Sample records for factors affecting recognition

  1. A preliminary analysis of human factors affecting the recognition accuracy of a discrete word recognizer for C3 systems

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yellen, H. W.

    1983-03-01

    Literature pertaining to Voice Recognition abounds with information relevant to the assessment of transitory speech recognition devices. In the past, engineering requirements have dictated the path this technology followed. But, other factors do exist that influence recognition accuracy. This thesis explores the impact of Human Factors on the successful recognition of speech, principally addressing the differences or variability among users. A Threshold Technology T-600 was used for a 100 utterance vocubalary to test 44 subjects. A statistical analysis was conducted on 5 generic categories of Human Factors: Occupational, Operational, Psychological, Physiological and Personal. How the equipment is trained and the experience level of the speaker were found to be key characteristics influencing recognition accuracy. To a lesser extent computer experience, time or week, accent, vital capacity and rate of air flow, speaker cooperativeness and anxiety were found to affect overall error rates.

  2. Cognitive factors affecting free recall, cued recall, and recognition tasks in Alzheimer's disease.

    PubMed

    Yamagishi, Takashi; Sato, Takuya; Sato, Atsushi; Imamura, Toru

    2012-01-01

    Our aim was to identify cognitive factors affecting free recall, cued recall, and recognition tasks in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD). We recruited 349 consecutive AD patients who attended a memory clinic. Each patient was assessed using the Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale (ADAS) and the extended 3-word recall test. In this task, each patient was asked to freely recall 3 previously presented words. If patients could not recall 1 or more of the target words, the examiner cued their recall by providing the category of the target word and then provided a forced-choice recognition of the target word with 2 distracters. The patients were divided into groups according to the results of the free recall, cued recall, and recognition tasks. Multivariate logistic regression analysis for repeated measures was carried out to evaluate the net effects of cognitive factors on the free recall, cued recall, and recognition tasks after controlling for the effects of age and recent memory deficit. Performance on the ADAS Orientation task was found to be related to performance on the free and cued recall tasks, performance on the ADAS Following Commands task was found to be related to performance on the cued recall task, and performance on the ADAS Ideational Praxis task was found to be related to performance on the free recall, cued recall, and recognition tasks. The extended 3-word recall test reflects deficits in a wider range of memory and other cognitive processes, including memory retention after interference, divided attention, and executive functions, compared with word-list recall tasks. The characteristics of the extended 3-word recall test may be advantageous for evaluating patients' memory impairments in daily living.

  3. Cognitive Factors Affecting Free Recall, Cued Recall, and Recognition Tasks in Alzheimer's Disease

    PubMed Central

    Yamagishi, Takashi; Sato, Takuya; Sato, Atsushi; Imamura, Toru

    2012-01-01

    Background/Aims Our aim was to identify cognitive factors affecting free recall, cued recall, and recognition tasks in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD). Subjects: We recruited 349 consecutive AD patients who attended a memory clinic. Methods Each patient was assessed using the Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale (ADAS) and the extended 3-word recall test. In this task, each patient was asked to freely recall 3 previously presented words. If patients could not recall 1 or more of the target words, the examiner cued their recall by providing the category of the target word and then provided a forced-choice recognition of the target word with 2 distracters. The patients were divided into groups according to the results of the free recall, cued recall, and recognition tasks. Multivariate logistic regression analysis for repeated measures was carried out to evaluate the net effects of cognitive factors on the free recall, cued recall, and recognition tasks after controlling for the effects of age and recent memory deficit. Results Performance on the ADAS Orientation task was found to be related to performance on the free and cued recall tasks, performance on the ADAS Following Commands task was found to be related to performance on the cued recall task, and performance on the ADAS Ideational Praxis task was found to be related to performance on the free recall, cued recall, and recognition tasks. Conclusion The extended 3-word recall test reflects deficits in a wider range of memory and other cognitive processes, including memory retention after interference, divided attention, and executive functions, compared with word-list recall tasks. The characteristics of the extended 3-word recall test may be advantageous for evaluating patients’ memory impairments in daily living. PMID:22962551

  4. Perceptual fluency and affect without recognition.

    PubMed

    Anand, P; Sternthal, B

    1991-05-01

    A dichotic listening task was used to investigate the affect-without-recognition phenomenon. Subjects performed a distractor task by responding to the information presented in one ear while ignoring the target information presented in the other ear. The subjects' recognition of and affect toward the target information as well as toward foils was measured. The results offer evidence for the affect-without-recognition phenomenon. Furthermore, the data suggest that the subjects' affect toward the stimuli depended primarily on the extent to which the stimuli were perceived as familiar (i.e., subjective familiarity), and this perception was influenced by the ear in which the distractor or the target information was presented. These data are interpreted in terms of current models of recognition memory and hemispheric lateralization.

  5. Perceptual and affective mechanisms in facial expression recognition: An integrative review.

    PubMed

    Calvo, Manuel G; Nummenmaa, Lauri

    2016-09-01

    Facial expressions of emotion involve a physical component of morphological changes in a face and an affective component conveying information about the expresser's internal feelings. It remains unresolved how much recognition and discrimination of expressions rely on the perception of morphological patterns or the processing of affective content. This review of research on the role of visual and emotional factors in expression recognition reached three major conclusions. First, behavioral, neurophysiological, and computational measures indicate that basic expressions are reliably recognized and discriminated from one another, albeit the effect may be inflated by the use of prototypical expression stimuli and forced-choice responses. Second, affective content along the dimensions of valence and arousal is extracted early from facial expressions, although this coarse affective representation contributes minimally to categorical recognition of specific expressions. Third, the physical configuration and visual saliency of facial features contribute significantly to expression recognition, with "emotionless" computational models being able to reproduce some of the basic phenomena demonstrated in human observers. We conclude that facial expression recognition, as it has been investigated in conventional laboratory tasks, depends to a greater extent on perceptual than affective information and mechanisms.

  6. Facial affect recognition in early and late-stage schizophrenia patients.

    PubMed

    Romero-Ferreiro, María Verónica; Aguado, Luis; Rodriguez-Torresano, Javier; Palomo, Tomás; Rodriguez-Jimenez, Roberto; Pedreira-Massa, José Luis

    2016-04-01

    Prior studies have shown deficits in social cognition and emotion perception in first-episode psychosis (FEP) and multi-episode schizophrenia (MES) patients. These studies compared patients at different stages of the illness with only a single control group which differed in age from at least one clinical group. The present study provides new evidence of a differential pattern of deficit in facial affect recognition in FEP and MES patients using a double age-matched control design. Compared to their controls, FEP patients only showed impaired recognition of fearful faces (p=.007). In contrast to this, the MES patients showed a more generalized deficit compared to their age-matched controls, with impaired recognition of angry, sad and fearful faces (ps<.01) and an increased misattribution of emotional meaning to neutral faces. PANSS scores of FEP patients on Depressed factor correlated positively with the accuracy to recognize fearful expressions (r=.473). For the MES group fear recognition correlated positively with negative PANSS factor (r=.498) and recognition of sad and neutral expressions was inversely correlated with disorganized PANSS factor (r=-.461 and r=-.541, respectively). These results provide evidence that a generalized impairment of affect recognition is observed in advanced-stage patients and is not characteristic of the early stages of schizophrenia. Moreover, the finding that anomalous attribution of emotional meaning to neutral faces is observed only in MES patients suggests that an increased attribution of salience to social stimuli is a characteristic of social cognition in advanced stages of the disorder. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  7. Relation between facial affect recognition and configural face processing in antipsychotic-free schizophrenia.

    PubMed

    Fakra, Eric; Jouve, Elisabeth; Guillaume, Fabrice; Azorin, Jean-Michel; Blin, Olivier

    2015-03-01

    Deficit in facial affect recognition is a well-documented impairment in schizophrenia, closely connected to social outcome. This deficit could be related to psychopathology, but also to a broader dysfunction in processing facial information. In addition, patients with schizophrenia inadequately use configural information-a type of processing that relies on spatial relationships between facial features. To date, no study has specifically examined the link between symptoms and misuse of configural information in the deficit in facial affect recognition. Unmedicated schizophrenia patients (n = 30) and matched healthy controls (n = 30) performed a facial affect recognition task and a face inversion task, which tests aptitude to rely on configural information. In patients, regressions were carried out between facial affect recognition, symptom dimensions and inversion effect. Patients, compared with controls, showed a deficit in facial affect recognition and a lower inversion effect. Negative symptoms and lower inversion effect could account for 41.2% of the variance in facial affect recognition. This study confirms the presence of a deficit in facial affect recognition, and also of dysfunctional manipulation in configural information in antipsychotic-free patients. Negative symptoms and poor processing of configural information explained a substantial part of the deficient recognition of facial affect. We speculate that this deficit may be caused by several factors, among which independently stand psychopathology and failure in correctly manipulating configural information. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved.

  8. Audio-visual affective expression recognition

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Huang, Thomas S.; Zeng, Zhihong

    2007-11-01

    Automatic affective expression recognition has attracted more and more attention of researchers from different disciplines, which will significantly contribute to a new paradigm for human computer interaction (affect-sensitive interfaces, socially intelligent environments) and advance the research in the affect-related fields including psychology, psychiatry, and education. Multimodal information integration is a process that enables human to assess affective states robustly and flexibly. In order to understand the richness and subtleness of human emotion behavior, the computer should be able to integrate information from multiple sensors. We introduce in this paper our efforts toward machine understanding of audio-visual affective behavior, based on both deliberate and spontaneous displays. Some promising methods are presented to integrate information from both audio and visual modalities. Our experiments show the advantage of audio-visual fusion in affective expression recognition over audio-only or visual-only approaches.

  9. Emotion and language: Valence and arousal affect word recognition

    PubMed Central

    Brysbaert, Marc; Warriner, Amy Beth

    2014-01-01

    Emotion influences most aspects of cognition and behavior, but emotional factors are conspicuously absent from current models of word recognition. The influence of emotion on word recognition has mostly been reported in prior studies on the automatic vigilance for negative stimuli, but the precise nature of this relationship is unclear. Various models of automatic vigilance have claimed that the effect of valence on response times is categorical, an inverted-U, or interactive with arousal. The present study used a sample of 12,658 words, and included many lexical and semantic control factors, to determine the precise nature of the effects of arousal and valence on word recognition. Converging empirical patterns observed in word-level and trial-level data from lexical decision and naming indicate that valence and arousal exert independent monotonic effects: Negative words are recognized more slowly than positive words, and arousing words are recognized more slowly than calming words. Valence explained about 2% of the variance in word recognition latencies, whereas the effect of arousal was smaller. Valence and arousal do not interact, but both interact with word frequency, such that valence and arousal exert larger effects among low-frequency words than among high-frequency words. These results necessitate a new model of affective word processing whereby the degree of negativity monotonically and independently predicts the speed of responding. This research also demonstrates that incorporating emotional factors, especially valence, improves the performance of models of word recognition. PMID:24490848

  10. Affect Recognition in Adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

    PubMed Central

    Miller, Meghan; Hanford, Russell B.; Fassbender, Catherine; Duke, Marshall; Schweitzer, Julie B.

    2014-01-01

    Objective This study compared affect recognition abilities between adults with and without Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Method The sample included 51 participants (34 men, 17 women) divided into 3 groups: ADHD-Combined Type (ADHD-C; n = 17), ADHD-Predominantly Inattentive Type (ADHD-I; n = 16), and controls (n = 18). The mean age was 34 years. Affect recognition abilities were assessed by the Diagnostic Analysis of Nonverbal Accuracy (DANVA). Results Analyses of Variance showed that the ADHD-I group made more fearful emotion errors relative to the control group. Inattentive symptoms were positively correlated while hyperactive-impulsive symptoms were negatively correlated with affect recognition errors. Conclusion These results suggest that affect recognition abilities may be impaired in adults with ADHD and that affect recognition abilities are more adversely affected by inattentive than hyperactive-impulsive symptoms. PMID:20555036

  11. Transgenerational effects of maternal depression on affect recognition in children.

    PubMed

    Kluczniok, Dorothea; Hindi Attar, Catherine; Fydrich, Thomas; Fuehrer, Daniel; Jaite, Charlotte; Domes, Gregor; Winter, Sibylle; Herpertz, Sabine C; Brunner, Romuald; Boedeker, Katja; Bermpohl, Felix

    2016-01-01

    The association between maternal depression and adverse emotional and behavioral outcomes in children is well established. One associated factor might be altered affect recognition which may be transmitted transgenerationally. Individuals with history of depression show biased recognition of sadness. Our aim was to investigate parallels in maternal and children's affect recognition with remitted depressed mothers. 60 Mother-child dyads completed an affect recognition morphing task. We examined two groups of remitted depressed mothers, with and without history of physical or sexual abuse, and a group of healthy mothers without history of physical or sexual abuse. Children were between 5 and 12 years old. Across groups, mothers identified happy faces fastest. Mothers with remitted depression showed a higher accuracy and response bias for sadness. We found corresponding results in their children. Maternal and children's bias and accuracy for sadness were positively correlated. Effects of remitted depression were found independent of maternal history of physical or sexual abuse. Our sample size was relatively small and further longitudinal research is needed to investigate how maternal and children's affect recognition are associated with behavioral and emotional outcomes in the long term. Our data suggest a negative processing bias in mothers with remitted depression which might represent both the perpetuation of and vulnerability to depression. Children of remitted depressed mothers appear to be exposed to this processing bias outside acute depressive episodes. This may promote the development of a corresponding processing bias in the children and could make children of depressed mothers more vulnerable to depressive disorders themselves. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  12. Applying Affect Recognition in Serious Games: The PlayMancer Project

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ben Moussa, Maher; Magnenat-Thalmann, Nadia

    This paper presents an overview and the state-of-art in the applications of 'affect' recognition in serious games for the support of patients in behavioral and mental disorder treatments and chronic pain rehabilitation, within the framework of the European project PlayMancer. Three key technologies are discussed relating to facial affect recognition, fusion of different affect recognition methods, and the application of affect recognition in serious games.

  13. Relationships between alexithymia, affect recognition, and empathy after traumatic brain injury.

    PubMed

    Neumann, Dawn; Zupan, Barbra; Malec, James F; Hammond, Flora

    2014-01-01

    To determine (1) alexithymia, affect recognition, and empathy differences in participants with and without traumatic brain injury (TBI); (2) the amount of affect recognition variance explained by alexithymia; and (3) the amount of empathy variance explained by alexithymia and affect recognition. Sixty adults with moderate-to-severe TBI; 60 age and gender-matched controls. Participants were evaluated for alexithymia (difficulty identifying feelings, difficulty describing feelings, and externally-oriented thinking); facial and vocal affect recognition; and affective and cognitive empathy (empathic concern and perspective-taking, respectively). Participants with TBI had significantly higher alexithymia; poorer facial and vocal affect recognition; and lower empathy scores. For TBI participants, facial and vocal affect recognition variances were significantly explained by alexithymia (12% and 8%, respectively); however, the majority of the variances were accounted for by externally-oriented thinking alone. Affect recognition and alexithymia significantly accounted for 16.5% of cognitive empathy. Again, the majority of the variance was primarily explained by externally-oriented thinking. Affect recognition and alexithymia did not explain affective empathy. Results suggest that people who have a tendency to avoid thinking about emotions (externally-oriented thinking) are more likely to have problems recognizing others' emotions and assuming others' points of view. Clinical implications are discussed.

  14. Assessing collective affect recognition via the Emotional Aperture Measure.

    PubMed

    Sanchez-Burks, Jeffrey; Bartel, Caroline A; Rees, Laura; Huy, Quy

    2016-01-01

    Curiosity about collective affect is undergoing a revival in many fields. This literature, tracing back to Le Bon's seminal work on crowd psychology, has established the veracity of collective affect and demonstrated its influence on a wide range of group dynamics. More recently, an interest in the perception of collective affect has emerged, revealing a need for a methodological approach for assessing collective emotion recognition to complement measures of individual emotion recognition. This article addresses this need by introducing the Emotional Aperture Measure (EAM). Three studies provide evidence that collective affect recognition requires a processing style distinct from individual emotion recognition and establishes the validity and reliability of the EAM. A sample of working managers further shows how the EAM provides unique insights into how individuals interact with collectives. We discuss how the EAM can advance several lines of research on collective affect.

  15. Role of adolescent and maternal depressive symptoms on transactional emotion recognition: context and state affect matter.

    PubMed

    Luebbe, Aaron M; Fussner, Lauren M; Kiel, Elizabeth J; Early, Martha C; Bell, Debora J

    2013-12-01

    Depressive symptomatology is associated with impaired recognition of emotion. Previous investigations have predominantly focused on emotion recognition of static facial expressions neglecting the influence of social interaction and critical contextual factors. In the current study, we investigated how youth and maternal symptoms of depression may be associated with emotion recognition biases during familial interactions across distinct contextual settings. Further, we explored if an individual's current emotional state may account for youth and maternal emotion recognition biases. Mother-adolescent dyads (N = 128) completed measures of depressive symptomatology and participated in three family interactions, each designed to elicit distinct emotions. Mothers and youth completed state affect ratings pertaining to self and other at the conclusion of each interaction task. Using multiple regression, depressive symptoms in both mothers and adolescents were associated with biased recognition of both positive affect (i.e., happy, excited) and negative affect (i.e., sadness, anger, frustration); however, this bias emerged primarily in contexts with a less strong emotional signal. Using actor-partner interdependence models, results suggested that youth's own state affect accounted for depression-related biases in their recognition of maternal affect. State affect did not function similarly in explaining depression-related biases for maternal recognition of adolescent emotion. Together these findings suggest a similar negative bias in emotion recognition associated with depressive symptoms in both adolescents and mothers in real-life situations, albeit potentially driven by different mechanisms.

  16. Facial Affect Recognition and Social Anxiety in Preschool Children

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ale, Chelsea M.; Chorney, Daniel B.; Brice, Chad S.; Morris, Tracy L.

    2010-01-01

    Research relating anxiety and facial affect recognition has focused mostly on school-aged children and adults and has yielded mixed results. The current study sought to demonstrate an association among behavioural inhibition and parent-reported social anxiety, shyness, social withdrawal and facial affect recognition performance in 30 children,…

  17. The involvement of emotion recognition in affective theory of mind.

    PubMed

    Mier, Daniela; Lis, Stefanie; Neuthe, Kerstin; Sauer, Carina; Esslinger, Christine; Gallhofer, Bernd; Kirsch, Peter

    2010-11-01

    This study was conducted to explore the relationship between emotion recognition and affective Theory of Mind (ToM). Forty subjects performed a facial emotion recognition and an emotional intention recognition task (affective ToM) in an event-related fMRI study. Conjunction analysis revealed overlapping activation during both tasks. Activation in some of these conjunctly activated regions was even stronger during affective ToM than during emotion recognition, namely in the inferior frontal gyrus, the superior temporal sulcus, the temporal pole, and the amygdala. In contrast to previous studies investigating ToM, we found no activation in the anterior cingulate, commonly assumed as the key region for ToM. The results point to a close relationship of emotion recognition and affective ToM and can be interpreted as evidence for the assumption that at least basal forms of ToM occur by an embodied, non-cognitive process. Copyright © 2010 Society for Psychophysiological Research.

  18. Affect Recognition in Adults with ADHD

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Miller, Meghan; Hanford, Russell B.; Fassbender, Catherine; Duke, Marshall; Schweitzer, Julie B.

    2011-01-01

    Objective: This study compared affect recognition abilities between adults with and without ADHD. Method: The sample consisted of 51 participants (34 men, 17 women) divided into 3 groups: ADHD-combined type (ADHD-C; n = 17), ADHD-predominantly inattentive type (ADHD-I; n = 16), and controls (n = 18). The mean age was 34 years. Affect recognition…

  19. [Measuring impairment of facial affects recognition in schizophrenia. Preliminary study of the facial emotions recognition task (TREF)].

    PubMed

    Gaudelus, B; Virgile, J; Peyroux, E; Leleu, A; Baudouin, J-Y; Franck, N

    2015-06-01

    The impairment of social cognition, including facial affects recognition, is a well-established trait in schizophrenia, and specific cognitive remediation programs focusing on facial affects recognition have been developed by different teams worldwide. However, even though social cognitive impairments have been confirmed, previous studies have also shown heterogeneity of the results between different subjects. Therefore, assessment of personal abilities should be measured individually before proposing such programs. Most research teams apply tasks based on facial affects recognition by Ekman et al. or Gur et al. However, these tasks are not easily applicable in a clinical exercise. Here, we present the Facial Emotions Recognition Test (TREF), which is designed to identify facial affects recognition impairments in a clinical practice. The test is composed of 54 photos and evaluates abilities in the recognition of six universal emotions (joy, anger, sadness, fear, disgust and contempt). Each of these emotions is represented with colored photos of 4 different models (two men and two women) at nine intensity levels from 20 to 100%. Each photo is presented during 10 seconds; no time limit for responding is applied. The present study compared the scores of the TREF test in a sample of healthy controls (64 subjects) and people with stabilized schizophrenia (45 subjects) according to the DSM IV-TR criteria. We analysed global scores for all emotions, as well as sub scores for each emotion between these two groups, taking into account gender differences. Our results were coherent with previous findings. Applying TREF, we confirmed an impairment in facial affects recognition in schizophrenia by showing significant differences between the two groups in their global results (76.45% for healthy controls versus 61.28% for people with schizophrenia), as well as in sub scores for each emotion except for joy. Scores for women were significantly higher than for men in the population

  20. CACNA1C risk variant affects facial emotion recognition in healthy individuals.

    PubMed

    Nieratschker, Vanessa; Brückmann, Christof; Plewnia, Christian

    2015-11-27

    Recognition and correct interpretation of facial emotion is essential for social interaction and communication. Previous studies have shown that impairments in this cognitive domain are common features of several psychiatric disorders. Recent association studies identified CACNA1C as one of the most promising genetic risk factors for psychiatric disorders and previous evidence suggests that the most replicated risk variant in CACNA1C (rs1006737) is affecting emotion recognition and processing. However, studies investigating the influence of rs1006737 on this intermediate phenotype in healthy subjects at the behavioral level are largely missing to date. Here, we applied the "Reading the Mind in the Eyes" test, a facial emotion recognition paradigm in a cohort of 92 healthy individuals to address this question. Whereas accuracy was not affected by genotype, CACNA1C rs1006737 risk-allele carries (AA/AG) showed significantly slower mean response times compared to individuals homozygous for the G-allele, indicating that healthy risk-allele carriers require more information to correctly identify a facial emotion. Our study is the first to provide evidence for an impairing behavioral effect of the CACNA1C risk variant rs1006737 on facial emotion recognition in healthy individuals and adds to the growing number of studies pointing towards CACNA1C as affecting intermediate phenotypes of psychiatric disorders.

  1. Factors Affecting Open-Set Word Recognition in Adults with Cochlear Implants

    PubMed Central

    Holden, Laura K.; Finley, Charles C.; Firszt, Jill B.; Holden, Timothy A.; Brenner, Christine; Potts, Lisa G.; Gotter, Brenda D.; Vanderhoof, Sallie S.; Mispagel, Karen; Heydebrand, Gitry; Skinner, Margaret W.

    2012-01-01

    A monosyllabic word test was administered to 114 postlingually-deaf adult cochlear implant (CI) recipients at numerous intervals from two weeks to two years post-initial CI activation. Biographic/audiologic information, electrode position, and cognitive ability were examined to determine factors affecting CI outcomes. Results revealed that Duration of Severe-to-Profound Hearing Loss, Age at Implantation, CI Sound-field Threshold Levels, Percentage of Electrodes in Scala Vestibuli, Medio-lateral Electrode Position, Insertion Depth, and Cognition were among the factors that affected performance. Knowledge of how factors affect performance can influence counseling, device fitting, and rehabilitation for patients and may contribute to improved device design. PMID:23348845

  2. Neurobiological mechanisms associated with facial affect recognition deficits after traumatic brain injury.

    PubMed

    Neumann, Dawn; McDonald, Brenna C; West, John; Keiski, Michelle A; Wang, Yang

    2016-06-01

    The neurobiological mechanisms that underlie facial affect recognition deficits after traumatic brain injury (TBI) have not yet been identified. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), study aims were to 1) determine if there are differences in brain activation during facial affect processing in people with TBI who have facial affect recognition impairments (TBI-I) relative to people with TBI and healthy controls who do not have facial affect recognition impairments (TBI-N and HC, respectively); and 2) identify relationships between neural activity and facial affect recognition performance. A facial affect recognition screening task performed outside the scanner was used to determine group classification; TBI patients who performed greater than one standard deviation below normal performance scores were classified as TBI-I, while TBI patients with normal scores were classified as TBI-N. An fMRI facial recognition paradigm was then performed within the 3T environment. Results from 35 participants are reported (TBI-I = 11, TBI-N = 12, and HC = 12). For the fMRI task, TBI-I and TBI-N groups scored significantly lower than the HC group. Blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) signals for facial affect recognition compared to a baseline condition of viewing a scrambled face, revealed lower neural activation in the right fusiform gyrus (FG) in the TBI-I group than the HC group. Right fusiform gyrus activity correlated with accuracy on the facial affect recognition tasks (both within and outside the scanner). Decreased FG activity suggests facial affect recognition deficits after TBI may be the result of impaired holistic face processing. Future directions and clinical implications are discussed.

  3. Stereotypes and prejudice affect the recognition of emotional body postures.

    PubMed

    Bijlstra, Gijsbert; Holland, Rob W; Dotsch, Ron; Wigboldus, Daniel H J

    2018-03-26

    Most research on emotion recognition focuses on facial expressions. However, people communicate emotional information through bodily cues as well. Prior research on facial expressions has demonstrated that emotion recognition is modulated by top-down processes. Here, we tested whether this top-down modulation generalizes to the recognition of emotions from body postures. We report three studies demonstrating that stereotypes and prejudice about men and women may affect how fast people classify various emotional body postures. Our results suggest that gender cues activate gender associations, which affect the recognition of emotions from body postures in a top-down fashion. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

  4. Speaker information affects false recognition of unstudied lexical-semantic associates.

    PubMed

    Luthra, Sahil; Fox, Neal P; Blumstein, Sheila E

    2018-05-01

    Recognition of and memory for a spoken word can be facilitated by a prior presentation of that word spoken by the same talker. However, it is less clear whether this speaker congruency advantage generalizes to facilitate recognition of unheard related words. The present investigation employed a false memory paradigm to examine whether information about a speaker's identity in items heard by listeners could influence the recognition of novel items (critical intruders) phonologically or semantically related to the studied items. In Experiment 1, false recognition of semantically associated critical intruders was sensitive to speaker information, though only when subjects attended to talker identity during encoding. Results from Experiment 2 also provide some evidence that talker information affects the false recognition of critical intruders. Taken together, the present findings indicate that indexical information is able to contact the lexical-semantic network to affect the processing of unheard words.

