Nina

2005-04-01

Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to model a multitrait by multisource matrix to determine the convergent and discriminant validity of measures of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)-inattention (IN), ADHD-hyperactivity/impulsivity (HI), and oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) in 917 Malaysian elementary school children. The three trait factors were ADHD-IN, ADHDHI, and ODD. The two source factors were parents and teachers. Similar to earlier studies with Australian and Brazilian children, the parent and teacher measures failed to show convergent and discriminant validity with Malaysian children. The study outlines the implications of such strong source effects in ADHD-IN, ADHD-HI, and ODD measures for the use of such parent and teacher scales to study the symptom dimensions.

Curiosity and the end of discrimination

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Prescod-Weinstein, Chanda

2017-06-01

Systemic discrimination on the basis of gender and race, among other ascribed identities, harms minoritized people. This is a structural problem in society, and astronomy is not immune to it. Although we talk about the challenges faced by 'women and minorities', it is all too rare to acknowledge intersecting realities: some of us are minority women and our experiences are different from both white women and minority men, with sexism and racism compounding in nonlinear ways. Confronting the challenges associated with invoking an intersectional analysis can be daunting if the mainstream community continues to ignore helpful work from the social sciences, which can teach us new ways of understanding how we produce scientific knowledge. Rather than failing to question how science is done, we should let curiosity be our guide.

Misrepresentation, liberalism, and heterosexual bias in introductory psychology textbooks.

PubMed

McDonald, G

1981-01-01

The present study investigated the content of 48 introductory psychology textbooks published over a five-year period (1975-1979) and recommended by publishing companies or psychology professors for use in Canadian universities. The findings indicated that for every one source of relevant information on homosexuality there were five sources of misrepresentative data that reflect a combination of misleading information, liberalism, and heterosexual bias. Textbook editors and authors have: (1) failed to address the rights and needs of gay people; (2) failed to document accurately the social changes associated with being gay; and (3) perpetuated societal stereotypes, thereby appearing to justify the prejudice and discrimination encountered by gay people in their daily lives. Guidelines for the discussion of lesbianism and male homosexuality in introductory psychology textbooks are proposed.

Reconciling the influence of task-set switching and motor inhibition processes on stop signal after-effects.

PubMed

Anguera, Joaquin A; Lyman, Kyle; Zanto, Theodore P; Bollinger, Jacob; Gazzaley, Adam

2013-01-01

Executive response functions can be affected by preceding events, even if they are no longer associated with the current task at hand. For example, studies utilizing the stop signal task have reported slower response times to "GO" stimuli when the preceding trial involved the presentation of a "STOP" signal. However, the neural mechanisms that underlie this behavioral after-effect are unclear. To address this, behavioral and electroencephalography (EEG) measures were examined in 18 young adults (18-30 years) on "GO" trials following a previously "Successful Inhibition" trial (pSI), a previously "Failed Inhibition" trial (pFI), and a previous "GO" trial (pGO). Like previous research, slower response times were observed during both pSI and pFI trials (i.e., "GO" trials that were preceded by a successful and unsuccessful inhibition trial, respectively) compared to pGO trials (i.e., "GO" trials that were preceded by another "GO" trial). Interestingly, response time slowing was greater during pSI trials compared to pFI trials, suggesting executive control is influenced by both task set switching and persisting motor inhibition processes. Follow-up behavioral analyses indicated that these effects resulted from between-trial control adjustments rather than repetition priming effects. Analyses of inter-electrode coherence (IEC) and inter-trial coherence (ITC) indicated that both pSI and pFI trials showed greater phase synchrony during the inter-trial interval compared to pGO trials. Unlike the IEC findings, differential ITC was present within the beta and alpha frequency bands in line with the observed behavior (pSI > pFI > pGO), suggestive of more consistent phase synchrony involving motor inhibition processes during the ITI at a regional level. These findings suggest that between-trial control adjustments involved with task-set switching and motor inhibition processes influence subsequent performance, providing new insights into the dynamic nature of executive control.

DOE Program on Seismic Characterization for Regions of Interest to CTBT Monitoring,

DTIC Science & Technology

1995-08-14

processing of the monitoring network data). While developing and testing the corrections and other parameters needed by the automated processing systems...the secondary network. Parameters tabulated in the knowledge base must be appropriate for routine automated processing of network data, and must also...operation of the PNDC, as well as to results of investigations of "special events" (i.e., those events that fail to locate or discriminate during automated

Gait impairment precedes clinical symptoms in spinocerebellar ataxia type 6.

PubMed

Rochester, Lynn; Galna, Brook; Lord, Sue; Mhiripiri, Dadirayi; Eglon, Gail; Chinnery, Patrick F

2014-02-01

Spinocerebellar ataxia type 6 (SCA6) is an inherited ataxia with no established treatment. Gait ataxia is a prominent feature causing substantial disability. Understanding the evolution of the gait disturbance is a key step in developing treatment strategies. We studied 9 gait variables in 24 SCA6 (6 presymptomatic; 18 symptomatic) and 24 controls and correlated gait with clinical severity (presymptomatic and symptomatic). Discrete gait characteristics precede symptoms in SCA6 with significantly increased variability of step width and step time, whereas a more global gait deficit was evident in symptomatic individuals. Gait characteristics discriminated between presymptomatic and symptomatic individuals and were selectively associated with disease severity. This is the largest study to include a detailed characterization of gait in SCA6, including presymptomatic subjects, allowing changes across the disease spectrum to be compared. Selective gait disturbance is already present in SCA6 before clinical symptoms appear and gait characteristics are also sensitive to disease progression. Early gait disturbance likely reflects primary pathology distinct from secondary changes. These findings open the opportunity for early evaluation and sensitive measures of therapeutic efficacy using instrumented gait analysis which may have broader relevance for all degenerative ataxias. © 2013 Movement Disorder Society.

Signaling added response-independent reinforcement to assess Pavlovian processes in resistance to change and relapse.

PubMed

Podlesnik, Christopher A; Fleet, James D

2014-09-01

Behavioral momentum theory asserts Pavlovian stimulus-reinforcer relations govern the persistence of operant behavior. Specifically, resistance to conditions of disruption (e.g., extinction, satiation) reflects the relation between discriminative stimuli and the prevailing reinforcement conditions. The present study assessed whether Pavlovian stimulus-reinforcer relations govern resistance to disruption in pigeons by arranging both response-dependent and -independent food reinforcers in two components of a multiple schedule. In one component, discrete-stimulus changes preceded response-independent reinforcers, paralleling methods that reduce Pavlovian conditioned responding to contextual stimuli. Compared to the control component with no added stimuli preceding response-independent reinforcement, response rates increased as discrete-stimulus duration increased (0, 5, 10, and 15 s) across conditions. Although resistance to extinction decreased as stimulus duration increased in the component with the added discrete stimulus, further tests revealed no effect of discrete stimuli, including other disrupters (presession food, intercomponent food, modified extinction) and reinstatement designed to control for generalization decrement. These findings call into question a straightforward conception that the stimulus-reinforcer relations governing resistance to disruption reflect the same processes as Pavlovian conditioning, as asserted by behavioral momentum theory. © Society for the Experimental Analysis of Behavior.

A note on the stability and discriminability of graph-based features for classification problems in digital pathology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cruz-Roa, Angel; Xu, Jun; Madabhushi, Anant

2015-01-01

Nuclear architecture or the spatial arrangement of individual cancer nuclei on histopathology images has been shown to be associated with different grades and differential risk for a number of solid tumors such as breast, prostate, and oropharyngeal. Graph-based representations of individual nuclei (nuclei representing the graph nodes) allows for mining of quantitative metrics to describe tumor morphology. These graph features can be broadly categorized into global and local depending on the type of graph construction method. While a number of local graph (e.g. Cell Cluster Graphs) and global graph (e.g. Voronoi, Delaunay Triangulation, Minimum Spanning Tree) features have been shown to associated with cancer grade, risk, and outcome for different cancer types, the sensitivity of the preceding segmentation algorithms in identifying individual nuclei can have a significant bearing on the discriminability of the resultant features. This therefore begs the question as to which features while being discriminative of cancer grade and aggressiveness are also the most resilient to the segmentation errors. These properties are particularly desirable in the context of digital pathology images, where the method of slide preparation, staining, and type of nuclear segmentation algorithm employed can all dramatically affect the quality of the nuclear graphs and corresponding features. In this paper we evaluated the trade off between discriminability and stability of both global and local graph-based features in conjunction with a few different segmentation algorithms and in the context of two different histopathology image datasets of breast cancer from whole-slide images (WSI) and tissue microarrays (TMA). Specifically in this paper we investigate a few different performance measures including stability, discriminability and stability vs discriminability trade off, all of which are based on p-values from the Kruskal-Wallis one-way analysis of variance for local and global graph features. Apart from identifying the set of local and global features that satisfied the trade off between stability and discriminability, our most interesting finding was that a simple segmentation method was sufficient to identify the most discriminant features for invasive tumour detection in TMAs, whereas for tumour grading in WSI, the graph based features were more sensitive to the accuracy of the segmentation algorithm employed.

About turn: how object orientation affects categorisation and mental rotation.

PubMed

Milivojevic, Branka; Hamm, Jeff P; Corballis, Michael C

2011-11-01

High-density ERPs evoked by rotated alphanumeric characters were examined to determine how neural processing is affected by stimulus orientation during letter/digit classifications and during mirror/normal discriminations. The former task typically produces response times that are unaffected by stimulus orientation while the latter is thought to require mental rotation. Sensitivity to orientation was first observed around 100-140 ms and this effect was attributed to differences in low-level features between vertical and oblique orientations. Subsequently, character misorientation amplified the N170, a neural marker of object classification, between 160 and 220 ms. Top-down processing is reflected in the ERPs beginning at 280-320 ms and this time range may reflect binding of ventral and dorsal stream information. In the case of mirror-normal discrimination these top-down processes can lead to mental rotation between 340 and 700 ms. Therefore, although neural processing reflects object orientation, these effects do not translate into increases in reaction-times or impaired accuracy for categorisation, and precede those that do in the mental-rotation task. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Blindsight modulation of motion perception.

PubMed

Intriligator, James M; Xie, Ruiman; Barton, Jason J S

2002-11-15

Monkey data suggest that of all perceptual abilities, motion perception is the most likely to survive striate damage. The results of studies on motion blindsight in humans, though, are mixed. We used an indirect strategy to examine how responses to visible stimuli were modulated by blind-field stimuli. In a 26-year-old man with focal striate lesions, discrimination of visible optic flow was enhanced about 7% by blind-field flow, even though discrimination of optic flow in the blind field alone (the direct strategy) was at chance. Pursuit of an imagined target using peripheral cues showed reduced variance but not increased gain with blind-field cues. Preceding blind-field prompts shortened reaction times to visible targets by about 10 msec, but there was no attentional crowding of visible stimuli by blind-field distractors. A similar efficacy of indirect blind-field optic flow modulation was found in a second patient with residual vision after focal striate damage, but not in a third with more extensive medial occipito-temporal damage. We conclude that indirect modulatory strategies are more effective than direct forced-choice methods at revealing residual motion perception after focal striate lesions.

Neural Substrates of View-Invariant Object Recognition Developed without Experiencing Rotations of the Objects

PubMed Central

Okamura, Jun-ya; Yamaguchi, Reona; Honda, Kazunari; Tanaka, Keiji

2014-01-01

One fails to recognize an unfamiliar object across changes in viewing angle when it must be discriminated from similar distractor objects. View-invariant recognition gradually develops as the viewer repeatedly sees the objects in rotation. It is assumed that different views of each object are associated with one another while their successive appearance is experienced in rotation. However, natural experience of objects also contains ample opportunities to discriminate among objects at each of the multiple viewing angles. Our previous behavioral experiments showed that after experiencing a new set of object stimuli during a task that required only discrimination at each of four viewing angles at 30° intervals, monkeys could recognize the objects across changes in viewing angle up to 60°. By recording activities of neurons from the inferotemporal cortex after various types of preparatory experience, we here found a possible neural substrate for the monkeys' performance. For object sets that the monkeys had experienced during the task that required only discrimination at each of four viewing angles, many inferotemporal neurons showed object selectivity covering multiple views. The degree of view generalization found for these object sets was similar to that found for stimulus sets with which the monkeys had been trained to conduct view-invariant recognition. These results suggest that the experience of discriminating new objects in each of several viewing angles develops the partially view-generalized object selectivity distributed over many neurons in the inferotemporal cortex, which in turn bases the monkeys' emergent capability to discriminate the objects across changes in viewing angle. PMID:25378169

The influence of tongue strength on oral viscosity discrimination acuity.

PubMed

Steele, Catriona M

2018-06-01

The ability to generate tongue pressures is widely considered to be critical for liquid bolus propulsion in swallowing. It has been proposed that the application of tongue pressure may also serve the function of collecting sensory information regarding bolus viscosity (resistance to flow). In this study, we explored the impact of age-related reductions in tongue strength on oral viscosity discrimination acuity. The experiment employed a triangle test discrimination protocol with an array of xanthan-gum thickened liquids in the mildly to moderately thick consistency range. A sample of 346 healthy volunteers was recruited, with age ranging from 12 to 86 (164 men, 182 women). On average, participants were able to detect a 0.29-fold increase in xanthan-gum concentration, corresponding to a 0.5-fold increase in viscosity at 50/s. Despite having significantly reduced tongue strength on maximum isometric tongue-palate pressure tasks, and regardless of sex, older participants in this study showed no reductions in viscosity discrimination acuity. In this article, the relationship between tongue strength and the ability to discriminate small differences in liquid viscosity during oral processing is explored. Given that tongue strength declines with age in healthy adults and is also reduced in individuals with dysphagia, it is interesting to determine whether reduced tongue strength might contribute to difficulties in evaluating liquid viscosity during the oral stage of swallowing. Using an array of mildly to moderately thick xanthan-gum thickened liquids, this experiment failed to find any evidence that reductions in tongue strength influence oral viscosity discrimination acuity. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Examining the Discriminative and Strengthening Effects of Reinforcers in Concurrent Schedules

PubMed Central

Boutros, Nathalie; Elliffe, Douglas; Davison, Michael

2011-01-01

Reinforcers may increase operant responding via a response-strengthening mechanism whereby the probability of the preceding response increases, or via some discriminative process whereby the response more likely to provide subsequent reinforcement becomes, itself, more likely. We tested these two accounts. Six pigeons responded for food reinforcers in a two-alternative switching-key concurrent schedule. Within a session, equal numbers of reinforcers were arranged for responses to each alternative. Those reinforcers strictly alternated between the two alternatives in half the conditions, and were randomly allocated to the alternatives in half the conditions. We also varied, across conditions, the alternative that became available immediately after a reinforcer. Preference after a single reinforcer always favored the immediately available alternative, regardless of the local probability of a reinforcer on that alternative (0 or 1 in the strictly alternating conditions, .5 in the random conditions). Choice then reflected the local reinforcer probabilities, suggesting some discriminative properties of reinforcement. At a more extended level, successive same-alternative reinforcers from an alternative systematically shifted preference towards that alternative, regardless of which alternative was available immediately after a reinforcer. There was no similar shift when successive reinforcers came from alternating sources. These more temporally extended results may suggest a strengthening function of reinforcement, or an enhanced ability to respond appropriately to “win–stay” contingencies over “win–shift” contingencies. PMID:21909166

Near-infrared Raman spectroscopy for estimating biochemical changes associated with different pathological conditions of cervix

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Daniel, Amuthachelvi; Prakasarao, Aruna; Ganesan, Singaravelu

2018-02-01

The molecular level changes associated with oncogenesis precede the morphological changes in cells and tissues. Hence molecular level diagnosis would promote early diagnosis of the disease. Raman spectroscopy is capable of providing specific spectral signature of various biomolecules present in the cells and tissues under various pathological conditions. The aim of this work is to develop a non-linear multi-class statistical methodology for discrimination of normal, neoplastic and malignant cells/tissues. The tissues were classified as normal, pre-malignant and malignant by employing Principal Component Analysis followed by Artificial Neural Network (PC-ANN). The overall accuracy achieved was 99%. Further, to get an insight into the quantitative biochemical composition of the normal, neoplastic and malignant tissues, a linear combination of the major biochemicals by non-negative least squares technique was fit to the measured Raman spectra of the tissues. This technique confirms the changes in the major biomolecules such as lipids, nucleic acids, actin, glycogen and collagen associated with the different pathological conditions. To study the efficacy of this technique in comparison with histopathology, we have utilized Principal Component followed by Linear Discriminant Analysis (PC-LDA) to discriminate the well differentiated, moderately differentiated and poorly differentiated squamous cell carcinoma with an accuracy of 94.0%. And the results demonstrated that Raman spectroscopy has the potential to complement the good old technique of histopathology.

Frequent mental distress (FMD) in Irish Travellers: discrimination and bereavement negatively influence mental health in the All Ireland Traveller Health Study.

PubMed

McGorrian, Catherine; Hamid, Noor Aman; Fitzpatrick, Patricia; Daly, Leslie; Malone, Kevin M; Kelleher, Cecily

2013-08-01

Travellers are an indigenous minority group in Ireland, with poorer life expectancy and health status than the general population. Recent data have shown that Travellers are at increased risk of poor mental health and sequelae from same. We aimed to examine the associations between sociodemographic and lifestyle factors with poor mental health in Irish Travellers. A census survey of all Travellers was undertaken, with 8,492 enumerated families (80% response rate). A random subset of 1,796 adults completed an adult health survey. Traveller peer researchers employed a novel oral-visual computer-aided data collection tool. Frequent mental distress (FMD) was defined as 14 or more days of poor mental health in the preceding 1 month. Prevalence ratios for typical associates of FMD were estimated using a Poisson regression model, adjusted for age and sex. FMD was present in 11.9% of Traveller respondents, and prevalence increased with age. After age and sex adjustment, FMD was more prevalent in those whose quality of life was impaired by physical health, by those who were recently bereaved of a friend or family member, and by those who had greater experiences of discrimination. This study shows that Travellers experience discrimination and bereavement, which negatively influence their mental health. The findings have implications for the mental healthcare needs of indigenous ethnic minorities worldwide.

Unstable networks among women in academe: the legal case of Shyamala Rajender.

PubMed

Kohlstedt, S; Fischer, S

2009-01-01

Scientific networks are often credited with bringing about institutional change and professional advancement, but less attention has been paid to their instability and occasional failures. In the 1970s optimism among academic women was high as changing US policies on sex discrimination in the workplace, including higher education, seemed to promise equity. Encouraged by colleagues, Shyamala Rajender charged the University of Minnesota with sex discrimination when if failed to consider her for a tenure-track position. The widely cited case of this chemist was not, however, settled easily and involved nearly a decade of university grievance procedures and litigation that grew to a class action lawsuit. As the case gained national attention and internal resistance stiffened, the clusters of women who had been encouraging flickered, faded and sometimes regrouped. A negotiated settlement (consent decree) ended Rajender's case, and it opened the door for hundreds of other to present their grievances regarding gender discrimination. Networks and support groups proved important but also unstable for individuals who sought equity before and during the implementation of the decree. The Rajender case thus exposes the painful, balky and inevitably contentious process of fighting discrimination. It also demonstrates the power and limits of institutions and litigation, as well as the possibilities and disappointments of informal and formal women's networks.