  5. On Assisting a Visual-Facial Affect Recognition System with Keyboard-Stroke Pattern Information

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Stathopoulou, I.-O.; Alepis, E.; Tsihrintzis, G. A.; Virvou, M.

    Towards realizing a multimodal affect recognition system, we are considering the advantages of assisting a visual-facial expression recognition system with keyboard-stroke pattern information. Our work is based on the assumption that the visual-facial and keyboard modalities are complementary to each other and that their combination can significantly improve the accuracy in affective user models. Specifically, we present and discuss the development and evaluation process of two corresponding affect recognition subsystems, with emphasis on the recognition of 6 basic emotional states, namely happiness, sadness, surprise, anger and disgust as well as the emotion-less state which we refer to as neutral. We find that emotion recognition by the visual-facial modality can be aided greatly by keyboard-stroke pattern information and the combination of the two modalities can lead to better results towards building a multimodal affect recognition system.

  6. Affect recognition across manic and euthymic phases of bipolar disorder in Han-Chinese patients.

    PubMed

    Pan, Yi-Ju; Tseng, Huai-Hsuan; Liu, Shi-Kai

    2013-11-01

    Patients with bipolar disorder (BD) have affect recognition deficits. Whether affect recognition deficits constitute a state or trait marker of BD has great etiopathological significance. The current study aims to explore the interrelationships between affect recognition and basic neurocognitive functions for patients with BD across different mood states, using the Diagnostic Analysis of Non-Verbal Accuracy-2, Taiwanese version (DANVA-2-TW) as the index measure for affect recognition. To our knowledge, this is the first study examining affect recognition deficits of BPD across mood states in the Han Chinese population. Twenty-nine manic patients, 16 remitted patients with BD, and 40 control subjects are included in the study. Distinct association patterns between affect recognition and neurocognitive functions are demonstrated for patients with BD and control subjects, implicating alternations in emotion associated neurocognitive processing. Compared to control subjects, manic patients but not remitted subjects perform significantly worse in the recognition of negative emotions as a whole and specifically anger, after adjusting for differences in general intellectual ability and basic neurocognitive functions. Affect recognition deficit may be a relatively independent impairment in BD rather than consequences arising from deficits in other basic neurocognition. The impairments of manic patients in the recognition of negative emotions, specifically anger, may further our understanding of core clinical psychopathology of BD and have implications in treating bipolar patients across distinct mood phases. © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  7. The association between PTSD and facial affect recognition.

    PubMed

    Williams, Christian L; Milanak, Melissa E; Judah, Matt R; Berenbaum, Howard

    2018-05-05

    The major aims of this study were to examine how, if at all, having higher levels of PTSD would be associated with performance on a facial affect recognition task in which facial expressions of emotion are superimposed on emotionally valenced, non-face images. College students with trauma histories (N = 90) completed a facial affect recognition task as well as measures of exposure to traumatic events, and PTSD symptoms. When the face and context matched, participants with higher levels of PTSD were significantly more accurate. When the face and context were mismatched, participants with lower levels of PTSD were more accurate than were those with higher levels of PTSD. These findings suggest that PTSD is associated with how people process affective information. Furthermore, these results suggest that the enhanced attention of people with higher levels of PTSD to affective information can be either beneficial or detrimental to their ability to accurately identify facial expressions of emotion. Limitations, future directions and clinical implications are discussed. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  8. Towards Real-Time Speech Emotion Recognition for Affective E-Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bahreini, Kiavash; Nadolski, Rob; Westera, Wim

    2016-01-01

    This paper presents the voice emotion recognition part of the FILTWAM framework for real-time emotion recognition in affective e-learning settings. FILTWAM (Framework for Improving Learning Through Webcams And Microphones) intends to offer timely and appropriate online feedback based upon learner's vocal intonations and facial expressions in order…

  9. Recognition memory probes affect what is remembered in schizophrenia.

    PubMed

    Schwartz, Barbara L; Parker, Elizabeth S; Rosse, Richard B; Deutsch, Stephen I

    2009-05-15

    Cognitive psychology offers tools to localize the memory processes most vulnerable to disruption in schizophrenia and to identify how patients with schizophrenia best remember. In this research, we used the University of Southern California Repeatable Episodic Memory Test (USC-REMT; Parker, E.S., Landau, S.M., Whipple, S.C., Schwartz, B.L., 2004. Aging, recall, and recognition: A study on the sensitivity of the University of Southern California Repeatable Episodic Memory Test (USC-REMT). Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology 26(3), 428-440.) to examine how two different recognition memory probes affect memory performance in patients with schizophrenia and matched controls. Patients with schizophrenia studied equivalent word lists and were tested by yes-no recognition and forced-choice recognition following identical encoding and storage conditions. Compared with controls, patients with schizophrenia were particularly impaired when tested by yes-no recognition relative to forced-choice recognition. Patients had greatest deficits on hits in yes-no recognition but did not exhibit elevated false alarms. The data point to the importance of retrieval processes in schizophrenia, and highlight the need for further research on ways to help patients with schizophrenia access what they have learned.

  10. Facial affect recognition deficit as a marker of genetic vulnerability to schizophrenia.

    PubMed

    Alfimova, Margarita V; Abramova, Lilia I; Barhatova, Aleksandra I; Yumatova, Polina E; Lyachenko, Galina L; Golimbet, Vera E

    2009-05-01

    The aim of this study was to investigate the possibility that affect recognition impairments are associated with genetic liability to schizophrenia. In a group of 55 unaffected relatives of schizophrenia patients (parents and siblings) we examined the capacity to detect facially expressed emotions and its relationship to schizotypal personality, neurocognitive functioning, and the subject's actual emotional state. The relatives were compared with 103 schizophrenia patients and 99 healthy subjects without any family history of psychoses. Emotional stimuli were nine black-and-white photos of actors, who portrayed six basic emotions as well as interest, contempt, and shame. The results evidenced the affect recognition deficit in relatives, though milder than that in patients themselves. No correlation between the deficit and schizotypal personality measured with SPQ was detected in the group of relatives. Neither cognitive functioning, including attention, verbal memory and linguistic ability, nor actual emotional states accounted for their affect recognition impairments. The results suggest that the facial affect recognition deficit in schizophrenia may be related to genetic predisposition to the disorder and may serve as an endophenotype in molecular-genetic studies.

  11. Warmth of familiarity and chill of error: affective consequences of recognition decisions.

    PubMed

    Chetverikov, Andrey

    2014-04-01

    The present research aimed to assess the effect of recognition decision on subsequent affective evaluations of recognised and non-recognised objects. Consistent with the proposed account of post-decisional preferences, results showed that the effect of recognition on preferences depends upon objective familiarity. If stimuli are recognised, liking ratings are positively associated with exposure frequency; if stimuli are not recognised, this link is either absent (Experiment 1) or negative (Experiments 2 and 3). This interaction between familiarity and recognition exists even when recognition accuracy is at chance level and the "mere exposure" effect is absent. Finally, data obtained from repeated measurements of preferences and using manipulations of task order confirm that recognition decisions have a causal influence on preferences. The findings suggest that affective evaluation can provide fine-grained access to the efficacy of cognitive processing even in simple cognitive tasks.

  12. Vocal Affect Recognition and Psychopathy: Converging Findings Across Traditional and Cluster Analytic Approaches to Assessing the Construct

    PubMed Central

    Bagley, Amy D.; Abramowitz, Carolyn S.; Kosson, David S.

    2010-01-01

    Deficits in emotion processing have been widely reported to be central to psychopathy. However, few prior studies have examined vocal affect recognition in psychopaths, and these studies suffer from significant methodological limitations. Moreover, prior studies have yielded conflicting findings regarding the specificity of psychopaths’ affect recognition deficits. This study examined vocal affect recognition in 107 male inmates under conditions requiring isolated prosodic vs. semantic analysis of affective cues and compared subgroups of offenders identified via cluster analysis on vocal affect recognition. Psychopaths demonstrated deficits in vocal affect recognition under conditions requiring use of semantic cues and conditions requiring use of prosodic cues. Moreover, both primary and secondary psychopaths exhibited relatively similar emotional deficits in the semantic analysis condition compared to nonpsychopathic control participants. This study demonstrates that psychopaths’ vocal affect recognition deficits are not due to methodological limitations of previous studies and provides preliminary evidence that primary and secondary psychopaths exhibit generally similar deficits in vocal affect recognition. PMID:19413412

  13. Nonintrusive Finger-Vein Recognition System Using NIR Image Sensor and Accuracy Analyses According to Various Factors

    PubMed Central

    Pham, Tuyen Danh; Park, Young Ho; Nguyen, Dat Tien; Kwon, Seung Yong; Park, Kang Ryoung

    2015-01-01

    Biometrics is a technology that enables an individual person to be identified based on human physiological and behavioral characteristics. Among biometrics technologies, face recognition has been widely used because of its advantages in terms of convenience and non-contact operation. However, its performance is affected by factors such as variation in the illumination, facial expression, and head pose. Therefore, fingerprint and iris recognitions are preferred alternatives. However, the performance of the former can be adversely affected by the skin condition, including scarring and dryness. In addition, the latter has the disadvantages of high cost, large system size, and inconvenience to the user, who has to align their eyes with the iris camera. In an attempt to overcome these problems, finger-vein recognition has been vigorously researched, but an analysis of its accuracies according to various factors has not received much attention. Therefore, we propose a nonintrusive finger-vein recognition system using a near infrared (NIR) image sensor and analyze its accuracies considering various factors. The experimental results obtained with three databases showed that our system can be operated in real applications with high accuracy; and the dissimilarity of the finger-veins of different people is larger than that of the finger types and hands. PMID:26184214

  14. Nonintrusive Finger-Vein Recognition System Using NIR Image Sensor and Accuracy Analyses According to Various Factors.

    PubMed

    Pham, Tuyen Danh; Park, Young Ho; Nguyen, Dat Tien; Kwon, Seung Yong; Park, Kang Ryoung

    2015-07-13

    Biometrics is a technology that enables an individual person to be identified based on human physiological and behavioral characteristics. Among biometrics technologies, face recognition has been widely used because of its advantages in terms of convenience and non-contact operation. However, its performance is affected by factors such as variation in the illumination, facial expression, and head pose. Therefore, fingerprint and iris recognitions are preferred alternatives. However, the performance of the former can be adversely affected by the skin condition, including scarring and dryness. In addition, the latter has the disadvantages of high cost, large system size, and inconvenience to the user, who has to align their eyes with the iris camera. In an attempt to overcome these problems, finger-vein recognition has been vigorously researched, but an analysis of its accuracies according to various factors has not received much attention. Therefore, we propose a nonintrusive finger-vein recognition system using a near infrared (NIR) image sensor and analyze its accuracies considering various factors. The experimental results obtained with three databases showed that our system can be operated in real applications with high accuracy; and the dissimilarity of the finger-veins of different people is larger than that of the finger types and hands.

  15. Affective and contextual values modulate spatial frequency use in object recognition

    PubMed Central

    Caplette, Laurent; West, Gregory; Gomot, Marie; Gosselin, Frédéric; Wicker, Bruno

    2014-01-01

    Visual object recognition is of fundamental importance in our everyday interaction with the environment. Recent models of visual perception emphasize the role of top-down predictions facilitating object recognition via initial guesses that limit the number of object representations that need to be considered. Several results suggest that this rapid and efficient object processing relies on the early extraction and processing of low spatial frequencies (LSF). The present study aimed to investigate the SF content of visual object representations and its modulation by contextual and affective values of the perceived object during a picture-name verification task. Stimuli consisted of pictures of objects equalized in SF content and categorized as having low or high affective and contextual values. To access the SF content of stored visual representations of objects, SFs of each image were then randomly sampled on a trial-by-trial basis. Results reveal that intermediate SFs between 14 and 24 cycles per object (2.3–4 cycles per degree) are correlated with fast and accurate identification for all categories of objects. Moreover, there was a significant interaction between affective and contextual values over the SFs correlating with fast recognition. These results suggest that affective and contextual values of a visual object modulate the SF content of its internal representation, thus highlighting the flexibility of the visual recognition system. PMID:24904514

  16. Facial affect recognition in symptomatically remitted patients with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

    PubMed

    Yalcin-Siedentopf, Nursen; Hoertnagl, Christine M; Biedermann, Falko; Baumgartner, Susanne; Deisenhammer, Eberhard A; Hausmann, Armand; Kaufmann, Alexandra; Kemmler, Georg; Mühlbacher, Moritz; Rauch, Anna-Sophia; Fleischhacker, W Wolfgang; Hofer, Alex

    2014-02-01

    Both schizophrenia and bipolar disorder (BD) have consistently been associated with deficits in facial affect recognition (FAR). These impairments have been related to various aspects of social competence and functioning and are relatively stable over time. However, individuals in remission may outperform patients experiencing an acute phase of the disorders. The present study directly contrasted FAR in symptomatically remitted patients with schizophrenia or BD and healthy volunteers and investigated its relationship with patients' outcomes. Compared to healthy control subjects, schizophrenia patients were impaired in the recognition of angry, disgusted, sad and happy facial expressions, while BD patients showed deficits only in the recognition of disgusted and happy facial expressions. When directly comparing the two patient groups individuals suffering from BD outperformed those with schizophrenia in the recognition of expressions depicting anger. There was no significant association between affect recognition abilities and symptomatic or psychosocial outcomes in schizophrenia patients. Among BD patients, relatively higher depression scores were associated with impairments in both the identification of happy faces and psychosocial functioning. Overall, our findings indicate that during periods of symptomatic remission the recognition of facial affect may be less impaired in patients with BD than in those suffering from schizophrenia. However, in the psychosocial context BD patients seem to be more sensitive to residual symptomatology. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  17. Interplay between affect and arousal in recognition memory.

    PubMed

    Greene, Ciara M; Bahri, Pooja; Soto, David

    2010-07-23

    Emotional states linked to arousal and mood are known to affect the efficiency of cognitive performance. However, the extent to which memory processes may be affected by arousal, mood or their interaction is poorly understood. Following a study phase of abstract shapes, we altered the emotional state of participants by means of exposure to music that varied in both mood and arousal dimensions, leading to four different emotional states: (i) positive mood-high arousal; (ii) positive mood-low arousal; (iii) negative mood-high arousal; (iv) negative mood-low arousal. Following the emotional induction, participants performed a memory recognition test. Critically, there was an interaction between mood and arousal on recognition performance. Memory was enhanced in the positive mood-high arousal and in the negative mood-low arousal states, relative to the other emotional conditions. Neither mood nor arousal alone but their interaction appears most critical to understanding the emotional enhancement of memory.

  18. Effect of camera resolution and bandwidth on facial affect recognition.

    PubMed

    Cruz, Mario; Cruz, Robyn Flaum; Krupinski, Elizabeth A; Lopez, Ana Maria; McNeeley, Richard M; Weinstein, Ronald S

    2004-01-01

    This preliminary study explored the effect of camera resolution and bandwidth on facial affect recognition, an important process and clinical variable in mental health service delivery. Sixty medical students and mental health-care professionals were recruited and randomized to four different combinations of commonly used teleconferencing camera resolutions and bandwidths: (1) one chip charged coupling device (CCD) camera, commonly used for VHSgrade taping and in teleconferencing systems costing less than $4,000 with a resolution of 280 lines, and 128 kilobytes per second bandwidth (kbps); (2) VHS and 768 kbps; (3) three-chip CCD camera, commonly used for Betacam (Beta) grade taping and in teleconferencing systems costing more than $4,000 with a resolution of 480 lines, and 128 kbps; and (4) Betacam and 768 kbps. The subjects were asked to identify four facial affects dynamically presented on videotape by an actor and actress presented via a video monitor at 30 frames per second. Two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed a significant interaction effect for camera resolution and bandwidth (p = 0.02) and a significant main effect for camera resolution (p = 0.006), but no main effect for bandwidth was detected. Post hoc testing of interaction means, using the Tukey Honestly Significant Difference (HSD) test and the critical difference (CD) at the 0.05 alpha level = 1.71, revealed subjects in the VHS/768 kbps (M = 7.133) and VHS/128 kbps (M = 6.533) were significantly better at recognizing the displayed facial affects than those in the Betacam/768 kbps (M = 4.733) or Betacam/128 kbps (M = 6.333) conditions. Camera resolution and bandwidth combinations differ in their capacity to influence facial affect recognition. For service providers, this study's results support the use of VHS cameras with either 768 kbps or 128 kbps bandwidths for facial affect recognition compared to Betacam cameras. The authors argue that the results of this study are a consequence of the

  19. Factors affecting the quality of life in childhood epilepsy in China.

    PubMed

    Yong, L; Chengye, J; Jiong, Q

    2006-03-01

    To explore the level of, and factors affecting the quality of life (QOL) in childhood epilepsy in China. At the Peking University First Hospital, we consecutively identified 418 parents whose children were with known epilepsy to complete a questionnaire, which included children's demographic characteristics, clinical message of epilepsy, QOL, familial message, parental symptoms of anxiety/depression. Significant (p<0.05) affecting factors of children's quality of life included current educational degree, mental development, age at diagnosis, age at onset, seizure frequency, duration, AED number; parental significant (p<0.05) affecting factors included anxiety, depression and health. On regression analysis, parental anxiety was the most important factor in explaining lower QOL in childhood epilepsy. AEDs, familial economic state, paternal career, seizure frequency were also significant factors. Parental anxiety outweighed the physical factors in determining QOL in childhood epilepsy. Recognition of this will be helpful for professionals to treat disease and improve the QOL of childhood epilepsy.

  20. Event-related theta synchronization predicts deficit in facial affect recognition in schizophrenia.

    PubMed

    Csukly, Gábor; Stefanics, Gábor; Komlósi, Sarolta; Czigler, István; Czobor, Pál

    2014-02-01

    Growing evidence suggests that abnormalities in the synchronized oscillatory activity of neurons in schizophrenia may lead to impaired neural activation and temporal coding and thus lead to neurocognitive dysfunctions, such as deficits in facial affect recognition. To gain an insight into the neurobiological processes linked to facial affect recognition, we investigated both induced and evoked oscillatory activity by calculating the Event Related Spectral Perturbation (ERSP) and the Inter Trial Coherence (ITC) during facial affect recognition. Fearful and neutral faces as well as nonface patches were presented to 24 patients with schizophrenia and 24 matched healthy controls while EEG was recorded. The participants' task was to recognize facial expressions. Because previous findings with healthy controls showed that facial feature decoding was associated primarily with oscillatory activity in the theta band, we analyzed ERSP and ITC in this frequency band in the time interval of 140-200 ms, which corresponds to the N170 component. Event-related theta activity and phase-locking to facial expressions, but not to nonface patches, predicted emotion recognition performance in both controls and patients. Event-related changes in theta amplitude and phase-locking were found to be significantly weaker in patients compared with healthy controls, which is in line with previous investigations showing decreased neural synchronization in the low frequency bands in patients with schizophrenia. Neural synchrony is thought to underlie distributed information processing. Our results indicate a less effective functioning in the recognition process of facial features, which may contribute to a less effective social cognition in schizophrenia. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved.

  1. Metacognitive deficits predict future levels of negative symptoms in schizophrenia controlling for neurocognition, affect recognition, and self-expectation of goal attainment.

    PubMed

    Lysaker, Paul H; Kukla, Marina; Dubreucq, Julien; Gumley, Andrew; McLeod, Hamish; Vohs, Jenifer L; Buck, Kelly D; Minor, Kyle S; Luther, Lauren; Leonhardt, Bethany L; Belanger, Elizabeth A; Popolo, Raffaele; Dimaggio, Giancarlo

    2015-10-01

    The recalcitrance of negative symptoms in the face of pharmacologic treatment has spurred interest in understanding the psychological factors that contribute to their formation and persistence. Accordingly, this study investigated whether deficits in metacognition, or the ability to form integrated ideas about oneself, others, and the world, prospectively predicted levels of negative symptoms independent of deficits in neurocognition, affect recognition and defeatist beliefs. Participants were 53 adults with a schizophrenia spectrum disorder. Prior to entry into a rehabilitation program, all participants completed concurrent assessments of metacognition with the Metacognitive Assessment Scale-Abbreviated, negative symptoms with the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale, neurocognition with the MATRICS battery, affect recognition with the Bell Lysaker Emotion Recognition Task, and one form of defeatist beliefs with the Recovery Assessment Scale. Negative symptoms were then reassessed one week, 9weeks, and 17weeks after entry into the program. A mixed effects regression model revealed that after controlling for baseline negative symptoms, a general index of neurocognition, defeatist beliefs and capacity for affect recognition, lower levels of metacognition predicted higher levels of negative symptoms across all subsequent time points. Poorer metacognition was able to predict later levels of elevated negative symptoms even after controlling for initial levels of negative symptoms. Results may suggest that metacognitive deficits are a risk factor for elevated levels of negative symptoms in the future. Clinical implications are also discussed. Published by Elsevier B.V.

  2. Infant Visual Recognition Memory

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rose, Susan A.; Feldman, Judith F.; Jankowski, Jeffery J.

    2004-01-01

    Visual recognition memory is a robust form of memory that is evident from early infancy, shows pronounced developmental change, and is influenced by many of the same factors that affect adult memory; it is surprisingly resistant to decay and interference. Infant visual recognition memory shows (a) modest reliability, (b) good discriminant…

  3. Modulation of α power and functional connectivity during facial affect recognition.

    PubMed

    Popov, Tzvetan; Miller, Gregory A; Rockstroh, Brigitte; Weisz, Nathan

    2013-04-03

    Research has linked oscillatory activity in the α frequency range, particularly in sensorimotor cortex, to processing of social actions. Results further suggest involvement of sensorimotor α in the processing of facial expressions, including affect. The sensorimotor face area may be critical for perception of emotional face expression, but the role it plays is unclear. The present study sought to clarify how oscillatory brain activity contributes to or reflects processing of facial affect during changes in facial expression. Neuromagnetic oscillatory brain activity was monitored while 30 volunteers viewed videos of human faces that changed their expression from neutral to fearful, neutral, or happy expressions. Induced changes in α power during the different morphs, source analysis, and graph-theoretic metrics served to identify the role of α power modulation and cross-regional coupling by means of phase synchrony during facial affect recognition. Changes from neutral to emotional faces were associated with a 10-15 Hz power increase localized in bilateral sensorimotor areas, together with occipital power decrease, preceding reported emotional expression recognition. Graph-theoretic analysis revealed that, in the course of a trial, the balance between sensorimotor power increase and decrease was associated with decreased and increased transregional connectedness as measured by node degree. Results suggest that modulations in α power facilitate early registration, with sensorimotor cortex including the sensorimotor face area largely functionally decoupled and thereby protected from additional, disruptive input and that subsequent α power decrease together with increased connectedness of sensorimotor areas facilitates successful facial affect recognition.

  4. Effect of Dopamine Therapy on Nonverbal Affect Burst Recognition in Parkinson's Disease

    PubMed Central

    Péron, Julie; Grandjean, Didier; Drapier, Sophie; Vérin, Marc

    2014-01-01

    Background Parkinson's disease (PD) provides a model for investigating the involvement of the basal ganglia and mesolimbic dopaminergic system in the recognition of emotions from voices (i.e., emotional prosody). Although previous studies of emotional prosody recognition in PD have reported evidence of impairment, none of them compared PD patients at different stages of the disease, or ON and OFF dopamine replacement therapy, making it difficult to determine whether their impairment was due to general cognitive deterioration or to a more specific dopaminergic deficit. Methods We explored the involvement of the dopaminergic pathways in the recognition of nonverbal affect bursts (onomatopoeias) in 15 newly diagnosed PD patients in the early stages of the disease, 15 PD patients in the advanced stages of the disease and 15 healthy controls. The early PD group was studied in two conditions: ON and OFF dopaminergic therapy. Results Results showed that the early PD patients performed more poorly in the ON condition than in the OFF one, for overall emotion recognition, as well as for the recognition of anger, disgust and fear. Additionally, for anger, the early PD ON patients performed more poorly than controls. For overall emotion recognition, both advanced PD patients and early PD ON patients performed more poorly than controls. Analysis of continuous ratings on target and nontarget visual analog scales confirmed these patterns of results, showing a systematic emotional bias in both the advanced PD and early PD ON (but not OFF) patients compared with controls. Conclusions These results i) confirm the involvement of the dopaminergic pathways and basal ganglia in emotional prosody recognition, and ii) suggest a possibly deleterious effect of dopatherapy on affective abilities in the early stages of PD. PMID:24651759

  5. The female advantage: sex as a possible protective factor against emotion recognition impairment following traumatic brain injury.

    PubMed

    Rigon, Arianna; Turkstra, Lyn; Mutlu, Bilge; Duff, Melissa

    2016-10-01

    Although moderate to severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) leads to facial affect recognition impairments in up to 39% of individuals, protective and risk factors for these deficits are unknown. The aim of the current study was to examine the effect of sex on emotion recognition abilities following TBI. We administered two separate emotion recognition tests (one static and one dynamic) to 53 individuals with moderate to severe TBI (females = 28) and 49 demographically matched comparisons (females = 22). We then investigated the presence of a sex-by-group interaction in emotion recognition accuracy. In the comparison group, there were no sex differences. In the TBI group, however, females significantly outperformed males in the dynamic (but not the static) task. Moreover, males (but not females) with TBI performed significantly worse than comparison participants in the dynamic task. Further analysis revealed that sex differences in emotion recognition abilities within the TBI group could not be explained by lesion location, TBI severity, or other neuropsychological variables. These findings suggest that sex may serve as a protective factor for social impairment following TBI and inform clinicians working with TBI as well as research on the neurophysiological correlates of sex differences in social functioning.

  6. Deficits in facial affect recognition among antisocial populations: a meta-analysis.

    PubMed

    Marsh, Abigail A; Blair, R J R

    2008-01-01

    Individuals with disorders marked by antisocial behavior frequently show deficits in recognizing displays of facial affect. Antisociality may be associated with specific deficits in identifying fearful expressions, which would implicate dysfunction in neural structures that subserve fearful expression processing. A meta-analysis of 20 studies was conducted to assess: (a) if antisocial populations show any consistent deficits in recognizing six emotional expressions; (b) beyond any generalized impairment, whether specific fear recognition deficits are apparent; and (c) if deficits in fear recognition are a function of task difficulty. Results show a robust link between antisocial behavior and specific deficits in recognizing fearful expressions. This impairment cannot be attributed solely to task difficulty. These results suggest dysfunction among antisocial individuals in specified neural substrates, namely the amygdala, involved in processing fearful facial affect.

  7. Social-cognitive remediation in schizophrenia: generalization of effects of the Training of Affect Recognition (TAR).

    PubMed

    Wölwer, Wolfgang; Frommann, Nicole

    2011-09-01

    In the last decade, several social cognitive remediation programs have been developed for use in schizophrenia. Though existing evidence indicates that such programs can improve social cognition, which is essential for successful social functioning, it remains unclear whether the improvements generalize to social cognitive domains not primarily addressed by the intervention and whether the improved test performance transfers into everyday social functioning. The present study investigated whether, beyond its known effects on facial affect recognition, the Training of Affect Recognition (TAR) has effects on prosodic affect recognition, theory of mind (ToM) performance, social competence in a role-play task, and more general social and occupational functioning. Thirty-eight inpatients with a diagnosis of schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder were randomly assigned to 6 weeks of treatment with the TAR--primarily targeted at facial affect recognition-or Cognitive Remediation Training (CRT)--primarily targeted at neurocognition. Intention-to-treat analyses found significantly larger pre-post improvements with TAR than with CRT in prosodic affect recognition, ToM, and social competence and a trend effect in global social functioning. However, the effects on ToM and social competence were no longer significant in the smaller group of patients who completed treatment according to protocol. Results suggest that TAR effects generalize to other social cognitive domains not primarily addressed. TAR may also enhance social skills and social functioning, although this has to be confirmed. Results are discussed with regard to the need to improve functional outcome in schizophrenia against the background of current evidence from other social cognitive remediation approaches.

  8. The Impact of Sex Differences on Odor Identification and Facial Affect Recognition in Patients with Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders.

    PubMed

    Mossaheb, Nilufar; Kaufmann, Rainer M; Schlögelhofer, Monika; Aninilkumparambil, Thushara; Himmelbauer, Claudia; Gold, Anna; Zehetmayer, Sonja; Hoffmann, Holger; Traue, Harald C; Aschauer, Harald

    2018-01-01

    Social interactive functions such as facial emotion recognition and smell identification have been shown to differ between women and men. However, little is known about how these differences are mirrored in patients with schizophrenia and how these abilities interact with each other and with other clinical variables in patients vs. healthy controls. Standardized instruments were used to assess facial emotion recognition [Facially Expressed Emotion Labelling (FEEL)] and smell identification [University of Pennsylvania Smell Identification Test (UPSIT)] in 51 patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders and 79 healthy controls; furthermore, working memory functions and clinical variables were assessed. In both the univariate and the multivariate results, illness showed a significant influence on UPSIT and FEEL. The inclusion of age and working memory in the MANOVA resulted in a differential effect with sex and working memory as remaining significant factors. Duration of illness was correlated with both emotion recognition and smell identification in men only, whereas immediate general psychopathology and negative symptoms were associated with emotion recognition only in women. Being affected by schizophrenia spectrum disorder impacts one's ability to correctly recognize facial affects and identify odors. Converging evidence suggests a link between the investigated basic and social cognitive abilities in patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders with a strong contribution of working memory and differential effects of modulators in women vs. men.

  9. Orthographic Consistency Affects Spoken Word Recognition at Different Grain-Sizes

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dich, Nadya

    2014-01-01

    A number of previous studies found that the consistency of sound-to-spelling mappings (feedback consistency) affects spoken word recognition. In auditory lexical decision experiments, words that can only be spelled one way are recognized faster than words with multiple potential spellings. Previous studies demonstrated this by manipulating…

  10. How Cross-Language Similarity and Task Demands Affect Cognate Recognition

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dijkstra, Ton; Miwa, Koji; Brummelhuis, Bianca; Sappelli, Maya; Baayen, Harald

    2010-01-01

    This study examines how the cross-linguistic similarity of translation equivalents affects bilingual word recognition. Performing one of three tasks, Dutch-English bilinguals processed cognates with varying degrees of form overlap between their English and Dutch counterparts (e.g., "lamp-lamp" vs. "flood-vloed" vs. "song-lied"). In lexical…

  11. Does humor in radio advertising affect recognition of novel product brand names?

    PubMed

    Berg, E M; Lippman, L G

    2001-04-01

    The authors proposed that item selection during shopping is based on brand name recognition rather than recall. College students rated advertisements and news stories of a simulated radio program for level of amusement (orienting activity) before participating in a surprise recognition test. Humor level of the advertisements was varied systematically, and content was controlled. According to signal detection analysis, humor did not affect the strength of recognition memory for brand names (nonsense units). However, brand names and product types were significantly more likely to be associated when appearing in humorous advertisements than in nonhumorous advertisements. The results are compared with prior findings concerning humor and recall.

  12. Affect recognition and the quality of mother-infant interaction: understanding parenting difficulties in mothers with schizophrenia.

    PubMed

    Healy, Sarah J; Lewin, Jona; Butler, Stephen; Vaillancourt, Kyla; Seth-Smith, Fiona

    2016-02-01

    This study investigated the quality of mother-infant interaction and maternal ability to recognise adult affect in three study groups consisting of mothers with a diagnosis of schizophrenia, mothers with depression and healthy controls. Sixty-four mothers were recruited from a Mother and Baby Unit and local children's centres. A 5-min mother-infant interaction was coded on a number of caregiving variables. Affect recognition and discrimination abilities were tested via a series of computerised tasks. Group differences were found both in measures of affect recognition and in the mother-infant interaction. Mothers with schizophrenia showed consistent impairments across most of the parenting measures and all measures of affect recognition and discrimination. Mothers with depression fell between the mothers with schizophrenia and healthy controls on most measures. However, depressed women's parenting was not significantly poorer than controls on any of the measures, and only showed trends for differences with mothers with schizophrenia on a few measures. Regression analyses found impairments in affect recognition and a diagnosis of schizophrenia to predict the occurrence of odd or unusual speech in the mother-infant interaction. Results add to the growing body of knowledge on the mother-infant interaction in mothers with schizophrenia and mothers with depression compared to healthy controls, suggesting a need for parenting interventions aimed at mothers with these conditions. While affect recognition impairments were not found to fully explain differences in parenting among women with schizophrenia, further research is needed to understand the psychopathology of parenting disturbances within this clinical group.

  13. Psychometric properties of the NEPSY-II affect recognition subtest in a preschool sample: a Rasch modeling approach.

    PubMed

    Yao, Shih-Ying; Bull, Rebecca; Khng, Kiat Hui; Rahim, Anisa

    2018-01-01

    Understanding a child's ability to decode emotion expressions is important to allow early interventions for potential difficulties in social and emotional functioning. This study applied the Rasch model to investigate the psychometric properties of the NEPSY-II Affect Recognition subtest, a U.S. normed measure for 3-16 year olds which assesses the ability to recognize facial expressions of emotion. Data were collected from 1222 children attending preschools in Singapore. We first performed the Rasch analysis with the raw item data, and examined the technical qualities and difficulty pattern of the studied items. We subsequently investigated the relation of the estimated affect recognition ability from the Rasch analysis to a teacher-reported measure of a child's behaviors, emotions, and relationships. Potential gender differences were also examined. The Rasch model fits our data well. Also, the NEPSY-II Affect Recognition subtest was found to have reasonable technical qualities, expected item difficulty pattern, and desired association with the external measure of children's behaviors, emotions, and relationships for both boys and girls. Overall, findings from this study suggest that the NEPSY-II Affect Recognition subtest is a promising measure of young children's affect recognition ability. Suggestions for future test improvement and research were discussed.

  14. THE FEMALE ADVANTAGE: SEX AS A POSSIBLE PROTECTIVE FACTOR AGAINST EMOTION RECOGNITION IMPAIRMENT FOLLOWING TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY

    PubMed Central

    Rigon, Arianna; Turkstra, Lyn; Mutlu, Bilge; Duff, Melissa

    2018-01-01

    Although moderate to severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) leads to facial affect recognition impairments in up to 39% of individuals, protective and risk factors for these deficits are unknown. The aim of the current study was to examine the effect of sex on emotion recognition abilities following TBI. We administered two separate emotion recognition tests (one static and one dynamic) to 53 individuals with moderate to severe TBI (Females=28) and 49 demographically matched comparisons (Females=22). We then investigated the presence of a sex-by-group interaction in emotion recognition accuracy. In the comparison group, there were no sex differences. In the TBI group, however, females significantly outperformed males in the dynamic (but not the static) task. Moreover, males (but not females) with TBI performed significantly worse than comparison participants in the dynamic task. Further analysis revealed that sex differences in emotion recognition abilities within the TBI group could not be explained by lesion location, TBI severity, or other neuropsychological variables. These findings suggest that sex may serve as a protective factor for social impairment following TBI and inform clinicians working with TBI as well as research on the neurophysiological correlates of sex differences in social functioning. PMID:27245826

  15. Challenging ocular image recognition

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Pauca, V. Paúl; Forkin, Michael; Xu, Xiao; Plemmons, Robert; Ross, Arun A.

    2011-06-01

    Ocular recognition is a new area of biometric investigation targeted at overcoming the limitations of iris recognition performance in the presence of non-ideal data. There are several advantages for increasing the area beyond the iris, yet there are also key issues that must be addressed such as size of the ocular region, factors affecting performance, and appropriate corpora to study these factors in isolation. In this paper, we explore and identify some of these issues with the goal of better defining parameters for ocular recognition. An empirical study is performed where iris recognition methods are contrasted with texture and point operators on existing iris and face datasets. The experimental results show a dramatic recognition performance gain when additional features are considered in the presence of poor quality iris data, offering strong evidence for extending interest beyond the iris. The experiments also highlight the need for the direct collection of additional ocular imagery.

  16. Individual differences in language and working memory affect children's speech recognition in noise.

    PubMed

    McCreery, Ryan W; Spratford, Meredith; Kirby, Benjamin; Brennan, Marc

    2017-05-01

    We examined how cognitive and linguistic skills affect speech recognition in noise for children with normal hearing. Children with better working memory and language abilities were expected to have better speech recognition in noise than peers with poorer skills in these domains. As part of a prospective, cross-sectional study, children with normal hearing completed speech recognition in noise for three types of stimuli: (1) monosyllabic words, (2) syntactically correct but semantically anomalous sentences and (3) semantically and syntactically anomalous word sequences. Measures of vocabulary, syntax and working memory were used to predict individual differences in speech recognition in noise. Ninety-six children with normal hearing, who were between 5 and 12 years of age. Higher working memory was associated with better speech recognition in noise for all three stimulus types. Higher vocabulary abilities were associated with better recognition in noise for sentences and word sequences, but not for words. Working memory and language both influence children's speech recognition in noise, but the relationships vary across types of stimuli. These findings suggest that clinical assessment of speech recognition is likely to reflect underlying cognitive and linguistic abilities, in addition to a child's auditory skills, consistent with the Ease of Language Understanding model.

  17. Affective State Level Recognition in Naturalistic Facial and Vocal Expressions.

    PubMed

    Meng, Hongying; Bianchi-Berthouze, Nadia

    2014-03-01

    Naturalistic affective expressions change at a rate much slower than the typical rate at which video or audio is recorded. This increases the probability that consecutive recorded instants of expressions represent the same affective content. In this paper, we exploit such a relationship to improve the recognition performance of continuous naturalistic affective expressions. Using datasets of naturalistic affective expressions (AVEC 2011 audio and video dataset, PAINFUL video dataset) continuously labeled over time and over different dimensions, we analyze the transitions between levels of those dimensions (e.g., transitions in pain intensity level). We use an information theory approach to show that the transitions occur very slowly and hence suggest modeling them as first-order Markov models. The dimension levels are considered to be the hidden states in the Hidden Markov Model (HMM) framework. Their discrete transition and emission matrices are trained by using the labels provided with the training set. The recognition problem is converted into a best path-finding problem to obtain the best hidden states sequence in HMMs. This is a key difference from previous use of HMMs as classifiers. Modeling of the transitions between dimension levels is integrated in a multistage approach, where the first level performs a mapping between the affective expression features and a soft decision value (e.g., an affective dimension level), and further classification stages are modeled as HMMs that refine that mapping by taking into account the temporal relationships between the output decision labels. The experimental results for each of the unimodal datasets show overall performance to be significantly above that of a standard classification system that does not take into account temporal relationships. In particular, the results on the AVEC 2011 audio dataset outperform all other systems presented at the international competition.

  18. Magical ideation associated social cognition in adolescents: signs of a negative facial affect recognition deficit.

    PubMed

    Canli, Derya; Ozdemir, Hatice; Kocak, Orhan Murat

    2015-08-01

    Studies provide evidence for impaired social cognition in schizotypy and its association with negative symptoms. Cognitive features related to magical ideation - a component of the positive dimension of schizotypy - have been less investigated. We aimed to assess social cognitive functioning among adolescents with high magical ideation scores, mainly focusing on face and emotion recognition. 22 subjects with magical ideation scale scores above the cut off level and 22 controls with lowest scores from among 250 students screened with this scale were included in the study. A face and emotion recognition n-back test, the empathy quotient, theory of mind tests and the Physical Anhedonia Scale were applied to both magical ideation and control groups. The magical ideation group performed significantly worse than controls on both face and emotion recognition tests. Emotion recognition performance was found to be affected by memory load, with sadness, among emotions, revealing a difference between the two groups. Empathy and theory of mind tests did not distinguish the magical ideation group from controls. Our findings provide evidence for a deficit in negative emotion recognition affected by memory load associated with magical ideation in adolescents. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  19. Package Design Affects Accuracy Recognition for Medications.

    PubMed

    Endestad, Tor; Wortinger, Laura A; Madsen, Steinar; Hortemo, Sigurd

    2016-12-01

    Our aim was to test if highlighting and placement of substance name on medication package have the potential to reduce patient errors. An unintentional overdose of medication is a large health issue that might be linked to medication package design. In two experiments, placement, background color, and the active ingredient of generic medication packages were manipulated according to best human factors guidelines to reduce causes of labeling-related patient errors. In two experiments, we compared the original packaging with packages where we varied placement of the name, dose, and background of the active ingredient. Age-relevant differences and the effect of color on medication recognition error were tested. In Experiment 1, 59 volunteers (30 elderly and 29 young students), participated. In Experiment 2, 25 volunteers participated. The most common error was the inability to identify that two different packages contained the same active ingredient (young, 41%, and elderly, 68%). This kind of error decreased with the redesigned packages (young, 8%, and elderly, 16%). Confusion errors related to color design were reduced by two thirds in the redesigned packages compared with original generic medications. Prominent placement of substance name and dose with a band of high-contrast color support recognition of the active substance in medications. A simple modification including highlighting and placing the name of the active ingredient in the upper right-hand corner of the package helps users realize that two different packages can contain the same active substance, thus reducing the risk of inadvertent medication overdose. © 2016, Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.

  20. Context affects nestmate recognition errors in honey bees and stingless bees.

    PubMed

    Couvillon, Margaret J; Segers, Francisca H I D; Cooper-Bowman, Roseanne; Truslove, Gemma; Nascimento, Daniela L; Nascimento, Fabio S; Ratnieks, Francis L W

    2013-08-15

    Nestmate recognition studies, where a discriminator first recognises and then behaviourally discriminates (accepts/rejects) another individual, have used a variety of methodologies and contexts. This is potentially problematic because recognition errors in discrimination behaviour are predicted to be context-dependent. Here we compare the recognition decisions (accept/reject) of discriminators in two eusocial bees, Apis mellifera and Tetragonisca angustula, under different contexts. These contexts include natural guards at the hive entrance (control); natural guards held in plastic test arenas away from the hive entrance that vary either in the presence or absence of colony odour or the presence or absence of an additional nestmate discriminator; and, for the honey bee, the inside of the nest. For both honey bee and stingless bee guards, total recognition errors of behavioural discrimination made by guards (% nestmates rejected + % non-nestmates accepted) are much lower at the colony entrance (honey bee: 30.9%; stingless bee: 33.3%) than in the test arenas (honey bee: 60-86%; stingless bee: 61-81%; P<0.001 for both). Within the test arenas, the presence of colony odour specifically reduced the total recognition errors in honey bees, although this reduction still fell short of bringing error levels down to what was found at the colony entrance. Lastly, in honey bees, the data show that the in-nest collective behavioural discrimination by ca. 30 workers that contact an intruder is insufficient to achieve error-free recognition and is not as effective as the discrimination by guards at the entrance. Overall, these data demonstrate that context is a significant factor in a discriminators' ability to make appropriate recognition decisions, and should be considered when designing recognition study methodologies.

  1. Age Deficits in Facial Affect Recognition: The Influence of Dynamic Cues.

    PubMed

    Grainger, Sarah A; Henry, Julie D; Phillips, Louise H; Vanman, Eric J; Allen, Roy

    2017-07-01

    Older adults have difficulties in identifying most facial expressions of emotion. However, most aging studies have presented static photographs of intense expressions, whereas in everyday experience people see emotions that develop and change. The present study was designed to assess whether age-related difficulties with emotion recognition are reduced when more ecologically valid (i.e., dynamic) stimuli are used. We examined the effect of stimuli format (i.e., static vs. dynamic) on facial affect recognition in two separate studies that included independent samples and distinct stimuli sets. In addition to younger and older participants, a middle-aged group was included in Study 1 and eye gaze patterns were assessed in Study 2. Across both studies, older adults performed worse than younger adults on measures of facial affect recognition. In Study 1, older and-middle aged adults benefited from dynamic stimuli, but only when the emotional displays were subtle. Younger adults gazed more at the eye region of the face relative to older adults (Study 2), but dynamic presentation increased attention towards the eye region for younger adults only. Together, these studies provide important and novel insights into the specific circumstances in which older adults may be expected to experience difficulties in perceiving facial emotions. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  2. Association of impaired facial affect recognition with basic facial and visual processing deficits in schizophrenia.

    PubMed

    Norton, Daniel; McBain, Ryan; Holt, Daphne J; Ongur, Dost; Chen, Yue

    2009-06-15

    Impaired emotion recognition has been reported in schizophrenia, yet the nature of this impairment is not completely understood. Recognition of facial emotion depends on processing affective and nonaffective facial signals, as well as basic visual attributes. We examined whether and how poor facial emotion recognition in schizophrenia is related to basic visual processing and nonaffective face recognition. Schizophrenia patients (n = 32) and healthy control subjects (n = 29) performed emotion discrimination, identity discrimination, and visual contrast detection tasks, where the emotionality, distinctiveness of identity, or visual contrast was systematically manipulated. Subjects determined which of two presentations in a trial contained the target: the emotional face for emotion discrimination, a specific individual for identity discrimination, and a sinusoidal grating for contrast detection. Patients had significantly higher thresholds (worse performance) than control subjects for discriminating both fearful and happy faces. Furthermore, patients' poor performance in fear discrimination was predicted by performance in visual detection and face identity discrimination. Schizophrenia patients require greater emotional signal strength to discriminate fearful or happy face images from neutral ones. Deficient emotion recognition in schizophrenia does not appear to be determined solely by affective processing but is also linked to the processing of basic visual and facial information.

  3. Prenatal flavor exposure affects flavor recognition and stress-related behavior of piglets.

    PubMed

    Oostindjer, Marije; Bolhuis, J Elizabeth; van den Brand, Henry; Kemp, Bas

    2009-11-01

    Exposure to flavors in the amniotic fluid and mother's milk derived from the maternal diet has been shown to modulate food preferences and neophobia of young animals of several species. Aim of the experiment was to study the effects of pre- and postnatal flavor exposure on behavior of piglets during (re)exposure to this flavor. Furthermore, we investigated whether varying stress levels, caused by different test settings, affected behavior of animals during (re)exposure. Piglets were exposed to anisic flavor through the maternal diet during late gestation and/or during lactation or never. Piglets that were prenatally exposed to the flavor through the maternal diet behaved differently compared with unexposed pigs during reexposure to the flavor in several tests, suggesting recognition of the flavor. The differences between groups were more pronounced in tests with relatively high stress levels. This suggests that stress levels, caused by the design of the test, can affect the behavior shown in the presence of the flavor. We conclude that prenatal flavor exposure affects behaviors of piglets that are indicative of recognition and that these behaviors are influenced by stress levels during (re)exposure.

  4. Universal and culture-specific factors in the recognition and performance of musical affect expressions.

    PubMed

    Laukka, Petri; Eerola, Tuomas; Thingujam, Nutankumar S; Yamasaki, Teruo; Beller, Grégory

    2013-06-01

    We present a cross-cultural study on the performance and perception of affective expression in music. Professional bowed-string musicians from different musical traditions (Swedish folk music, Hindustani classical music, Japanese traditional music, and Western classical music) were instructed to perform short pieces of music to convey 11 emotions and related states to listeners. All musical stimuli were judged by Swedish, Indian, and Japanese participants in a balanced design, and a variety of acoustic and musical cues were extracted. Results first showed that the musicians' expressive intentions could be recognized with accuracy above chance both within and across musical cultures, but communication was, in general, more accurate for culturally familiar versus unfamiliar music, and for basic emotions versus nonbasic affective states. We further used a lens-model approach to describe the relations between the strategies that musicians use to convey various expressions and listeners' perceptions of the affective content of the music. Many acoustic and musical cues were similarly correlated with both the musicians' expressive intentions and the listeners' affective judgments across musical cultures, but the match between musicians' and listeners' uses of cues was better in within-cultural versus cross-cultural conditions. We conclude that affective expression in music may depend on a combination of universal and culture-specific factors.

  5. Food restriction affects Y-maze spatial recognition memory in developing mice.

    PubMed

    Fu, Yu; Chen, Yanmei; Li, Liane; Wang, Yumei; Kong, Xiangyang; Wang, Jianhong

    2017-08-01

    The ambiguous effects of food restriction (FR) on cognition in rodents have been mostly explored in the aged brain by a variety of paradigms, in which either rewards or punishments are involved. This study aims to examine the effects of chronic and acute FR with varying intensities on spatial recognition memory in developing mice. We have used a Y-maze task that is based on the innate tendency of rodents to explore novel environments. In chronic FR, mice had 70-30% chow of control for seven weeks. In acute FR, mice were food restricted for 12-48h before the tests. We found that chronic FR had no effect on the preference of mice for novelty in the Y-maze, but severe FR (50-30% of control) caused impairment on spatial recognition memory. The impairment significantly correlated with the slow weight growth induced by FR. Acute FR also did not affect the novelty preference of mice, but either improved or impaired the memory retention. These data suggest chronic FR impairs Y-maze spatial recognition memory in developing mice depending on FR intensity and individual tolerability of the FR. Moreover, acute FR exerts diverse effects on the memory, either positive or negative. Our findings have revealed new insights on the effects of FR on spatial recognition memory in developing animals. Copyright © 2017 ISDN. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  6. Predicting the Accuracy of Facial Affect Recognition: The Interaction of Child Maltreatment and Intellectual Functioning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Shenk, Chad E.; Putnam, Frank W.; Noll, Jennie G.

    2013-01-01

    Previous research demonstrates that both child maltreatment and intellectual performance contribute uniquely to the accurate identification of facial affect by children and adolescents. The purpose of this study was to extend this research by examining whether child maltreatment affects the accuracy of facial recognition differently at varying…

  7. Recognition in Programmes for Children with Special Needs

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Šmid, Marjeta

    2016-01-01

    The purpose of this article is to examine the factors that affect the inclusion of pupils in programmes for children with special needs from the perspective of the theory of recognition. The concept of recognition, which includes three aspects of social justice (economic, cultural and political), argues that the institutional arrangements that…

  8. Deep learning and non-negative matrix factorization in recognition of mammograms

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Swiderski, Bartosz; Kurek, Jaroslaw; Osowski, Stanislaw; Kruk, Michal; Barhoumi, Walid

    2017-02-01

    This paper presents novel approach to the recognition of mammograms. The analyzed mammograms represent the normal and breast cancer (benign and malignant) cases. The solution applies the deep learning technique in image recognition. To obtain increased accuracy of classification the nonnegative matrix factorization and statistical self-similarity of images are applied. The images reconstructed by using these two approaches enrich the data base and thanks to this improve of quality measures of mammogram recognition (increase of accuracy, sensitivity and specificity). The results of numerical experiments performed on large DDSM data base containing more than 10000 mammograms have confirmed good accuracy of class recognition, exceeding the best results reported in the actual publications for this data base.

  9. Callous-unemotional traits and empathy deficits: Mediating effects of affective perspective-taking and facial emotion recognition.

    PubMed

    Lui, Joyce H L; Barry, Christopher T; Sacco, Donald F

    2016-09-01

    Although empathy deficits are thought to be associated with callous-unemotional (CU) traits, findings remain equivocal and little is known about what specific abilities may underlie these purported deficits. Affective perspective-taking (APT) and facial emotion recognition may be implicated, given their independent associations with both empathy and CU traits. The current study examined how CU traits relate to cognitive and affective empathy and whether APT and facial emotion recognition mediate these relations. Participants were 103 adolescents (70 males) aged 16-18 attending a residential programme. CU traits were negatively associated with cognitive and affective empathy to a similar degree. The association between CU traits and affective empathy was partially mediated by APT. Results suggest that assessing mechanisms that may underlie empathic deficits, such as perspective-taking, may be important for youth with CU traits and may inform targets of intervention.

  10. Recognition of facial emotion and affective prosody in children with ASD (+ADHD) and their unaffected siblings.

    PubMed

    Oerlemans, Anoek M; van der Meer, Jolanda M J; van Steijn, Daphne J; de Ruiter, Saskia W; de Bruijn, Yvette G E; de Sonneville, Leo M J; Buitelaar, Jan K; Rommelse, Nanda N J

    2014-05-01

    Autism is a highly heritable and clinically heterogeneous neuropsychiatric disorder that frequently co-occurs with other psychopathologies, such as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). An approach to parse heterogeneity is by forming more homogeneous subgroups of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) patients based on their underlying, heritable cognitive vulnerabilities (endophenotypes). Emotion recognition is a likely endophenotypic candidate for ASD and possibly for ADHD. Therefore, this study aimed to examine whether emotion recognition is a viable endophenotypic candidate for ASD and to assess the impact of comorbid ADHD in this context. A total of 90 children with ASD (43 with and 47 without ADHD), 79 ASD unaffected siblings, and 139 controls aged 6-13 years, were included to test recognition of facial emotion and affective prosody. Our results revealed that the recognition of both facial emotion and affective prosody was impaired in children with ASD and aggravated by the presence of ADHD. The latter could only be partly explained by typical ADHD cognitive deficits, such as inhibitory and attentional problems. The performance of unaffected siblings could overall be considered at an intermediate level, performing somewhat worse than the controls and better than the ASD probands. Our findings suggest that emotion recognition might be a viable endophenotype in ASD and a fruitful target in future family studies of the genetic contribution to ASD and comorbid ADHD. Furthermore, our results suggest that children with comorbid ASD and ADHD are at highest risk for emotion recognition problems.