Individual variability in visual discrimination and reversal learning performance in common marmosets.

PubMed

Takemoto, Atsushi; Miwa, Miki; Koba, Reiko; Yamaguchi, Chieko; Suzuki, Hiromi; Nakamura, Katsuki

2015-04-01

Detailed information about the characteristics of learning behavior in marmosets is useful for future marmoset research. We trained 42 marmosets in visual discrimination and reversal learning. All marmosets could learn visual discrimination, and all but one could complete reversal learning, though some marmosets failed to touch the visual stimuli and were screened out. In 87% of measurements, the final percentage of correct responses was over 95%. We quantified performance with two measures: onset trial and dynamic interval. Onset trial represents the number of trials that elapsed before the marmoset started to learn. Dynamic interval represents the number of trials from the start before reaching the final percentage of correct responses. Both measures decreased drastically as a result of the formation of discrimination learning sets. In reversal learning, both measures worsened, but the effect on onset trial was far greater. The effects of age and sex were not significant as far as we used adolescent or young adult marmosets. Unexpectedly, experimental circumstance (in the colony or isolator) had only a subtle effect on performance. However, we found that marmosets from different families exhibited different learning process characteristics, suggesting some family effect on learning. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd and the Japan Neuroscience Society. All rights reserved.

Preverbal infants identify emotional reactions that are incongruent with goal outcomes

PubMed Central

Skerry, Amy E.; Spelke, Elizabeth S.

2014-01-01

Identifying the goal of another agent’s action allows an observer to make inferences not only about the outcomes the agent will pursue in the future and the means to be deployed in a given context, but also about the emotional consequences of goal-related outcomes. While numerous studies have characterized the former abilities in infancy, expectations about emotions have gone relatively unexplored. Using a violation of expectation paradigm, we present infants with an agent who attains or fails to attain a demonstrated goal, and reacts with positive or negative affect. Across several studies, we find that infants’ attention to a given emotional display differs depending on whether that reaction is congruent with the preceding goal outcome. Specifically, infants look longer at a negative emotional display when it follows a completed goal compared to when it follows a failed goal. The present results suggest that infants’ goal representations support expectations not only about future actions but also about emotional reactions, and that infants in the first year of life can relate different emotional reactions to conditions that elicit them. PMID:24321623

A prospect theory explanation of the disposition to trade losing investments for less than market price.

PubMed

Johnstone, D J

2002-06-01

Investors have a proven general reluctance to realize losses. The theory of "mental accounting" suggests that losses are easier to accept when mentally integrated with either preceding losses or with compensatory gains. Mental integration is made easier when a failed asset is exchanged against a new, apparently profitable, acquisition. The alternative is to sell the existing asset on the open market before re-investing the proceeds as desired. This is emotionally less appealing than "rolling over" a losing investment into a new venture by way of an asset trade. The psychological benefits of exchanging rather than selling a failed asset come at a cost. It is typical of trade-in arrangements, e.g., where one trades an old car against a new one, that the effective sale price of the existing asset is less than current market value. Acceptance of this low price adds to the investor's total monetary loss on the existing asset but is essential to an overall package deal apart from which that asset would often remain belatedly unsold.

Sexing California gulls using morphometrics and discriminant function analysis

USGS Publications Warehouse

Herring, Garth; Ackerman, Joshua T.; Eagles-Smith, Collin A.; Takekawa, John Y.

2010-01-01

A discriminant function analysis (DFA) model was developed with DNA sex verification so that external morphology could be used to sex 203 adult California Gulls (Larus californicus) in San Francisco Bay (SFB). The best model was 97% accurate and included head-to-bill length, culmen depth at the gonys, and wing length. Using an iterative process, the model was simplified to a single measurement (head-to-bill length) that still assigned sex correctly 94% of the time. A previous California Gull sex determination model developed for a population in Wyoming was then assessed by fitting SFB California Gull measurement data to the Wyoming model; this new model failed to converge on the same measurements as those originally used by the Wyoming model. Results from the SFB discriminant function model were compared to the Wyoming model results (by using SFB data with the Wyoming model); the SFB model was 7% more accurate for SFB California gulls. The simplified DFA model (head-to-bill length only) provided highly accurate results (94%) and minimized the measurements and time required to accurately sex California Gulls.

Intrahippocampal Administration of an NMDA Receptor Antagonist Impairs Spatial Discrimination Reversal Learning in Weanling Rats

PubMed Central

Watson, Deborah J.; Stanton, Mark E.

2009-01-01

Systemic administration of MK-801, an NMDA receptor antagonist, impairs reversal learning in weanling rats (Chadman, Watson, & Stanton, 2006). The brain systems responsible for this effect are not known in either adult or young animals. This study tested the hypothesis that hippocampal NMDA receptors are engaged in weanling-age rats during spatial discrimination reversal training in a T-maze. In Experiment 1, 26-day-old Long-Evans rats (P26) showed a dose-related impairment on this task following bilateral intrahippocampal administration of either 2.5 or 5.0 μg MK-801 or saline vehicle during the reversal training phase only. In Experiment 2, P26 rats were trained on the same task, but received intrahippocampal MK-801 (2.5 μg) during acquisition, reversal, both, or neither. MK-801 failed to impair acquisition, ruling out nonspecific “performance effects” of the drug. MK-801 impaired reversal irrespective of drug treatment during acquisition. NMDA receptor antagonism in the hippocampus is sufficient to account for the previously reported effects of systemic MK-801 on reversal of T-maze position discrimination. PMID:19248837

Opting out or denying discrimination? How the framework of free choice in American society influences perceptions of gender inequality.

PubMed

Stephens, Nicole M; Levine, Cynthia S

2011-10-01

American women still confront workplace barriers (e.g., bias against mothers, inflexible policies) that hinder their advancement at the upper levels of organizations. However, most Americans fail to recognize that such gender barriers still exist. Focusing on mothers who have left the workforce, we propose that the prevalent American assumption that actions are a product of choice conceals workplace barriers by communicating that opportunities are equal and that behavior is free from contextual influence. Study 1 reveals that stay-at-home mothers who view their own workplace departure as an individual choice experience greater well-being but less often recognize workplace barriers and discrimination as a source of inequality than do mothers who do not view their workplace departure as an individual choice. Study 2 shows that merely exposing participants to a message that frames actions in terms of individual choice increases participants' belief that society provides equal opportunities and that gender discrimination no longer exists. By concealing the barriers that women still face in the workplace, this choice framework may hinder women's long-term advancement in society.

Direction discrimination learning in normal and visually deprived cats and the effects of lateral suprasylvian lesions.

PubMed

Burnat, K; Zernicki, B

1997-01-01

We used 5 binocularly deprived cats (BD cats), 4 control cats reared also in the laboratory (C cats) and 4 cats reared in a normal environment (N cats). The cats were trained to discriminate an upward or downward-moving light spot versus a stationary spot (detection task) and then an upward versus a downward spot (direction task). The N and C cats learned slowly. The learning was slower than in previously studied discriminations of stationary stimuli. However, all N and C cats mastered the detection task and except one C cat the direction task. In contrast, 4 BD cats failed in the detection task and all in the direction task. This result is consistent with single-cell recording data showing impairment of direction analysis in the visual system in BD cats. After completing the training the upper part of the middle suprasylvian sulcus was removed unilaterally in 7 cats and bilaterally in 6 cats. Surprisingly, the unilateral lesions were more effective: the clear-cut retention deficits were found in 5 cats lesioned unilaterally, whereas only in one cat lesioned bilaterally.

Notes and comments "High and dry?" The Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act and liability protection for pharmaceutical manufacturers.

PubMed

Copper, B Kurt

2007-01-01

In an era filled with fears of bioterrorism, Congress approved the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act (PREPA) to encourage development of vaccines and other countermeasures. By providing pharmaceutical manufacturers with protection from liability for potential side effects, Congress has attempted to motivate manufacturers to produce a national stockpile of countermeasures. As part of PREPA, the government established a compensatory system intended to provide compensation to persons injured by countermeasures used during a public health emergency. Although the Act provides for a compensation fund, it fails to allocate monies for that fund. Thus, in the absence of further congressional action, PREPA will not provide compensation to those injured by countermeasures. Failing to assure the American public of a compensation program constitutes bad public policy and risks inspiring potential vaccinees to refuse necessary drugs. Additionally, arguments as to the constitutionality of the Act exist should Congress fail to adequately fund the program, and the existence of those arguments undermines the purpose of the Act--namely to assure pharmaceutical manufacturers that they will not be sued into oblivion should they attempt to aid national pandemic protection. In addition to detailing both the Act and the statutory precedent for congressional attempts to spur biodefense, this Article addresses important issues of healthcare, tort, and constitutional law that will continue to manifest themselves in this new era of bioterrorism.

Understanding current causes of women's underrepresentation in science.

PubMed

Ceci, Stephen J; Williams, Wendy M

2011-02-22

Explanations for women's underrepresentation in math-intensive fields of science often focus on sex discrimination in grant and manuscript reviewing, interviewing, and hiring. Claims that women scientists suffer discrimination in these arenas rest on a set of studies undergirding policies and programs aimed at remediation. More recent and robust empiricism, however, fails to support assertions of discrimination in these domains. To better understand women's underrepresentation in math-intensive fields and its causes, we reprise claims of discrimination and their evidentiary bases. Based on a review of the past 20 y of data, we suggest that some of these claims are no longer valid and, if uncritically accepted as current causes of women's lack of progress, can delay or prevent understanding of contemporary determinants of women's underrepresentation. We conclude that differential gendered outcomes in the real world result from differences in resources attributable to choices, whether free or constrained, and that such choices could be influenced and better informed through education if resources were so directed. Thus, the ongoing focus on sex discrimination in reviewing, interviewing, and hiring represents costly, misplaced effort: Society is engaged in the present in solving problems of the past, rather than in addressing meaningful limitations deterring women's participation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics careers today. Addressing today's causes of underrepresentation requires focusing on education and policy changes that will make institutions responsive to differing biological realities of the sexes. Finally, we suggest potential avenues of intervention to increase gender fairness that accord with current, as opposed to historical, findings.

Characterization of methadone as a β-arrestin-biased μ-opioid receptor agonist

PubMed Central

Doi, Seira; Mori, Tomohisa; Uzawa, Naoki; Arima, Takamichi; Takahashi, Tomoyuki; Uchida, Masashi; Yawata, Ayaka; Narita, Michiko; Uezono, Yasuhito; Suzuki, Tsutomu

2016-01-01

Background Methadone is a unique µ-opioid receptor agonist. Although several researchers have insisted that the pharmacological effects of methadone are mediated through the blockade of NMDA receptor, the underlying mechanism by which methadone exerts its distinct pharmacological effects compared to those of other µ-opioid receptor agonists is still controversial. In the present study, we further investigated the pharmacological profile of methadone compared to those of fentanyl and morphine as measured mainly by the discriminative stimulus effect and in vitro assays for NMDA receptor binding, µ-opioid receptor-internalization, and µ-opioid receptor-mediated β-arrestin recruitment. Results We found that fentanyl substituted for the discriminative stimulus effects of methadone, whereas a relatively high dose of morphine was required to substitute for the discriminative stimulus effects of methadone in rats. Under these conditions, the non-competitive NMDA receptor antagonist MK-801 did not substitute for the discriminative stimulus effects of methadone. In association with its discriminative stimulus effect, methadone failed to displace the receptor binding of MK801 using mouse brain membrane. Methadone and fentanyl, but not morphine, induced potent µ-opioid receptor internalization accompanied by the strong recruitment of β-arrestin-2 in µ-opioid receptor-overexpressing cells. Conclusions These results suggest that methadone may, at least partly, produce its pharmacological effect as a β-arrestin-biased µ-opioid receptor agonist, similar to fentanyl, and NMDA receptor blockade is not the main contributor to the pharmacological profile of methadone. PMID:27317580

Seismic Source Scaling and Discrimination in Diverse Tectonic Environments

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-09-30

provision of law, no person shall be subject to any penalty for failing to comply with a collection of information if it does not display a currently...least affected by travel through the earth. But finding well recorded earthquakes with -perfect- EGF events for direct wave analysis is difficult...North America. Each cluster contains a M- 2, and two contain M-3. as well as smaller aftershocks. We find that the corner frequencies and stress

The Bad Mother: Stigma, Abortion and Surrogacy.

PubMed

Abrams, Paula

2015-01-01

Stigma taints individuals with a spoiled identity and loss of status or discrimination. This article is the first to examine the stigma attached to abortion and surrogacy and consider how law may stigmatize women for failing to conform to social expectations about maternal roles. Courts should consider evidence of stigma when evaluating laws regulating abortion or surrogacy to determine whether these laws are based on impermissible gender stereotyping. © 2015 American Society of Law, Medicine & Ethics, Inc.

Derived Manding in Children with Autism: Synthesizing Skinner's Verbal Behavior with Relational Frame Theory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Murphy, Carol; Barnes-Holmes, Dermot; Barnes-Holmes, Yvonne

2005-01-01

Mand functions for two stimuli (A1 and A2) were trained for 3 children with autism and were then incorporated into two related conditional discriminations (A1-B1/A2 -B2 and B1-C1/B2-C2). Tests were conducted to probe for a derived transfer of mand response functions from Al and A2 to C1 and C2, respectively. When 1 participant failed to…

Graduate Course Contract Law Deskbook (54th). Volume 1

DTIC Science & Technology

2005-01-01

Corp. v. Am. Bakeries Co., 840 F. 2d 1333, 1341 (7th Cir. 1988)). c. The Government is not liable for acts of God that cause a reduction in...renew a license, permit, charter, franchise , or other similar grant to, or deny employment to, terminate employment of, or discriminate with respect...Burger King and McDonald’s franchise agreements violated two provisions of the Randolph-Sheppard Act: a. DOD failed to notify state licensing agencies

Lone-actor Terrorism and Impulsivity.

PubMed

Meloy, J Reid; Pollard, Jeffrey W

2017-11-01

In some recent cases of lone-actor terrorism, there is evidence the subject acted impulsively, often in response to a triggering event which contained a loss and humiliation. Evidence suggests the subjects acted precipitously, despite planning and preparation carried out in the preceding weeks or months, and their attacks failed to include the often considerable preparation that had been done. The pathway became a runway. The authors recommend the traditional assessment of impulsivity in persons of concern for lone acts of terrorism, as well as other proximal warning behaviors for targeted violence. Both indirect and direct assessment guidelines are proposed, with an emphasis upon self-report, psychological testing, collateral data gathering, and historical records. © 2017 American Academy of Forensic Sciences.

When expectation confounds iconic memory.

PubMed

Bachmann, Talis; Aru, Jaan

2016-10-01

In response to the methodological criticism (Bachmann & Aru, 2015) of the interpretation of their earlier experimental results (Mack, Erol, & Clarke, 2015) Mack, Erol, Clarke, and Bert (2016) presented new results that they interpret again in favor of the stance that an attention-free phenomenal iconic store does not exist. Here we once more question their conclusions. When their subjects were unexpectedly asked to report the letters instead of the post-cued circles in the 101th trial where letters were actually absent, they likely failed to see the empty display area because prior experience with letters in the preceding trials produced expectancy based illusory experience of letter-like objects. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Analysis of the Paternalistic Justification of an Agenda Setting Public Health Policy: The Case of Tobacco Plain Packaging

PubMed Central

Anker, Thomas Boysen

2016-01-01

This article analyses the paternalistic justification of the world’s first mandatory tobacco plain packaging policy, which came into force in Australia in 2012. The policy is setting international precedence, with a range of developed and developing countries planning and implementing similar policies. Understanding the paternalistic dimension of the policy is therefore of imminent international importance. The policy meets important ethical benchmarks such as respect for citizens’ self-interests and protection of others against harm. However, plain packaging faces a number of ethical challenges: the policy is a controversial type of paternalism; it runs partially against the harm principle; and it fails to meet key operational criteria. PMID:27551306

Endometrial injury to overcome recurrent embryo implantation failure: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

PubMed

Potdar, Neelam; Gelbaya, Tarek; Nardo, Luciano G

2012-12-01

Mechanical endometrial injury (biopsy/scratch or hysteroscopy) in the cycle preceding ovarian stimulation for IVF has been proposed to improve implantation in women with unexplained recurrent implantation failure (RIF). This is a systematic review and meta-analysis of studies comparing the efficacy of endometrial injury versus no intervention in women with RIF undergoing IVF. All controlled studies of endometrial biopsy/scratch or hysteroscopy performed in the cycle preceding ovarian stimulation were included and the primary outcome measure was clinical pregnancy rate. Pooling of seven controlled studies (four randomized and three non-randomized), with 2062 participants, showed that local endometrial injury induced in the cycle preceding ovarian stimulation is 70% more likely to result in a clinical pregnancy as opposed to no intervention. There was no statistically significant heterogeneity in the methods used, clinical pregnancy rates being twice as high with biopsy/scratch (RR 2.32, 95% CI 1.72-3.13) as opposed to hysteroscopy (RR 1.51, 95% CI 1.30-1.75). The evidence is strongly in favour of inducing local endometrial injury in the preceding cycle of ovarian stimulation to improve pregnancy outcomes in women with unexplained RIF. However, large randomized studies are required before iatrogenic induction of local endometrial injury can be warranted in routine clinical practice. Some women undergoing IVF treatment fail to conceive despite several attempts with good-quality embryos and no identifiable reason. We call this 'recurrent implantation failure' (RIF) where the embryo fails to embed or implant within the lining of the womb. Studies have shown that inducing injury to the lining of the womb in the cycle before starting ovarian stimulation for IVF can help improve the chances of achieving pregnancy. Injury can be induced by either scratching the lining of the womb using a biopsy tube or by telescopic investigation of the womb using a camera. We performed a collective review of the available good-quality studies that used the above two methods in the cycle prior to starting ovarian stimulation for IVF. We pooled results from seven studies, which included 2062 women with RIF and assessed the difference in clinical pregnancy rates for those undergoing injury to the womb lining compared with no injury prior to IVF. The results suggest that inducing injury is 70% more likely to result in a clinical pregnancy as opposed to no treatment. Furthermore, scratching of the lining was 2-times more likely to result in a clinical pregnancy compared with telescopic evaluation of the lining of the womb. This study suggests that in women with RIF, inducing local injury to the womb lining in the cycle prior to starting ovarian stimulation for IVF can improve pregnancy outcomes. However, large studies are required before this can be warranted in routine clinical practice. Copyright © 2012 Reproductive Healthcare Ltd. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Cross-modal cueing effects of visuospatial attention on conscious somatosensory perception.