  11. Encoding conditions affect recognition of vocally expressed emotions across cultures.

    PubMed

    Jürgens, Rebecca; Drolet, Matthis; Pirow, Ralph; Scheiner, Elisabeth; Fischer, Julia

    2013-01-01

    Although the expression of emotions in humans is considered to be largely universal, cultural effects contribute to both emotion expression and recognition. To disentangle the interplay between these factors, play-acted and authentic (non-instructed) vocal expressions of emotions were used, on the assumption that cultural effects may contribute differentially to the recognition of staged and spontaneous emotions. Speech tokens depicting four emotions (anger, sadness, joy, fear) were obtained from German radio archives and re-enacted by professional actors, and presented to 120 participants from Germany, Romania, and Indonesia. Participants in all three countries were poor at distinguishing between play-acted and spontaneous emotional utterances (58.73% correct on average with only marginal cultural differences). Nevertheless, authenticity influenced emotion recognition: across cultures, anger was recognized more accurately when play-acted (z = 15.06, p < 0.001) and sadness when authentic (z = 6.63, p < 0.001), replicating previous findings from German populations. German subjects revealed a slight advantage in recognizing emotions, indicating a moderate in-group advantage. There was no difference between Romanian and Indonesian subjects in the overall emotion recognition. Differential cultural effects became particularly apparent in terms of differential biases in emotion attribution. While all participants labeled play-acted expressions as anger more frequently than expected, German participants exhibited a further bias toward choosing anger for spontaneous stimuli. In contrast to the German sample, Romanian and Indonesian participants were biased toward choosing sadness. These results support the view that emotion recognition rests on a complex interaction of human universals and cultural specificities. Whether and in which way the observed biases are linked to cultural differences in self-construal remains an issue for further investigation.

  12. Face and Word Recognition Can Be Selectively Affected by Brain Injury or Developmental Disorders.

    PubMed

    Robotham, Ro J; Starrfelt, Randi

    2017-01-01

    Face and word recognition have traditionally been thought to rely on highly specialised and relatively independent cognitive processes. Some of the strongest evidence for this has come from patients with seemingly category-specific visual perceptual deficits such as pure prosopagnosia, a selective face recognition deficit, and pure alexia, a selective word recognition deficit. Together, the patterns of impaired reading with preserved face recognition and impaired face recognition with preserved reading constitute a double dissociation. The existence of these selective deficits has been questioned over the past decade. It has been suggested that studies describing patients with these pure deficits have failed to measure the supposedly preserved functions using sensitive enough measures, and that if tested using sensitive measurements, all patients with deficits in one visual category would also have deficits in the other. The implications of this would be immense, with most textbooks in cognitive neuropsychology requiring drastic revisions. In order to evaluate the evidence for dissociations, we review studies that specifically investigate whether face or word recognition can be selectively affected by acquired brain injury or developmental disorders. We only include studies published since 2004, as comprehensive reviews of earlier studies are available. Most of the studies assess the supposedly preserved functions using sensitive measurements. We found convincing evidence that reading can be preserved in acquired and developmental prosopagnosia and also evidence (though weaker) that face recognition can be preserved in acquired or developmental dyslexia, suggesting that face and word recognition are at least in part supported by independent processes.

  13. Two speed factors of visual recognition independently correlated with fluid intelligence.

    PubMed

    Tachibana, Ryosuke; Namba, Yuri; Noguchi, Yasuki

    2014-01-01

    Growing evidence indicates a moderate but significant relationship between processing speed in visuo-cognitive tasks and general intelligence. On the other hand, findings from neuroscience proposed that the primate visual system consists of two major pathways, the ventral pathway for objects recognition and the dorsal pathway for spatial processing and attentive analysis. Previous studies seeking for visuo-cognitive factors of human intelligence indicated a significant correlation between fluid intelligence and the inspection time (IT), an index for a speed of object recognition performed in the ventral pathway. We thus presently examined a possibility that neural processing speed in the dorsal pathway also represented a factor of intelligence. Specifically, we used the mental rotation (MR) task, a popular psychometric measure for mental speed of spatial processing in the dorsal pathway. We found that the speed of MR was significantly correlated with intelligence scores, while it had no correlation with one's IT (recognition speed of visual objects). Our results support the new possibility that intelligence could be explained by two types of mental speed, one related to object recognition (IT) and another for manipulation of mental images (MR).

  14. Two Speed Factors of Visual Recognition Independently Correlated with Fluid Intelligence

    PubMed Central

    Tachibana, Ryosuke; Namba, Yuri; Noguchi, Yasuki

    2014-01-01

    Growing evidence indicates a moderate but significant relationship between processing speed in visuo-cognitive tasks and general intelligence. On the other hand, findings from neuroscience proposed that the primate visual system consists of two major pathways, the ventral pathway for objects recognition and the dorsal pathway for spatial processing and attentive analysis. Previous studies seeking for visuo-cognitive factors of human intelligence indicated a significant correlation between fluid intelligence and the inspection time (IT), an index for a speed of object recognition performed in the ventral pathway. We thus presently examined a possibility that neural processing speed in the dorsal pathway also represented a factor of intelligence. Specifically, we used the mental rotation (MR) task, a popular psychometric measure for mental speed of spatial processing in the dorsal pathway. We found that the speed of MR was significantly correlated with intelligence scores, while it had no correlation with one’s IT (recognition speed of visual objects). Our results support the new possibility that intelligence could be explained by two types of mental speed, one related to object recognition (IT) and another for manipulation of mental images (MR). PMID:24825574

  15. A motivational determinant of facial emotion recognition: regulatory focus affects recognition of emotions in faces.

    PubMed

    Sassenrath, Claudia; Sassenberg, Kai; Ray, Devin G; Scheiter, Katharina; Jarodzka, Halszka

    2014-01-01

    Two studies examined an unexplored motivational determinant of facial emotion recognition: observer regulatory focus. It was predicted that a promotion focus would enhance facial emotion recognition relative to a prevention focus because the attentional strategies associated with promotion focus enhance performance on well-learned or innate tasks - such as facial emotion recognition. In Study 1, a promotion or a prevention focus was experimentally induced and better facial emotion recognition was observed in a promotion focus compared to a prevention focus. In Study 2, individual differences in chronic regulatory focus were assessed and attention allocation was measured using eye tracking during the facial emotion recognition task. Results indicated that the positive relation between a promotion focus and facial emotion recognition is mediated by shorter fixation duration on the face which reflects a pattern of attention allocation matched to the eager strategy in a promotion focus (i.e., striving to make hits). A prevention focus did not have an impact neither on perceptual processing nor on facial emotion recognition. Taken together, these findings demonstrate important mechanisms and consequences of observer motivational orientation for facial emotion recognition.

  16. Rapid communication: Global-local processing affects recognition of distractor emotional faces.

    PubMed

    Srinivasan, Narayanan; Gupta, Rashmi

    2011-03-01

    Recent studies have shown links between happy faces and global, distributed attention as well as sad faces to local, focused attention. Emotions have been shown to affect global-local processing. Given that studies on emotion-cognition interactions have not explored the effect of perceptual processing at different spatial scales on processing stimuli with emotional content, the present study investigated the link between perceptual focus and emotional processing. The study investigated the effects of global-local processing on the recognition of distractor faces with emotional expressions. Participants performed a digit discrimination task with digits at either the global level or the local level presented against a distractor face (happy or sad) as background. The results showed that global processing associated with broad scope of attention facilitates recognition of happy faces, and local processing associated with narrow scope of attention facilitates recognition of sad faces. The novel results of the study provide conclusive evidence for emotion-cognition interactions by demonstrating the effect of perceptual processing on emotional faces. The results along with earlier complementary results on the effect of emotion on global-local processing support a reciprocal relationship between emotional processing and global-local processing. Distractor processing with emotional information also has implications for theories of selective attention.

  17. Recognition intent and visual word recognition.

    PubMed

    Wang, Man-Ying; Ching, Chi-Le

    2009-03-01

    This study adopted a change detection task to investigate whether and how recognition intent affects the construction of orthographic representation in visual word recognition. Chinese readers (Experiment 1-1) and nonreaders (Experiment 1-2) detected color changes in radical components of Chinese characters. Explicit recognition demand was imposed in Experiment 2 by an additional recognition task. When the recognition was implicit, a bias favoring the radical location informative of character identity was found in Chinese readers (Experiment 1-1), but not nonreaders (Experiment 1-2). With explicit recognition demands, the effect of radical location interacted with radical function and word frequency (Experiment 2). An estimate of identification performance under implicit recognition was derived in Experiment 3. These findings reflect the joint influence of recognition intent and orthographic regularity in shaping readers' orthographic representation. The implication for the role of visual attention in word recognition was also discussed.

  18. Word position affects stimulus recognition: evidence for early ERP short-term plastic modulation.

    PubMed

    Spironelli, Chiara; Galfano, Giovanni; Umiltà, Carlo; Angrilli, Alessandro

    2011-12-01

    The present study was aimed at investigating the short-term plastic changes that follow word learning at a neurophysiological level. The main hypothesis was that word position (left or right visual field, LVF/RH or RVF/LH) in the initial learning phase would leave a trace that affected, in the subsequent recognition phase, the Recognition Potential (i.e., the first negative component distinguishing words from other stimuli) elicited 220-240 ms after centrally presented stimuli. Forty-eight students were administered, in the learning phase, 125 words for 4s, randomly presented half in the left and half in the right visual field. In the recognition phase, participants were split into two equal groups, one was assigned to the Word task, the other to the Picture task (in which half of the 125 pictures were new, and half matched prior studied words). During the Word task, old RVF/LH words elicited significantly greater negativity in left posterior sites with respect to old LVF/RH words, which in turn showed the same pattern of activation evoked by new words. Therefore, correspondence between stimulus spatial position and hemisphere specialized in automatic word recognition created a robust prime for subsequent recognition. During the Picture task, pictures matching old RVF/LH words showed no differences compared with new pictures, but evoked significantly greater negativity than pictures matching old LVF/RH words. Thus, the priming effect vanished when the task required a switch from visual analysis to stored linguistic information, whereas the lack of correspondence between stimulus position and network specialized in automatic word recognition (i.e., when words were presented to the LVF/RH) revealed the implicit costs for recognition. Results support the view that short-term plastic changes occurring in a linguistic learning task interact with both stimulus position and modality (written word vs. picture representation). Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights

  19. Distinctive Information and False Recognition: The Contribution of Encoding and Retrieval Factors

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Arndt, Jason

    2006-01-01

    Four experiments evaluated the role of encoding-based and retrieval-based factors in the production of false recognition. The association of unusual fonts with study items, the match between study and test font, and the duration of retrieval time allotted to subjects to make recognition memory decisions were varied in order to examine the role…

  20. The Relation of Facial Affect Recognition and Empathy to Delinquency in Youth Offenders

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Carr, Mary B.; Lutjemeier, John A.

    2005-01-01

    Associations among facial affect recognition, empathy, and self-reported delinquency were studied in a sample of 29 male youth offenders at a probation placement facility. Youth offenders were asked to recognize facial expressions of emotions from adult faces, child faces, and cartoon faces. Youth offenders also responded to a series of statements…

  1. Does Employee Recognition Affect Positive Psychological Functioning and Well-Being?

    PubMed

    Merino, M Dolores; Privado, Jesús

    2015-09-14

    Employee recognition is one of the typical characteristics of healthy organizations. The majority of research on recognition has studied the consequences of this variable on workers. But few investigations have focused on understanding what mechanisms mediate between recognition and its consequences. This work aims to understand whether the relationship between employee recognition and well-being, psychological resources mediate. To answer this question a sample of 1831 workers was used. The variables measured were: employee recognition, subjective well-being and positive psychological functioning (PPF), which consists of 11 psychological resources. In the analysis of data, structural equation models were applied. The results confirmed our hypothesis and showed that PPF mediate the relationship between recognition and well-being. The effect of recognition over PPF is two times greater (.39) with peer-recognition than with supervisor-recognition (.20), and, the effect of PPF over well-being is .59. This study highlights the importance of promoting employee recognition policies in organizations for the impact it has, not only on well-being, but also on the positive psychological functioning of the workers.

  2. Parallel effects of processing fluency and positive affect on familiarity-based recognition decisions for faces.

    PubMed

    Duke, Devin; Fiacconi, Chris M; Köhler, Stefan

    2014-01-01

    According to attribution models of familiarity assessment, people can use a heuristic in recognition-memory decisions, in which they attribute the subjective ease of processing of a memory probe to a prior encounter with the stimulus in question. Research in social cognition suggests that experienced positive affect may be the proximal cue that signals fluency in various experimental contexts. In the present study, we compared the effects of positive affect and fluency on recognition-memory judgments for faces with neutral emotional expression. We predicted that if positive affect is indeed the critical cue that signals processing fluency at retrieval, then its manipulation should produce effects that closely mirror those produced by manipulations of processing fluency. In two experiments, we employed a masked-priming procedure in combination with a Remember-Know (RK) paradigm that aimed to separate familiarity- from recollection-based memory decisions. In addition, participants performed a prime-discrimination task that allowed us to take inter-individual differences in prime awareness into account. We found highly similar effects of our priming manipulations of processing fluency and of positive affect. In both cases, the critical effect was specific to familiarity-based recognition responses. Moreover, in both experiments it was reflected in a shift toward a more liberal response bias, rather than in changed discrimination. Finally, in both experiments, the effect was found to be related to prime awareness; it was present only in participants who reported a lack of such awareness on the prime-discrimination task. These findings add to a growing body of evidence that points not only to a role of fluency, but also of positive affect in familiarity assessment. As such they are consistent with the idea that fluency itself may be hedonically marked.

  3. Package Design Affects Accuracy Recognition for Medications

    PubMed Central

    Endestad, Tor; Wortinger, Laura A.; Madsen, Steinar; Hortemo, Sigurd

    2016-01-01

    Objective: Our aim was to test if highlighting and placement of substance name on medication package have the potential to reduce patient errors. Background: An unintentional overdose of medication is a large health issue that might be linked to medication package design. In two experiments, placement, background color, and the active ingredient of generic medication packages were manipulated according to best human factors guidelines to reduce causes of labeling-related patient errors. Method: In two experiments, we compared the original packaging with packages where we varied placement of the name, dose, and background of the active ingredient. Age-relevant differences and the effect of color on medication recognition error were tested. In Experiment 1, 59 volunteers (30 elderly and 29 young students), participated. In Experiment 2, 25 volunteers participated. Results: The most common error was the inability to identify that two different packages contained the same active ingredient (young, 41%, and elderly, 68%). This kind of error decreased with the redesigned packages (young, 8%, and elderly, 16%). Confusion errors related to color design were reduced by two thirds in the redesigned packages compared with original generic medications. Conclusion: Prominent placement of substance name and dose with a band of high-contrast color support recognition of the active substance in medications. Application: A simple modification including highlighting and placing the name of the active ingredient in the upper right-hand corner of the package helps users realize that two different packages can contain the same active substance, thus reducing the risk of inadvertent medication overdose. PMID:27591209

  4. Factors affecting nurse retention at an academic Magnet® hospital.

    PubMed

    Buffington, Annsley; Zwink, Jennifer; Fink, Regina; Devine, Deborah; Sanders, Carolyn

    2012-05-01

    : The aim of this study was to examine the factors affecting the retention of registered nurses (RNs) and validate the revised Casey-Fink Nurse Retention Survey (2009). : Creating an organizational culture of retention may reduce nurse turnover. Focusing on why nurses leave and identifying factors why nurses stay are essential. : A descriptive survey design gathered data from RNs with 1 or more years of experience providing direct patient care and employed in inpatient/ambulatory settings in an acute care, academic, Magnet hospital. : There were no statistically significant relationships between nurse respondents' perceptions of work environment/support/encouragement and age or years of experience. However, there were significant differences between inpatient and ambulatory nurse responses in several key areas including job satisfaction, mentorship, and educational support. Overall, nurses reported feeling a lack of support and recognition from managers. Results provide evidence to support improved strategies to foster nurse retention.

  5. Affective theory of mind inferences contextually influence the recognition of emotional facial expressions.

    PubMed

    Stewart, Suzanne L K; Schepman, Astrid; Haigh, Matthew; McHugh, Rhian; Stewart, Andrew J

    2018-03-14

    The recognition of emotional facial expressions is often subject to contextual influence, particularly when the face and the context convey similar emotions. We investigated whether spontaneous, incidental affective theory of mind inferences made while reading vignettes describing social situations would produce context effects on the identification of same-valenced emotions (Experiment 1) as well as differently-valenced emotions (Experiment 2) conveyed by subsequently presented faces. Crucially, we found an effect of context on reaction times in both experiments while, in line with previous work, we found evidence for a context effect on accuracy only in Experiment 1. This demonstrates that affective theory of mind inferences made at the pragmatic level of a text can automatically, contextually influence the perceptual processing of emotional facial expressions in a separate task even when those emotions are of a distinctive valence. Thus, our novel findings suggest that language acts as a contextual influence to the recognition of emotional facial expressions for both same and different valences.

  6. Social cognition in schizophrenia: cognitive and affective factors.

    PubMed

    Ziv, Ido; Leiser, David; Levine, Joseph

    2011-01-01

    Social cognition refers to how people conceive, perceive, and draw inferences about mental and emotional states of others in the social world. Previous studies suggest that the concept of social cognition involves several abilities, including those related to affect and cognition. The present study analyses the deficits of individuals with schizophrenia in two areas of social cognition: Theory of Mind (ToM) and emotion recognition and processing. Examining the impairment of these abilities in patients with schizophrenia has the potential to elucidate the neurophysiological regions involved in social cognition and may also have the potential to aid rehabilitation. Two experiments were conducted. Both included the same five tasks: first- and second-level false-belief ToM tasks, emotion inferencing, understanding of irony, and matrix reasoning (a WAIS-R subtest). The matrix reasoning task was administered to evaluate and control for the association of the other tasks with analytic reasoning skills. Experiment 1 involved factor analysis of the task performance of 75 healthy participants. Experiment 2 compared 30 patients with schizophrenia to an equal number of matched controls. Results. (1) The five tasks were clearly divided into two factors corresponding to the two areas of social cognition, ToM and emotion recognition and processing. (2) Schizophrenics' performance was impaired on all tasks, particularly on those loading heavily on the analytic component (matrix reasoning and second-order ToM). (3) Matrix reasoning, second-level ToM (ToM2), and irony were found to distinguish patients from controls, even when all other tasks that revealed significant impairment in the patients' performance were taken into account. The two areas of social cognition examined are related to distinct factors. The mechanism for answering ToM questions (especially ToM2) depends on analytic reasoning capabilities, but the difficulties they present to individuals with schizophrenia are due

  7. Functions of galectins as 'self/non-self'-recognition and effector factors.

    PubMed

    Vasta, Gerardo R; Feng, Chiguang; González-Montalbán, Nuria; Mancini, Justin; Yang, Lishi; Abernathy, Kelsey; Frost, Graeme; Palm, Cheyenne

    2017-07-31

    Carbohydrate structures on the cell surface encode complex information that through specific recognition by carbohydrate-binding proteins (lectins) modulates interactions between cells, cells and the extracellular matrix, or mediates recognition of potential microbial pathogens. Galectins are a family of ß-galactoside-binding lectins, which are evolutionary conserved and have been identified in most organisms, from fungi to invertebrates and vertebrates, including mammals. Since their discovery in the 1970s, their biological roles, initially understood as limited to recognition of endogenous carbohydrate ligands in embryogenesis and development, have expanded in recent years by the discovery of their roles in tissue repair and regulation of immune homeostasis. More recently, evidence has accumulated to support the notion that galectins can also bind glycans on the surface of potentially pathogenic microbes, and function as recognition and effector factors in innate immunity, thus establishing a new paradigm. Furthermore, some parasites 'subvert' the recognition roles of the vector/host galectins for successful attachment or invasion. These recent findings have revealed a striking functional diversification in this structurally conserved lectin family. © FEMS 2017. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  8. Object recognition in images via a factor graph model

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    He, Yong; Wang, Long; Wu, Zhaolin; Zhang, Haisu

    2018-04-01

    Object recognition in images suffered from huge search space and uncertain object profile. Recently, the Bag-of- Words methods are utilized to solve these problems, especially the 2-dimension CRF(Conditional Random Field) model. In this paper we suggest the method based on a general and flexible fact graph model, which can catch the long-range correlation in Bag-of-Words by constructing a network learning framework contrasted from lattice in CRF. Furthermore, we explore a parameter learning algorithm based on the gradient descent and Loopy Sum-Product algorithms for the factor graph model. Experimental results on Graz 02 dataset show that, the recognition performance of our method in precision and recall is better than a state-of-art method and the original CRF model, demonstrating the effectiveness of the proposed method.

  9. How a Hat May Affect 3-Month-Olds' Recognition of a Face: An Eye-Tracking Study

    PubMed Central

    Bulf, Hermann; Valenza, Eloisa; Turati, Chiara

    2013-01-01

    Recent studies have shown that infants’ face recognition rests on a robust face representation that is resilient to a variety of facial transformations such as rotations in depth, motion, occlusion or deprivation of inner/outer features. Here, we investigated whether 3-month-old infants’ ability to represent the invariant aspects of a face is affected by the presence of an external add-on element, i.e. a hat. Using a visual habituation task, three experiments were carried out in which face recognition was investigated by manipulating the presence/absence of a hat during face encoding (i.e. habituation phase) and face recognition (i.e. test phase). An eye-tracker system was used to record the time infants spent looking at face-relevant information compared to the hat. The results showed that infants’ face recognition was not affected by the presence of the external element when the type of the hat did not vary between the habituation and test phases, and when both the novel and the familiar face wore the same hat during the test phase (Experiment 1). Infants’ ability to recognize the invariant aspects of a face was preserved also when the hat was absent in the habituation phase and the same hat was shown only during the test phase (Experiment 2). Conversely, when the novel face identity competed with a novel hat, the hat triggered the infants’ attention, interfering with the recognition process and preventing the infants’ preference for the novel face during the test phase (Experiment 3). Findings from the current study shed light on how faces and objects are processed when they are simultaneously presented in the same visual scene, contributing to an understanding of how infants respond to the multiple and composite information available in their surrounding environment. PMID:24349378

  10. How a hat may affect 3-month-olds' recognition of a face: an eye-tracking study.

    PubMed

    Bulf, Hermann; Valenza, Eloisa; Turati, Chiara

    2013-01-01

    Recent studies have shown that infants' face recognition rests on a robust face representation that is resilient to a variety of facial transformations such as rotations in depth, motion, occlusion or deprivation of inner/outer features. Here, we investigated whether 3-month-old infants' ability to represent the invariant aspects of a face is affected by the presence of an external add-on element, i.e. a hat. Using a visual habituation task, three experiments were carried out in which face recognition was investigated by manipulating the presence/absence of a hat during face encoding (i.e. habituation phase) and face recognition (i.e. test phase). An eye-tracker system was used to record the time infants spent looking at face-relevant information compared to the hat. The results showed that infants' face recognition was not affected by the presence of the external element when the type of the hat did not vary between the habituation and test phases, and when both the novel and the familiar face wore the same hat during the test phase (Experiment 1). Infants' ability to recognize the invariant aspects of a face was preserved also when the hat was absent in the habituation phase and the same hat was shown only during the test phase (Experiment 2). Conversely, when the novel face identity competed with a novel hat, the hat triggered the infants' attention, interfering with the recognition process and preventing the infants' preference for the novel face during the test phase (Experiment 3). Findings from the current study shed light on how faces and objects are processed when they are simultaneously presented in the same visual scene, contributing to an understanding of how infants respond to the multiple and composite information available in their surrounding environment.

  11. Facial-affect recognition deficit as a predictor of different aspects of social-communication impairment in traumatic brain injury.

    PubMed

    Rigon, Arianna; Turkstra, Lyn S; Mutlu, Bilge; Duff, Melissa C

    2018-05-01

    To examine the relationship between facial-affect recognition and different aspects of self- and proxy-reported social-communication impairment following moderate-severe traumatic brain injury (TBI). Forty-six adults with chronic TBI (>6 months postinjury) and 42 healthy comparison (HC) adults were administered the La Trobe Communication Questionnaire (LCQ) Self and Other forms to assess different aspects of communication competence and the Emotion Recognition Test (ERT) to measure their ability to recognize facial affects. Individuals with TBI underperformed HC adults in the ERT and self-reported, as well as were reported by close others, as having more communication problems than did HC adults. TBI group ERT scores were significantly and negatively correlated with LCQ-Other (but not LCQ-Self) scores (i.e., participants with lower emotion-recognition scores were rated by close others as having more communication problems). Multivariate regression analysis revealed that adults with higher ERT scores self-reported more problems with disinhibition-impulsivity and partner sensitivity and had fewer other-reported problems with disinhibition-impulsivity and conversational effectiveness. Our findings support growing evidence that emotion-recognition deficits play a role in specific aspects of social-communication outcomes after TBI and should be considered in treatment planning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

  12. Gender Differences in the Recognition of Vocal Emotions

    PubMed Central

    Lausen, Adi; Schacht, Annekathrin

    2018-01-01

    The conflicting findings from the few studies conducted with regard to gender differences in the recognition of vocal expressions of emotion have left the exact nature of these differences unclear. Several investigators have argued that a comprehensive understanding of gender differences in vocal emotion recognition can only be achieved by replicating these studies while accounting for influential factors such as stimulus type, gender-balanced samples, number of encoders, decoders, and emotional categories. This study aimed to account for these factors by investigating whether emotion recognition from vocal expressions differs as a function of both listeners' and speakers' gender. A total of N = 290 participants were randomly and equally allocated to two groups. One group listened to words and pseudo-words, while the other group listened to sentences and affect bursts. Participants were asked to categorize the stimuli with respect to the expressed emotions in a fixed-choice response format. Overall, females were more accurate than males when decoding vocal emotions, however, when testing for specific emotions these differences were small in magnitude. Speakers' gender had a significant impact on how listeners' judged emotions from the voice. The group listening to words and pseudo-words had higher identification rates for emotions spoken by male than by female actors, whereas in the group listening to sentences and affect bursts the identification rates were higher when emotions were uttered by female than male actors. The mixed pattern for emotion-specific effects, however, indicates that, in the vocal channel, the reliability of emotion judgments is not systematically influenced by speakers' gender and the related stereotypes of emotional expressivity. Together, these results extend previous findings by showing effects of listeners' and speakers' gender on the recognition of vocal emotions. They stress the importance of distinguishing these factors to explain

  13. Promoter Recognition by Extracytoplasmic Function σ Factors: Analyzing DNA and Protein Interaction Motifs

    PubMed Central

    Guzina, Jelena

    2016-01-01

    ABSTRACT Extracytoplasmic function (ECF) σ factors are the largest and the most diverse group of alternative σ factors, but their mechanisms of transcription are poorly studied. This subfamily is considered to exhibit a rigid promoter structure and an absence of mixing and matching; both −35 and −10 elements are considered necessary for initiating transcription. This paradigm, however, is based on very limited data, which bias the analysis of diverse ECF σ subgroups. Here we investigate DNA and protein recognition motifs involved in ECF σ factor transcription by a computational analysis of canonical ECF subfamily members, much less studied ECF σ subgroups, and the group outliers, obtained from recently sequenced bacteriophages. The analysis identifies an extended −10 element in promoters for phage ECF σ factors; a comparison with bacterial σ factors points to a putative 6-amino-acid motif just C-terminal of domain σ2, which is responsible for the interaction with the identified extension of the −10 element. Interestingly, a similar protein motif is found C-terminal of domain σ2 in canonical ECF σ factors, at a position where it is expected to interact with a conserved motif further upstream of the −10 element. Moreover, the phiEco32 ECF σ factor lacks a recognizable −35 element and σ4 domain, which we identify in a homologous phage, 7-11, indicating that the extended −10 element can compensate for the lack of −35 element interactions. Overall, the results reveal greater flexibility in promoter recognition by ECF σ factors than previously recognized and raise the possibility that mixing and matching also apply to this group, a notion that remains to be biochemically tested. IMPORTANCE ECF σ factors are the most numerous group of alternative σ factors but have been little studied. Their promoter recognition mechanisms are obscured by the large diversity within the ECF σ factor group and the limited similarity with the well

  14. Factors affecting sign retroreflectivity

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2001-01-01

    This study was undertaken to better understand the factors that may affect road sign retroreflectivity, specifically age and physical orientation. A better understanding of these factors could provide guidance to ODOT in managing its inventory of roa...