PubMed

Doruk, Deniz; Chanes, Lorena; Malavera, Alejandra; Merabet, Lotfi B; Valero-Cabré, Antoni; Fregni, Felipe

2018-04-01

The impact of visuospatial attention on perception with supraliminal stimuli and stimuli at the threshold of conscious perception has been previously investigated. In this study, we assess the cross-modal effects of visuospatial attention on conscious perception for near-threshold somatosensory stimuli applied to the face. Fifteen healthy participants completed two sessions of a near-threshold cross-modality cue-target discrimination/conscious detection paradigm. Each trial began with an endogenous visuospatial cue that predicted the location of a weak near-threshold electrical pulse delivered to the right or left cheek with high probability (∼75%). Participants then completed two tasks: first, a forced-choice somatosensory discrimination task (felt once or twice?) and then, a somatosensory conscious detection task (did you feel the stimulus and, if yes, where (left/right)?). Somatosensory discrimination was evaluated with the response reaction times of correctly detected targets, whereas the somatosensory conscious detection was quantified using perceptual sensitivity (d') and response bias (beta). A 2 × 2 repeated measures ANOVA was used for statistical analysis. In the somatosensory discrimination task (1 st task), participants were significantly faster in responding to correctly detected targets (p < 0.001). In the somatosensory conscious detection task (2 nd task), a significant effect of visuospatial attention on response bias (p = 0.008) was observed, suggesting that participants had a less strict criterion for stimuli preceded by spatially valid than invalid visuospatial cues. We showed that spatial attention has the potential to modulate the discrimination and the conscious detection of near-threshold somatosensory stimuli as measured, respectively, by a reduction of reaction times and a shift in response bias toward less conservative responses when the cue predicted stimulus location. A shift in response bias indicates possible effects of spatial attention on internal decision processes. The lack of significant results in perceptual sensitivity (d') could be due to weaker effects of endogenous attention on perception.

Investment finance: off limits for women.

PubMed

Chilangwa-n'gambi, C Y

1993-10-01

In Zambia, women's access to finance is limited because 1) women lack collateral, 2) administrative practices discriminate against women, 3) women lack knowledge and information, and 4) women fail to maintain required financial records because their incomes are so low. Women have invested in areas which would be categorized as "feminine," however, including garment-making and flower-growing. The UNIP Women's League, which was the government's official body charged with ensuring gender awareness in policy-making and planning failed to survive the transition to a multiparty democracy. Some churches and nongovernmental organizations have attempted to promote gender-aware projects to help women survive the current economic crisis, but these programs are few and far between and suffer from a lack of capital. Organizations must adopt a business-like approach to help women move from welfare to economic empowerment.

Time Processing in Dyscalculia

PubMed Central

Cappelletti, Marinella; Freeman, Elliot D.; Butterworth, Brian L.

2011-01-01

To test whether atypical number development may affect other types of quantity processing, we investigated temporal discrimination in adults with developmental dyscalculia (DD). This also allowed us to test whether number and time may be sub-served by a common quantity system or decision mechanisms: if they do, both should be impaired in dyscalculia, but if number and time are distinct they should dissociate. Participants judged which of two successively presented horizontal lines was longer in duration, the first line being preceded by either a small or a large number prime (“1” or “9”) or by a neutral symbol (“#”), or in a third task participants decided which of two Arabic numbers (either “1,” “5,” “9”) lasted longer. Results showed that (i) DD’s temporal discriminability was normal as long as numbers were not part of the experimental design, even as task-irrelevant stimuli; however (ii) task-irrelevant numbers dramatically disrupted DD’s temporal discriminability the more their salience increased, though the actual magnitude of the numbers had no effect; in contrast (iii) controls’ time perception was robust to the presence of numbers but modulated by numerical quantity: therefore small number primes or numerical stimuli seemed to make durations appear shorter than veridical, but longer for larger numerical prime or numerical stimuli. This study is the first to show spared temporal discrimination – a dimension of continuous quantity – in a population with a congenital number impairment. Our data reinforce the idea of a partially shared quantity system across numerical and temporal dimensions, which supports both dissociations and interactions among dimensions; however, they suggest that impaired number in DD is unlikely to originate from systems initially dedicated to continuous quantity processing like time. PMID:22194731

Time processing in dyscalculia.

PubMed

Cappelletti, Marinella; Freeman, Elliot D; Butterworth, Brian L

2011-01-01

To test whether atypical number development may affect other types of quantity processing, we investigated temporal discrimination in adults with developmental dyscalculia (DD). This also allowed us to test whether number and time may be sub-served by a common quantity system or decision mechanisms: if they do, both should be impaired in dyscalculia, but if number and time are distinct they should dissociate. Participants judged which of two successively presented horizontal lines was longer in duration, the first line being preceded by either a small or a large number prime ("1" or "9") or by a neutral symbol ("#"), or in a third task participants decided which of two Arabic numbers (either "1," "5," "9") lasted longer. Results showed that (i) DD's temporal discriminability was normal as long as numbers were not part of the experimental design, even as task-irrelevant stimuli; however (ii) task-irrelevant numbers dramatically disrupted DD's temporal discriminability the more their salience increased, though the actual magnitude of the numbers had no effect; in contrast (iii) controls' time perception was robust to the presence of numbers but modulated by numerical quantity: therefore small number primes or numerical stimuli seemed to make durations appear shorter than veridical, but longer for larger numerical prime or numerical stimuli. This study is the first to show spared temporal discrimination - a dimension of continuous quantity - in a population with a congenital number impairment. Our data reinforce the idea of a partially shared quantity system across numerical and temporal dimensions, which supports both dissociations and interactions among dimensions; however, they suggest that impaired number in DD is unlikely to originate from systems initially dedicated to continuous quantity processing like time.

The Task-Relevant Attribute Representation Can Mediate the Simon Effect

PubMed Central

Chen, Antao

2014-01-01

Researchers have previously suggested a working memory (WM) account of spatial codes, and based on this suggestion, the present study carries out three experiments to investigate how the task-relevant attribute representation (verbal or visual) in the typical Simon task affects the Simon effect. Experiment 1 compared the Simon effect between the between- and within-category color conditions, which required subjects to discriminate between red and blue stimuli (presumed to be represented by verbal WM codes because it was easy and fast to name the colors verbally) and to discriminate between two similar green stimuli (presumed to be represented by visual WM codes because it was hard and time-consuming to name the colors verbally), respectively. The results revealed a reliable Simon effect that only occurs in the between-category condition. Experiment 2 assessed the Simon effect by requiring subjects to discriminate between two different isosceles trapezoids (within-category shapes) and to discriminate isosceles trapezoid from rectangle (between-category shapes), and the results replicated and expanded the findings of Experiment 1. In Experiment 3, subjects were required to perform both tasks from Experiment 1. Wherein, in Experiment 3A, the between-category task preceded the within-category task; in Experiment 3B, the task order was opposite. The results showed the reliable Simon effect when subjects represented the task-relevant stimulus attributes by verbal WM encoding. In addition, the response times (RTs) distribution analysis for both the between- and within-category conditions of Experiments 3A and 3B showed decreased Simon effect with the RTs lengthened. Altogether, although the present results are consistent with the temporal coding account, we put forth that the Simon effect also depends on the verbal WM representation of task-relevant stimulus attribute. PMID:24618692

Neural substrates of view-invariant object recognition developed without experiencing rotations of the objects.

PubMed

Okamura, Jun-Ya; Yamaguchi, Reona; Honda, Kazunari; Wang, Gang; Tanaka, Keiji

2014-11-05

One fails to recognize an unfamiliar object across changes in viewing angle when it must be discriminated from similar distractor objects. View-invariant recognition gradually develops as the viewer repeatedly sees the objects in rotation. It is assumed that different views of each object are associated with one another while their successive appearance is experienced in rotation. However, natural experience of objects also contains ample opportunities to discriminate among objects at each of the multiple viewing angles. Our previous behavioral experiments showed that after experiencing a new set of object stimuli during a task that required only discrimination at each of four viewing angles at 30° intervals, monkeys could recognize the objects across changes in viewing angle up to 60°. By recording activities of neurons from the inferotemporal cortex after various types of preparatory experience, we here found a possible neural substrate for the monkeys' performance. For object sets that the monkeys had experienced during the task that required only discrimination at each of four viewing angles, many inferotemporal neurons showed object selectivity covering multiple views. The degree of view generalization found for these object sets was similar to that found for stimulus sets with which the monkeys had been trained to conduct view-invariant recognition. These results suggest that the experience of discriminating new objects in each of several viewing angles develops the partially view-generalized object selectivity distributed over many neurons in the inferotemporal cortex, which in turn bases the monkeys' emergent capability to discriminate the objects across changes in viewing angle. Copyright © 2014 the authors 0270-6474/14/3415047-13$15.00/0.

Rescue EUS-guided intrahepatic biliary drainage for malignant hilar biliary stricture after failed transpapillary re-intervention.

PubMed

Minaga, Kosuke; Takenaka, Mamoru; Kitano, Masayuki; Chiba, Yasutaka; Imai, Hajime; Yamao, Kentaro; Kamata, Ken; Miyata, Takeshi; Omoto, Shunsuke; Sakurai, Toshiharu; Watanabe, Tomohiro; Nishida, Naoshi; Kudo, Masatoshi

2017-11-01

Treatment of unresectable malignant hilar biliary stricture (UMHBS) is challenging, especially after failure of repeated transpapillary endoscopic stenting. Endoscopic ultrasonography-guided intrahepatic biliary drainage (EUS-IBD) is a recent technique for intrahepatic biliary decompression, but indications for its use for complex hilar strictures have not been well studied. The aim of this study was to assess the feasibility and safety of EUS-IBD for UMHBS after failed transpapillary re-intervention. Retrospective analysis of all consecutive patients with UMHBS of Bismuth II grade or higher who, between December 2008 and May 2016, underwent EUS-IBD after failed repeated transpapillary interventions. The technical success, clinical success, and complication rates were evaluated. Factors associated with clinical ineffectiveness of EUS-IBD were explored. A total of 30 patients (19 women, median age 66 years [range 52-87]) underwent EUS-IBD for UMHBS during the study period. Hilar biliary stricture morphology was classified as Bismuth II, III, or IV in 5, 13, and 12 patients, respectively. The median number of preceding endoscopic interventions was 4 (range 2-14). EUS-IBD was required because the following procedures failed: duodenal scope insertion (n = 4), accessing the papilla after duodenal stent insertion (n = 5), or achieving desired intrahepatic biliary drainage (n = 21). Technical success with EUS-IBD was achieved in 29 of 30 patients (96.7%) and clinical success was attained in 22 of these 29 (75.9%). Mild peritonitis occurred in three of 30 (10%) and was managed conservatively. Stent dysfunction occurred in 23.3% (7/30). There was no procedure-related mortality. On multivariable analysis, Bismuth IV stricture predicted clinical ineffectiveness (odds ratio = 12.7, 95% CI 1.18-135.4, P = 0.035). EUS-IBD may be a feasible and effective rescue alternative with few major complications after failed transpapillary endoscopic re-intervention in patients with UMHBS, particularly for Bismuth II or III strictures.

Color aspects of variable data proofing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Beretta, Giordano B.

2005-01-01

The Internet in combination with digital presses has allowed the geographical distribution of manufacturing printed materials. An increasing number of printed pieces is customized for the recipient; when each printed piece is different, conventional proofing fails, because it is impossible to proof the entire print job. One frequent problem in automatically generated pieces is the readability of one page element on top of another element; the color combination can be unreadable or clash. I propose simple algorithms to automatically detect and correct color discriminability problems in variable data printing.

Color aspects of variable data proofing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Beretta, Giordano B.

2004-12-01

The Internet in combination with digital presses has allowed the geographical distribution of manufacturing printed materials. An increasing number of printed pieces is customized for the recipient; when each printed piece is different, conventional proofing fails, because it is impossible to proof the entire print job. One frequent problem in automatically generated pieces is the readability of one page element on top of another element; the color combination can be unreadable or clash. I propose simple algorithms to automatically detect and correct color discriminability problems in variable data printing.

Learning in shifts of transient attention improves recognition of parts of ambiguous figure-ground displays.

PubMed

Kristjánsson, Arni

2009-04-24

Previously demonstrated learning effects in shifts of transient attention have only been shown to result in beneficial effects upon secondary discrimination tasks and affect landing points of express saccades. Can such learning result in more direct effects upon perception than previously demonstrated? Observers performed a cued Vernier acuity discrimination task where the cue was one of a set of ambiguous figure-ground displays (with a black and white part). The critical measure was whether, if a target appeared consistently within a part of a cue of a certain brightness, this would result in learning effects and whether such learning would then affect recognition of the cue parts. Critically the target always appeared within the same part of each individual cue. Some cues were used in early parts of streaks of repetition of cue-part brightness, and others in latter parts of such streaks. All the observers showed learning in shifts of transient attention, with improved performance the more often the target appeared within the part of the cue of the same brightness. Subsequently the observers judged whether cue-parts had been parts of the cues used on the preceding discrimination task. Recognition of the figure parts, where the target had consistently appeared, improved strongly with increased length of streaks of repetition of cue-part brightness. Learning in shifts of transient attention leads not only to faster attention shifts but to direct effects upon perception, in this case recognition of parts of figure-ground ambiguous cues.

Internal Medicine residents use heuristics to estimate disease probability.

PubMed

Phang, Sen Han; Ravani, Pietro; Schaefer, Jeffrey; Wright, Bruce; McLaughlin, Kevin

2015-01-01

Training in Bayesian reasoning may have limited impact on accuracy of probability estimates. In this study, our goal was to explore whether residents previously exposed to Bayesian reasoning use heuristics rather than Bayesian reasoning to estimate disease probabilities. We predicted that if residents use heuristics then post-test probability estimates would be increased by non-discriminating clinical features or a high anchor for a target condition. We randomized 55 Internal Medicine residents to different versions of four clinical vignettes and asked them to estimate probabilities of target conditions. We manipulated the clinical data for each vignette to be consistent with either 1) using a representative heuristic, by adding non-discriminating prototypical clinical features of the target condition, or 2) using anchoring with adjustment heuristic, by providing a high or low anchor for the target condition. When presented with additional non-discriminating data the odds of diagnosing the target condition were increased (odds ratio (OR) 2.83, 95% confidence interval [1.30, 6.15], p = 0.009). Similarly, the odds of diagnosing the target condition were increased when a high anchor preceded the vignette (OR 2.04, [1.09, 3.81], p = 0.025). Our findings suggest that despite previous exposure to the use of Bayesian reasoning, residents use heuristics, such as the representative heuristic and anchoring with adjustment, to estimate probabilities. Potential reasons for attribute substitution include the relative cognitive ease of heuristics vs. Bayesian reasoning or perhaps residents in their clinical practice use gist traces rather than precise probability estimates when diagnosing.

Analysis of serum immune markers in seropositive and seronegative rheumatoid arthritis and in high-risk seropositive arthralgia patients.

PubMed

Chalan, Paulina; Bijzet, Johan; van den Berg, Anke; Kluiver, Joost; Kroesen, Bart-Jan; Boots, Annemieke M H; Brouwer, Elisabeth

2016-05-18

Presence of autoantibodies precedes development of seropositive rheumatoid arthritis (SP RA) and seropositive arthralgia patients (SAP) are at risk of developing RA. The aims of the study are to identify additional serum immune markers discriminating between SP and seronegative (SN) RA, and markers identifying high-risk SAP. Sera from SAP (n = 27), SP RA (n = 22), SN RA (n = 11) and healthy controls (n = 20) were analyzed using the Human Cytokine 25-Plex Panel. Selected markers were validated in independent cohorts of SP RA (n = 35) and SN RA (n = 12) patients. Eleven of 27 SAP developed RA within 8 months (median follow-up time, range 1-32 months), and their baseline serum markers were compared to 16 non-progressing SAP. SAP and SP RA patients showed a marked overlap in their systemic immune profiles, while SN RA showed a distinct immune profile. Three of 4 markers discriminating between SP and SN RA (IL-1β, IL-15 and Eotaxin, but not CCL5) were similarly modulated in independent cohorts. SAP progressing to RA showed trends for increases in IL-5, MIP-1β, IL-1RA and IL-12 compared to non-progressing SAP. ROC analysis showed that serum IL-5 most accurately discriminated between the two SAP groups (AUC > 0.8), suggesting that baseline IL-5 levels may aid the identification of high-risk SAP.

Serious physical violence among Arab-Palestinian adolescents: The role of exposure to neighborhood violence, perceived ethnic discrimination, normative beliefs, and, parental communication.

PubMed

Massarwi, Adeem Ahmad; Khoury-Kassabri, Mona

2017-01-01

This study adopted a social-ecological perspective to exploring perpetration of serious physical violence against others among Arab-Palestinian adolescents. A total of 3178 adolescents (aged 13-18) completed anonymous, structured, self-report questionnaire, which included selected items from several instruments that measured variables relating to the constructs examined in the study. We explored the association of individual characteristics (age, gender, normative beliefs about violence, and perceived ethnic discrimination), familial characteristics (parent-adolescent communication and socioeconomic status), and contextual characteristics (exposure to community violence in the neighborhood) with perpetration of serious physical violence against others. A moderation-mediation model was tested, and 28.4% of the adolescents reported that they had perpetrated serious physical violence against others at least once during the month preceding the study. The findings also show that exposure of youth to violence in their neighborhood correlated significantly and positively with their perpetration of serious physical violence against others. A similar trend was revealed with respect to personal perceptions of ethnic discrimination. These correlations were mediated by the adolescents' normative beliefs about violence. Furthermore, the correlation of direct exposure to violence in the neighborhood and normative beliefs about violence with perpetration of serious physical violence against others was stronger among adolescents who have poor communication with their parents than among those who have strong parental communication. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A novel form of perceptual attunement: Context-dependent perception of a native contrast in 14-month-old infants.

PubMed

Fort, Mathilde; Brusini, Perrine; Carbajal, M Julia; Sun, Yue; Peperkamp, Sharon

2017-08-01

By the end of their first year of life, infants have become experts in discriminating the sounds of their native language, while they have lost the ability to discriminate non-native contrasts. This type of phonetic learning is referred to as perceptual attunement. In the present study, we investigated the emergence of a context-dependent form of perceptual attunement in infancy. Indeed, some native contrasts are not discriminated in certain phonological contexts by adults, due to the presence of a language-specific process that neutralizes the contrasts in those contexts. We used a mismatch design and recorded high-density Electroencephalography (EEG) in French-learning 14-month-olds. Our results show that similarly to French adults, infants fail to discriminate a native voicing contrast (e.g., [f] vs. [v]) when it occurs in a specific phonological context (e.g. [ofbe] vs. [ovbe], no mismatch response), while they successfully detected it in other phonological contexts (e.g., [ofne] vs. [ovne], mismatch response). The present results demonstrate for the first time that by the age of 14 months, infants' phonetic learning does not only rely on the processing of individual sounds, but also takes into account in a language-specific manner the phonological contexts in which these sounds occur. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Do intensity ratings and skin conductance responses reliably discriminate between different stimulus intensities in experimentally induced pain?

PubMed

Breimhorst, Markus; Sandrock, Stephan; Fechir, Marcel; Hausenblas, Nadine; Geber, Christian; Birklein, Frank

2011-01-01

The present study addresses the question whether pain-intensity ratings and skin conductance responses (SCRs) are able to detect different intensities of phasic painful stimuli and to determine the reliability of this discrimination. For this purpose, 42 healthy participants of both genders were assigned to either electrical, mechanical, or laser heat-pain stimulation (each n = 14). A whole range of single brief painful stimuli were delivered on the right volar forearm of the dominant hand in a randomized order. Pain-intensity ratings and SCRs were analyzed. Using generalizability theory, individual and gender differences were the main contributors to the variability of both intensity ratings and SCRs. Most importantly, we showed that pain-intensity ratings are a reliable measure for the discrimination of different pain stimulus intensities in the applied modalities. The reliability of SCR was adequate when mechanical and heat stimuli were tested but failed for the discrimination of electrical stimuli. Further studies are needed to reveal the reason for this lack of accuracy for SCRs when applying electrical pain stimuli. Our study could help researchers to better understand the relationship between pain and activation of the sympathetic nervous system. Pain researchers are furthermore encouraged to consider individual and gender differences when measuring pain intensity and the concomitant SCRs in experimental settings. Copyright © 2011 American Pain Society. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Robust infrared target tracking using discriminative and generative approaches

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Asha, C. S.; Narasimhadhan, A. V.

2017-09-01

The process of designing an efficient tracker for thermal infrared imagery is one of the most challenging tasks in computer vision. Although a lot of advancement has been achieved in RGB videos over the decades, textureless and colorless properties of objects in thermal imagery pose hard constraints in the design of an efficient tracker. Tracking of an object using a single feature or a technique often fails to achieve greater accuracy. Here, we propose an effective method to track an object in infrared imagery based on a combination of discriminative and generative approaches. The discriminative technique makes use of two complementary methods such as kernelized correlation filter with spatial feature and AdaBoost classifier with pixel intesity features to operate in parallel. After obtaining optimized locations through discriminative approaches, the generative technique is applied to determine the best target location using a linear search method. Unlike the baseline algorithms, the proposed method estimates the scale of the target by Lucas-Kanade homography estimation. To evaluate the proposed method, extensive experiments are conducted on 17 challenging infrared image sequences obtained from LTIR dataset and a significant improvement of mean distance precision and mean overlap precision is accomplished as compared with the existing trackers. Further, a quantitative and qualitative assessment of the proposed approach with the state-of-the-art trackers is illustrated to clearly demonstrate an overall increase in performance.

Pneumonitis and pneumonia after aspiration

PubMed Central

Son, Young Gon; Shin, Jungho

2017-01-01

Aspiration pneumonitis and aspiration pneumonia are clinical syndromes caused by aspiration. These conditions are clinically significant due to their high morbidity and mortality. However, aspiration as a preceding event are often unwitnessed, particularly in cases of asymptomatic or silent aspiration. Furthermore, despite the difference in treatment approaches for managing aspiration pneumonitis and aspiration pneumonia, these two disease entities are often difficult to discriminate from one another, resulting in inappropriate treatment. The use of unclear terminologies hinders the comparability among different studies, making it difficult to produce evidence-based conclusions and practical guidelines. We reviewed the most recent studies to define aspiration, aspiration pneumonitis, and aspiration pneumonia, and to further assess these conditions in terms of incidence and epidemiology, pathophysiology, risk factors, diagnosis, management and treatment, and prevention. PMID:28879323

Determining the number of chemical species in nuclear magnetic resonance data matrix by taking advantage of collinearity and noise.

PubMed

Wang, Wanping; Shao, Limin; Yuan, Bin; Zhang, Xu; Liu, Maili

2018-08-31

The number of chemical species is crucial in analyzing pulsed field gradient nuclear magnetic resonance spectral data. Any method to determine the number must handle the obstacles of collinearity and noise. Collinearity in pulsed field gradient NMR data poses a serious challenge to and fails many existing methods. A novel method is proposed by taking advantage of the two obstacles instead of eliminating them. In the proposed method, the determination is based on discriminating decay-profile-dominant eigenvectors from noise-dominant ones, and the discrimination is implemented with a novel low- and high-frequency energy ratio (LHFER). Its performance is validated with both simulated and experimental data. The method is mathematically rigorous, computationally efficient, and readily automated. It also has the potential to be applied to other types of data in which collinearity is fairly severe. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Speaker variability augments phonological processing in early word learning

PubMed Central

Rost, Gwyneth C.; McMurray, Bob

2010-01-01

Infants in the early stages of word learning have difficulty learning lexical neighbors (i.e., word pairs that differ by a single phoneme), despite the ability to discriminate the same contrast in a purely auditory task. While prior work has focused on top-down explanations for this failure (e.g. task demands, lexical competition), none has examined if bottom-up acoustic-phonetic factors play a role. We hypothesized that lexical neighbor learning could be improved by incorporating greater acoustic variability in the words being learned, as this may buttress still developing phonetic categories, and help infants identify the relevant contrastive dimension. Infants were exposed to pictures accompanied by labels spoken by either a single or multiple speakers. At test, infants in the single-speaker condition failed to recognize the difference between the two words, while infants who heard multiple speakers discriminated between them. PMID:19143806

LANDSAT applications to wetlands classification in the upper Mississippi River Valley. Ph.D. Thesis. Final Report

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lillesand, T. M.; Werth, L. F. (Principal Investigator)

1980-01-01

A 25% improvement in average classification accuracy was realized by processing double-date vs. single-date data. Under the spectrally and spatially complex site conditions characterizing the geographical area used, further improvement in wetland classification accuracy is apparently precluded by the spectral and spatial resolution restrictions of the LANDSAT MSS. Full scene analysis of scanning densitometer data extracted from scale infrared photography failed to permit discrimination of many wetland and nonwetland cover types. When classification of photographic data was limited to wetland areas only, much more detailed and accurate classification could be made. The integration of conventional image interpretation (to simply delineate wetland boundaries) and machine assisted classification (to discriminate among cover types present within the wetland areas) appears to warrant further research to study the feasibility and cost of extending this methodology over a large area using LANDSAT and/or small scale photography.

A Behavior Analytic Interpretation of Alexithymia

PubMed Central

Darrow, Sabrina M.; Follette, William C.

2014-01-01

Alexithymia is a term used to describe individuals who seem unable to experience or at least describe emotions. This paper offers a theoretical interpretation of alexithymia from a radical behaviorist perspective. While there have been attempts to explain the etiology of alexithymia, the current analysis is unique in that it provides direct treatment implications. The pragmatic analysis described focuses on the verbal behavior of individuals rather than looking “inside” for explanations. This is supported by a review of experimental research that has failed to find consistencies among alexithymic individuals’ physiological responding. Descriptions of the various discriminative and consequential stimulus conditions involved in the complex learning histories of individuals that could result in an alexithymic presentation are provided. This analysis helps situate the alexithymia construct in a broader behavior analytic understanding of emotions. Finally this paper outlines implications for assessment and treatment, which involve influencing discriminative and consequential interpersonal stimulus conditions to shape verbal behavior about emotions. PMID:25473602

Pitch Perception in the First Year of Life, a Comparison of Lexical Tones and Musical Pitch.

PubMed

Chen, Ao; Stevens, Catherine J; Kager, René

2017-01-01

Pitch variation is pervasive in speech, regardless of the language to which infants are exposed. Lexical tone is influenced by general sensitivity to pitch. We examined whether the development in lexical tone perception may develop in parallel with perception of pitch in other cognitive domains namely music. Using a visual fixation paradigm, 100 and one 4- and 12-month-old Dutch infants were tested on their discrimination of Chinese rising and dipping lexical tones as well as comparable three-note musical pitch contours. The 4-month-old infants failed to show a discrimination effect in either condition, whereas the 12-month-old infants succeeded in both conditions. These results suggest that lexical tone perception may reflect and relate to general pitch perception abilities, which may serve as a basis for developing more complex language and musical skills.

Challenging and Preventing Policies That Prohibit Local Civil Rights Protections for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer People.

PubMed

Pomeranz, Jennifer L

2018-01-01

Discrimination causes health inequities for stigmatized groups. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) individuals, in particular, are at significantly increased risk for disparate health outcomes when they reside in states that fail to extend equal protections to them or that actively deprive equal rights to them. Several states and the federal government have proposed or enacted laws that permit residents to discriminate against LGBTQ individuals. One such law, Arkansas's Intrastate Commerce Improvement Act of 2015, preempts or prohibits local governments from enacting civil rights protections for LGBTQ individuals that are also lacking at the state level. State laws such as Arkansas's undermine local control, damage the economy, and create injustices that harm LGBTQ people. I set forth 2 constitutional arguments to challenge such laws, and I provide information to help advocates support evidence-based policymaking and prevent the passage of similar laws in their states.

Do animals and furniture items elicit different brain responses in human infants?

PubMed

Jeschonek, Susanna; Marinovic, Vesna; Hoehl, Stefanie; Elsner, Birgit; Pauen, Sabina

2010-11-01

One of the earliest categorical distinctions to be made by preverbal infants is the animate-inanimate distinction. To explore the neural basis for this distinction in 7-8-month-olds, an equal number of animal and furniture pictures was presented in an ERP-paradigm. The total of 118 pictures, all looking different from each other, were presented in a semi-randomized order for 1000ms each. Infants' brain responses to exemplars from both categories differed systematically regarding the negative central component (Nc: 400-600ms) at anterior channels. More specifically, the Nc was enhanced for animals in one subgroup of infants, and for furniture items in another subgroup of infants. Explorative analyses related to categorical priming further revealed category-specific differences in brain responses in the late time window (650-1550ms) at right frontal channels: Unprimed stimuli (preceded by a different-category item) elicited a more positive response as compared to primed stimuli (preceded by a same-category item). In sum, these findings suggest that the infant's brain discriminates exemplars from both global domains. Given the design of our task, we conclude that processes of category identification are more likely to account for our findings than processes of on-line category formation during the experimental session. Copyright © 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Cross-orientation interactions in human vision.

PubMed

Roeber, Urte; Wong, Elaine M Y; Freeman, Alan W

2008-03-18

Humans can discriminate one visual contour from another on the basis of small differences in orientation. This capability depends on cortical detectors that are selective for a small range of orientations. We have measured this orientation bandwidth and the suppression that helps to shape it, with a reverse correlation technique. Human subjects were presented with a stream of randomly oriented gratings at a rate of 30 per second. Their task was to press a key whenever they saw an orientation nominated as the target. We analyzed the data by finding the probability density of two orientations: One preceded the key-press by the reaction time, and the second preceded the first by up to 100 ms. The results were as follows: (1) One grating facilitated the following one in producing a key-press when the gratings differed little in orientation. The estimate of orientation bandwidth resulting from this facilitation was 38 degrees . (2) A large angle between the two orientations reduced the probability of a key-press. This finding was best modelled as a suppression that did not vary with orientation, consistent with the idea that cross-orientation suppression is non-oriented. (3) Analysis of non-consecutive grating pairs showed that cross-orientation interactions lasted no longer than 67 ms.

Involvement of estrogen receptor alpha, beta and oxytocin in social discrimination: A detailed behavioral analysis with knockout female mice.

PubMed

Choleris, E; Ogawa, S; Kavaliers, M; Gustafsson, J-A; Korach, K S; Muglia, L J; Pfaff, D W

2006-10-01

Social recognition, processing, and retaining information about conspecific individuals is crucial for the development of normal social relationships. The neuropeptide oxytocin (OT) is necessary for social recognition in male and female mice, with its effects being modulated by estrogens in females. In previous studies, mice whose genes for the estrogen receptor-alpha (alpha-ERKO) and estrogen receptor-beta (beta-ERKO) as well as OTKO were knocked out failed to habituate to a repeatedly presented conspecific and to dishabituate when the familiar mouse is replaced by a novel animal (Choleris et al. 2003, Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 100, 6192-6197). However, a binary social discrimination assay, where animals are given a simultaneous choice between a familiar and a previously unknown individual, offers a more direct test of social recognition. Here, we used alpha-ERKO, beta-ERKO, and OTKO female mice in the binary social discrimination paradigm. Differently from their wild-type controls, when given a choice, the KO mice showed either reduced (beta-ERKO) or completely impaired (OTKO and alpha-ERKO) social discrimination. Detailed behavioral analyses indicate that all of the KO mice have reduced anxiety-related stretched approaches to the social stimulus with no overall impairment in horizontal and vertical activity, non-social investigation, and various other behaviors such as, self-grooming, digging, and inactivity. Therefore, the OT, ER-alpha, and ER-beta genes are necessary, to different degrees, for social discrimination and, thus, for the modulation of social behavior (e.g. aggression, affiliation).

Understanding current causes of women's underrepresentation in science

PubMed Central

Williams, Wendy M.

2011-01-01

Explanations for women's underrepresentation in math-intensive fields of science often focus on sex discrimination in grant and manuscript reviewing, interviewing, and hiring. Claims that women scientists suffer discrimination in these arenas rest on a set of studies undergirding policies and programs aimed at remediation. More recent and robust empiricism, however, fails to support assertions of discrimination in these domains. To better understand women's underrepresentation in math-intensive fields and its causes, we reprise claims of discrimination and their evidentiary bases. Based on a review of the past 20 y of data, we suggest that some of these claims are no longer valid and, if uncritically accepted as current causes of women's lack of progress, can delay or prevent understanding of contemporary determinants of women's underrepresentation. We conclude that differential gendered outcomes in the real world result from differences in resources attributable to choices, whether free or constrained, and that such choices could be influenced and better informed through education if resources were so directed. Thus, the ongoing focus on sex discrimination in reviewing, interviewing, and hiring represents costly, misplaced effort: Society is engaged in the present in solving problems of the past, rather than in addressing meaningful limitations deterring women's participation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics careers today. Addressing today's causes of underrepresentation requires focusing on education and policy changes that will make institutions responsive to differing biological realities of the sexes. Finally, we suggest potential avenues of intervention to increase gender fairness that accord with current, as opposed to historical, findings. PMID:21300892

A Novel Method to Handle the Effect of Uneven Sampling Effort in Biodiversity Databases

PubMed Central

Pardo, Iker; Pata, María P.; Gómez, Daniel; García, María B.

2013-01-01

How reliable are results on spatial distribution of biodiversity based on databases? Many studies have evidenced the uncertainty related to this kind of analysis due to sampling effort bias and the need for its quantification. Despite that a number of methods are available for that, little is known about their statistical limitations and discrimination capability, which could seriously constrain their use. We assess for the first time the discrimination capacity of two widely used methods and a proposed new one (FIDEGAM), all based on species accumulation curves, under different scenarios of sampling exhaustiveness using Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) analyses. Additionally, we examine to what extent the output of each method represents the sampling completeness in a simulated scenario where the true species richness is known. Finally, we apply FIDEGAM to a real situation and explore the spatial patterns of plant diversity in a National Park. FIDEGAM showed an excellent discrimination capability to distinguish between well and poorly sampled areas regardless of sampling exhaustiveness, whereas the other methods failed. Accordingly, FIDEGAM values were strongly correlated with the true percentage of species detected in a simulated scenario, whereas sampling completeness estimated with other methods showed no relationship due to null discrimination capability. Quantifying sampling effort is necessary to account for the uncertainty in biodiversity analyses, however, not all proposed methods are equally reliable. Our comparative analysis demonstrated that FIDEGAM was the most accurate discriminator method in all scenarios of sampling exhaustiveness, and therefore, it can be efficiently applied to most databases in order to enhance the reliability of biodiversity analyses. PMID:23326357

Piano training enhances the neural processing of pitch and improves speech perception in Mandarin-speaking children.

PubMed

Nan, Yun; Liu, Li; Geiser, Eveline; Shu, Hua; Gong, Chen Chen; Dong, Qi; Gabrieli, John D E; Desimone, Robert

2018-06-25

Musical training confers advantages in speech-sound processing, which could play an important role in early childhood education. To understand the mechanisms of this effect, we used event-related potential and behavioral measures in a longitudinal design. Seventy-four Mandarin-speaking children aged 4-5 y old were pseudorandomly assigned to piano training, reading training, or a no-contact control group. Six months of piano training improved behavioral auditory word discrimination in general as well as word discrimination based on vowels compared with the controls. The reading group yielded similar trends. However, the piano group demonstrated unique advantages over the reading and control groups in consonant-based word discrimination and in enhanced positive mismatch responses (pMMRs) to lexical tone and musical pitch changes. The improved word discrimination based on consonants correlated with the enhancements in musical pitch pMMRs among the children in the piano group. In contrast, all three groups improved equally on general cognitive measures, including tests of IQ, working memory, and attention. The results suggest strengthened common sound processing across domains as an important mechanism underlying the benefits of musical training on language processing. In addition, although we failed to find far-transfer effects of musical training to general cognition, the near-transfer effects to speech perception establish the potential for musical training to help children improve their language skills. Piano training was not inferior to reading training on direct tests of language function, and it even seemed superior to reading training in enhancing consonant discrimination.

A novel method to handle the effect of uneven sampling effort in biodiversity databases.

PubMed

Pardo, Iker; Pata, María P; Gómez, Daniel; García, María B

2013-01-01

How reliable are results on spatial distribution of biodiversity based on databases? Many studies have evidenced the uncertainty related to this kind of analysis due to sampling effort bias and the need for its quantification. Despite that a number of methods are available for that, little is known about their statistical limitations and discrimination capability, which could seriously constrain their use. We assess for the first time the discrimination capacity of two widely used methods and a proposed new one (FIDEGAM), all based on species accumulation curves, under different scenarios of sampling exhaustiveness using Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) analyses. Additionally, we examine to what extent the output of each method represents the sampling completeness in a simulated scenario where the true species richness is known. Finally, we apply FIDEGAM to a real situation and explore the spatial patterns of plant diversity in a National Park. FIDEGAM showed an excellent discrimination capability to distinguish between well and poorly sampled areas regardless of sampling exhaustiveness, whereas the other methods failed. Accordingly, FIDEGAM values were strongly correlated with the true percentage of species detected in a simulated scenario, whereas sampling completeness estimated with other methods showed no relationship due to null discrimination capability. Quantifying sampling effort is necessary to account for the uncertainty in biodiversity analyses, however, not all proposed methods are equally reliable. Our comparative analysis demonstrated that FIDEGAM was the most accurate discriminator method in all scenarios of sampling exhaustiveness, and therefore, it can be efficiently applied to most databases in order to enhance the reliability of biodiversity analyses.

The political economy of health care for elderly blacks.

PubMed

Wallace, S P

1990-01-01

The author analyzes the influences of race and class on the life chances of blacks by focusing on the health care of black elderly. Theories based on cultural, class, and racial forces are explained in the context of how each would be used to analyze the health care of older blacks. The lower health and socioeconomic statuses of older blacks compared with older whites are documented. The author argues that cultural factors are unable to explain those differences adequately, and that class factors such as the profit orientation of the medical care system, and race factors such as residential segregation and racial discrimination in the medical care system, both contribute to the disparities in medical care. Since proposals for a U.S. national health insurance or national health service fail to include race-conscious measures, the proposals will fail to eliminate existing racial disparities in the health and health care of the elderly.