  15. Cochlear Implant Microphone Location Affects Speech Recognition in Diffuse Noise

    PubMed Central

    Kolberg, Elizabeth R.; Sheffield, Sterling W.; Davis, Timothy J.; Sunderhaus, Linsey W.; Gifford, René H.

    2015-01-01

    dB attenuation from 1500–4500 Hz for signals presented at 0° as compared with 90° (directed toward the processor). The T-Mic output was essentially equivalent for sources originating from 0 and 90°. Mic location also significantly affected sentence recognition as a function of source azimuth, with the T-Mic yielding the highest performance for speech originating from 0°. Conclusions These results have clinical implications for (1) future implant processor design with respect to mic location, (2) mic settings for implant recipients, and (3) execution of advanced speech testing in the clinic. PMID:25597460

  16. Cochlear implant microphone location affects speech recognition in diffuse noise.

    PubMed

    Kolberg, Elizabeth R; Sheffield, Sterling W; Davis, Timothy J; Sunderhaus, Linsey W; Gifford, René H

    2015-01-01

    (directed toward the processor). The T-Mic output was essentially equivalent for sources originating from 0 and 90°. Mic location also significantly affected sentence recognition as a function of source azimuth, with the T-Mic yielding the highest performance for speech originating from 0°. These results have clinical implications for (1) future implant processor design with respect to mic location, (2) mic settings for implant recipients, and (3) execution of advanced speech testing in the clinic. American Academy of Audiology.

  17. Deficits in auditory processing contribute to impairments in vocal affect recognition in autism spectrum disorders: A MEG study.

    PubMed

    Demopoulos, Carly; Hopkins, Joyce; Kopald, Brandon E; Paulson, Kim; Doyle, Lauren; Andrews, Whitney E; Lewine, Jeffrey David

    2015-11-01

    The primary aim of this study was to examine whether there is an association between magnetoencephalography-based (MEG) indices of basic cortical auditory processing and vocal affect recognition (VAR) ability in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). MEG data were collected from 25 children/adolescents with ASD and 12 control participants using a paired-tone paradigm to measure quality of auditory physiology, sensory gating, and rapid auditory processing. Group differences were examined in auditory processing and vocal affect recognition ability. The relationship between differences in auditory processing and vocal affect recognition deficits was examined in the ASD group. Replicating prior studies, participants with ASD showed longer M1n latencies and impaired rapid processing compared with control participants. These variables were significantly related to VAR, with the linear combination of auditory processing variables accounting for approximately 30% of the variability after controlling for age and language skills in participants with ASD. VAR deficits in ASD are typically interpreted as part of a core, higher order dysfunction of the "social brain"; however, these results suggest they also may reflect basic deficits in auditory processing that compromise the extraction of socially relevant cues from the auditory environment. As such, they also suggest that therapeutic targeting of sensory dysfunction in ASD may have additional positive implications for other functional deficits. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

  18. Factors associated with parental recognition of a child's overweight status - a cross sectional study

    PubMed Central

    2011-01-01

    Background Very few studies have evaluated the association between a child's lifestyle factors and their parent's ability to recognise the overweight status of their offspring. The aim of this study was to analyze the factors associated with a parent's ability to recognise their own offspring's overweight status. Methods 125 overweight children out of all 1,278 school beginners in Northern Finland were enrolled. Weight and height were measured in health care clinics. Overweight status was defined by BMI according to internationally accepted criteria. A questionnaire to be filled in by parents was delivered by the school nurses. The parents were asked to evaluate their offspring's weight status. The child's eating habits and physical activity patterns were also enquired about. Factor groups of food and physical activity habits were formed by factor analysis. Binary logistic regression was performed using all variables associated with recognition of overweight status in univariate analyses. The significant risk factors in the final model are reported using odds ratios (ORs) and their 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Results Fifty-seven percent (69/120) of the parents of the overweight children considered their child as normal weight. Child's BMI was positively associated with parental recognition of overweight (OR 3.59, CI 1.8 to 7.0). Overweight boys were less likely to be recognised than overweight girls (OR 0.14, CI 0.033 to 0.58). Child's healthy diet (OR 0.22, CI 0.091 to 0.54) and high physical activity (OR 0.29, CI 0.11 to 0.79) were inversely related to parental recognition of overweight status. Conclusions Child's healthy eating habits and physical activity are inversely related to parental recognition of their offspring's overweight. These should be taken into account when planning prevention and treatment strategies for childhood obesity. PMID:21864365

  19. A system for activity recognition using multi-sensor fusion.

    PubMed

    Gao, Lei; Bourke, Alan K; Nelson, John

    2011-01-01

    This paper proposes a system for activity recognition using multi-sensor fusion. In this system, four sensors are attached to the waist, chest, thigh, and side of the body. In the study we present two solutions for factors that affect the activity recognition accuracy: the calibration drift and the sensor orientation changing. The datasets used to evaluate this system were collected from 8 subjects who were asked to perform 8 scripted normal activities of daily living (ADL), three times each. The Naïve Bayes classifier using multi-sensor fusion is adopted and achieves 70.88%-97.66% recognition accuracies for 1-4 sensors.

  20. Assessing the Utility of a Virtual Environment for Enhancing Facial Affect Recognition in Adolescents with Autism

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bekele, Esubalew; Crittendon, Julie; Zheng, Zhi; Swanson, Amy; Weitlauf, Amy; Warren, Zachary; Sarkar, Nilanjan

    2014-01-01

    Teenagers with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and age-matched controls participated in a dynamic facial affect recognition task within a virtual reality (VR) environment. Participants identified the emotion of a facial expression displayed at varied levels of intensity by a computer generated avatar. The system assessed performance (i.e.,…

  1. Factors affecting construction performance: exploratory factor analysis

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Soewin, E.; Chinda, T.

    2018-04-01

    The present work attempts to develop a multidimensional performance evaluation framework for a construction company by considering all relevant measures of performance. Based on the previous studies, this study hypothesizes nine key factors, with a total of 57 associated items. The hypothesized factors, with their associated items, are then used to develop questionnaire survey to gather data. The exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was applied to the collected data which gave rise 10 factors with 57 items affecting construction performance. The findings further reveal that the items constituting ten key performance factors (KPIs) namely; 1) Time, 2) Cost, 3) Quality, 4) Safety & Health, 5) Internal Stakeholder, 6) External Stakeholder, 7) Client Satisfaction, 8) Financial Performance, 9) Environment, and 10) Information, Technology & Innovation. The analysis helps to develop multi-dimensional performance evaluation framework for an effective measurement of the construction performance. The 10 key performance factors can be broadly categorized into economic aspect, social aspect, environmental aspect, and technology aspects. It is important to understand a multi-dimension performance evaluation framework by including all key factors affecting the construction performance of a company, so that the management level can effectively plan to implement an effective performance development plan to match with the mission and vision of the company.

  2. Influence of Child Factors on Health-Care Professionals' Recognition of Common Childhood Mental-Health Problems.

    PubMed

    Burke, Delia A; Koot, Hans M; de Wilde, Amber; Begeer, Sander

    Early recognition of childhood mental-health problems can help minimise long-term negative outcomes. Recognition of mental-health problems, needed for referral and diagnostic evaluation, is largely dependent on health-care professionals' (HCPs) judgement of symptoms presented by the child. This study aimed to establish whether HCPs recognition of mental-health problems varies as a function of three child-related factors (type of problem, number of symptoms, and demographic characteristics). In an online survey, HCPs ( n  = 431) evaluated a series of vignettes describing children with symptoms of mental-health problems. Vignettes varied by problem type (Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD), Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Conduct Disorder (CD) and Major Depressive Disorder), number of symptoms presented (few and many), and child demographic characteristics (ethnicity, gender, age and socio-economic status (SES)). Results show that recognition of mental-health problems varies by problem type, with ADHD best recognised and GAD worst. Furthermore, recognition varies by the number of symptoms presented. Unexpectedly, a child's gender, ethnicity and family SES did not influence likelihood of problem recognition. These results are the first to reveal differences in HCPs' recognition of various common childhood mental-health problems. HCPs in practice should be advised about poor recognition of GAD, and superior recognition of ADHD, if recognition of all childhood mental-health problems is to be equal.

  3. Factors that influence the performance of experienced speech recognition users.

    PubMed

    Koester, Heidi Horstmann

    2006-01-01

    Performance on automatic speech recognition (ASR) systems for users with physical disabilities varies widely between individuals. The goal of this study was to discover some key factors that account for that variation. Using data from 23 experienced ASR users with physical disabilities, the effect of 20 different independent variables on recognition accuracy and text entry rate with ASR was measured using bivariate and multivariate analyses. The results show that use of appropriate correction strategies had the strongest influence on user performance with ASR. The amount of time the user spent on his or her computer, the user's manual typing speed, and the speed with which the ASR system recognized speech were all positively associated with better performance. The amount or perceived adequacy of ASR training did not have a significant impact on performance for this user group.

  4. Factors Affecting Medical Service Quality.

    PubMed

    Mosadeghrad, Ali Mohammad

    2014-02-01

    A better understanding of factors influencing quality of medical service can pinpoint better strategies for quality assurance in medical services. This study aimed to identify factors affecting the quality of medical services provided by Iranian physicians. Exploratory in-depth individual interviews were conducted with sixty-four physicians working in various medical institutions in Iran. Individual, organizational and environmental factors enhance or inhibit the quality of medical services. Quality of medical services depends on the personal factors of the physician and patient, and factors pertaining to the healthcare setting and the broader environment. Differences in internal and external factors such as availability of resources, patient cooperation and collaboration among providers affect the quality of medical services and patient outcomes. Supportive leadership, proper planning, education and training and effective management of resources and processes improve the quality of medical services. This article contributes to healthcare theory and practice by developing a conceptual framework for understanding factors that influence medical services quality.

  5. Automatic Speech Recognition in Air Traffic Control: a Human Factors Perspective

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Karlsson, Joakim

    1990-01-01

    The introduction of Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) technology into the Air Traffic Control (ATC) system has the potential to improve overall safety and efficiency. However, because ASR technology is inherently a part of the man-machine interface between the user and the system, the human factors issues involved must be addressed. Here, some of the human factors problems are identified and related methods of investigation are presented. Research at M.I.T.'s Flight Transportation Laboratory is being conducted from a human factors perspective, focusing on intelligent parser design, presentation of feedback, error correction strategy design, and optimal choice of input modalities.

  6. The Effect of Lexical Content on Dichotic Speech Recognition in Older Adults.

    PubMed

    Findlen, Ursula M; Roup, Christina M

    2016-01-01

    Age-related auditory processing deficits have been shown to negatively affect speech recognition for older adult listeners. In contrast, older adults gain benefit from their ability to make use of semantic and lexical content of the speech signal (i.e., top-down processing), particularly in complex listening situations. Assessment of auditory processing abilities among aging adults should take into consideration semantic and lexical content of the speech signal. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of lexical and attentional factors on dichotic speech recognition performance characteristics for older adult listeners. A repeated measures design was used to examine differences in dichotic word recognition as a function of lexical and attentional factors. Thirty-five older adults (61-85 yr) with sensorineural hearing loss participated in this study. Dichotic speech recognition was evaluated using consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) word and nonsense CVC syllable stimuli administered in the free recall, directed recall right, and directed recall left response conditions. Dichotic speech recognition performance for nonsense CVC syllables was significantly poorer than performance for CVC words. Dichotic recognition performance varied across response condition for both stimulus types, which is consistent with previous studies on dichotic speech recognition. Inspection of individual results revealed that five listeners demonstrated an auditory-based left ear deficit for one or both stimulus types. Lexical content of stimulus materials affects performance characteristics for dichotic speech recognition tasks in the older adult population. The use of nonsense CVC syllable material may provide a way to assess dichotic speech recognition performance while potentially lessening the effects of lexical content on performance (i.e., measuring bottom-up auditory function both with and without top-down processing). American Academy of Audiology.

  7. Inversion and contrast polarity reversal affect both encoding and recognition processes of unfamiliar faces: a repetition study using ERPs.

    PubMed

    Itier, Roxane J; Taylor, Margot J

    2002-02-01

    Using ERPs in a face recognition task, we investigated whether inversion and contrast reversal, which seem to disrupt different aspects of face configuration, differentially affected encoding and memory for faces. Upright, inverted, and negative (contrast-reversed) unknown faces were either immediately repeated (0-lag) or repeated after 1 intervening face (1-lag). The encoding condition (new) consisted of the first presentation of items correctly recognized in the two repeated conditions. 0-lag faces were recognized better and faster than 1-lag faces. Inverted and negative pictures elicited longer reaction times, lower hit rates, and higher false alarm rates than upright faces. ERP analyses revealed that negative and inverted faces affected both early (encoding) and late (recognition) stages of face processing. Early components (N170, VPP) were delayed and enhanced by both inversion and contrast reversal which also affected P1 and P2 components. Amplitudes were higher for inverted faces at frontal and parietal sites from 350 to 600 ms. Priming effects were seen at encoding stages, revealed by shorter latencies and smaller amplitudes of N170 for repeated stimuli, which did not differ depending on face type. Repeated faces yielded more positive amplitudes than new faces from 250 to 450 ms frontally and from 400 to 600 ms parietally. However, ERP differences revealed that the magnitude of this repetition effect was smaller for negative and inverted than upright faces at 0-lag but not at 1-lag condition. Thus, face encoding and recognition processes were affected by inversion and contrast-reversal differently.

  8. Context Effects on Facial Affect Recognition in Schizophrenia and Autism: Behavioral and Eye-Tracking Evidence.

    PubMed

    Sasson, Noah J; Pinkham, Amy E; Weittenhiller, Lauren P; Faso, Daniel J; Simpson, Claire

    2016-05-01

    Although Schizophrenia (SCZ) and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) share impairments in emotion recognition, the mechanisms underlying these impairments may differ. The current study used the novel "Emotions in Context" task to examine how the interpretation and visual inspection of facial affect is modulated by congruent and incongruent emotional contexts in SCZ and ASD. Both adults with SCZ (n= 44) and those with ASD (n= 21) exhibited reduced affect recognition relative to typically-developing (TD) controls (n= 39) when faces were integrated within broader emotional scenes but not when they were presented in isolation, underscoring the importance of using stimuli that better approximate real-world contexts. Additionally, viewing faces within congruent emotional scenes improved accuracy and visual attention to the face for controls more so than the clinical groups, suggesting that individuals with SCZ and ASD may not benefit from the presence of complementary emotional information as readily as controls. Despite these similarities, important distinctions between SCZ and ASD were found. In every condition, IQ was related to emotion-recognition accuracy for the SCZ group but not for the ASD or TD groups. Further, only the ASD group failed to increase their visual attention to faces in incongruent emotional scenes, suggesting a lower reliance on facial information within ambiguous emotional contexts relative to congruent ones. Collectively, these findings highlight both shared and distinct social cognitive processes in SCZ and ASD that may contribute to their characteristic social disabilities. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  9. Recognition without Awareness: Encoding and Retrieval Factors

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Craik, Fergus I. M.; Rose, Nathan S.; Gopie, Nigel

    2015-01-01

    The article reports 4 experiments that explore the notion of recognition without awareness using words as the material. Previous work by Voss and associates has shown that complex visual patterns were correctly selected as targets in a 2-alternative forced-choice (2-AFC) recognition test although participants reported that they were guessing. The…

  10. Facial Emotion Recognition in Bipolar Disorder and Healthy Aging.

    PubMed

    Altamura, Mario; Padalino, Flavia A; Stella, Eleonora; Balzotti, Angela; Bellomo, Antonello; Palumbo, Rocco; Di Domenico, Alberto; Mammarella, Nicola; Fairfield, Beth

    2016-03-01

    Emotional face recognition is impaired in bipolar disorder, but it is not clear whether this is specific for the illness. Here, we investigated how aging and bipolar disorder influence dynamic emotional face recognition. Twenty older adults, 16 bipolar patients, and 20 control subjects performed a dynamic affective facial recognition task and a subsequent rating task. Participants pressed a key as soon as they were able to discriminate whether the neutral face was assuming a happy or angry facial expression and then rated the intensity of each facial expression. Results showed that older adults recognized happy expressions faster, whereas bipolar patients recognized angry expressions faster. Furthermore, both groups rated emotional faces more intensely than did the control subjects. This study is one of the first to compare how aging and clinical conditions influence emotional facial recognition and underlines the need to consider the role of specific and common factors in emotional face recognition.

  11. Functional architecture of visual emotion recognition ability: A latent variable approach.

    PubMed

    Lewis, Gary J; Lefevre, Carmen E; Young, Andrew W

    2016-05-01

    Emotion recognition has been a focus of considerable attention for several decades. However, despite this interest, the underlying structure of individual differences in emotion recognition ability has been largely overlooked and thus is poorly understood. For example, limited knowledge exists concerning whether recognition ability for one emotion (e.g., disgust) generalizes to other emotions (e.g., anger, fear). Furthermore, it is unclear whether emotion recognition ability generalizes across modalities, such that those who are good at recognizing emotions from the face, for example, are also good at identifying emotions from nonfacial cues (such as cues conveyed via the body). The primary goal of the current set of studies was to address these questions through establishing the structure of individual differences in visual emotion recognition ability. In three independent samples (Study 1: n = 640; Study 2: n = 389; Study 3: n = 303), we observed that the ability to recognize visually presented emotions is based on different sources of variation: a supramodal emotion-general factor, supramodal emotion-specific factors, and face- and within-modality emotion-specific factors. In addition, we found evidence that general intelligence and alexithymia were associated with supramodal emotion recognition ability. Autism-like traits, empathic concern, and alexithymia were independently associated with face-specific emotion recognition ability. These results (a) provide a platform for further individual differences research on emotion recognition ability, (b) indicate that differentiating levels within the architecture of emotion recognition ability is of high importance, and (c) show that the capacity to understand expressions of emotion in others is linked to broader affective and cognitive processes. (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

  12. Reaction Time of Facial Affect Recognition in Asperger's Disorder for Cartoon and Real, Static and Moving Faces

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Miyahara, Motohide; Bray, Anne; Tsujii, Masatsugu; Fujita, Chikako; Sugiyama, Toshiro

    2007-01-01

    This study used a choice reaction-time paradigm to test the perceived impairment of facial affect recognition in Asperger's disorder. Twenty teenagers with Asperger's disorder and 20 controls were compared with respect to the latency and accuracy of response to happy or disgusted facial expressions, presented in cartoon or real images and in…

  13. Scabies outbreaks in residential care homes: factors associated with late recognition, burden and impact. A mixed methods study in England.

    PubMed

    Hewitt, K A; Nalabanda, A; Cassell, J A

    2015-05-01

    Scabies is an important public health problem in residential care homes. Delayed diagnosis contributes to outbreaks, which may be prolonged and difficult to control. We investigated factors influencing outbreak recognition, diagnosis and treatment, and staff experiences of outbreak control, identifying areas for intervention. We carried out a semi-structured survey of managers, affected residents and staff of seven care homes reporting suspected scabies outbreaks in southern England over a 6-month period. Attack rates ranged from 2% to 50%, and most cases had dementia (37/39, 95%). Cases were diagnosed clinically by GPs (59%) or home staff (41%), none by dermatologists. Most outbreaks were attributable to avoidably late diagnosis of the index case. Participants reported considerable challenges in managing scabies outbreaks, including late diagnosis and recognition of outbreaks; logistically difficult mass treatment; distressing treatment processes and high costs. This study demonstrates the need for improved support for care homes in detecting and managing these outbreaks.

  14. Italian normative data and validation of two neuropsychological tests of face recognition: Benton Facial Recognition Test and Cambridge Face Memory Test.

    PubMed

    Albonico, Andrea; Malaspina, Manuela; Daini, Roberta

    2017-09-01

    The Benton Facial Recognition Test (BFRT) and Cambridge Face Memory Test (CFMT) are two of the most common tests used to assess face discrimination and recognition abilities and to identify individuals with prosopagnosia. However, recent studies highlighted that participant-stimulus match ethnicity, as much as gender, has to be taken into account in interpreting results from these tests. Here, in order to obtain more appropriate normative data for an Italian sample, the CFMT and BFRT were administered to a large cohort of young adults. We found that scores from the BFRT are not affected by participants' gender and are only slightly affected by participant-stimulus ethnicity match, whereas both these factors seem to influence the scores of the CFMT. Moreover, the inclusion of a sample of individuals with suspected face recognition impairment allowed us to show that the use of more appropriate normative data can increase the BFRT efficacy in identifying individuals with face discrimination impairments; by contrast, the efficacy of the CFMT in classifying individuals with a face recognition deficit was confirmed. Finally, our data show that the lack of inversion effect (the difference between the total score of the upright and inverted versions of the CFMT) could be used as further index to assess congenital prosopagnosia. Overall, our results confirm the importance of having norms derived from controls with a similar experience of faces as the "potential" prosopagnosic individuals when assessing face recognition abilities.

  15. Concurrent and prospective associations between facial affect recognition accuracy and childhood antisocial behavior.

    PubMed

    Bowen, Erica; Dixon, Louise

    2010-01-01

    This study examined the concurrent and prospective associations between children's ability to accurately recognize facial affect at age 8.5 and antisocial behavior at age 8.5 and 10.5 years in a sub sample of the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children cohort (5,396 children; 2,644, 49% males). All observed effects were small. It was found that at age 8.5 years, in contrast to nonantisocial children; antisocial children were less accurate at decoding happy and sad expressions when presented at low intensity. In addition, concurrent antisocial behavior was associated with misidentifying expressions of fear as expressions of sadness. In longitudinal analyses, children who misidentified fear as anger exhibited a decreased risk of antisocial behavior 2 years later. The study suggests that concurrent rather than future antisocial behavior is associated with facial affect recognition accuracy. (c) 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

  16. Emotion recognition in Parkinson's disease: Static and dynamic factors.

    PubMed

    Wasser, Cory I; Evans, Felicity; Kempnich, Clare; Glikmann-Johnston, Yifat; Andrews, Sophie C; Thyagarajan, Dominic; Stout, Julie C

    2018-02-01

    The authors tested the hypothesis that Parkinson's disease (PD) participants would perform better in an emotion recognition task with dynamic (video) stimuli compared to a task using only static (photograph) stimuli and compared performances on both tasks to healthy control participants. In a within-subjects study, 21 PD participants and 20 age-matched healthy controls performed both static and dynamic emotion recognition tasks. The authors used a 2-way analysis of variance (controlling for individual participant variance) to determine the effect of group (PD, control) on emotion recognition performance in static and dynamic facial recognition tasks. Groups did not significantly differ in their performances on the static and dynamic tasks; however, the trend was suggestive that PD participants performed worse than controls. PD participants may have subtle emotion recognition deficits that are not ameliorated by the addition of contextual cues, similar to those found in everyday scenarios. Consistent with previous literature, the results suggest that PD participants may have underlying emotion recognition deficits, which may impact their social functioning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

  17. Acute stress negatively affects object recognition early memory consolidation and memory retrieval unrelated to state-dependency.

    PubMed

    Nelissen, Ellis; Prickaerts, Jos; Blokland, Arjan

    2018-06-01

    It is well known that stress affects memory performance. However, there still appears to be inconstancy in literature about how acute stress affects the different stages of memory: acquisition, consolidation and retrieval. In this study, we exposed rats to acute stress and measured the effect on memory performance in the object recognition task as a measure for episodic memory. Stress was induced 30 min prior to the learning phase to affect acquisition, directly after the learning phase to affect consolidation, or 30 min before the retrieval phase to affect retrieval. Additionally, we induced stress both 30 min prior to the learning phase and 30 min prior to the retrieval phase to test whether the effects were related to state-dependency. As expected, we found that acute stress did not affect acquisition but had a negative impact on retrieval. To our knowledge, we are the first to show that early consolidation was negatively affected by acute stress. We also show that stress does not have a state-dependent effect on memory. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  18. Factors Affecting Tocopherol Concentrations in Soybean Seeds.

    PubMed

    Carrera, Constanza S; Seguin, Philippe

    2016-12-21

    Soybean seeds contain several health-beneficial compounds, including tocopherols, which are used by the nutraceutical and functional food industries. Soybean tocopherol concentrations are, however, highly variable. Large differences observed in tocopherol concentrations among soybean genotypes together with the relatively simple biosynthetic pathway involving few genes support the feasibility of selecting for high-tocopherol soybean. Tocopherol concentrations are also highly influenced by environmental factors and field management. Temperature during seed filling and soil moisture appear to be the main factors affecting tocopherol concentrations; other factors such as soil fertility and solar radiation also affect concentrations and composition. Field management decisions including seeding date, row spacing, irrigation, and fertilization also affect tocopherols. Knowledge of factors affecting soybean tocopherols is essential to develop management strategies that will lead to the production of seeds with consistent target concentrations that will meet the needs of the nutraceutical and functional food industries.