Solar eclipses.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Livingston, W.

The occasion of a total eclipse impacts the human observer with a bewildering rapid sequence of phenomena: mid-day cooling, failing light without accustomed color change, shadow-bands transiting the ground, cessation of bird sounds, possible frantic beating of jungle drums, Baily's beads, appearance of flame-like prominences, and most fantastic of all the solar corona. The author considers that although the corona is known to be 2 - 20(106)K, there is a lack of consensus on the heating mechanism, except the energy must be non-thermal and derived from surface and sub-surface convective motions. Theoreticians invoke the Joule dissipation of magnetic fields by Alfvén waves, electric currents in loop structures, or MHD turbulence. Although eclipse experiments to discriminate between these ideas generally fail, the sighting of 'plasmoids' was reported from the CFHT on Mauna Kea at the 1991 eclipse. Future experiments include: IR mapping of the coronal spectrum, spectroscopic velocity measurements, and the continued search for waves, nanoflares, and plasmoids.

Who are the real bird brains? Qualitative differences in behavioral flexibility between dogs (Canis familiaris) and pigeons (Columba livia).

PubMed

Laude, Jennifer R; Pattison, Kristina F; Rayburn-Reeves, Rebecca M; Michler, Daniel M; Zentall, Thomas R

2016-01-01

Pigeons given a simultaneous spatial discrimination reversal, in which a single reversal occurs at the midpoint of each session, consistently show anticipation prior to the reversal as well as perseveration after the reversal, suggesting that they use a less effective cue (time or trial number into the session) than what would be optimal to maximize reinforcement (local feedback from the most recent trials). In contrast, rats (Rattus norvegicus) and humans show near-optimal reversal learning on this task. To determine whether this is a general characteristic of mammals, in the present research, pigeons (Columba livia) and dogs (Canis familiaris) were tested with a simultaneous spatial discrimination mid-session reversal. Overall, dogs performed the task more poorly than pigeons. Interestingly, both pigeons and dogs employed what resembled a timing strategy. However, dogs showed greater perseverative errors, suggesting that they may have relatively poorer working memory and inhibitory control with this task. The greater efficiency shown by pigeons with this task suggests they are better able to time and use the feedback from their preceding choice as the basis of their future choice, highlighting what may be a qualitative difference between the species.

Psychophysics of human echolocation.

PubMed

Schörnich, Sven; Wallmeier, Ludwig; Gessele, Nikodemus; Nagy, Andreas; Schranner, Michael; Kish, Daniel; Wiegrebe, Lutz

2013-01-01

The skills of some blind humans orienting in their environment through the auditory analysis of reflections from self-generated sounds have received only little scientific attention to date. Here we present data from a series of formal psychophysical experiments with sighted subjects trained to evaluate features of a virtual echo-acoustic space, allowing for rigid and fine-grain control of the stimulus parameters. The data show how subjects shape both their vocalisations and auditory analysis of the echoes to serve specific echo-acoustic tasks. First, we show that humans can echo-acoustically discriminate target distances with a resolution of less than 1 m for reference distances above 3.4 m. For a reference distance of 1.7 m, corresponding to an echo delay of only 10 ms, distance JNDs were typically around 0.5 m. Second, we explore the interplay between the precedence effect and echolocation. We show that the strong perceptual asymmetry between lead and lag is weakened during echolocation. Finally, we show that through the auditory analysis of self-generated sounds, subjects discriminate room-size changes as small as 10%.In summary, the current data confirm the practical efficacy of human echolocation, and they provide a rigid psychophysical basis for addressing its neural foundations.

Establishing pass/fail criteria for bronchoscopy performance.

PubMed

Konge, Lars; Clementsen, Paul; Larsen, Klaus Richter; Arendrup, Henrik; Buchwald, Christian; Ringsted, Charlotte

2012-01-01

Several tools have been created to assess competence in bronchoscopy. However, educational guidelines still use an arbitrary number of performed procedures to decide when basic competency is acquired. The purpose of this study was to define pass/fail scores for two bronchoscopy assessment tools, and investigate how these scores relate to physicians' experience regarding the number of bronchoscopy procedures performed. We studied two assessment tools and used two standard setting methods to create cut scores: the contrasting-groups method and the extended Angoff method. In the first we compared bronchoscopy performance scores of 14 novices with the scores of 14 experienced consultants to find the score that best discriminated between the two groups. In the second we asked an expert group of 7 experienced bronchoscopists to judge how a borderline trainee would perform on each item of the test. Using the contrasting-groups method we found a standard that would fail all novices and pass all consultants. A clear pass related to prior experience of 75 procedures. The consequences of using the extended Angoff method were also acceptable: all trainees who had performed less than 50 bronchoscopies failed the test and all consultants passed. A clear pass related to 80 procedures. Our proposed pass/fail scores for these two methods seem appropriate in terms of consequences. Prior experience with the performance of 75 and 80 bronchoscopies, respectively, seemed to ensure basic competency. In the future objective assessment tools could become an important aid in the certification of physicians performing bronchoscopies. Copyright © 2011 S. Karger AG, Basel.

The definition of mental disorder: evolving but dysfunctional?

PubMed

Bingham, Rachel; Banner, Natalie

2014-08-01

Extensive and diverse conceptual work towards developing a definition of 'mental disorder' was motivated by the declassification of homosexuality from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual in 1973. This highly politicised event was understood as a call for psychiatry to provide assurances against further misclassification on the basis of discrimination or socio-political deviance. Today, if a definition of mental disorder fails to exclude homosexuality, then it fails to provide this safeguard against potential abuses and therefore fails to do an important part of the work it was intended to do. We argue that fact-based definitions of mental disorder, relying on scientific theory, fail to offer a robust definition of mental disorder that excludes homosexuality. Definitions of mental disorder based on values do not fare better: these definitions are silent on questions about the diagnostic status of individuals in oppressive societies and over-inclusive of mental or behavioural states that happen to be negatively valued in the individual's social context. We consider the latest definition proposed for the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual-5 (DSM-5) in light of these observations. We argue that definition fails to improve on these earlier deficiencies. Its inclusion in the manual may offer false reassurance against repetition of past misclassifications. We conclude with a provocation that if candidate definitions of mental disorder are unable to exclude homosexuality, it might perhaps be preferable not to attempt a definition at all. 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.

The history of Italian psychiatry during Fascism.

PubMed

Piazzi, Andrea; Testa, Luana; Del Missier, Giovanni; Dario, Mariopaolo; Stocco, Ester

2011-09-01

Specific features characterized Italian psychiatry during Fascism (1922-45), distinguishing it from Nazi psychiatry and giving rise to different operational outcomes, so we have investigated the state of Italian psychiatry during this period. We review the historical situation that preceded it and describe the social and health policies that Fascism introduced following new legislative and regulatory acts. We examine the preventive and therapeutic role played by psychiatry (the electric shock was an Italian invention) and, thanks to the Enciclopedia Italiano published during those years, we are able to highlight psychiatry's relationship to psychology, psychoanalysis, philosophy and religion. The shortcomings of Italian psychiatric research and practice are also seen in terms of what the State failed to do rather than what it did.

Identifying barriers to Muslim integration in France

PubMed Central

Adida, Claire L.; Laitin, David D.; Valfort, Marie-Anne

2010-01-01

Is there a Muslim disadvantage in economic integration for second-generation immigrants to Europe? Previous research has failed to isolate the effect that religion may have on an immigrant family's labor market opportunities because other factors, such as country of origin or race, confound the result. This paper uses a correspondence test in the French labor market to identify and measure this religious effect. The results confirm that in the French labor market, anti-Muslim discrimination exists: a Muslim candidate is 2.5 times less likely to receive a job interview callback than is his or her Christian counterpart. A high-n survey reveals, consistent with expectations from the correspondence test, that second-generation Muslim households in France have lower income compared with matched Christian households. The paper thereby contributes to both substantive debates on the Muslim experience in Europe and methodological debates on how to measure discrimination. Following the National Academy of Sciences’ 2001 recommendations on combining a variety of methodologies and applying them to real-world situations, this research identifies, measures, and infers consequences of discrimination based on religious affiliation, controlling for potentially confounding factors, such as race and country of origin. PMID:21098283

A retrieval-based approach to eliminating hindsight bias.

PubMed

Van Boekel, Martin; Varma, Keisha; Varma, Sashank

2017-03-01

Individuals exhibit hindsight bias when they are unable to recall their original responses to novel questions after correct answers are provided to them. Prior studies have eliminated hindsight bias by modifying the conditions under which original judgments or correct answers are encoded. Here, we explored whether hindsight bias can be eliminated by manipulating the conditions that hold at retrieval. Our retrieval-based approach predicts that if the conditions at retrieval enable sufficient discrimination of memory representations of original judgments from memory representations of correct answers, then hindsight bias will be reduced or eliminated. Experiment 1 used the standard memory design to replicate the hindsight bias effect in middle-school students. Experiments 2 and 3 modified the retrieval phase of this design, instructing participants beforehand that they would be recalling both their original judgments and the correct answers. As predicted, this enabled participants to form compound retrieval cues that discriminated original judgment traces from correct answer traces, and eliminated hindsight bias. Experiment 4 found that when participants were not instructed beforehand that they would be making both recalls, they did not form discriminating retrieval cues, and hindsight bias returned. These experiments delineate the retrieval conditions that produce-and fail to produce-hindsight bias.

Failure of the precedence effect with a noise-band vocoder

PubMed Central

Seeber, Bernhard U.; Hafter, Ervin R.

2011-01-01

The precedence effect (PE) describes the ability to localize a direct, leading sound correctly when its delayed copy (lag) is present, though not separately audible. The relative contribution of binaural cues in the temporal fine structure (TFS) of lead–lag signals was compared to that of interaural level differences (ILDs) and interaural time differences (ITDs) carried in the envelope. In a localization dominance paradigm participants indicated the spatial location of lead–lag stimuli processed with a binaural noise-band vocoder whose noise carriers introduced random TFS. The PE appeared for noise bursts of 10 ms duration, indicating dominance of envelope information. However, for three test words the PE often failed even at short lead–lag delays, producing two images, one toward the lead and one toward the lag. When interaural correlation in the carrier was increased, the images appeared more centered, but often remained split. Although previous studies suggest dominance of TFS cues, no image is lateralized in accord with the ITD in the TFS. An interpretation in the context of auditory scene analysis is proposed: By replacing the TFS with that of noise the auditory system loses the ability to fuse lead and lag into one object, and thus to show the PE. PMID:21428515

Testing support for an evaluation of a Houston physical and functional inspection/maintenance program. Final report

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

Not Available

1980-10-01

The standard mass emission (Federal Test Procedure) was performed for determination of the effects of inspection and maintenance on a sample of passenger cars operating in the Houston area. This sample was also used for obtaining abbreviated emission test (short cycle test), fuel economy, and emission component system maladjustment and disablement and other data. Four-hundred eighty vehicles were inspected under the program: one-hundred from the 1980 model year, one-hundred 1979 vehicles, one-hundred 1978 vehicles, sixty 1977 vehicles, sixty 1976 vehicles and sixty from the 1975 model year. Both domestic and imported auto makes were examined. All vehicles which failed anmore » initial inspection, a total of 206 vehicles, were subject to a baseline and set of replicate test sequences comprised of the FTP, the 50 Cruise Test, the Highway Fuel Economy Test, the Loaded Two Mode Test and the Four Speed Idle Test. A prescribed maintenance step preceded each of the replicate sequences. Failed vehicles were further subject to an emission control system maladjustment/disablement and status inspection, driveability evaluations and owner-interviews to obtain vehicle maintenance and useage data.« less

A Report on the Investigation of the Civil Rights Enforcement Activities of the Office for Civil Rights. U.S. Department of Education. By the Majority Staff of the Committee on Education and Labor. U.S. House of Representatives, 100th Congress, Second Session.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Congress of the U.S., Washington, DC. House Committee on Education and Labor.

Since 1981, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) of the United States Department of Education has been accused of failing to enforce the civil rights laws according to its mandate. OCR is responsible for enforcing Federal laws prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, sex, national origin, handicap, or age in educational programs or activities…

Temporal indiscriminateness: the case of cluster bombs.

PubMed

Cavanaugh, T A

2010-03-01

This paper argues that the current stock of anti-personnel cluster bombs are temporally indiscriminate, and, therefore, unjust weapons. The paper introduces and explains the idea of temporal indiscriminateness. It argues that to honor non-combatant immunity-in addition to not targeting civilians-one must adequately target combatants. Due to their high dud rate, cluster submunitions fail to target combatants with sufficient temporal accuracy, and, thereby, result in avoidable serious harm to non-combatants. The paper concludes that non-combatant immunity and the principle of discrimination require a moratorium on the use of current cluster munitions.

Dermatoglyphics: A Diagnostic Aid?

PubMed Central

Fuller, I. C.

1973-01-01

Dermatoglyphics of patients suffering from diabetes, schizophrenia, duodenal ulcer, asthma, and various cancers have been contrasted and significant differences in the digital ridge counts, maximum atd angles, and distal palmar loop ridge counts have been found. A discriminant analysis of the digital ridge counts was performed and the function was used to attempt differential diagnosis between these conditions on dermatoglyphic evidence alone. This diagnostic trial failed, and possible reasons for its failure are discussed. Attention is drawn to the possibility that prognostic implications of dermatoglyphics might be relevant to screening techniques. PMID:4714584

THE VISUAL DISCRIMINATION OF INTENSITY AND THE WEBER-FECHNER LAW

PubMed Central

Hecht, Selig

1924-01-01

1. A study of the historical development of the Weber-Fechner law shows that it fails to describe intensity perception; first, because it is based on observations which do not record intensity discrimination accurately, and second, because it omits the essentially discontinuous nature of the recognition of intensity differences. 2. There is presented a series of data, assembled from various sources, which proves that in the visual discrimination of intensity the threshold difference ΔI bears no constant relation to the intensity I. The evidence shows unequivocally that as the intensity rises, the ratio See PDF for Equation first decreases and then increases. 3. The data are then subjected to analysis in terms of a photochemical system already proposed for the visual activity of the rods and cones. It is found that for the retinal elements to discriminate between one intensity and the next perceptible one, the transition from one to the other must involve the decomposition of a constant amount of photosensitive material. 4. The magnitude of this unitary increment in the quantity of photochemical action is greater for the rods than for the cones. Therefore, below a certain critical illumination—the cone threshold—intensity discrimination is controlled by the rods alone, but above this point it is determined by the cones alone. 5. The unitary increments in retinal photochemical action may be interpreted as being recorded by each rod and cone; or as conditioning the variability of the retinal cells so that each increment involves a constant increase in the number of active elements; or as a combination of the two interpretations. 6. Comparison with critical data of such diverse nature as dark adaptation, absolute thresholds, and visual acuity shows that the analysis is consistent with well established facts of vision. PMID:19872133

Visual Deficit in Albino Rats Following Fetal X Irradiation

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

VAN DER ELST, DIRK H.; PORTER, PAUL B.; SHARP, JOSEPH C.

1963-02-01

To investigate the effect of radiation on visual ability, five groups of rats on the 15th day of gestation received x irradiation in doses of 0, 50, 75, 100, or 150 r at 50 r/ min. Two-thirds of the newborn rats died or were killed and eaten during the first postnatal week. The 75- and 50-r groups were lost entirely. The cannibalism occurred in all groups, so that its cause was uncertain. The remaining rats, which as fetuses had received 0, 100, and 150 r, were tested for visual discrimination in a water-flooded T. All 3 groups discriminated a lightedmore » escape ladder from the unlighted arm of the T with near- equal facility. Thereafter, as the light was dimmed progressively, performance declined in relation to dose. With the light turned off, but the bulb and ladder visible in ambient illumination, the 150-r group performed at chance, the 100-r group reliably better, and the control group better still. Thus, in the more precise task the irradiated animals failed. Since irradiation on the 15th day primarily damages the cortex, central blindness seems the most likely explanation. All animals had previously demonstrated their ability to solve the problem conceptually; hence a conclusion of visual deficiency seems justified. The similar performances of all groups during the easiest light discrimination test showed that the heavily irradiated and severely injured animals of the 150-r group were nonetheless able to learn readily. Finally, contrary to earlier studies in which irradiated rats were retarded in discriminating a light in a Skinner box, present tests reveal impairment neither in learning rate nor light discrimination.« less

Characterization of the discriminable stimulus produced by 2-BFI: effects of imidazoline I2-site ligands, MAOIs, β-carbolines, agmatine and ibogaine

PubMed Central

MacInnes, Nicholas; Handley, Sheila L

2002-01-01

The molecular nature and functions of the I2 subtype of imidazoline binding sites are unknown but evidence suggests an association with monoamine oxidase (MAO). Rats can distinguish the selective imidazoline I2-site ligand 2-BFI from vehicle in drug discrimination, indicating functional consequences of occupation of these sites. We have used drug discrimination to investigate the nature of the discriminable stimulus, especially in relation to MAO inhibition. Following training to distinguish 2-BFI 7 mg kg−1 i.p. from saline vehicle in two-lever operant-chambers, male Hooded Lister rats underwent sessions where test substances were given instead and the proportion of lever presses on the 2-BFI-associated lever (substitution) recorded. 2-BFI; its cogeners BU216, BU224, BU226 and LSL60101; the reversible MAO-A inhibitors moclobemide and RO41-1049; the β-carbolines harmane, norharmane and harmaline which also reversibly inhibit MAO-A, and the anti-addictive substance ibogaine exhibited potent, dose-dependent substitution for 2-BFI. Agmatine, and LSL60125 substituted at one dose only. The reversible MAO-B inhibitors lazabemide and RO16-1649; the σ2-site ligand SKF10,047 and the I2A-site ligand, amiloride, failed to substitute. The irreversible inhibitor of MAO, deprenyl, substituted for 2-BFI while clorgyline did not. These results suggest imidazoline I2 site ligands produce a common discriminable stimulus that appears associated with reversible inhibition of MAO-A rather than MAO-B, possibly through increases in extracellular concentration of one or more monoamines. Ibogaine exhibits a commonality in its subjective effects with those of I2-site ligands. PMID:11877331

Spectral and spatial selectivity of luminance vision in reef fish.

PubMed

Siebeck, Ulrike E; Wallis, Guy Michael; Litherland, Lenore; Ganeshina, Olga; Vorobyev, Misha

2014-01-01

Luminance vision has high spatial resolution and is used for form vision and texture discrimination. In humans, birds and bees luminance channel is spectrally selective-it depends on the signals of the long-wavelength sensitive photoreceptors (bees) or on the sum of long- and middle-wavelength sensitive cones (humans), but not on the signal of the short-wavelength sensitive (blue) photoreceptors. The reasons of such selectivity are not fully understood. The aim of this study is to reveal the inputs of cone signals to high resolution luminance vision in reef fish. Sixteen freshly caught damselfish, Pomacentrus amboinensis, were trained to discriminate stimuli differing either in their color or in their fine patterns (stripes vs. cheques). Three colors ("bright green", "dark green" and "blue") were used to create two sets of color and two sets of pattern stimuli. The "bright green" and "dark green" were similar in their chromatic properties for fish, but differed in their lightness; the "dark green" differed from "blue" in the signal for the blue cone, but yielded similar signals in the long-wavelength and middle-wavelength cones. Fish easily learned to discriminate "bright green" from "dark green" and "dark green" from "blue" stimuli. Fish also could discriminate the fine patterns created from "dark green" and "bright green". However, fish failed to discriminate fine patterns created from "blue" and "dark green" colors, i.e., the colors that provided contrast for the blue-sensitive photoreceptor, but not for the long-wavelength sensitive one. High resolution luminance vision in damselfish, Pomacentrus amboinensis, does not have input from the blue-sensitive cone, which may indicate that the spectral selectivity of luminance channel is a general feature of visual processing in both aquatic and terrestrial animals.

Cluster analysis and prediction of treatment outcomes for chronic rhinosinusitis.

PubMed

Soler, Zachary M; Hyer, J Madison; Rudmik, Luke; Ramakrishnan, Viswanathan; Smith, Timothy L; Schlosser, Rodney J

2016-04-01

Current clinical classifications of chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) have weak prognostic utility regarding treatment outcomes. Simplified discriminant analysis based on unsupervised clustering has identified novel phenotypic subgroups of CRS, but prognostic utility is unknown. We sought to determine whether discriminant analysis allows prognostication in patients choosing surgery versus continued medical management. A multi-institutional prospective study of patients with CRS in whom initial medical therapy failed who then self-selected continued medical management or surgical treatment was used to separate patients into 5 clusters based on a previously described discriminant analysis using total Sino-Nasal Outcome Test-22 (SNOT-22) score, age, and missed productivity. Patients completed the SNOT-22 at baseline and for 18 months of follow-up. Baseline demographic and objective measures included olfactory testing, computed tomography, and endoscopy scoring. SNOT-22 outcomes for surgical versus continued medical treatment were compared across clusters. Data were available on 690 patients. Baseline differences in demographics, comorbidities, objective disease measures, and patient-reported outcomes were similar to previous clustering reports. Three of 5 clusters identified by means of discriminant analysis had improved SNOT-22 outcomes with surgical intervention when compared with continued medical management (surgery was a mean of 21.2 points better across these 3 clusters at 6 months, P < .05). These differences were sustained at 18 months of follow-up. Two of 5 clusters had similar outcomes when comparing surgery with continued medical management. A simplified discriminant analysis based on 3 common clinical variables is able to cluster patients and provide prognostic information regarding surgical treatment versus continued medical management in patients with CRS. Copyright © 2015 American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Characterization of the discriminable stimulus produced by 2-BFI: effects of imidazoline I(2)-site ligands, MAOIs, beta-carbolines, agmatine and ibogaine.

PubMed

MacInnes, Nicholas; Handley, Sheila L

2002-03-01

1. The molecular nature and functions of the I(2) subtype of imidazoline binding sites are unknown but evidence suggests an association with monoamine oxidase (MAO). Rats can distinguish the selective imidazoline I(2)-site ligand 2-BFI from vehicle in drug discrimination, indicating functional consequences of occupation of these sites. We have used drug discrimination to investigate the nature of the discriminable stimulus, especially in relation to MAO inhibition. 2. Following training to distinguish 2-BFI 7 mg kg(-1) i.p. from saline vehicle in two-lever operant-chambers, male Hooded Lister rats underwent sessions where test substances were given instead and the proportion of lever presses on the 2-BFI-associated lever (substitution) recorded. 3. 2-BFI; its cogeners BU216, BU224, BU226 and LSL60101; the reversible MAO-A inhibitors moclobemide and RO41-1049; the beta-carbolines harmane, norharmane and harmaline which also reversibly inhibit MAO-A, and the anti-addictive substance ibogaine exhibited potent, dose-dependent substitution for 2-BFI. 4. Agmatine, and LSL60125 substituted at one dose only. The reversible MAO-B inhibitors lazabemide and RO16-1649; the sigma(2)-site ligand SKF10,047 and the I(2A)-site ligand, amiloride, failed to substitute. The irreversible inhibitor of MAO, deprenyl, substituted for 2-BFI while clorgyline did not. 5. These results suggest imidazoline I(2) site ligands produce a common discriminable stimulus that appears associated with reversible inhibition of MAO-A rather than MAO-B, possibly through increases in extracellular concentration of one or more monoamines. Ibogaine exhibits a commonality in its subjective effects with those of I(2)-site ligands.

A reduced number of mtSNPs saturates mitochondrial DNA haplotype diversity of worldwide population groups.

PubMed

Salas, Antonio; Amigo, Jorge

2010-05-03

The high levels of variation characterising the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) molecule are due ultimately to its high average mutation rate; moreover, mtDNA variation is deeply structured in different populations and ethnic groups. There is growing interest in selecting a reduced number of mtDNA single nucleotide polymorphisms (mtSNPs) that account for the maximum level of discrimination power in a given population. Applications of the selected mtSNP panel range from anthropologic and medical studies to forensic genetic casework. This study proposes a new simulation-based method that explores the ability of different mtSNP panels to yield the maximum levels of discrimination power. The method explores subsets of mtSNPs of different sizes randomly chosen from a preselected panel of mtSNPs based on frequency. More than 2,000 complete genomes representing three main continental human population groups (Africa, Europe, and Asia) and two admixed populations ("African-Americans" and "Hispanics") were collected from GenBank and the literature, and were used as training sets. Haplotype diversity was measured for each combination of mtSNP and compared with existing mtSNP panels available in the literature. The data indicates that only a reduced number of mtSNPs ranging from six to 22 are needed to account for 95% of the maximum haplotype diversity of a given population sample. However, only a small proportion of the best mtSNPs are shared between populations, indicating that there is not a perfect set of "universal" mtSNPs suitable for all population contexts. The discrimination power provided by these mtSNPs is much higher than the power of the mtSNP panels proposed in the literature to date. Some mtSNP combinations also yield high diversity values in admixed populations. The proposed computational approach for exploring combinations of mtSNPs that optimise the discrimination power of a given set of mtSNPs is more efficient than previous empirical approaches. In contrast to precedent findings, the results seem to indicate that only few mtSNPs are needed to reach high levels of discrimination power in a population, independently of its ancestral background.

Renunciation of health care by people living with HIV in France is still associated with discrimination in health care services and social insecurity - results from the ANRS VESPA2 survey.

PubMed

Fiorentino, Marion; Suzan-Monti, Marie; Vilotitch, Antoine; Sagaon-Teyssier, Luis; Dray-Spira, Rosemary; Lert, France; Spire, Bruno

2018-01-23

This study aimed to estimate the frequency of renunciation of healthcare among people living with HIV (PLHIV) in France, including healthcare unrelated to HIV, and to characterize associated socioeconomic and psychosocial risk factors. The cross-sectional ANRS-VESPA2 survey was conducted on adult PLHIV attending French hospitals in 2011. Correlates of healthcare renunciation in the 12 months before the survey were assessed through logistic modelling. Among the 3020 PLHIV included in the sample, 17% declared healthcare renunciation during the preceding year and 42% had a high level of social insecurity. During the previous two years, 8% and 11%, respectively, were discriminated against by medical staff and family. In multivariate analysis, positive associations were found between healthcare renunciation and a high level of social insecurity (aOR [95%CI] 3.44[2.54;4.65], p<0.001), having children (1.52[1.10;2.10], p=0.01), smoking tobacco (1.50[1.13;1.98], p=0.01), discrimination by medical staff (1.53[1.22;2.29], p=0.04) or family (2.48[1.75;3.52], p<0.001), major depressive episodes (1.46[1.02;2.09], p=0.04), past or current drug injection (1.54[1.03;2.30], p=0.04), and younger age (0.98[0.97;1.00], p=0.03). Healthcare renunciation was also negatively associated with HIV diagnosis after 1996 (1996-2002: 0.64[0.46; 0.90], p=0.01; ≥2003: 0.56[0.40; 0.77], p=0.001). In spite of universal health insurance in France, barrier- and refusal-renunciation of healthcare by PLHIV remains frequent. Poor psychosocial outcomes and discrimination by families and healthcare providers compound the negative effect of social insecurity on healthcare seeking in this population. To ensure optimal medical care, strategies are needed to prevent discrimination against PLHIV in healthcare services. Special attention must be provided to patients experiencing social insecurity.

A Reduced Number of mtSNPs Saturates Mitochondrial DNA Haplotype Diversity of Worldwide Population Groups

PubMed Central

Salas, Antonio; Amigo, Jorge

2010-01-01

Background The high levels of variation characterising the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) molecule are due ultimately to its high average mutation rate; moreover, mtDNA variation is deeply structured in different populations and ethnic groups. There is growing interest in selecting a reduced number of mtDNA single nucleotide polymorphisms (mtSNPs) that account for the maximum level of discrimination power in a given population. Applications of the selected mtSNP panel range from anthropologic and medical studies to forensic genetic casework. Methodology/Principal Findings This study proposes a new simulation-based method that explores the ability of different mtSNP panels to yield the maximum levels of discrimination power. The method explores subsets of mtSNPs of different sizes randomly chosen from a preselected panel of mtSNPs based on frequency. More than 2,000 complete genomes representing three main continental human population groups (Africa, Europe, and Asia) and two admixed populations (“African-Americans” and “Hispanics”) were collected from GenBank and the literature, and were used as training sets. Haplotype diversity was measured for each combination of mtSNP and compared with existing mtSNP panels available in the literature. The data indicates that only a reduced number of mtSNPs ranging from six to 22 are needed to account for 95% of the maximum haplotype diversity of a given population sample. However, only a small proportion of the best mtSNPs are shared between populations, indicating that there is not a perfect set of “universal” mtSNPs suitable for all population contexts. The discrimination power provided by these mtSNPs is much higher than the power of the mtSNP panels proposed in the literature to date. Some mtSNP combinations also yield high diversity values in admixed populations. Conclusions/Significance The proposed computational approach for exploring combinations of mtSNPs that optimise the discrimination power of a given set of mtSNPs is more efficient than previous empirical approaches. In contrast to precedent findings, the results seem to indicate that only few mtSNPs are needed to reach high levels of discrimination power in a population, independently of its ancestral background. PMID:20454657

Noise interference with echo delay discrimination in bat biosonar.

PubMed

Simmons, J A

2017-11-01

Echolocating big brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus) were trained in a two-choice task to discriminate differences in the delay of electronic echoes at 1.7 ms delay (30 cm simulated range). Difference thresholds (∼45 μs) were comparable to previously published results. At selected above-threshold differences (116 and 232 μs delay), performance was measured in the presence of wideband random noise at increasing amplitudes in 10-dB steps to determine the noise level that prevented discrimination. Performance eventually failed, but the bats increased the amplitude and duration of their broadcasts to compensate for increasing noise, which allowed performance to persist at noise levels about 25 dB higher than without compensation. In the 232-μs delay discrimination condition, echo signal-to-noise ratio (2E/N 0 ) was 8-10 dB at the noise level that depressed performance to chance. Predicted echo-delay accuracy using big brown bat signals follows the Cramér-Rao bound for signal-to-noise ratios above 15 dB, but worsens below 15 dB due to side-peak ambiguity. At 2E/N 0  = 7-10 dB, predicted Cramér-Rao delay accuracy would be about 1 μs; considering side-peak ambiguity it would be about 200-300 μs. The bats' 232 μs performance reflects the intrusion of side-peak ambiguity into delay accuracy at low signal-to-noise ratios.

Kin-selected cooperation without lifetime monogamy: human insights and animal implications.

PubMed

Kramer, Karen L; Russell, Andrew F

2014-11-01

Recent phylogenetic analyses suggest that monogamy precedes the evolution of cooperative breeding involving non-breeding helpers. The rationale: only through monogamy can helper-recipient relatedness coefficients match those of parent-offspring. Given that humans are cooperative breeders, these studies imply a monogamy bottleneck during hominin evolution. However, evidence from multiple sources is not compelling. In reconciliation, we propose that selection against cooperative breeding under alternative mating patterns will be mitigated by: (i) kin discrimination, (ii) reduced birth-intervals, and (iii) constraints on independent breeding, particularly for premature and post-fertile individuals. We suggest that such alternatives require consideration to derive a complete picture of the selection pressures acting on the evolution of cooperative breeding in humans and other animals. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Violence reported by the immigrant population is high as compared with the native population in southeast Spain.

PubMed

Colorado-Yohar, S; Tormo, M J; Salmerón, D; Dios, S; Ballesta, M; Navarro, C

2012-11-01

Immigrants constitute a population vulnerable to the problem of violence. This study sought to ascertain the prevalence of violence reported by the immigrant population in the Murcian Region of Spain and characterize the related factors, taking the country population as reference. A cross-sectional study was carried out based on a representative population sample of Latin American (n = 672; 48% women), Moroccan (n = 361; 25% women), and Spanish origin (n = 1,303; 66% women), aged 16 to 64 years. Using a specific questionnaire, the prevalence of violence in the preceding year was assessed. The results were compared with the Spaniards using the 2006 National Health Survey (NHS). Multivariate logistic regression models were used to study the factors associated with violence having been reported in each group, both separately and in immigrants versus Spaniards. Finally, the cause and place of last aggression were studied. The prevalence of violence was 6.5% in Latin Americans, 12.0% in Moroccans, and 2.7% in Spaniards. Discrimination was the principal violence-related factor in all three groups. Among Latin Americans, low educational level was also associated with violence. Among Moroccans, those who had perceived discrimination showed the greatest differences in prevalence of violence compared with natives. Intimate partner violence (IPV) registered a prevalence of below 2%. As a conclusion, in this study, violence was little reported and higher among immigrants. The principal violence-related factor was discrimination. More studies of this type are called for to characterize the problem in other population-representative samples.

Internal Medicine residents use heuristics to estimate disease probability

PubMed Central

Phang, Sen Han; Ravani, Pietro; Schaefer, Jeffrey; Wright, Bruce; McLaughlin, Kevin

2015-01-01

Background Training in Bayesian reasoning may have limited impact on accuracy of probability estimates. In this study, our goal was to explore whether residents previously exposed to Bayesian reasoning use heuristics rather than Bayesian reasoning to estimate disease probabilities. We predicted that if residents use heuristics then post-test probability estimates would be increased by non-discriminating clinical features or a high anchor for a target condition. Method We randomized 55 Internal Medicine residents to different versions of four clinical vignettes and asked them to estimate probabilities of target conditions. We manipulated the clinical data for each vignette to be consistent with either 1) using a representative heuristic, by adding non-discriminating prototypical clinical features of the target condition, or 2) using anchoring with adjustment heuristic, by providing a high or low anchor for the target condition. Results When presented with additional non-discriminating data the odds of diagnosing the target condition were increased (odds ratio (OR) 2.83, 95% confidence interval [1.30, 6.15], p = 0.009). Similarly, the odds of diagnosing the target condition were increased when a high anchor preceded the vignette (OR 2.04, [1.09, 3.81], p = 0.025). Conclusions Our findings suggest that despite previous exposure to the use of Bayesian reasoning, residents use heuristics, such as the representative heuristic and anchoring with adjustment, to estimate probabilities. Potential reasons for attribute substitution include the relative cognitive ease of heuristics vs. Bayesian reasoning or perhaps residents in their clinical practice use gist traces rather than precise probability estimates when diagnosing. PMID:27004080

Effects of laboratory housing on exploratory behaviour, novelty discrimination and spatial reference memory in a subterranean, solitary rodent, the Cape mole-rat (Georychus capensis).

PubMed

Oosthuizen, Maria Kathleen; Scheibler, Anne-Gita; Bennett, Nigel Charles; Amrein, Irmgard

2013-01-01

A large number of laboratory and field based studies are being carried out on mole-rats, both in our research group and others. Several studies have highlighted the development of adverse behaviours in laboratory animals and have emphasised the importance of enrichment for captive animals. Hence we were interested in evaluating how laboratory housing would affect behavioural performance in mole-rats. We investigated exploratory behaviour, the ability to discriminate between novel and familiar environments and reference memory in the solitary Cape mole-rat (Georychus capensis). Our data showed that both wild and captive animals readily explore open spaces and tunnels. Wild animals were however more active than their captive counterparts. In the Y maze two trial discrimination task, wild animals failed to discriminate between novel and familiar environments, while laboratory housed mole-rats showed preferential spatial discrimination in terms of the length of time spent in the novel arm. The performance of the laboratory and wild animals were similar when tested for reference memory in the Y maze, both groups showed a significant improvement compared to the first day, from the 3rd day onwards. Wild animals made more mistakes whereas laboratory animals were slower in completing the task. The difference in performance between wild and laboratory animals in the Y-maze may be as a result of the lower activity of the laboratory animals. Laboratory maintained Cape mole-rats show classic behaviours resulting from a lack of stimulation such as reduced activity and increased aggression. However, they do display an improved novelty discrimination compared to the wild animals. Slower locomotion rate of the laboratory animals may increase the integration time of stimuli, hence result in a more thorough inspection of the surroundings. Unlike the captive animals, wild animals show flexibility in their responses to unpredictable events, which is an important requirement under natural living conditions.

Effects of Laboratory Housing on Exploratory Behaviour, Novelty Discrimination and Spatial Reference Memory in a Subterranean, Solitary Rodent, the Cape Mole-Rat (Georychus capensis)

PubMed Central

Oosthuizen, Maria Kathleen; Scheibler, Anne-Gita; Charles Bennett, Nigel; Amrein, Irmgard

2013-01-01

A large number of laboratory and field based studies are being carried out on mole-rats, both in our research group and others. Several studies have highlighted the development of adverse behaviours in laboratory animals and have emphasised the importance of enrichment for captive animals. Hence we were interested in evaluating how laboratory housing would affect behavioural performance in mole-rats. We investigated exploratory behaviour, the ability to discriminate between novel and familiar environments and reference memory in the solitary Cape mole-rat ( Georychus capensis ). Our data showed that both wild and captive animals readily explore open spaces and tunnels. Wild animals were however more active than their captive counterparts. In the Y maze two trial discrimination task, wild animals failed to discriminate between novel and familiar environments, while laboratory housed mole-rats showed preferential spatial discrimination in terms of the length of time spent in the novel arm. The performance of the laboratory and wild animals were similar when tested for reference memory in the Y maze, both groups showed a significant improvement compared to the first day, from the 3rd day onwards. Wild animals made more mistakes whereas laboratory animals were slower in completing the task. The difference in performance between wild and laboratory animals in the Y-maze may be as a result of the lower activity of the laboratory animals. Laboratory maintained Cape mole-rats show classic behaviours resulting from a lack of stimulation such as reduced activity and increased aggression. However, they do display an improved novelty discrimination compared to the wild animals. Slower locomotion rate of the laboratory animals may increase the integration time of stimuli, hence result in a more thorough inspection of the surroundings. Unlike the captive animals, wild animals show flexibility in their responses to unpredictable events, which is an important requirement under natural living conditions. PMID:24040422

Validity evidence for procedural competency in virtual reality robotic simulation, establishing a credible pass/fail standard for the vaginal cuff closure procedure.