  19. Web-based Factors Affecting Online Purchasing Behaviour

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ariff, Mohd Shoki Md; Sze Yan, Ng; Zakuan, Norhayati; Zaidi Bahari, Ahamad; Jusoh, Ahmad

    2013-06-01

    The growing use of internet and online purchasing among young consumers in Malaysia provides a huge prospect in e-commerce market, specifically for B2C segment. In this market, if E-marketers know the web-based factors affecting online buyers' behaviour, and the effect of these factors on behaviour of online consumers, then they can develop their marketing strategies to convert potential customers into active one, while retaining existing online customers. Review of previous studies related to the online purchasing behaviour in B2C market has point out that the conceptualization and empirical validation of the online purchasing behaviour of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) literate users, or ICT professional, in Malaysia has not been clearly addressed. This paper focuses on (i) web-based factors which online buyers (ICT professional) keep in mind while shopping online; and (ii) the effect of web-based factors on online purchasing behaviour. Based on the extensive literature review, a conceptual framework of 24 items of five factors was constructed to determine web-based factors affecting online purchasing behaviour of ICT professional. Analysis of data was performed based on the 310 questionnaires, which were collected using a stratified random sampling method, from ICT undergraduate students in a public university in Malaysia. The Exploratory factor analysis performed showed that five factors affecting online purchase behaviour are Information Quality, Fulfilment/Reliability/Customer Service, Website Design, Quick and Details, and Privacy/Security. The result of Multiple Regression Analysis indicated that Information Quality, Quick and Details, and Privacy/Security affect positively online purchase behaviour. The results provide a usable model for measuring web-based factors affecting buyers' online purchase behaviour in B2C market, as well as for online shopping companies to focus on the factors that will increase customers' online purchase.

  20. Pathways to Medical Home Recognition: A Qualitative Comparative Analysis of the PCMH Transformation Process.

    PubMed

    Mendel, Peter; Chen, Emily K; Green, Harold D; Armstrong, Courtney; Timbie, Justin W; Kress, Amii M; Friedberg, Mark W; Kahn, Katherine L

    2017-12-15

    To understand the process of practice transformation by identifying pathways for attaining patient-centered medical home (PCMH) recognition. The CMS Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) Advanced Primary Care Practice Demonstration was designed to help FQHCs achieve NCQA Level 3 PCMH recognition and improve patient outcomes. We used a stratified random sample of 20 (out of 503) participating sites for this analysis. We developed a conceptual model of structural, cultural, and implementation factors affecting PCMH transformation based on literature and initial qualitative interview themes. We then used conventional cross-case analysis, followed by qualitative comparative analysis (QCA), a cross-case method based on Boolean logic algorithms, to systematically identify pathways (i.e., combinations of factors) associated with attaining-or not attaining-Level 3 recognition. Site-level indicators were derived from semistructured interviews with site leaders at two points in time (mid- and late-implementation) and administrative data collected prior to and during the demonstration period. The QCA results identified five distinct pathways to attaining PCMH recognition and four distinct pathways to not attaining recognition by the end of the demonstration. Across these pathways, one condition (change leader capacity) was common to all pathways for attaining recognition, and another (previous improvement or recognition experience) was absent in all pathways for not attaining recognition. In general, sites could compensate for deficiencies in one factor with capacity in others, but they needed a threshold of strengths in cultural and implementation factors to attain PCMH recognition. Future efforts at primary care transformation should take into account multiple pathways sites may pursue. Sites should be assessed on key cultural and implementation factors, in addition to structural components, in order to differentiate interventions and technical assistance. © Health

  1. Plant recognition of Bradyrhizobium japonicum nod factors. Final report, September 15, 1992--March 14, 1997

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

    Stacey, G.

    1998-01-01

    This grant had three objectives: (1) isolate and identify the unique nod factor metabolites made by different wild-type B. japonicum strains; (2) investigate the biological activity of these unique nod factors, especially as it relates to host range; and (3) initiate studies to define the mechanism of plant recognition of the nod factors. This report summarizes the results of this research.

  2. Indonesian Sign Language Number Recognition using SIFT Algorithm

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mahfudi, Isa; Sarosa, Moechammad; Andrie Asmara, Rosa; Azrino Gustalika, M.

    2018-04-01

    Indonesian sign language (ISL) is generally used for deaf individuals and poor people communication in communicating. They use sign language as their primary language which consists of 2 types of action: sign and finger spelling. However, not all people understand their sign language so that this becomes a problem for them to communicate with normal people. this problem also becomes a factor they are isolated feel from the social life. It needs a solution that can help them to be able to interacting with normal people. Many research that offers a variety of methods in solving the problem of sign language recognition based on image processing. SIFT (Scale Invariant Feature Transform) algorithm is one of the methods that can be used to identify an object. SIFT is claimed very resistant to scaling, rotation, illumination and noise. Using SIFT algorithm for Indonesian sign language recognition number result rate recognition to 82% with the use of a total of 100 samples image dataset consisting 50 sample for training data and 50 sample images for testing data. Change threshold value get affect the result of the recognition. The best value threshold is 0.45 with rate recognition of 94%.

  3. Effects of levodopa-carbidopa-entacapone and smoked cocaine on facial affect recognition in cocaine smokers.

    PubMed

    Bedi, Gillinder; Shiffrin, Laura; Vadhan, Nehal P; Nunes, Edward V; Foltin, Richard W; Bisaga, Adam

    2016-04-01

    In addition to difficulties in daily social functioning, regular cocaine users have decrements in social processing (the cognitive and affective processes underlying social behavior) relative to non-users. Little is known, however, about the effects of clinically-relevant pharmacological agents, such as cocaine and potential treatment medications, on social processing in cocaine users. Such drug effects could potentially alleviate or compound baseline social processing decrements in cocaine abusers. Here, we assessed the individual and combined effects of smoked cocaine and a potential treatment medication, levodopa-carbidopa-entacapone (LCE), on facial emotion recognition in cocaine smokers. Healthy non-treatment-seeking cocaine smokers (N = 14; two female) completed this 11-day inpatient within-subjects study. Participants received LCE (titrated to 400mg/100mg/200mg b.i.d.) for five days with the remaining time on placebo. The order of medication administration was counterbalanced. Facial emotion recognition was measured twice during target LCE dosing and twice on placebo: once without cocaine and once after repeated cocaine doses. LCE increased the response threshold for identification of facial fear, biasing responses away from fear identification. Cocaine had no effect on facial emotion recognition. Results highlight the possibility for candidate pharmacotherapies to have unintended impacts on social processing in cocaine users, potentially exacerbating already existing difficulties in this population. © The Author(s) 2016.

  4. Action Recognition in a Crowded Environment

    PubMed Central

    Nieuwenhuis, Judith; Bülthoff, Isabelle; Barraclough, Nick; de la Rosa, Stephan

    2017-01-01

    So far, action recognition has been mainly examined with small point-light human stimuli presented alone within a narrow central area of the observer’s visual field. Yet, we need to recognize the actions of life-size humans viewed alone or surrounded by bystanders, whether they are seen in central or peripheral vision. Here, we examined the mechanisms in central vision and far periphery (40° eccentricity) involved in the recognition of the actions of a life-size actor (target) and their sensitivity to the presence of a crowd surrounding the target. In Experiment 1, we used an action adaptation paradigm to probe whether static or idly moving crowds might interfere with the recognition of a target’s action (hug or clap). We found that this type of crowds whose movements were dissimilar to the target action hardly affected action recognition in central and peripheral vision. In Experiment 2, we examined whether crowd actions that were more similar to the target actions affected action recognition. Indeed, the presence of that crowd diminished adaptation aftereffects in central vision as wells as in the periphery. We replicated Experiment 2 using a recognition task instead of an adaptation paradigm. With this task, we found evidence of decreased action recognition accuracy, but this was significant in peripheral vision only. Our results suggest that the presence of a crowd carrying out actions similar to that of the target affects its recognition. We outline how these results can be understood in terms of high-level crowding effects that operate on action-sensitive perceptual channels. PMID:29308177

  5. Factors Affecting Wound Healing

    PubMed Central

    Guo, S.; DiPietro, L.A.

    2010-01-01

    Wound healing, as a normal biological process in the human body, is achieved through four precisely and highly programmed phases: hemostasis, inflammation, proliferation, and remodeling. For a wound to heal successfully, all four phases must occur in the proper sequence and time frame. Many factors can interfere with one or more phases of this process, thus causing improper or impaired wound healing. This article reviews the recent literature on the most significant factors that affect cutaneous wound healing and the potential cellular and/or molecular mechanisms involved. The factors discussed include oxygenation, infection, age and sex hormones, stress, diabetes, obesity, medications, alcoholism, smoking, and nutrition. A better understanding of the influence of these factors on repair may lead to therapeutics that improve wound healing and resolve impaired wounds. PMID:20139336

  6. Factors affecting wound healing.

    PubMed

    Guo, S; Dipietro, L A

    2010-03-01

    Wound healing, as a normal biological process in the human body, is achieved through four precisely and highly programmed phases: hemostasis, inflammation, proliferation, and remodeling. For a wound to heal successfully, all four phases must occur in the proper sequence and time frame. Many factors can interfere with one or more phases of this process, thus causing improper or impaired wound healing. This article reviews the recent literature on the most significant factors that affect cutaneous wound healing and the potential cellular and/or molecular mechanisms involved. The factors discussed include oxygenation, infection, age and sex hormones, stress, diabetes, obesity, medications, alcoholism, smoking, and nutrition. A better understanding of the influence of these factors on repair may lead to therapeutics that improve wound healing and resolve impaired wounds.

  7. Transfer-Appropriate Processing in Recognition Memory: Perceptual and Conceptual Effects on Recognition Memory Depend on Task Demands

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Parks, Colleen M.

    2013-01-01

    Research examining the importance of surface-level information to familiarity in recognition memory tasks is mixed: Sometimes it affects recognition and sometimes it does not. One potential explanation of the inconsistent findings comes from the ideas of dual process theory of recognition and the transfer-appropriate processing framework, which…

  8. Gender-specific automatic valence recognition of affective olfactory stimulation through the analysis of the electrodermal activity.

    PubMed

    Greco, Alberto; Lanata, Antonio; Valenza, Gaetano; Di Francesco, Fabio; Scilingo, Enzo Pasquale

    2016-08-01

    This study reports on the development of a gender-specific classification system able to discern between two valence levels of smell, through information gathered from electrodermal activity (EDA) dynamics. Specifically, two odorants were administered to 32 healthy volunteers (16 males) while monitoring EDA. CvxEDA model was used to process the EDA signal and extract features from both tonic and phasic components. The feature set was used as input to a K-NN classifier implementing a leave-one-subject-out procedure. Results show strong differences in the accuracy of valence recognition between men (62.5%) and women (78%). We can conclude that affective olfactory stimulation significantly affect EDA dynamics with a highly specific gender dependency.

  9. Does Perceived Race Affect Discrimination and Recognition of Ambiguous-Race Faces? A Test of the Sociocognitive Hypothesis

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rhodes, Gillian; Lie, Hanne C.; Ewing, Louise; Evangelista, Emma; Tanaka, James W.

    2010-01-01

    Discrimination and recognition are often poorer for other-race than own-race faces. These other-race effects (OREs) have traditionally been attributed to reduced perceptual expertise, resulting from more limited experience, with other-race faces. However, recent findings suggest that sociocognitive factors, such as reduced motivation to…

  10. Factors Affecting Sign Retroreflectivity : final report.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2001-01-01

    This study was undertaken to better understand the factors that may affect road sign retroreflectivity, specifically age and physical orientation. A better understanding of these factors could provide guidance to ODOT in managing its inventory of roa...

  11. Social power and recognition of emotional prosody: High power is associated with lower recognition accuracy than low power.

    PubMed

    Uskul, Ayse K; Paulmann, Silke; Weick, Mario

    2016-02-01

    Listeners have to pay close attention to a speaker's tone of voice (prosody) during daily conversations. This is particularly important when trying to infer the emotional state of the speaker. Although a growing body of research has explored how emotions are processed from speech in general, little is known about how psychosocial factors such as social power can shape the perception of vocal emotional attributes. Thus, the present studies explored how social power affects emotional prosody recognition. In a correlational study (Study 1) and an experimental study (Study 2), we show that high power is associated with lower accuracy in emotional prosody recognition than low power. These results, for the first time, suggest that individuals experiencing high or low power perceive emotional tone of voice differently. (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

  12. Circle Hough transform implementation for dots recognition in braille cells

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Jacinto Gómez, Edwar; Montiel Ariza, Holman; Martínez Sarmiento, Fredy Hernán.

    2017-02-01

    This paper shows a technique based on CHT (Circle Hough Transform) to achieve the optical Braille recognition (OBR). Unlike other papers developed around the same topic, this one is made by using Hough Transform to process the recognition and transcription of Braille cells, proving CHT to be an appropriate technique to go over different non-systematics factors who can affect the process, as the paper type where the text to traduce is placed, some lightning factors, input image resolution and some flaws derived from the capture process, which is realized using a scanner. Tests are performed with a local database using text generated by visual nondisabled people and some transcripts by sightless people; all of this with the support of National Institute for Blind People (INCI for their Spanish acronym) placed in Colombia.

  13. Word recognition in Alzheimer's disease: Effects of semantic degeneration.

    PubMed

    Cuetos, Fernando; Arce, Noemí; Martínez, Carmen; Ellis, Andrew W

    2017-03-01

    Impairments of word recognition in Alzheimer's disease (AD) have been less widely investigated than impairments affecting word retrieval and production. In particular, we know little about what makes individual words easier or harder for patients with AD to recognize. We used a lexical selection task in which participants were shown sets of four items, each set consisting of one word and three non-words. The task was simply to point to the word on each trial. Forty patients with mild-to-moderate AD were significantly impaired on this task relative to matched controls who made very few errors. The number of patients with AD able to recognize each word correctly was predicted by the frequency, age of acquisition, and imageability of the words, but not by their length or number of orthographic neighbours. Patient Mini-Mental State Examination and phonological fluency scores also predicted the number of words recognized. We propose that progressive degradation of central semantic representations in AD differentially affects the ability to recognize low-imageability, low-frequency, late-acquired words, with the same factors affecting word recognition as affecting word retrieval. © 2015 The British Psychological Society.

  14. Neuropeptide Trefoil factor 3 improves learning and retention of novel object recognition memory in mice.

    PubMed

    Shi, Hai-Shui; Yin, Xi; Song, Li; Guo, Qing-Jun; Luo, Xiang-Heng

    2012-02-01

    Accumulating evidence has implicated neuropeptides in modulating recognition, learning and memory. However, to date, no study has investigated the effects of neuropeptide Trefoil factor 3 (TFF3) on the process of learning and memory. In the present study, we evaluated the acute effects of TFF3 administration (0.1 and 0.5mg/kg, i.p.) on the acquisition and retention of object recognition memory in mice. We found that TFF3 administration significantly enhanced both short-term and long-term memory during the retention test, conducted 90 min and 24h after training respectively. Remarkably, acute TFF3 administration transformed a learning event that would not normally result in long-term memory into an event retained for a long-term period and produced no effect on locomotor activity in mice. In conclusion, the present results provide an important role of TFF3 in improving object recognition memory and reserving it for a longer time, which suggests a potential therapeutic application for diseases with recognition and memory impairment. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  15. Improving entrepreneurial opportunity recognition through web content analytics

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bakar, Muhamad Shahbani Abu; Azmi, Azwiyati

    2017-10-01

    The ability to recognize and develop an opportunity into a venture defines an entrepreneur. Research in opportunity recognition has been robust and focuses more on explaining the processes involved in opportunity recognition. Factors such as prior knowledge, cognitive and creative capabilities are shown to affect opportunity recognition in entrepreneurs. Prior knowledge in areas such as customer problems, ways to serve the market, and technology has been shows in various studies to be a factor that facilitates entrepreneurs to identify and recognize opportunities. Findings from research also shows that experienced entrepreneurs search and scan for information to discover opportunities. Searching and scanning for information has also been shown to help novice entrepreneurs who lack prior knowledge to narrow this gap and enable them to better identify and recognize opportunities. There is less focus in research on finding empirically proven techniques and methods to develop and enhance opportunity recognition in student entrepreneurs. This is important as the country pushes for more graduate entrepreneurs that can drive the economy. This paper aims to discuss Opportunity Recognition Support System (ORSS), an information support system to help especially student entrepreneurs in identifying and recognizing business opportunities. The ORSS aims to provide the necessary knowledge to student entrepreneurs to be able to better identify and recognize opportunities. Applying design research, theories in opportunity recognition are applied to identify the requirements for the support system and the requirements in turn dictate the design of the support system. The paper proposes the use of web content mining and analytics as two core components and techniques for the support system. Web content mining can mine the vast knowledge repositories available on the internet and analytics can provide entrepreneurs with further insights into the information needed to recognize

  16. Factors affecting the recognition of faults exposed in exploratory trenches

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Bonilla, Manuel G.; Lienkaemper, James J.

    1991-01-01

    Trenching-a widely used method for evaluating fault activity-has limitations that can mislead investigators. Some segments of fault strands in trench walls may not be visible, and this nonvisibility can lead to incorrect interpretations of time of most recent displacement and recurrence intervals on a fault. We examined the logs of 163 trench exposures and tabulated data on more than 1,200 fault strands to investigate three categories of nonvisibility: (1) strands with obscure (invisible or poorly visible) segments, (2) strands that die out upward, and (3) strands that die out downward. About 14 percent of all the strands have obscure segments. Of the 143 strands on which it is possible to recognize dieout up (limited to strands for which position of ground surface at time of faulting is known), 45 percent do die out upward, and the fraction exceeds 70 percent for strike-slip and reverse faults. Thus a fault strand overlain by an apparently undisturbed deposit is not necessarily older than the deposit. More than 30 percent of all the strands die out downward, providing more evidence that fault strands can end for reasons other than being covered by deposits younger than the fault. Analysis of trench-log data revealed various relations between geologic factors and nonvisibility of fault strands. For example, fault type affects the incidence of nonvisibility, which is generally most common on strike-slip faults, less common on reverse faults, and least common on normal fau Its. The type of material penetrated by the fault also influences nonvisibility, which tends to be more common in soil horizons and sand, and less common in gravel. Dieout down is weakly influenced by fault displacement, decreasing in frequency with increase in displacement; the frequencies of obscure segments and dieout up do not vary consistently with fault displacement. Frequency of obscure segments generally decreases with increase in length of obscure segments, and frequency of dieout up

  17. Correlations of recognition memory performance with expression and methylation of brain-derived neurotrophic factor in rats.

    PubMed

    Muñoz, Pablo C; Aspé, Mauricio A; Contreras, Luis S; Palacios, Adrián G

    2010-01-01

    Object recognition memory allows discrimination between novel and familiar objects. This kind of memory consists of two components: recollection, which depends on the hippocampus, and familiarity, which depends on the perirhinal cortex (Pcx). The importance of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) for recognition memory has already been recognized. Recent evidence suggests that DNA methylation regulates the expression of BDNF and memory. Behavioral and molecular approaches were used to understand the potential contribution of DNA methylation to recognition memory. To that end, rats were tested for their ability to distinguish novel from familiar objects by using a spontaneous object recognition task. Furthermore, the level of DNA methylation was estimated after trials with a methyl-sensitive PCR. We found a significant correlation between performance on the novel object task and the expression of BDNF, negatively in hippocampal slices and positively in perirhinal cortical slices. By contrast, methylation of DNA in CpG island 1 in the promoter of exon 1 in BDNF only correlated in hippocampal slices, but not in the Pxc cortical slices from trained animals. These results suggest that DNA methylation may be involved in the regulation of the BDNF gene during recognition memory, at least in the hippocampus.

  18. Age Learning Factors Affecting Pilot Education.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Torbert, Brison

    This document, intended for pilot education and flight safety specialists, consists chiefly of a review of the literature on physiological factors that affect pilot education and an examination of environmental factors that should be scrutinized in order to improve the effectiveness of aviation learning facilities. The physiological factors…

  19. Introduction to pseudobulbar affect: setting the stage for recognition and familiarity with this challenging disorder.

    PubMed

    Demler, Tammie Lee

    2017-12-01

    Pseudobulbar affect (PBA), despite its prevalence and distinctive symptoms, is widely underrecognized and undertreated. It is characterized by uncontrollable laughing or crying that can occur in an exaggerated manner or inappropriately to a given situation or stimuli. PBA is thought to center around preexisting neurological conditions, which include Parkinson disease, multiple sclerosis, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Alzheimer disease, traumatic brain injury, and stroke. The PBA Registry Series trial was created to measure the prevalence of PBA among patients with these underlying neurological conditions. Through greater awareness, recognition, and diagnosis, treatment for patients with PBA can be improved.

  20. Early Sign Language Experience Goes Along with an Increased Cross-modal Gain for Affective Prosodic Recognition in Congenitally Deaf CI Users.

    PubMed

    Fengler, Ineke; Delfau, Pia-Céline; Röder, Brigitte

    2018-04-01

    It is yet unclear whether congenitally deaf cochlear implant (CD CI) users' visual and multisensory emotion perception is influenced by their history in sign language acquisition. We hypothesized that early-signing CD CI users, relative to late-signing CD CI users and hearing, non-signing controls, show better facial expression recognition and rely more on the facial cues of audio-visual emotional stimuli. Two groups of young adult CD CI users-early signers (ES CI users; n = 11) and late signers (LS CI users; n = 10)-and a group of hearing, non-signing, age-matched controls (n = 12) performed an emotion recognition task with auditory, visual, and cross-modal emotionally congruent and incongruent speech stimuli. On different trials, participants categorized either the facial or the vocal expressions. The ES CI users more accurately recognized affective prosody than the LS CI users in the presence of congruent facial information. Furthermore, the ES CI users, but not the LS CI users, gained more than the controls from congruent visual stimuli when recognizing affective prosody. Both CI groups performed overall worse than the controls in recognizing affective prosody. These results suggest that early sign language experience affects multisensory emotion perception in CD CI users.

  1. Mapping correspondence between facial mimicry and emotion recognition in healthy subjects.

    PubMed

    Ponari, Marta; Conson, Massimiliano; D'Amico, Nunzia Pina; Grossi, Dario; Trojano, Luigi

    2012-12-01

    We aimed at verifying the hypothesis that facial mimicry is causally and selectively involved in emotion recognition. For this purpose, in Experiment 1, we explored the effect of tonic contraction of muscles in upper or lower half of participants' face on their ability to recognize emotional facial expressions. We found that the "lower" manipulation specifically impaired recognition of happiness and disgust, the "upper" manipulation impaired recognition of anger, while both manipulations affected recognition of fear; recognition of surprise and sadness were not affected by either blocking manipulations. In Experiment 2, we verified whether emotion recognition is hampered by stimuli in which an upper or lower half-face showing an emotional expression is combined with a neutral half-face. We found that the neutral lower half-face interfered with recognition of happiness and disgust, whereas the neutral upper half impaired recognition of anger; recognition of fear and sadness was impaired by both manipulations, whereas recognition of surprise was not affected by either manipulation. Taken together, the present findings support simulation models of emotion recognition and provide insight into the role of mimicry in comprehension of others' emotional facial expressions. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved.

  2. How does aging affect recognition-based inference? A hierarchical Bayesian modeling approach.

    PubMed

    Horn, Sebastian S; Pachur, Thorsten; Mata, Rui

    2015-01-01

    The recognition heuristic (RH) is a simple strategy for probabilistic inference according to which recognized objects are judged to score higher on a criterion than unrecognized objects. In this article, a hierarchical Bayesian extension of the multinomial r-model is applied to measure use of the RH on the individual participant level and to re-evaluate differences between younger and older adults' strategy reliance across environments. Further, it is explored how individual r-model parameters relate to alternative measures of the use of recognition and other knowledge, such as adherence rates and indices from signal-detection theory (SDT). Both younger and older adults used the RH substantially more often in an environment with high than low recognition validity, reflecting adaptivity in strategy use across environments. In extension of previous analyses (based on adherence rates), hierarchical modeling revealed that in an environment with low recognition validity, (a) older adults had a stronger tendency than younger adults to rely on the RH and (b) variability in RH use between individuals was larger than in an environment with high recognition validity; variability did not differ between age groups. Further, the r-model parameters correlated moderately with an SDT measure expressing how well people can discriminate cases where the RH leads to a correct vs. incorrect inference; this suggests that the r-model and the SDT measures may offer complementary insights into the use of recognition in decision making. In conclusion, younger and older adults are largely adaptive in their application of the RH, but cognitive aging may be associated with an increased tendency to rely on this strategy. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  3. Environmental Factors Affecting Preschoolers' Motor Development

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Venetsanou, Fotini; Kambas, Antonis

    2010-01-01

    The process of development occurs according to the pattern established by the genetic potential and also by the influence of environmental factors. The aim of the present study was to focus on the main environmental factors affecting motor development. The review of the literature revealed that family features, such as socioeconomic status,…

  4. Nutritional Factors Affecting Adult Neurogenesis and Cognitive Function.

    PubMed

    Poulose, Shibu M; Miller, Marshall G; Scott, Tammy; Shukitt-Hale, Barbara

    2017-11-01

    Adult neurogenesis, a complex process by which stem cells in the hippocampal brain region differentiate and proliferate into new neurons and other resident brain cells, is known to be affected by many intrinsic and extrinsic factors, including diet. Neurogenesis plays a critical role in neural plasticity, brain homeostasis, and maintenance in the central nervous system and is a crucial factor in preserving the cognitive function and repair of damaged brain cells affected by aging and brain disorders. Intrinsic factors such as aging, neuroinflammation, oxidative stress, and brain injury, as well as lifestyle factors such as high-fat and high-sugar diets and alcohol and opioid addiction, negatively affect adult neurogenesis. Conversely, many dietary components such as curcumin, resveratrol, blueberry polyphenols, sulforaphane, salvionic acid, polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), and diets enriched with polyphenols and PUFAs, as well as caloric restriction, physical exercise, and learning, have been shown to induce neurogenesis in adult brains. Although many of the underlying mechanisms by which nutrients and dietary factors affect adult neurogenesis have yet to be determined, nutritional approaches provide promising prospects to stimulate adult neurogenesis and combat neurodegenerative diseases and cognitive decline. In this review, we summarize the evidence supporting the role of nutritional factors in modifying adult neurogenesis and their potential to preserve cognitive function during aging. © 2017 American Society for Nutrition.

  5. Three RNA recognition motifs participate in RNA recognition and structural organization by the pro-apoptotic factor TIA-1

    PubMed Central

    Bauer, William J.; Heath, Jason; Jenkins, Jermaine L.; Kielkopf, Clara L.