PubMed

Hovgaard, Lisette Hvid; Andersen, Steven Arild Wuyts; Konge, Lars; Dalsgaard, Torur; Larsen, Christian Rifbjerg

2018-03-30

The use of robotic surgery for minimally invasive procedures has increased considerably over the last decade. Robotic surgery has potential advantages compared to laparoscopic surgery but also requires new skills. Using virtual reality (VR) simulation to facilitate the acquisition of these new skills could potentially benefit training of robotic surgical skills and also be a crucial step in developing a robotic surgical training curriculum. The study's objective was to establish validity evidence for a simulation-based test for procedural competency for the vaginal cuff closure procedure that can be used in a future simulation-based, mastery learning training curriculum. Eleven novice gynaecological surgeons without prior robotic experience and 11 experienced gynaecological robotic surgeons (> 30 robotic procedures) were recruited. After familiarization with the VR simulator, participants completed the module 'Guided Vaginal Cuff Closure' six times. Validity evidence was investigated for 18 preselected simulator metrics. The internal consistency was assessed using Cronbach's alpha and a composite score was calculated based on metrics with significant discriminative ability between the two groups. Finally, a pass/fail standard was established using the contrasting groups' method. The experienced surgeons significantly outperformed the novice surgeons on 6 of the 18 metrics. The internal consistency was 0.58 (Cronbach's alpha). The experienced surgeons' mean composite score for all six repetitions were significantly better than the novice surgeons' (76.1 vs. 63.0, respectively, p < 0.001). A pass/fail standard of 75/100 was established. Four novice surgeons passed this standard (false positives) and three experienced surgeons failed (false negatives). Our study has gathered validity evidence for a simulation-based test for procedural robotic surgical competency in the vaginal cuff closure procedure and established a credible pass/fail standard for future proficiency-based training.

An analysis of the relationship of seven selected variables to State Board Test Pool Examination performance of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, College of Nursing.

PubMed

Sharp, T G

1984-02-01

The study was designed to determine whether any one of seven selected variables or a combination of the variables is predictive of performance on the State Board Test Pool Examination. The selected variables studied were: high school grade point average (HSGPA), The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, College of Nursing grade point average (GPA), and American College Test Assessment (ACT) standard scores (English, ENG; mathematics, MA; social studies, SS; natural sciences, NSC; composite, COMP). Data utilized were from graduates of the baccalaureate program of The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, College of Nursing from 1974 through 1979. The sample of 322 was selected from a total population of 572. The Statistical Analysis System (SAS) was designed to accomplish analysis of the predictive relationship of each of the seven selected variables to State Board Test Pool Examination performance (result of pass or fail), a stepwise discriminant analysis was designed for determining the predictive relationship of the strongest combination of the independent variables to overall State Board Test Pool Examination performance (result of pass or fail), and stepwise multiple regression analysis was designed to determine the strongest predictive combination of selected variables for each of the five subexams of the State Board Test Pool Examination. The selected variables were each found to be predictive of SBTPE performance (result of pass or fail). The strongest combination for predicting SBTPE performance (result of pass or fail) was found to be GPA, MA, and NSC.

Eradication: lessons from the past.

PubMed Central

Henderson, D. A.

1998-01-01

The declaration in 1980 that smallpox had been eradicated reawakened interest in disease eradication as a public health strategy. The smallpox programme's success derived, in part, from lessons learned from the preceding costly failure of the malaria eradication campaign. In turn, the smallpox programme offered important lessons with respect to other prospective disease control programmes, and these have been effectively applied in the two current global eradication initiatives, those against poliomyelitis and dracunculiasis. Taking this theme a step further, there are those who would now focus on the development of an inventory of diseases which might, one by one, be targeted either for eradication or elimination. This approach, while interesting, fails to recognize many of the important lessons learned and their broad implications for contemporary disease control programmes worldwide. PMID:10063668

Do Prosecutors Use Interview Instructions or Build Rapport with Child Witnesses?

PubMed

Ahern, Elizabeth C; Stolzenberg, Stacia N; Lyon, Thomas D

2015-08-01

This study examined the quality of interview instructions and rapport-building provided by prosecutors to 168 children aged 5-12 years testifying in child sexual abuse cases, preceding explicit questions about abuse allegations. Prosecutors failed to effectively administer key interview instructions, build rapport, or rely on open-ended narrative producing prompts during this early stage of questioning. Moreover, prosecutors often directed children's attention to the defendant early in the testimony. The productivity of different types of wh- questions varied, with what/how questions focusing on actions being particularly productive. The lack of instructions, poor quality rapport-building, and closed-ended questioning suggest that children may not be adequately prepared during trial to provide lengthy and reliable reports to their full ability. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Deep RNA sequencing reveals dynamic regulation of myocardial noncoding RNAs in failing human heart and remodeling with mechanical circulatory support.

PubMed

Yang, Kai-Chien; Yamada, Kathryn A; Patel, Akshar Y; Topkara, Veli K; George, Isaac; Cheema, Faisal H; Ewald, Gregory A; Mann, Douglas L; Nerbonne, Jeanne M

2014-03-04

Microarrays have been used extensively to profile transcriptome remodeling in failing human heart, although the genomic coverage provided is limited and fails to provide a detailed picture of the myocardial transcriptome landscape. Here, we describe sequencing-based transcriptome profiling, providing comprehensive analysis of myocardial mRNA, microRNA (miRNA), and long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) expression in failing human heart before and after mechanical support with a left ventricular (LV) assist device (LVAD). Deep sequencing of RNA isolated from paired nonischemic (NICM; n=8) and ischemic (ICM; n=8) human failing LV samples collected before and after LVAD and from nonfailing human LV (n=8) was conducted. These analyses revealed high abundance of mRNA (37%) and lncRNA (71%) of mitochondrial origin. miRNASeq revealed 160 and 147 differentially expressed miRNAs in ICM and NICM, respectively, compared with nonfailing LV. Among these, only 2 (ICM) and 5 (NICM) miRNAs are normalized with LVAD. RNASeq detected 18 480, including 113 novel, lncRNAs in human LV. Among the 679 (ICM) and 570 (NICM) lncRNAs differentially expressed with heart failure, ≈10% are improved or normalized with LVAD. In addition, the expression signature of lncRNAs, but not miRNAs or mRNAs, distinguishes ICM from NICM. Further analysis suggests that cis-gene regulation represents a major mechanism of action of human cardiac lncRNAs. The myocardial transcriptome is dynamically regulated in advanced heart failure and after LVAD support. The expression profiles of lncRNAs, but not mRNAs or miRNAs, can discriminate failing hearts of different pathologies and are markedly altered in response to LVAD support. These results suggest an important role for lncRNAs in the pathogenesis of heart failure and in reverse remodeling observed with mechanical support.

The clustering-based case-based reasoning for imbalanced business failure prediction: a hybrid approach through integrating unsupervised process with supervised process

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Hui; Yu, Jun-Ling; Yu, Le-An; Sun, Jie

2014-05-01

Case-based reasoning (CBR) is one of the main forecasting methods in business forecasting, which performs well in prediction and holds the ability of giving explanations for the results. In business failure prediction (BFP), the number of failed enterprises is relatively small, compared with the number of non-failed ones. However, the loss is huge when an enterprise fails. Therefore, it is necessary to develop methods (trained on imbalanced samples) which forecast well for this small proportion of failed enterprises and performs accurately on total accuracy meanwhile. Commonly used methods constructed on the assumption of balanced samples do not perform well in predicting minority samples on imbalanced samples consisting of the minority/failed enterprises and the majority/non-failed ones. This article develops a new method called clustering-based CBR (CBCBR), which integrates clustering analysis, an unsupervised process, with CBR, a supervised process, to enhance the efficiency of retrieving information from both minority and majority in CBR. In CBCBR, various case classes are firstly generated through hierarchical clustering inside stored experienced cases, and class centres are calculated out by integrating cases information in the same clustered class. When predicting the label of a target case, its nearest clustered case class is firstly retrieved by ranking similarities between the target case and each clustered case class centre. Then, nearest neighbours of the target case in the determined clustered case class are retrieved. Finally, labels of the nearest experienced cases are used in prediction. In the empirical experiment with two imbalanced samples from China, the performance of CBCBR was compared with the classical CBR, a support vector machine, a logistic regression and a multi-variant discriminate analysis. The results show that compared with the other four methods, CBCBR performed significantly better in terms of sensitivity for identifying the minority samples and generated high total accuracy meanwhile. The proposed approach makes CBR useful in imbalanced forecasting.

Act quickly, decide later: long-latency visual processing underlies perceptual decisions but not reflexive behavior.

PubMed

Jolij, Jacob; Scholte, H Steven; van Gaal, Simon; Hodgson, Timothy L; Lamme, Victor A F

2011-12-01

Humans largely guide their behavior by their visual representation of the world. Recent studies have shown that visual information can trigger behavior within 150 msec, suggesting that visually guided responses to external events, in fact, precede conscious awareness of those events. However, is such a view correct? By using a texture discrimination task, we show that the brain relies on long-latency visual processing in order to guide perceptual decisions. Decreasing stimulus saliency leads to selective changes in long-latency visually evoked potential components reflecting scene segmentation. These latency changes are accompanied by almost equal changes in simple RTs and points of subjective simultaneity. Furthermore, we find a strong correlation between individual RTs and the latencies of scene segmentation related components in the visually evoked potentials, showing that the processes underlying these late brain potentials are critical in triggering a response. However, using the same texture stimuli in an antisaccade task, we found that reflexive, but erroneous, prosaccades, but not antisaccades, can be triggered by earlier visual processes. In other words: The brain can act quickly, but decides late. Differences between our study and earlier findings suggesting that action precedes conscious awareness can be explained by assuming that task demands determine whether a fast and unconscious, or a slower and conscious, representation is used to initiate a visually guided response.

Investigation of occupational asthma: Do clinicians fail to identify relevant occupational exposures?

PubMed Central

de Olim, Carlo; Bégin, Denis; Boulet, Louis-Philippe; Cartier, André; Gérin, Michel; Lemière, Catherine

2015-01-01

BACKGROUND: Specific inhalation challenges (SIC) enable the identification of the agent responsible of occupational asthma (OA). A clinician may fail to identify a specific agent in the workplace, which may potentially lead to a misdiagnosis. The expert assessment method performed by an occupational hygienist has been used to evaluate occupational exposures in epidemiological studies. OBJECTIVE: The broad aim of the present study was to evaluate the contribution of an expert assessment performed by an occupational hygienist to the diagnosis of OA. The specific aim was to compare work-place exposures identified by an occupational hygienist and by chest physicians in subjects with positive SICs and subjects with asthma, but with a negative SIC. METHODS: SICs were performed in 120 cases: 67 were positive and 53 were negative. A clinician assessed occupational exposures to sensitizers during a routine clinical evaluation preceding the performance of the SIC. An expert assessment of occupational exposures was performed by an occupational hygienist blind to the result of the SIC. RESULTS: The occupational hygienist identified the causal agent in 96.7% of the 61 cases of positive SIC. In 33 (62.3%) cases of negative SICs, the occupational hygienist identified ≥1 sensitizing agent(s) that had not been identified by the clinician. CONCLUSION: The hygienist identified the causal agent in almost all subjects with OA. In contrast, the clinician failed to identify potential exposures to sensitizers in >60% of the negative SIC subjects, which may have resulted in some subjects being misdiagnosed as not having OA. PMID:26422401

Impure but not inactive: Behavioral pharmacology of dibenzylpiperazine, a common by-product of benzylpiperazine synthesis.

PubMed

Dolan, Sean B; Shetty, Ritu A; Forster, Michael J; Gatch, Michael B

2018-06-01

Substituted piperazines comprise a substantial proportion of the novel psychoactive substance market. Among the most widely abused piperazine compounds are meta-chlorophenylpiperazine (mCPP), tri-fluoromethylphenylpiperazine (TFMPP), and, especially, benzylpiperazine (BZP), which are commonly incorporated, either alone or in combination, in illicit "party pills" or "ecstasy" formulations. Illicit synthesis of BZP often results in production of an impure by-product dibenzylpiperazine (DBZP), which frequently appears alongside BZP in these formulations; however, despite its ubiquity, little information exists regarding the abuse liability of DBZP. The current study aimed to evaluate the abuse-related behavioral pharmacology of DBZP. DBZP, mCPP, and TFMPP were tested in parallel in mice in locomotor activity and conditioned place preference assays, and in a drug discrimination assay with rats trained to discriminate either methamphetamine, cocaine, (±)-3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), or -2,5-dimethoxy-4-methylamphetamine(DOM). Each of the compounds tested produced dose-dependent decreases in locomotor activity. DBZP substituted fully for methamphetamine, produced subthreshold drug-appropriate responding for cocaine and MDMA, and failed to substitute for DOM. Conversely, TFMPP and mCPP only produced subthreshold drug-appropriate responding for methamphetamine and MDMA, respectively, and both compounds failed to substitute for cocaine or DOM. None of the compounds tested produced a place preference. DBZP produced convulsions in rats at the highest dose tested. These data indicate that DBZP is more similar to BZP, albeit with lower potency and efficacy, than its serotonergic piperazine counterparts, and is a behaviorally-active compound with some abuse liability and potential for adverse health effects.

Risk factors, sequential organ failure assessment and model for end-stage liver disease scores for predicting short term mortality in cirrhotic patients admitted to intensive care unit.

PubMed

Cholongitas, E; Senzolo, M; Patch, D; Kwong, K; Nikolopoulou, V; Leandro, G; Shaw, S; Burroughs, A K

2006-04-01

Prognostic scores in an intensive care unit (ICU) evaluate outcomes, but derive from cohorts containing few cirrhotic patients. To evaluate 6-week mortality in cirrhotic patients admitted to an ICU, and to compare general and liver-specific prognostic scores. A total of 312 consecutive cirrhotic patients (65% alcoholic; mean age 49.6 years). Multivariable logistic regression to evaluate admission factors associated with survival. Child-Pugh, Model for End-stage Liver Disease (MELD), Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE) II and Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) scores were compared by receiver operating characteristic curves. Major indication for admission was respiratory failure (35.6%). Median (range) Child-Pugh, APACHE II, MELD and SOFA scores were 11 (5-15), 18 (0-44), 24 (6-40) and 11 (0-21), respectively; 65% (n = 203) died. Survival improved over time (P = 0.005). Multivariate model factors: more organs failing (FOS) (<3 = 49.5%, > or =3 = 90%), higher FiO(2), lactate, urea and bilirubin; resulting in good discrimination [area under receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) = 0.83], similar to SOFA and MELD (AUC = 0.83 and 0.81, respectively) and superior to APACHE II and Child-Pugh (AUC = 0.78 and 0.72, respectively). Cirrhotics admitted to ICU with > or =3 failing organ systems have 90% mortality. The Royal Free model discriminated well and contained key variables of organ function. SOFA and MELD were better predictors than APACHE II or Child-Pugh scores.

General subspace learning with corrupted training data via graph embedding.

PubMed

Bao, Bing-Kun; Liu, Guangcan; Hong, Richang; Yan, Shuicheng; Xu, Changsheng

2013-11-01

We address the following subspace learning problem: supposing we are given a set of labeled, corrupted training data points, how to learn the underlying subspace, which contains three components: an intrinsic subspace that captures certain desired properties of a data set, a penalty subspace that fits the undesired properties of the data, and an error container that models the gross corruptions possibly existing in the data. Given a set of data points, these three components can be learned by solving a nuclear norm regularized optimization problem, which is convex and can be efficiently solved in polynomial time. Using the method as a tool, we propose a new discriminant analysis (i.e., supervised subspace learning) algorithm called Corruptions Tolerant Discriminant Analysis (CTDA), in which the intrinsic subspace is used to capture the features with high within-class similarity, the penalty subspace takes the role of modeling the undesired features with high between-class similarity, and the error container takes charge of fitting the possible corruptions in the data. We show that CTDA can well handle the gross corruptions possibly existing in the training data, whereas previous linear discriminant analysis algorithms arguably fail in such a setting. Extensive experiments conducted on two benchmark human face data sets and one object recognition data set show that CTDA outperforms the related algorithms.

Performance of Pugs, German Shepherds, and Greyhounds (Canis lupus familiaris) on an odor-discrimination task.

PubMed

Hall, Nathaniel J; Glenn, Kelsey; Smith, David W; Wynne, Clive D L

2015-08-01

Public opinion and the scientific literature alike reflect a widespread assumption that there are differences in behavior between dog breeds. Direct empirical behavioral assessments of such differences, however, are rare and have produced mixed results. One area where breed differences are often assumed is olfaction, where German Shepherds, hounds, and Labradors are commonly used for odor-detection work, whereas toy breeds and brachycephalic dogs, such as Pugs, are not. Choice of breed for scent detection work, however, may be driven more by historical choices than data. In this article we directly assessed the ability of German Shepherds, Pugs, and Greyhounds to acquire a simple olfactory discrimination, and their ability to maintain performance when the target odorant was diluted. Our results show that contrary to expectations, Pugs significantly outperformed the German Shepherds in acquiring the odor discrimination and maintaining performance when the odorant concentration was decreased. Nine of 10 Greyhounds did not complete acquisition training because they failed a motivation criterion. These results indicate that Pugs outperformed German Shepherds in the dimensions of olfaction assessed. Greyhounds showed a general failure to participate. Overall, our results highlight the importance of direct behavioral measurement of assumed behavioral breed differences. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

'They say God punishes people with HIV': experiences of stigma and discrimination among adults with HIV in Dili, Timor-Leste.

PubMed

Williams, Kate; Haire, Bridget G; Nathan, Sally

2017-10-01

Little is known about the experiences of people with HIV in the small island nation of Timor-Leste. This study explored the HIV-related stigma experiences of adults aged between 18 and 40 living with HIV in Dili, Timor-Leste. Participants were interviewed on topics related to living with HIV, both as key informants describing the experience of others with HIV known to them, and also with respect to their own personal experiences. Findings suggest that people with HIV in Timor-Leste face stigma and discrimination in various contexts. In this predominantly Catholic country, perceptions of HIV and attitudes towards people with HIV appear to be commonly shaped by religious beliefs. In families and communities, participants encountered gossip, social exclusion and threats of violence. In health settings, participants experienced discrimination from health providers in the form of failing to maintain confidentiality and inappropriate treatment. The impact of stigma was profoundly negative and influenced participants' decision to disclose their status to others. Participants attributed stigma to a lack of information about HIV among the general public. Unless stigma reduction interventions also address the Church's role in shaping perceptions of HIV, education campaigns are unlikely to be effective in reducing HIV-related stigma.

The Necessity of the Medial Temporal Lobe for Statistical Learning

PubMed Central

Schapiro, Anna C.; Gregory, Emma; Landau, Barbara; McCloskey, Michael; Turk-Browne, Nicholas B.

2014-01-01

The sensory input that we experience is highly patterned, and we are experts at detecting these regularities. Although the extraction of such regularities, or statistical learning (SL), is typically viewed as a cortical process, recent studies have implicated the medial temporal lobe (MTL), including the hippocampus. These studies have employed fMRI, leaving open the possibility that the MTL is involved but not necessary for SL. Here, we examined this issue in a case study of LSJ, a patient with complete bilateral hippocampal loss and broader MTL damage. In Experiments 1 and 2, LSJ and matched control participants were passively exposed to a continuous sequence of shapes, syllables, scenes, or tones containing temporal regularities in the co-occurrence of items. In a subsequent test phase, the control groups exhibited reliable SL in all conditions, successfully discriminating regularities from recombinations of the same items into novel foil sequences. LSJ, however, exhibited no SL, failing to discriminate regularities from foils. Experiment 3 ruled out more general explanations for this failure, such as inattention during exposure or difficulty following test instructions, by showing that LSJ could discriminate which individual items had been exposed. These findings provide converging support for the importance of the MTL in extracting temporal regularities. PMID:24456393

Evaluation of in-house ELISA using Trypanosoma cruzi lysate and recombinant antigens for diagnosis of Chagas disease and discrimination of its clinical forms.

PubMed

Longhi, Silvia A; Brandariz, Silvia B; Lafon, Sonia O; Niborski, Leticia L; Luquetti, Alejandro O; Schijman, Alejandro G; Levin, Mariano J; Gómez, Karina A

2012-08-01

The aim of this work was to investigate the potential usefulness of Trypanosoma cruzi lysate, recombinant protein JL7, and peptides P013, R13, JL18, JL19, and P0β as serological markers for human Chagas disease. We analyzed 228 sera from Brazilian Chagas disease patients classified into four clinical groups and 108 from non-chagasic patients. We defined the diagnostic sensitivity, specificity, and Kappa index measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). As previously described, the highest values of diagnostic parameters were achieved for T. cruzi lysate and JL7; peptide P013 showed high specificity but low sensitivity. The other peptides resulted in lower sensitivity and specificity in our ELISA than T. cruzi lysate and JL7 protein. Antibodies against JL7 protein were mainly detected in sera from patients with severe chagasic cardiomyopathy, compared with those from the indeterminate form, whereas peptides failed to discriminate between the clinical forms of the disease.

Glycomics meets artificial intelligence - Potential of glycan analysis for identification of seropositive and seronegative rheumatoid arthritis patients revealed.

PubMed

Chocholova, Erika; Bertok, Tomas; Jane, Eduard; Lorencova, Lenka; Holazova, Alena; Belicka, Ludmila; Belicky, Stefan; Mislovicova, Danica; Vikartovska, Alica; Imrich, Richard; Kasak, Peter; Tkac, Jan

2018-06-01

In this study, one hundred serum samples from healthy people and patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) were analyzed. Standard immunoassays for detection of 10 different RA markers and analysis of glycan markers on antibodies in 10 different assay formats with several lectins were applied for each serum sample. A dataset containing 2000 data points was data mined using artificial neural networks (ANN). We identified key RA markers, which can discriminate between healthy people and seropositive RA patients (serum containing autoantibodies) with accuracy of 83.3%. Combination of RA markers with glycan analysis provided much better discrimination accuracy of 92.5%. Immunoassays completely failed to identify seronegative RA patients (serum not containing autoantibodies), while glycan analysis correctly identified 43.8% of these patients. Further, we revealed other critical parameters for successful glycan analysis such as type of a sample, format of analysis and orientation of captured antibodies for glycan analysis. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Seismic signature analysis for discrimination of people from animals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Damarla, Thyagaraju; Mehmood, Asif; Sabatier, James M.

2013-05-01

Cadence analysis has been the main focus for discriminating between the seismic signatures of people and animals. However, cadence analysis fails when multiple targets are generating the signatures. We analyze the mechanism of human walking and the signature generated by a human walker, and compare it with the signature generated by a quadruped. We develop Fourier-based analysis to differentiate the human signatures from the animal signatures. We extract a set of basis vectors to represent the human and animal signatures using non-negative matrix factorization, and use them to separate and classify both the targets. Grazing animals such as deer, cows, etc., often produce sporadic signals as they move around from patch to patch of grass and one must characterize them so as to differentiate their signatures from signatures generated by a horse steadily walking along a path. These differences in the signatures are used in developing a robust algorithm to distinguish the signatures of animals from humans. The algorithm is tested on real data collected in a remote area.

Why Does Rebalancing Class-Unbalanced Data Improve AUC for Linear Discriminant Analysis?

PubMed

Xue, Jing-Hao; Hall, Peter

2015-05-01

Many established classifiers fail to identify the minority class when it is much smaller than the majority class. To tackle this problem, researchers often first rebalance the class sizes in the training dataset, through oversampling the minority class or undersampling the majority class, and then use the rebalanced data to train the classifiers. This leads to interesting empirical patterns. In particular, using the rebalanced training data can often improve the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) for the original, unbalanced test data. The AUC is a widely-used quantitative measure of classification performance, but the property that it increases with rebalancing has, as yet, no theoretical explanation. In this note, using Gaussian-based linear discriminant analysis (LDA) as the classifier, we demonstrate that, at least for LDA, there is an intrinsic, positive relationship between the rebalancing of class sizes and the improvement of AUC. We show that the largest improvement of AUC is achieved, asymptotically, when the two classes are fully rebalanced to be of equal sizes.

Two-item same/different discrimination in rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta).

PubMed

Basile, Benjamin M; Moylan, Emily J; Charles, David P; Murray, Elisabeth A

2015-11-01

Almost all nonhuman animals can recognize when one item is the same as another item. It is less clear whether nonhuman animals possess abstract concepts of "same" and "different" that can be divorced from perceptual similarity. Pigeons and monkeys show inconsistent performance, and often surprising difficulty, in laboratory tests of same/different learning that involve only two items. Previous results from tests using multi-item arrays suggest that nonhumans compute sameness along a continuous scale of perceptual variability, which would explain the difficulty of making two-item same/different judgments. Here, we provide evidence that rhesus monkeys can learn a two-item same/different discrimination similar to those on which monkeys and pigeons have previously failed. Monkeys' performance transferred to novel stimuli and was not affected by perceptual variations in stimulus size, rotation, view, or luminance. Success without the use of multi-item arrays, and the lack of effect of perceptual variability, suggests a computation of sameness that is more categorical, and perhaps more abstract, than previously thought.

Failure to prove procreation is a life function dooms ADA suit.

PubMed

1999-11-26

The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas rejected arguments in a discrimination case filed by [name removed], who sued American Airlines for discrimination following his dismissal in 1997. The court ruled that the plaintiff failed to prove that his HIV infection substantially limited him in any life functions covered under the Americans with Disabilities Act. [Name removed], who cited his inability to reproduce because of his infection, admitted in a deposition that he never had a desire to father children. The court held that his decision was a personal one, not subject to ADA limitations. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) came to the same decision in the case, saying that [name removed] was not limited in his ability to walk, hear, see, breathe, or care for himself in any way. The ruling is the second of its kind. In the first case, [name removed] v. [Name removed]'s Stores Inc., the judge ruled that sexual intercourse was not a major life activity under the ADA meaning.

Generalized auditory agnosia with spared music recognition in a left-hander. Analysis of a case with a right temporal stroke.

PubMed

Mendez, M F

2001-02-01

After a right temporoparietal stroke, a left-handed man lost the ability to understand speech and environmental sounds but developed greater appreciation for music. The patient had preserved reading and writing but poor verbal comprehension. Slower speech, single syllable words, and minimal written cues greatly facilitated his verbal comprehension. On identifying environmental sounds, he made predominant acoustic errors. Although he failed to name melodies, he could match, describe, and sing them. The patient had normal hearing except for presbyacusis, right-ear dominance for phonemes, and normal discrimination of basic psychoacoustic features and rhythm. Further testing disclosed difficulty distinguishing tone sequences and discriminating two clicks and short-versus-long tones, particularly in the left ear. Together, these findings suggest impairment in a direct route for temporal analysis and auditory word forms in his right hemisphere to Wernicke's area in his left hemisphere. The findings further suggest a separate and possibly rhythm-based mechanism for music recognition.

A theoretical and methodological proposal for the descriptive assessment of therapeutic interactions.

PubMed

Froján-Parga, María Xesús; Ruiz-Sancho, Elena M; Calero-Elvira, Ana

2016-01-01

The goal of this study is to show the development of a strategy for a descriptive assessment of the therapeutic interaction. In this study, we develop an observational methodology to analyze the dialogues that took place during 92 sessions conducted in a psychological center in Madrid, Spain, in which 19 adults were treated for various psychological problems by 9 behavioral therapists. A system was developed to codify vocal behavior of both the therapists and the clients; the software The Observer XT was used for recording. Therapeutic interactions were analyzed using sequential analysis. There are three main sequences that synthesize the therapist-client interaction: first, an utterance by the client preceded by a therapist's verbalization, specifically a question (discriminative morphology) and followed by an expression of approval (reinforcement morphology); second, verbalizations of failure or discomfort uttered by the client, followed most often by verbalizations of disapproval (punishing morphology) uttered by the therapist; and third, verbalizations uttered by the client that are discriminated by the therapist after an in-depth explanation and followed by different therapist's utterances (expressions of approval, technical information, etc.). Depending on how the client responds the results in this study present a starting point for the study of the functional sequences that form the basis of therapeutic change.

Post-precipitation bias in band-tailed pigeon surveys conducted at mineral sites

USGS Publications Warehouse

Overton, C.T.; Schmitz, R.A.; Casazza, Michael L.

2005-01-01

Many animal surveys to estimate populations or index trends include protocol prohibiting counts during rain but fail to address effects of rainfall preceding the count. Prior research on Pacific Coast band-tailed pigeons (Patagioenas fasciata monilis) documented declines in use of mineral sites during rainfall. We hypothesized that prior precipitation was associated with a short-term increase in use of mineral sites following rain. We conducted weekly counts of band-tailed pigeons at 19 Pacific Northwest mineral sites in 2001 and 20 sites in 2002. Results from regression analysis indicated higher counts ???2 days after rain (11.31??5.00% [x????SE]) compared to ???3 days. Individual index counts conducted ???2 days after rain were biased high, resulting in reduced ability to accurately estimate population trends. Models of band-tailed pigeon visitation rates throughout the summer showed increased mineral-site counts during both June and August migration periods, relative to the July breeding period. Our research supported previous studies recommending that mineral-site counts used to index the band-tailed pigeon population be conducted during July. We further recommend conducting counts >3 days after rain to avoid weather-related bias in index estimation. The design of other population sampling strategies that rely on annual counts should consider the influence of aberrant weather not only coincident with but also preceding surveys if weather patterns are thought to influence behavior or detection probability of target species.

In defense of prenatal genetic interventions.

PubMed

Murphy, Timothy F

2014-09-01

Jürgen Habermas has argued against prenatal genetic interventions used to influence traits on the grounds that only biogenetic contingency in the conception of children preserves the conditions that make the presumption of moral equality possible. This argument fails for a number of reasons. The contingency that Habermas points to as the condition of moral equality is an artifact of evolutionary contingency and not inviolable in itself. Moreover, as a precedent for genetic interventions, parents and society already affect children's traits, which is to say there is moral precedent for influencing the traits of descendants. A veil-of-ignorance methodology can also be used to justify prenatal interventions through its method of advance consent and its preservation of the contingency of human identities in a moral sense. In any case, the selection of children's traits does not undermine the prospects of authoring a life since their future remains just as contingent morally as if no trait had been selected. Ironically, the prospect of preserving human beings as they are--to counteract genetic drift--might even require interventions to preserve the ability to author a life in a moral sense. In light of these analyses, Habermas' concerns about prenatal genetic interventions cannot succeed as objections to their practice as a matter of principle; the merits of these interventions must be evaluated individually. © 2012 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

An experimental evaluation of the Sternberg task as a workload metric for helicopter Flight Handling Qualities (FHQ) research

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hemingway, J. C.

1984-01-01

The objective was to determine whether the Sternberg item-recognition task, employed as a secondary task measure of spare mental capacity for flight handling qualities (FHQ) simulation research, could help to differentiate between different flight-control conditions. FHQ evaluations were conducted on the Vertical Motion Simulator at Ames Research Center to investigate different primary flight-control configurations, and selected stability and control augmentation levels for helicopters engaged in low-level flight regimes. The Sternberg task was superimposed upon the primary flight-control task in a balanced experimental design. The results of parametric statistical analysis of Sternberg secondary task data failed to support the continued use of this task as a measure of pilot workload. In addition to the secondary task, subjects provided Cooper-Harper pilot ratings (CHPR) and responded to workload questionnaire. The CHPR data also failed to provide reliable statistical discrimination between FHQ treatment conditions; some insight into the behavior of the secondary task was gained from the workload questionnaire data.

The Sternberg Task as a Workload Metric in Flight Handling Qualities Research

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hemingway, J. C.

1984-01-01

The objective of this research was to determine whether the Sternberg item-recognition task, employed as a secondary task measure of spare mental capacity for flight handling qualities (FHQ) simulation research, could help to differentiate between different flight-control conditions. FHQ evaluations were conducted on the Vertical Motion Simulator at Ames Research Center to investigate different primary flight-control configurations, and selected stability and control augmentation levels for helicopers engaged in low-level flight regimes. The Sternberg task was superimposed upon the primary flight-control task in a balanced experimental design. The results of parametric statistical analysis of Sternberg secondary task data failed to support the continued use of this task as a measure of pilot workload. In addition to the secondary task, subjects provided Cooper-Harper pilot ratings (CHPR) and responded to a workload questionnaire. The CHPR data also failed to provide reliable statistical discrimination between FHQ treatment conditions; some insight into the behavior of the secondary task was gained from the workload questionnaire data.

Attraction thresholds and sex discrimination of urinary odorants in male and female aromatase knockout (ArKO) mice.

PubMed

Pierman, Sylvie; Douhard, Quentin; Balthazart, Jacques; Baum, Michael J; Bakker, Julie

2006-01-01

We previously found that both male and female aromatase knockout (ArKO) mice, which cannot synthesize estrogens due to a targeted mutation of the aromatase gene, showed less investigation of volatile body odors from anesthetized conspecifics of both sexes in Y-maze tests. We now ask whether ArKO mice are in fact capable of discriminating between and/or responding to volatile odors. Using habituation/dishabituation tests, we found that gonadectomized ArKO and wild-type (WT) mice of both sexes, which were tested without any sex hormone replacement, reliably distinguished between undiluted volatile urinary odors of either adult males or estrous females versus deionized water as well as between these two urinary odors themselves. However, ArKO mice of both sexes were less motivated than WT controls to investigate same-sex odors when they were presented last in the sequence of stimuli. In a second experiment, we compared the ability of ArKO and WT mice to respond to decreasing concentrations of either male or female urinary odors. We found a clear-cut sex difference in urinary odor attraction thresholds among WT mice: WT males failed to respond to urine dilutions higher than 1:20 by volume, whereas WT females continued to respond to urine dilutions up to 1:80. Male ArKO mice resembled WT females in their ability to respond to lower concentrations of urinary odors, raising the possibility that the observed sex difference among WT mice in urine attraction thresholds results from the perinatal actions of estrogen in the male nervous system. Female ArKO mice failed to show significant dishabituation responses to two (1:20 and 1:80) dilutions of female urine, perhaps, again, because of a reduced motivation to investigate less salient, same-sex urinary odors. Previously observed deficits in the preference of ArKO male and female mice to approach volatile body odors from conspecifics of either sex cannot be attributed to an inability of ArKO subjects to discriminate these odors according to sex but instead may reflect a deficient motivation to approach same-sex odors, especially when their concentration is low.

In Vitro, In Vivo and Post Explantation Testing of Glucose-Detecting Biosensors: Current Methods and Recommendations

PubMed Central

Koschwanez, Heidi E.; Reichert, W. Monty

2007-01-01

To date, there have been a number of cases where glucose sensors have performed well over long periods of implantation; however, it remains difficult to predict whether a given sensor will perform reliably, will exhibit gradual degradation of performance, or will fail outright soon after implantation. Typically, the literature emphasizes the sensor that performed well, while only briefly (if at all) mentioning the failed devices. This leaves open the question of whether current sensor designs are adequate for the hostile in vivo environment, and whether these sensors have been assessed by the proper regimen of testing protocols. This paper reviews the current in vitro and in vivo testing procedures used to evaluate the functionality and biocompatibility of implantable glucose sensors. An overview of the standards and regulatory bodies that govern biomaterials and end-product device testing precedes a discussion of up-to-date invasive and non-invasive technologies for diabetes management. Analysis of current in vitro, in vivo, and then post implantation testing is presented. Given the underlying assumption that the success of the sensor in vivo foreshadows the long-term reliability of the sensor in the human body, the relative merits of these testing methods are evaluated with respect to how representative they are of human models. PMID:17524479

Chilean megathrust earthquake recurrence linked to frictional contrast at depth

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moreno, M.; Li, S.; Melnick, D.; Bedford, J. R.; Baez, J. C.; Motagh, M.; Metzger, S.; Vajedian, S.; Sippl, C.; Gutknecht, B. D.; Contreras-Reyes, E.; Deng, Z.; Tassara, A.; Oncken, O.

2018-04-01

Fundamental processes of the seismic cycle in subduction zones, including those controlling the recurrence and size of great earthquakes, are still poorly understood. Here, by studying the 2016 earthquake in southern Chile—the first large event within the rupture zone of the 1960 earthquake (moment magnitude (Mw) = 9.5)—we show that the frictional zonation of the plate interface fault at depth mechanically controls the timing of more frequent, moderate-size deep events (Mw < 8) and less frequent, tsunamigenic great shallow earthquakes (Mw > 8.5). We model the evolution of stress build-up for a seismogenic zone with heterogeneous friction to examine the link between the 2016 and 1960 earthquakes. Our results suggest that the deeper segments of the seismogenic megathrust are weaker and interseismically loaded by a more strongly coupled, shallower asperity. Deeper segments fail earlier ( 60 yr recurrence), producing moderate-size events that precede the failure of the shallower region, which fails in a great earthquake (recurrence >110 yr). We interpret the contrasting frictional strength and lag time between deeper and shallower earthquakes to be controlled by variations in pore fluid pressure. Our integrated analysis strengthens understanding of the mechanics and timing of great megathrust earthquakes, and therefore could aid in the seismic hazard assessment of other subduction zones.

Selecting participants when testing new drugs: the implications of age and gender discrimination.

PubMed

Ferguson, Pamela R

2002-01-01

Pharmaceutical products are rigorously tested for safety and efficacy prior to being licensed for use. During this testing process the archetypal research subject is a young male; women and older people are less frequently invited to participate. This is especially true at the early stages, but can also occur in the later phases of drug testing. This paper considers the reasons for the relative under-representation of these groups, and the legal implications of failing to include as research subjects the very types of people who will ultimately consume these drugs.