    2012-01-01

    T-cell intracellular antigen-1 (TIA-1) regulates developmental and stress-responsive pathways through distinct activities at the levels of alternative pre-mRNA splicing and mRNA translation. The TIA-1 polypeptide contains three RNA recognition motifs (RRMs). The central RRM2 and C-terminal RRM3 associate with cellular mRNAs. The N-terminal RRM1 enhances interactions of a C-terminal Q-rich domain of TIA-1 with the U1-C splicing factor, despite linear separation of the domains in the TIA-1 sequence. Given the expanded functional repertoire of the RRM family, it was unknown whether TIA-1 RRM1 contributes to RNA binding as well as documented protein interactions. To address this question, we used isothermal titration calorimetry and small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) to dissect the roles of the TIA-1 RRMs in RNA recognition. Notably, the fas RNA exhibited two binding sites with indistinguishable affinities for TIA-1. Analyses of TIA-1 variants established that RRM1 was dispensable for binding AU-rich fas sites, yet all three RRMs were required to bind a polyU RNA with high affinity. SAXS analyses demonstrated a `V' shape for a TIA-1 construct comprising the three RRMs, and revealed that its dimensions became more compact in the RNA-bound state. The sequence-selective involvement of TIA-1 RRM1 in RNA recognition suggests a possible role for RNA sequences in regulating the distinct functions of TIA-1. Further implications for U1-C recruitment by the adjacent TIA-1 binding sites of the fas pre-mRNA and the bent TIA-1 shape, which organizes the N- and C-termini on the same side of the protein, are discussed. PMID:22154808

  6. Factors affecting dignity of patients with multiple sclerosis.

    PubMed

    Sharifi, Simin; Borhani, Fariba; Abbaszadeh, Abbas

    2016-12-01

    MS is one of the most common chronic diseases of the nervous system. Apart from disease progression, other complications such as unemployment, separation and divorce could potentially threat patients' dignity. Most of the previous studies have been done of maintaining patients' dignity in interaction with healthcare team, but studies on affecting factors of dignity in chronic patients in the society and in interaction with usual people are scarce. We aimed to investigate factors affecting dignity of Iranian patients with MS in daily living and in interaction of them with the society. In this qualitative study, 13 patients with multiple sclerosis were chosen by purposive sampling and semi-structured interviews were conducted until data saturation. The study was done in Tehran, the capital city of Iran. Factors affecting dignity were classified as 'personal factors' and 'social factors'. Personal factors consist of the following subcategories: patients' communication with self, patients' knowledge, patients' values and beliefs and patients' resources. Social factors include others' communication with patients, social knowledge, social values and beliefs and social resources. Multiple personal and social factors interfere in perceived patient dignity. In fact, interaction between personal and social factors can be influential in final perceived dignity. By focusing on whole aspects of the patients' lives, we can identify dignity-promoting or dignity-threatening factors and help patients maintain their dignity by taking appropriate measures for moderating threatening factors and improving dignity enhancing ones. © 2016 Nordic College of Caring Science.

  7. Working Memory Load Affects Processing Time in Spoken Word Recognition: Evidence from Eye-Movements

    PubMed Central

    Hadar, Britt; Skrzypek, Joshua E.; Wingfield, Arthur; Ben-David, Boaz M.

    2016-01-01

    In daily life, speech perception is usually accompanied by other tasks that tap into working memory capacity. However, the role of working memory on speech processing is not clear. The goal of this study was to examine how working memory load affects the timeline for spoken word recognition in ideal listening conditions. We used the “visual world” eye-tracking paradigm. The task consisted of spoken instructions referring to one of four objects depicted on a computer monitor (e.g., “point at the candle”). Half of the trials presented a phonological competitor to the target word that either overlapped in the initial syllable (onset) or at the last syllable (offset). Eye movements captured listeners' ability to differentiate the target noun from its depicted phonological competitor (e.g., candy or sandal). We manipulated working memory load by using a digit pre-load task, where participants had to retain either one (low-load) or four (high-load) spoken digits for the duration of a spoken word recognition trial. The data show that the high-load condition delayed real-time target discrimination. Specifically, a four-digit load was sufficient to delay the point of discrimination between the spoken target word and its phonological competitor. Our results emphasize the important role working memory plays in speech perception, even when performed by young adults in ideal listening conditions. PMID:27242424

  8. The Effect of Dynamic Pitch on Speech Recognition in Temporally Modulated Noise.

    PubMed

    Shen, Jing; Souza, Pamela E

    2017-09-18

    This study investigated the effect of dynamic pitch in target speech on older and younger listeners' speech recognition in temporally modulated noise. First, we examined whether the benefit from dynamic-pitch cues depends on the temporal modulation of noise. Second, we tested whether older listeners can benefit from dynamic-pitch cues for speech recognition in noise. Last, we explored the individual factors that predict the amount of dynamic-pitch benefit for speech recognition in noise. Younger listeners with normal hearing and older listeners with varying levels of hearing sensitivity participated in the study, in which speech reception thresholds were measured with sentences in nonspeech noise. The younger listeners benefited more from dynamic pitch for speech recognition in temporally modulated noise than unmodulated noise. Older listeners were able to benefit from the dynamic-pitch cues but received less benefit from noise modulation than the younger listeners. For those older listeners with hearing loss, the amount of hearing loss strongly predicted the dynamic-pitch benefit for speech recognition in noise. Dynamic-pitch cues aid speech recognition in noise, particularly when noise has temporal modulation. Hearing loss negatively affects the dynamic-pitch benefit to older listeners with significant hearing loss.

  9. Own-Group Face Recognition Bias: The Effects of Location and Reputation

    PubMed Central

    Yan, Linlin; Wang, Zhe; Huang, Jianling; Sun, Yu-Hao P.; Judges, Rebecca A.; Xiao, Naiqi G.; Lee, Kang

    2017-01-01

    In the present study, we examined whether social categorization based on university affiliation can induce an advantage in recognizing faces. Moreover, we investigated how the reputation or location of the university affected face recognition performance using an old/new paradigm. We assigned five different university labels to the faces: participants’ own university and four other universities. Among the four other university labels, we manipulated the academic reputation and geographical location of these universities relative to the participants’ own university. The results showed that an own-group face recognition bias emerged for faces with own-university labels comparing to those with other-university labels. Furthermore, we found a robust own-group face recognition bias only when the other university was located in a different city far away from participants’ own university. Interestingly, we failed to find the influence of university reputation on own-group face recognition bias. These results suggest that categorizing a face as a member of one’s own university is sufficient to enhance recognition accuracy and the location will play a more important role in the effect of social categorization on face recognition than reputation. The results provide insight into the role of motivational factors underlying the university membership in face perception. PMID:29066989

  10. Secondary anchor polymorphism in the HA-1 minor histocompatibility antigen critically affects MHC stability and TCR recognition

    PubMed Central

    Nicholls, Sarah; Piper, Karen P.; Mohammed, Fiyaz; Dafforn, Timothy R.; Tenzer, Stefan; Salim, Mahboob; Mahendra, Premini; Craddock, Charles; van Endert, Peter; Schild, Hansjörg; Cobbold, Mark; Engelhard, Victor H.; Moss, Paul A. H.; Willcox, Benjamin E.

    2009-01-01

    T cell recognition of minor histocompatibility antigens (mHags) underlies allogeneic immune responses that mediate graft-versus-host disease and the graft-versus-leukemia effect following stem cell transplantation. Many mHags derive from single amino acid polymorphisms in MHC-restricted epitopes, but our understanding of the molecular mechanisms governing mHag immunogenicity and recognition is incomplete. Here we examined antigenic presentation and T-cell recognition of HA-1, a prototypic autosomal mHag derived from single nucleotide dimorphism (HA-1H versus HA-1R) in the HMHA1 gene. The HA-1H peptide is restricted by HLA-A2 and is immunogenic in HA-1R/R into HA-1H transplants, while HA-1R has been suggested to be a “null allele” in terms of T cell reactivity. We found that proteasomal cleavage and TAP transport of the 2 peptides is similar and that both variants can bind to MHC. However, the His>Arg change substantially decreases the stability and affinity of HLA-A2 association, consistent with the reduced immunogenicity of the HA-1R variant. To understand these findings, we determined the structure of an HLA-A2-HA-1H complex to 1.3Å resolution. Whereas His-3 is accommodated comfortably in the D pocket, incorporation of the lengthy Arg-3 is predicted to require local conformational changes. Moreover, a soluble TCR generated from HA-1H-specific T-cells bound HA-1H peptide with moderate affinity but failed to bind HA-1R, indicating complete discrimination of HA-1 variants at the level of TCR/MHC interaction. Our results define the molecular mechanisms governing immunogenicity of HA-1, and highlight how single amino acid polymorphisms in mHags can critically affect both MHC association and TCR recognition. PMID:19234124

  11. Colocalization recognition-activated cascade signal amplification strategy for ultrasensitive detection of transcription factors.

    PubMed

    Zhu, Desong; Wang, Lei; Xu, Xiaowen; Jiang, Wei

    2017-03-15

    Transcription factors (TFs) bind to specific double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) sequences in the regulatory regions of genes to regulate the process of gene transcription. Their expression levels sensitively reflect cell developmental situation and disease state. TFs have become potential diagnostic markers and therapeutic targets of cancers and some other diseases. Hence, high sensitive detection of TFs is of vital importance for early diagnosis of diseases and drugs development. The traditional exonucleases-assisted signal amplification methods suffered from the false positives caused by incomplete digestion of excess recognition probes. Herein, based on a new recognition way-colocalization recognition (CR)-activated dual signal amplification, an ultrasensitive fluorescent detection strategy for TFs was developed. TFs-induced the colocalization of three split recognition components resulted in noticeable increases of local effective concentrations and hybridization of three split components, which activated the subsequent cascade signal amplification including strand displacement amplification (SDA) and exponential rolling circle amplification (ERCA). This strategy eliminated the false positive influence and achieved ultra-high sensitivity towards the purified NF-κB p50 with detection limit of 2.0×10 -13 M. Moreover, NF-κB p50 can be detected in as low as 0.21ngμL -1 HeLa cell nuclear extracts. In addition, this proposed strategy could be used for the screening of NF-κB p50 activity inhibitors and potential anti-NF-κB p50 drugs. Finally, our proposed strategy offered a potential method for reliable detection of TFs in medical diagnosis and treatment research of cancers and other related diseases. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  12. Familiarity and face emotion recognition in patients with schizophrenia.

    PubMed

    Lahera, Guillermo; Herrera, Sara; Fernández, Cristina; Bardón, Marta; de los Ángeles, Victoria; Fernández-Liria, Alberto

    2014-01-01

    To assess the emotion recognition in familiar and unknown faces in a sample of schizophrenic patients and healthy controls. Face emotion recognition of 18 outpatients diagnosed with schizophrenia (DSM-IVTR) and 18 healthy volunteers was assessed with two Emotion Recognition Tasks using familiar faces and unknown faces. Each subject was accompanied by 4 familiar people (parents, siblings or friends), which were photographed by expressing the 6 Ekman's basic emotions. Face emotion recognition in familiar faces was assessed with this ad hoc instrument. In each case, the patient scored (from 1 to 10) the subjective familiarity and affective valence corresponding to each person. Patients with schizophrenia not only showed a deficit in the recognition of emotions on unknown faces (p=.01), but they also showed an even more pronounced deficit on familiar faces (p=.001). Controls had a similar success rate in the unknown faces task (mean: 18 +/- 2.2) and the familiar face task (mean: 17.4 +/- 3). However, patients had a significantly lower score in the familiar faces task (mean: 13.2 +/- 3.8) than in the unknown faces task (mean: 16 +/- 2.4; p<.05). In both tests, the highest number of errors was with emotions of anger and fear. Subjectively, the patient group showed a lower level of familiarity and emotional valence to their respective relatives (p<.01). The sense of familiarity may be a factor involved in the face emotion recognition and it may be disturbed in schizophrenia. © 2013.

  13. Monetary incentives at retrieval promote recognition of involuntarily learned emotional information.

    PubMed

    Yan, Chunping; Li, Yunyun; Zhang, Qin; Cui, Lixia

    2018-03-07

    Previous studies have suggested that the effects of reward on memory processes are affected by certain factors, but it remains unclear whether the effects of reward at retrieval on recognition processes are influenced by emotion. The event-related potential was used to investigate the combined effect of reward and emotion on memory retrieval and its neural mechanism. The behavioral results indicated that the reward at retrieval improved recognition performance under positive and negative emotional conditions. The event-related potential results indicated that there were significant interactions between the reward and emotion in the average amplitude during recognition, and the significant reward effects from the frontal to parietal brain areas appeared at 130-800 ms for positive pictures and at 190-800 ms for negative pictures, but there were no significant reward effects of neutral pictures; the reward effect of positive items appeared relatively earlier, starting at 130 ms, and that of negative pictures began at 190 ms. These results indicate that monetary incentives at retrieval promote recognition of involuntarily learned emotional information.

  14. Cost-sensitive learning for emotion robust speaker recognition.

    PubMed

    Li, Dongdong; Yang, Yingchun; Dai, Weihui

    2014-01-01

    In the field of information security, voice is one of the most important parts in biometrics. Especially, with the development of voice communication through the Internet or telephone system, huge voice data resources are accessed. In speaker recognition, voiceprint can be applied as the unique password for the user to prove his/her identity. However, speech with various emotions can cause an unacceptably high error rate and aggravate the performance of speaker recognition system. This paper deals with this problem by introducing a cost-sensitive learning technology to reweight the probability of test affective utterances in the pitch envelop level, which can enhance the robustness in emotion-dependent speaker recognition effectively. Based on that technology, a new architecture of recognition system as well as its components is proposed in this paper. The experiment conducted on the Mandarin Affective Speech Corpus shows that an improvement of 8% identification rate over the traditional speaker recognition is achieved.

  15. Cost-Sensitive Learning for Emotion Robust Speaker Recognition

    PubMed Central

    Li, Dongdong; Yang, Yingchun

    2014-01-01

    In the field of information security, voice is one of the most important parts in biometrics. Especially, with the development of voice communication through the Internet or telephone system, huge voice data resources are accessed. In speaker recognition, voiceprint can be applied as the unique password for the user to prove his/her identity. However, speech with various emotions can cause an unacceptably high error rate and aggravate the performance of speaker recognition system. This paper deals with this problem by introducing a cost-sensitive learning technology to reweight the probability of test affective utterances in the pitch envelop level, which can enhance the robustness in emotion-dependent speaker recognition effectively. Based on that technology, a new architecture of recognition system as well as its components is proposed in this paper. The experiment conducted on the Mandarin Affective Speech Corpus shows that an improvement of 8% identification rate over the traditional speaker recognition is achieved. PMID:24999492

  16. The linguistic and interactional factors impacting recognition and dispatch in emergency calls for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest: a mixed-method linguistic analysis study protocol

    PubMed Central

    Riou, Marine; Ball, Stephen; Williams, Teresa A; Whiteside, Austin; O’Halloran, Kay L; Bray, Janet; Perkins, Gavin D; Cameron, Peter; Fatovich, Daniel M; Inoue, Madoka; Bailey, Paul; Brink, Deon; Smith, Karen; Della, Phillip; Finn, Judith

    2017-01-01

    Introduction Emergency telephone calls placed by bystanders are crucial to the recognition of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA), fast ambulance dispatch and initiation of early basic life support. Clear and efficient communication between caller and call-taker is essential to this time-critical emergency, yet few studies have investigated the impact that linguistic factors may have on the nature of the interaction and the resulting trajectory of the call. This research aims to provide a better understanding of communication factors impacting on the accuracy and timeliness of ambulance dispatch. Methods and analysis A dataset of OHCA calls and their corresponding metadata will be analysed from an interdisciplinary perspective, combining linguistic analysis and health services research. The calls will be transcribed and coded for linguistic and interactional variables and then used to answer a series of research questions about the recognition of OHCA and the delivery of basic life-support instructions to bystanders. Linguistic analysis of calls will provide a deeper understanding of the interactional dynamics between caller and call-taker which may affect recognition and dispatch for OHCA. Findings from this research will translate into recommendations for modifications of the protocols for ambulance dispatch and provide directions for further research. Ethics and dissemination The study has been approved by the Curtin University Human Research Ethics Committee (HR128/2013) and the St John Ambulance Western Australia Research Advisory Group. Findings will be published in peer-reviewed journals and communicated to key audiences, including ambulance dispatch professionals. PMID:28694349

  17. Economic and Cultural Factors Affecting University Excellence

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Jabnoun, Naceur

    2009-01-01

    Purpose: The ranking of top universities in the world has generated increased interest in the factors that enhance university performance. The purpose of this paper is to identify economic and cultural factors that affect the number of top ranking universities in each country. Design/methodology/approach: This paper first identifies the number of…

  18. The Effect of Dynamic Pitch on Speech Recognition in Temporally Modulated Noise

    PubMed Central

    Souza, Pamela E.

    2017-01-01

    Purpose This study investigated the effect of dynamic pitch in target speech on older and younger listeners' speech recognition in temporally modulated noise. First, we examined whether the benefit from dynamic-pitch cues depends on the temporal modulation of noise. Second, we tested whether older listeners can benefit from dynamic-pitch cues for speech recognition in noise. Last, we explored the individual factors that predict the amount of dynamic-pitch benefit for speech recognition in noise. Method Younger listeners with normal hearing and older listeners with varying levels of hearing sensitivity participated in the study, in which speech reception thresholds were measured with sentences in nonspeech noise. Results The younger listeners benefited more from dynamic pitch for speech recognition in temporally modulated noise than unmodulated noise. Older listeners were able to benefit from the dynamic-pitch cues but received less benefit from noise modulation than the younger listeners. For those older listeners with hearing loss, the amount of hearing loss strongly predicted the dynamic-pitch benefit for speech recognition in noise. Conclusions Dynamic-pitch cues aid speech recognition in noise, particularly when noise has temporal modulation. Hearing loss negatively affects the dynamic-pitch benefit to older listeners with significant hearing loss. PMID:28800370

  19. Perinatal Glyphosate-Based Herbicide Exposure in Rats Alters Brain Antioxidant Status, Glutamate and Acetylcholine Metabolism and Affects Recognition Memory.

    PubMed

    Gallegos, Cristina Eugenia; Baier, Carlos Javier; Bartos, Mariana; Bras, Cristina; Domínguez, Sergio; Mónaco, Nina; Gumilar, Fernanda; Giménez, María Sofía; Minetti, Alejandra

    2018-04-02

    Glyphosate-based herbicides (Gly-BHs) lead the world pesticide market. Although are frequently promoted as safe and of low toxicity, several investigations question its innocuousness. Previously, we described that oral exposure of rats to a Gly-BH during pregnancy and lactation decreased locomotor activity and anxiety in the offspring. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the mechanisms of neurotoxicity of this herbicide. Pregnant Wistar rats were supplied orally with 0.2 and 0.4% of Gly-BH (corresponding to 0.65 and 1.30 g/l of pure Gly, respectively) from gestational day (GD) 0, until weaning (postnatal day, PND, 21). Oxidative stress markers were determined in whole brain homogenates of PND90 offspring. The activity of acetylcholinesterase (AChE), transaminases, and alkaline phosphatase (AP) were assessed in prefrontal cortex (PFC), striatum, and hippocampus. Recognition memory was evaluated by the novel object recognition test. Brain antioxidant status was altered in Gly-BH-exposed rats. Moreover, AChE and transaminases activities were decreased and AP activity was increased in PFC, striatum and hippocampus by Gly-BH treatment. In addition, the recognition memory after 24 h was impaired in adult offspring perinatally exposed to Gly-BH. The present study reveals that exposure to a Gly-BH during early stages of rat development affects brain oxidative stress markers as well as the activity of enzymes involved in the glutamatergic and cholinergic systems. These alterations could contribute to the neurobehavioral variations reported previously by us, and to the impairment in recognition memory described in the present work.

  20. Facial Affect Recognition in Violent and Nonviolent Antisocial Behavior Subtypes.

    PubMed

    Schönenberg, Michael; Mayer, Sarah Verena; Christian, Sandra; Louis, Katharina; Jusyte, Aiste

    2016-10-01

    Prior studies provide evidence for impaired recognition of distress cues in individuals exhibiting antisocial behavior. However, it remains unclear whether this deficit is generally associated with antisociality or may be specific to violent behavior only. To examine whether there are meaningful differences between the two behavioral dimensions rule-breaking and aggression, violent and nonviolent incarcerated offenders as well as control participants were presented with an animated face recognition task in which a video sequence of a neutral face changed into an expression of one of the six basic emotions. The participants were instructed to press a button as soon as they were able to identify the emotional expression, allowing for an assessment of the perceived emotion onset. Both aggressive and nonaggressive offenders demonstrated a delayed perception of primarily fearful facial cues as compared to controls. These results suggest the importance of targeting impaired emotional processing in both types of antisocial behavior.

  1. ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS AFFECTING BREAST CANCER SUSCEPTIBILITY

    EPA Science Inventory

    Environmental Factors Affecting Breast Cancer Susceptibility
    Suzanne. E. Fenton
    US EPA, ORD, MD-67 NHEERL, Reproductive Toxicology Division, Research Triangle Park, NC 27711.

    Breast cancer is still the most common malignancy afflicting women in the Western world. Alt...

  2. Factors Affecting Radon Concentration in Houses

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Al-Sharif, Abdel-Latif; Abdelrahman, Y. S.

    2001-03-01

    The dangers to the human health upon exposure to radon and its daughter products is the main motivation behind the vast number of studies performed to find the concentration of radon in our living environment, including our houses. The presence of radon and its daughter products in houses are due to various sources including building materials and the soil under the houses. Many factors affect radon concentration in our houses, the elevation above ground level,ventilation, building materials and room usage being among these factors. In our paper, we discuss the effect of elevation above ground level, room usage and ventilation on the Radon concentration in houses. The faculty residences of the Mu'tah University (Jordan) were chosen in our study. Our results showed that the concentration of radon decreases with elevation. Ventilation rate was also found to affect radon concentration, where low concentrations observed for areas with good ventilation.

  3. Transfer-appropriate processing in recognition memory: perceptual and conceptual effects on recognition memory depend on task demands.

    PubMed

    Parks, Colleen M

    2013-07-01

    Research examining the importance of surface-level information to familiarity in recognition memory tasks is mixed: Sometimes it affects recognition and sometimes it does not. One potential explanation of the inconsistent findings comes from the ideas of dual process theory of recognition and the transfer-appropriate processing framework, which suggest that the extent to which perceptual fluency matters on a recognition test depends in large part on the task demands. A test that recruits perceptual processing for discrimination should show greater perceptual effects and smaller conceptual effects than standard recognition, similar to the pattern of effects found in perceptual implicit memory tasks. This idea was tested in the current experiment by crossing a levels of processing manipulation with a modality manipulation on a series of recognition tests that ranged from conceptual (standard recognition) to very perceptually demanding (a speeded recognition test with degraded stimuli). Results showed that the levels of processing effect decreased and the effect of modality increased when tests were made perceptually demanding. These results support the idea that surface-level features influence performance on recognition tests when they are made salient by the task demands. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved.

  4. Factors affecting caregivers' ability to make environmental modifications.

    PubMed

    Messecar, D C

    2000-12-01

    This study explored factors that family caregivers described as affecting their ability to use environmental modifications. Intensive interviews and participant observation were used to collect detailed data from 24 primary family caregivers. Several factors that affect the caregivers' ability to implement modification strategies were identified in the analysis. These factors included attributes of the elderly individual, attributes of the modification, quality of the caregiver-elderly relationship, caregivers' skills, personal resources of the caregiver, and the informal and formal supports available. Of these factors, the most important were the salient skills that caregivers need to implement environmental modifications. These findings point to the importance of caregivers receiving skills training in this important dimension of caregiving. Intervention should be based on a collaborative approach that ensures the caregiver and care receiver's needs and preferences are respected.

  5. Can color changes alter the neural correlates of recognition memory? Manipulation of processing affects an electrophysiological indicator of conceptual implicit memory.

    PubMed

    Cui, Xiaoyu; Gao, Chuanji; Zhou, Jianshe; Guo, Chunyan

    2016-09-28

    It has been widely shown that recognition memory includes two distinct retrieval processes: familiarity and recollection. Many studies have shown that recognition memory can be facilitated when there is a perceptual match between the studied and the tested items. Most event-related potential studies have explored the perceptual match effect on familiarity on the basis of the hypothesis that the specific event-related potential component associated with familiarity is the FN400 (300-500 ms mid-frontal effect). However, it is currently unclear whether the FN400 indexes familiarity or conceptual implicit memory. In addition, on the basis of the findings of a previous study, the so-called perceptual manipulations in previous studies may also involve some conceptual alterations. Therefore, we sought to determine the influence of perceptual manipulation by color changes on recognition memory when the perceptual or the conceptual processes were emphasized. Specifically, different instructions (perceptually or conceptually oriented) were provided to the participants. The results showed that color changes may significantly affect overall recognition memory behaviorally and that congruent items were recognized with a higher accuracy rate than incongruent items in both tasks, but no corresponding neural changes were found. Despite the evident familiarity shown in the two tasks (the behavioral performance of recognition memory was much higher than at the chance level), the FN400 effect was found in conceptually oriented tasks, but not perceptually oriented tasks. It is thus highly interesting that the FN400 effect was not induced, although color manipulation of recognition memory was behaviorally shown, as seen in previous studies. Our findings of the FN400 effect for the conceptual but not perceptual condition support the explanation that the FN400 effect indexes conceptual implicit memory.

  6. A dissonant scale: stress recognition in the SAQ.

    PubMed

    Taylor, Jennifer A; Pandian, Ravi

    2013-07-31

    Our previous analyses using the Stress Recognition subscale of the Safety Attitudes Questionnaire (SAQ) resulted in significant effect estimates with equally opposing explanations. We suspected construct validity issues and investigated such using our own data and correlation matrices of previous published studies. The correlation matrices for each of the SAQ subscales from two previous studies by Speroff and Taylor were replicated and compared. The SAS Proc Factor procedure and the PRIORS = SMC option were used to perform Common Factor Analysis. The correlation matrices of both studies were very similar. Teamwork, Safety Climate, Job Satisfaction, Perceptions of Management and Working Conditions were well-correlated. The correlations ranged from 0.53 to 0.76. For Stress Recognition correlations ranged from -0.15 to 0.03. Common Factor Analysis confirmed the isolation of Stress Recognition. CFA returned a strong one-factor model that explained virtually all of the communal variance. Stress Recognition loaded poorly on this factor in both instances, and the CFA indicated that 96.4-100.0% of the variance associated with Stress Recognition was unique to that subscale, and not shared with the other 5 subscales. We conclude that the Stress Recognition subscale does not fit into the overall safety climate construct the SAQ intended to reflect. We recommend that this domain be omitted from overall safety climate scale score calculations, and clearly identified as an important yet distinct organizational construct. We suggest that this subscale be investigated for its true meaning, characterized as such, and findings conveyed to SAQ end users. We make no argument against Stress Recognition as an important organizational metric, rather we suggest that as a stand-alone construct its current packaging within the SAQ may be misleading for those intent on intervention development and evaluation in healthcare settings if they interpret Stress Recognition results as

  7. Does perceived race affect discrimination and recognition of ambiguous-race faces? A test of the sociocognitive hypothesis.

    PubMed

    Rhodes, Gillian; Lie, Hanne C; Ewing, Louise; Evangelista, Emma; Tanaka, James W

    2010-01-01

    Discrimination and recognition are often poorer for other-race than own-race faces. These other-race effects (OREs) have traditionally been attributed to reduced perceptual expertise, resulting from more limited experience, with other-race faces. However, recent findings suggest that sociocognitive factors, such as reduced motivation to individuate other-race faces, may also contribute. If the sociocognitive hypothesis is correct, then it should be possible to alter discrimination and memory performance for identical faces by altering their perceived race. We made identical ambiguous-race morphed faces look either Asian or Caucasian by presenting them in Caucasian or Asian face contexts, respectively. However, this perceived-race manipulation had no effect on either discrimination (Experiment 1) or memory (Experiment 2) for the ambiguous-race faces, despite the presence of the usual OREs in discrimination and recognition of unambiguous Asian and Caucasian faces in our participant population. These results provide no support for the sociocognitive hypothesis. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved).

  8. Npas4 deficiency and prenatal stress interact to affect social recognition in mice.

    PubMed

    Heslin, K; Coutellier, L

    2018-06-01

    Neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism spectrum disorders and schizophrenia have an expansive array of reported genetic and environmental contributing factors. However, none of these factors alone can account for a substantial proportion of cases of either disorder. Instead, many gene-by-environment interactions are responsible for neurodevelopmental disturbances that lead to these disorders. The current experiment used heterozygous knock-out mice to examine a potential interaction between 2 factors commonly linked to neurodevelopmental disorders and cognitive deficit: imbalanced excitatory/inhibitory signaling in the cortex and prenatal stress (PNS) exposure. Both of these factors have been linked to disrupt GABAergic signaling in the prefrontal cortex (PFC), a common feature of neurodevelopmental disorders. The neuronal PAS domain protein 4 (Npas4) gene is instrumental in regulation of the excitatory/inhibitory balance in the cortex and hippocampus in response to activation. Npas4 heterozygous and wild-type male and female mice were exposed to either PNS or standard gestation, then evaluated during adulthood in social and anxiety behavioral measures. The combination of PNS and Npas4 deficiency in male mice impaired social recognition. This behavioral deficit was associated with decreased parvalbumin and cFos protein expression in the infralimbic region of the PFC following social stimulation in Npas4 heterozygous males. In contrast, females displayed fewer behavioral effects and molecular changes in PFC in response to PNS and decreased Npas4. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd and International Behavioural and Neural Genetics Society.

  9. DNA recognition by synthetic constructs.

    PubMed

    Pazos, Elena; Mosquera, Jesús; Vázquez, M Eugenio; Mascareñas, José L

    2011-09-05

    The interaction of transcription factors with specific DNA sites is key for the regulation of gene expression. Despite the availability of a large body of structural data on protein-DNA complexes, we are still far from fully understanding the molecular and biophysical bases underlying such interactions. Therefore, the development of non-natural agents that can reproduce the DNA-recognition properties of natural transcription factors remains a major and challenging goal in chemical biology. In this review we summarize the basics of double-stranded DNA recognition by transcription factors, and describe recent developments in the design and preparation of synthetic DNA binders. We mainly focus on synthetic peptides that have been designed by following the DNA interaction of natural proteins, and we discuss how the tools of organic synthesis can be used to make artificial constructs equipped with functionalities that introduce additional properties to the recognition process, such as sensing and controllability. Copyright © 2011 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  10. Which factors affect software projects maintenance cost more?

    PubMed

    Dehaghani, Sayed Mehdi Hejazi; Hajrahimi, Nafiseh

    2013-03-01

    The software industry has had significant progress in recent years. The entire life of software includes two phases: production and maintenance. Software maintenance cost is increasingly growing and estimates showed that about 90% of software life cost is related to its maintenance phase. Extraction and considering the factors affecting the software maintenance cost help to estimate the cost and reduce it by controlling the factors. In this study, the factors affecting software maintenance cost were determined then were ranked based on their priority and after that effective ways to reduce the maintenance costs were presented. This paper is a research study. 15 software related to health care centers information systems in Isfahan University of Medical Sciences and hospitals function were studied in the years 2010 to 2011. Among Medical software maintenance team members, 40 were selected as sample. After interviews with experts in this field, factors affecting maintenance cost were determined. In order to prioritize the factors derived by AHP, at first, measurement criteria (factors found) were appointed by members of the maintenance team and eventually were prioritized with the help of EC software. Based on the results of this study, 32 factors were obtained which were classified in six groups. "Project" was ranked the most effective feature in maintenance cost with the highest priority. By taking into account some major elements like careful feasibility of IT projects, full documentation and accompany the designers in the maintenance phase good results can be achieved to reduce maintenance costs and increase longevity of the software.

  11. Early prediction of student goals and affect in narrative-centered learning environments

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lee, Sunyoung

    Recent years have seen a growing recognition of the role of goal and affect recognition in intelligent tutoring systems. Goal recognition is the task of inferring users' goals from a sequence of observations of their actions. Because of the uncertainty inherent in every facet of human computer interaction, goal recognition is challenging, particularly in contexts in which users can perform many actions in any order, as is the case with intelligent tutoring systems. Affect recognition is the task of identifying the emotional state of a user from a variety of physical cues, which are produced in response to affective changes in the individual. Accurately recognizing student goals and affect states could contribute to more effective and motivating interactions in intelligent tutoring systems. By exploiting knowledge of student goals and affect states, intelligent tutoring systems can dynamically modify their behavior to better support individual students. To create effective interactions in intelligent tutoring systems, goal and affect recognition models should satisfy two key requirements. First, because incorrectly predicted goals and affect states could significantly diminish the effectiveness of interactive systems, goal and affect recognition models should provide accurate predictions of user goals and affect states. When observations of users' activities become available, recognizers should make accurate early" predictions. Second, goal and affect recognition models should be highly efficient so they can operate in real time. To address key issues, we present an inductive approach to recognizing student goals and affect states in intelligent tutoring systems by learning goals and affect recognition models. Our work focuses on goal and affect recognition in an important new class of intelligent tutoring systems, narrative-centered learning environments. We report the results of empirical studies of induced recognition models from observations of students

  12. Depth rotation and mirror-image reflection reduce affective preference as well as recognition memory for pictures of novel objects.

    PubMed

    Lawson, Rebecca

    2004-10-01

    In two experiments, the identification of novel 3-D objects was worse for depth-rotated and mirror-reflected views, compared with the study view in an implicit affective preference memory task, as well as in an explicit recognition memory task. In Experiment 1, recognition was worse and preference was lower when depth-rotated views of an object were paired with an unstudied object relative to trials when the study view of that object was shown. There was a similar trend for mirror-reflected views. In Experiment 2, the study view of an object was both recognized and preferred above chance when it was paired with either depth-rotated or mirror-reflected views of that object. These results suggest that view-sensitive representations of objects mediate performance in implicit, as well as explicit, memory tasks. The findings do not support the claim that separate episodic and structural description representations underlie performance in implicit and explicit memory tasks, respectively.

  13. The linguistic and interactional factors impacting recognition and dispatch in emergency calls for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest: a mixed-method linguistic analysis study protocol.

    PubMed

    Riou, Marine; Ball, Stephen; Williams, Teresa A; Whiteside, Austin; O'Halloran, Kay L; Bray, Janet; Perkins, Gavin D; Cameron, Peter; Fatovich, Daniel M; Inoue, Madoka; Bailey, Paul; Brink, Deon; Smith, Karen; Della, Phillip; Finn, Judith

    2017-07-09

    Emergency telephone calls placed by bystanders are crucial to the recognition of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA), fast ambulance dispatch and initiation of early basic life support. Clear and efficient communication between caller and call-taker is essential to this time-critical emergency, yet few studies have investigated the impact that linguistic factors may have on the nature of the interaction and the resulting trajectory of the call. This research aims to provide a better understanding of communication factors impacting on the accuracy and timeliness of ambulance dispatch. A dataset of OHCA calls and their corresponding metadata will be analysed from an interdisciplinary perspective, combining linguistic analysis and health services research. The calls will be transcribed and coded for linguistic and interactional variables and then used to answer a series of research questions about the recognition of OHCA and the delivery of basic life-support instructions to bystanders. Linguistic analysis of calls will provide a deeper understanding of the interactional dynamics between caller and call-taker which may affect recognition and dispatch for OHCA. Findings from this research will translate into recommendations for modifications of the protocols for ambulance dispatch and provide directions for further research. The study has been approved by the Curtin University Human Research Ethics Committee (HR128/2013) and the St John Ambulance Western Australia Research Advisory Group. Findings will be published in peer-reviewed journals and communicated to key audiences, including ambulance dispatch professionals. © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2017. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.

  14. Preslaughter factors affecting poultry meat quality chapter 2.

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Poultry meat quality is affected by numerous antemortem factors, in particular those occurring during the last 24 hours that the bird is alive. These short term factors influence carcass yield (live shrink), carcass defects (bruising, broken/dislocated bones), carcass microbiological contamination, ...

  15. Excess influx of Zn(2+) into dentate granule cells affects object recognition memory via attenuated LTP.

    PubMed

    Suzuki, Miki; Fujise, Yuki; Tsuchiya, Yuka; Tamano, Haruna; Takeda, Atsushi

    2015-08-01

    The influx of extracellular Zn(2+) into dentate granule cells is nonessential for dentate gyrus long-term potentiation (LTP) and the physiological significance of extracellular Zn(2+) dynamics is unknown in the dentate gyrus. Excess increase in extracellular Zn(2+) in the hippocampal CA1, which is induced with excitation of zincergic neurons, induces memory deficit via excess influx of Zn(2+) into CA1 pyramidal cells. In the present study, it was examined whether extracellular Zn(2+) induces object recognition memory deficit via excess influx of Zn(2+) into dentate granule cells. KCl (100 mM, 2 µl) was locally injected into the dentate gyrus. The increase in intracellular Zn(2+) in dentate granule cells induced with high K(+) was blocked by co-injection of CaEDTA and CNQX, an extracellular Zn(2+) chelator and an AMPA receptor antagonist, respectively, suggesting that high K(+) increases the influx of Zn(2+) into dentate granule cells via AMPA receptor activation. Dentate gyrus LTP induction was attenuated 1 h after KCl injection into the dentate gyrus and also attenuated when KCl was injected 5 min after the induction. Memory deficit was induced when training of object recognition test was performed 1 h after KCl injection into the dentate gyrus and also induced when KCl was injected 5 min after the training. High K(+)-induced impairments of LTP and memory were rescued by co-injection of CaEDTA. These results indicate that excess influx of Zn(2+) into dentate granule cells via AMPA receptor activation affects object recognition memory via attenuated LTP induction. Even in the dentate gyrus where is scarcely innervated by zincergic neurons, it is likely that extracellular Zn(2+) homeostasis is strictly regulated for cognition. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  16. Object similarity affects the perceptual strategy underlying invariant visual object recognition in rats

    PubMed Central

    Rosselli, Federica B.; Alemi, Alireza; Ansuini, Alessio; Zoccolan, Davide

    2015-01-01

    In recent years, a number of studies have explored the possible use of rats as models of high-level visual functions. One central question at the root of such an investigation is to understand whether rat object vision relies on the processing of visual shape features or, rather, on lower-order image properties (e.g., overall brightness). In a recent study, we have shown that rats are capable of extracting multiple features of an object that are diagnostic of its identity, at least when those features are, structure-wise, distinct enough to be parsed by the rat visual system. In the present study, we have assessed the impact of object structure on rat perceptual strategy. We trained rats to discriminate between two structurally similar objects, and compared their recognition strategies with those reported in our previous study. We found that, under conditions of lower stimulus discriminability, rat visual discrimination strategy becomes more view-dependent and subject-dependent. Rats were still able to recognize the target objects, in a way that was largely tolerant (i.e., invariant) to object transformation; however, the larger structural and pixel-wise similarity affected the way objects were processed. Compared to the findings of our previous study, the patterns of diagnostic features were: (i) smaller and more scattered; (ii) only partially preserved across object views; and (iii) only partially reproducible across rats. On the other hand, rats were still found to adopt a multi-featural processing strategy and to make use of part of the optimal discriminatory information afforded by the two objects. Our findings suggest that, as in humans, rat invariant recognition can flexibly rely on either view-invariant representations of distinctive object features or view-specific object representations, acquired through learning. PMID:25814936

  17. FACTORS ADVERSELY AFFECTING AMPHIBIAN POPULATIONS IN THE US

    EPA Science Inventory

    Factors known or suspected to be adversely affecting native amphibian populations in the US were identified using information from species accounts written in a standardized format by multiple authors in a forthcoming book. Specific adverse factors were identified for 53 (58%) of...

  18. Factors affecting radiographers' organizational commitment.

    PubMed

    Akroyd, Duane; Jackowski, Melissa B; Legg, Jeffrey S

    2007-01-01

    A variety of factors influence employees' attitudes toward their workplace and commitment to the organization that employs them. However, these factors have not been well documented among radiologic technologists. To determine the predictive ability of selected organizational, leadership, work-role and demographic variables on organizational commitment for a national sample of radiographers. Three thousand radiographers registered by the American Registry of Radiologic Technologists working full time in clinical settings were surveyed by mail regarding their commitment to their employers, leadership within the organization that employs them, employer support and demographic information. Overall, radiographers were found to have only a moderate level of commitment to their employers. Among the factors that significantly affected commitment were the radiographer's educational level, perceived level of organizational support, role clarity and organizational leadership. The results of this study could provide managers and supervisors with insights on how to empower and challenge radiographers and offer opportunities that will enhance radiographers' commitment to the organization, thus reducing costly turnover and improving employee performance.

  19. Image recognition on raw and processed potato detection: a review

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Qi, Yan-nan; Lü, Cheng-xu; Zhang, Jun-ning; Li, Ya-shuo; Zeng, Zhen; Mao, Wen-hua; Jiang, Han-lu; Yang, Bing-nan

    2018-02-01

    Objective: Chinese potato staple food strategy clearly pointed out the need to improve potato processing, while the bottleneck of this strategy is technology and equipment of selection of appropriate raw and processed potato. The purpose of this paper is to summarize the advanced raw and processed potato detection methods. Method: According to consult research literatures in the field of image recognition based potato quality detection, including the shape, weight, mechanical damage, germination, greening, black heart, scab potato etc., the development and direction of this field were summarized in this paper. Result: In order to obtain whole potato surface information, the hardware was built by the synchronous of image sensor and conveyor belt to achieve multi-angle images of a single potato. Researches on image recognition of potato shape are popular and mature, including qualitative discrimination on abnormal and sound potato, and even round and oval potato, with the recognition accuracy of more than 83%. Weight is an important indicator for potato grading, and the image classification accuracy presents more than 93%. The image recognition of potato mechanical damage focuses on qualitative identification, with the main affecting factors of damage shape and damage time. The image recognition of potato germination usually uses potato surface image and edge germination point. Both of the qualitative and quantitative detection of green potato have been researched, currently scab and blackheart image recognition need to be operated using the stable detection environment or specific device. The image recognition of processed potato mainly focuses on potato chips, slices and fries, etc. Conclusion: image recognition as a food rapid detection tool have been widely researched on the area of raw and processed potato quality analyses, its technique and equipment have the potential for commercialization in short term, to meet to the strategy demand of development potato as

  20. Factors Affecting Faculty Web Portal Usability

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bringula, Rex P.; Basa, Roselle S.

    2011-01-01

    The study investigated the factors that might significantly affect web portal usability. Results of the study were intended to serve as inputs for faculty web portal development of the University of the East-Manila. Descriptive statistics utilized questionnaire data from 82 faculty members. The data showed that most of the respondents were…

  1. Performing speech recognition research with hypercard

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Shepherd, Chip

    1993-01-01

    The purpose of this paper is to describe a HyperCard-based system for performing speech recognition research and to instruct Human Factors professionals on how to use the system to obtain detailed data about the user interface of a prototype speech recognition application.

  2. Low Calorie Diet Affects Aging-Related Factors

    MedlinePlus

    ... Research News From NIH Low Calorie Diet Affects Aging-Related Factors Past Issues / Summer 2006 Table of ... project sponsored by the NIH's National Institute on Aging (NIA) to learn more about the effects of ...

  3. A nonlinear heartbeat dynamics model approach for personalized emotion recognition.

    PubMed

    Valenza, Gaetano; Citi, Luca; Lanatà, Antonio; Scilingo, Enzo Pasquale; Barbieri, Riccardo

    2013-01-01

    Emotion recognition based on autonomic nervous system signs is one of the ambitious goals of affective computing. It is well-accepted that standard signal processing techniques require relative long-time series of multivariate records to ensure reliability and robustness of recognition and classification algorithms. In this work, we present a novel methodology able to assess cardiovascular dynamics during short-time (i.e. < 10 seconds) affective stimuli, thus overcoming some of the limitations of current emotion recognition approaches. We developed a personalized, fully parametric probabilistic framework based on point-process theory where heartbeat events are modelled using a 2(nd)-order nonlinear autoregressive integrative structure in order to achieve effective performances in short-time affective assessment. Experimental results show a comprehensive emotional characterization of 4 subjects undergoing a passive affective elicitation using a sequence of standardized images gathered from the international affective picture system. Each picture was identified by the IAPS arousal and valence scores as well as by a self-reported emotional label associating a subjective positive or negative emotion. Results show a clear classification of two defined levels of arousal, valence and self-emotional state using features coming from the instantaneous spectrum and bispectrum of the considered RR intervals, reaching up to 90% recognition accuracy.

  4. What Factors Affect Response to Ads? A Perspective.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rotzoll, Kim B.

    The concept of "frame of reference" offers a perspective from which to examine the many factors which affect advertising response. The advertiser is interested in affecting two types of overt behavior. First, the individual is induced to select a particular stimulus (the advertisement) from competing stimuli (such as other people, noise,…

  5. Neurophysiological indices of perceptual object priming in the absence of explicit recognition memory.

    PubMed

    Harris, Jill D; Cutmore, Tim R H; O'Gorman, John; Finnigan, Simon; Shum, David

    2009-02-01

    The aim of this study was to identify ERP correlates of perceptual object priming that are insensitive to factors affecting explicit, episodic memory. EEG was recorded from 21 participants while they performed a visual object recognition test on a combination of unstudied items and old items that were previously encountered during either a 'deep' or 'shallow' levels-of-processing (LOP) study task. The results demonstrated a midline P150 old/new effect which was sensitive only to objects' old/new status and not to the accuracy of recognition responses to old items, or to the LOP manipulation. Similar outcomes were observed for the subsequent P200 and N400 effects, the former of which had a parietal scalp maximum and the latter, a broadly distributed topography. In addition an LPC old/new effect typical of those reported in past ERP recognition studies was observed. These outcomes support the proposal that the P150 effect is reflective of perceptual object priming and moreover, provide novel evidence that this and the P200 effect are independent of explicit recognition memory process(es).

  6. Clinical and cognitive factors affecting psychosocial functioning in remitted patients with bipolar disorder.

    PubMed

    Konstantakopoulos, G; Ioannidi, N; Typaldou, M; Sakkas, D; Oulis, P

    2016-01-01

    Impaired interpersonal, social, and occupational functioning is very often observed in patients with bipolar disorder, not only at the acute stages of the illness but in remission as well. This finding raises the question of multiple factors that might affect psychosocial functioning in bipolar patients, such as residual subsyndromal symptoms and neuropsychological deficits. Social cognition impairment, especially impaired Theory of Mind (ToM), might also play an important role in bipolar patients' every-day functioning, similarly to what was found in patients with schizophrenia. The present study aimed to investigate the potential effect of clinical and cognitive factors on the psychosocial functioning of patients with bipolar disorder during remission, assessing ToM along with a broad range of basic cognitive functions. Forty-nine patients with bipolar disorder type I in remission and 53 healthy participants were assessed in general intelligence, working memory, attention, speed processing, verbal learning and memory, and executive functions using a comprehensive battery of neuropsychological tests. The Faux Pas Recognition Test was used to assess ToM. The two groups were matched for gender, age and education level. The Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HDRS), the Young Mania Rating Scale (YMRS), and the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) were also administered to the patients. Every-day functioning was assessed with the Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF). In order to examine the contribution of many factors in psychosocial functioning, we used hierarchical multiple regression analysis. Bipolar patients presented significant impairment compared to healthy participants in all the basic cognitive functions tested with the exception of verbal memory. Moreover, patients had significant poorer performance than healthy controls in overall psyand cognitive ToM but not in affective ToM as measured by Faux Pas. Psychosocial functioning in patient group was

  7. Social trait judgment and affect recognition from static faces and video vignettes in schizophrenia

    PubMed Central

    McIntosh, Lindsey G.; Park, Sohee

    2014-01-01

    Social impairment is a core feature of schizophrenia, present from the pre-morbid stage and predictive of outcome, but the etiology of this deficit remains poorly understood. Successful and adaptive social interactions depend on one’s ability to make rapid and accurate judgments about others in real time. Our surprising ability to form accurate first impressions from brief exposures, known as “thin slices” of behavior has been studied very extensively in healthy participants. We sought to examine affect and social trait judgment from thin slices of static or video stimuli in order to investigate the ability of schizophrenic individuals to form reliable social impressions of others. 21 individuals with schizophrenia (SZ) and 20 matched healthy participants (HC) were asked to identify emotions and social traits for actors in standardized face stimuli as well as brief video clips. Sound was removed from videos to remove all verbal cues. Clinical symptoms in SZ and delusional ideation in both groups were measured. Results showed a general impairment in affect recognition for both types of stimuli in SZ. However, the two groups did not differ in the judgments of trustworthiness, approachability, attractiveness, and intelligence. Interestingly, in SZ, the severity of positive symptoms was correlated with higher ratings of attractiveness, trustworthiness, and approachability. Finally, increased delusional ideation in SZ was associated with a tendency to rate others as more trustworthy, while the opposite was true for HC. These findings suggest that complex social judgments in SZ are affected by symptomatology. PMID:25037526

  8. Social trait judgment and affect recognition from static faces and video vignettes in schizophrenia.

    PubMed

    McIntosh, Lindsey G; Park, Sohee

    2014-09-01

    Social impairment is a core feature of schizophrenia, present from the pre-morbid stage and predictive of outcome, but the etiology of this deficit remains poorly understood. Successful and adaptive social interactions depend on one's ability to make rapid and accurate judgments about others in real time. Our surprising ability to form accurate first impressions from brief exposures, known as "thin slices" of behavior has been studied very extensively in healthy participants. We sought to examine affect and social trait judgment from thin slices of static or video stimuli in order to investigate the ability of schizophrenic individuals to form reliable social impressions of others. 21 individuals with schizophrenia (SZ) and 20 matched healthy participants (HC) were asked to identify emotions and social traits for actors in standardized face stimuli as well as brief video clips. Sound was removed from videos to remove all verbal cues. Clinical symptoms in SZ and delusional ideation in both groups were measured. Results showed a general impairment in affect recognition for both types of stimuli in SZ. However, the two groups did not differ in the judgments of trustworthiness, approachability, attractiveness, and intelligence. Interestingly, in SZ, the severity of positive symptoms was correlated with higher ratings of attractiveness, trustworthiness, and approachability. Finally, increased delusional ideation in SZ was associated with a tendency to rate others as more trustworthy, while the opposite was true for HC. These findings suggest that complex social judgments in SZ are affected by symptomatology. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  9. Simulation of Biomimetic Recognition between Polymers and Surfaces

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Golumbfskie, Aaron J.; Pande, Vijay S.; Chakraborty, Arup K.

    1999-10-01

    Many biological processes, such as transmembrane signaling and pathogen-host interactions, are initiated by a protein recognizing a specific pattern of binding sites on part of a membrane or cell surface. By recognition, we imply that the polymer quickly finds and then adsorbs strongly on the pattern-matched region and not on others. The development of synthetic systems that can mimic such recognition between polymers and surfaces could have significant impact on advanced applications such as the development of sensors, molecular-scale separation processes, and synthetic viral inhibition agents. Attempting to affect recognition in synthetic systems by copying the detailed chemistries to which nature has been led over millenia of evolution does not seem practical for most applications. This leads us to the following question: Are there any universal strategies that can affect recognition between polymers and surfaces? Such generic strategies may be easier to implement in abiotic applications. We describe results that suggest that biomimetic recognition between synthetic polymers and surfaces is possible by exploiting certain generic strategies, and we elucidate the kinetic mechanisms by which this occurs. Our results suggest convenient model systems for experimental studies of dynamics in free energy landscapes characteristic of frustrated systems.

  10. Affective and Social Factors in a Project-Based Writing Course

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kathpalia, Sujata Surinder; Heah, Carmel

    2011-01-01

    Much of the work in academic writing has focused on the cognitive rather than the affective and social aspects involved in project-based writing. Emphasis in past research has been on skills and processes of writing rather than on affective factors such as motivation, attitudes, feelings or social factors involving intrapersonal and interpersonal…

  11. Substrate-Related Factors Affecting Enzymatic Saccharification of Lignocelluloses: Our Recent Understanding

    Treesearch

    Shao-Yuan Leu; J.Y. Zhu

    2013-01-01

    Enzymatic saccharification of cellulose is a key step in conversion of plant biomass to advanced biofuel and chemicals. Many substrate-related factors affect saccharification. Rather than examining the role of each individual factor on overall saccharification efficiency, this study examined how each factor affects the three basic processes of a heterogeneous...

  12. Biased figure-ground assignment affects conscious object recognition in spatial neglect.

    PubMed

    Eramudugolla, Ranmalee; Driver, Jon; Mattingley, Jason B

    2010-09-01

    Unilateral spatial neglect is a disorder of attention and spatial representation, in which early visual processes such as figure-ground segmentation have been assumed to be largely intact. There is evidence, however, that the spatial attention bias underlying neglect can bias the segmentation of a figural region from its background. Relatively few studies have explicitly examined the effect of spatial neglect on processing the figures that result from such scene segmentation. Here, we show that a neglect patient's bias in figure-ground segmentation directly influences his conscious recognition of these figures. By varying the relative salience of figural and background regions in static, two-dimensional displays, we show that competition between elements in such displays can modulate a neglect patient's ability to recognise parsed figures in a scene. The findings provide insight into the interaction between scene segmentation, explicit object recognition, and attention.

  13. Microbiologic factors affecting Clostridium difficile recurrence.

    PubMed

    Chilton, C H; Pickering, D S; Freeman, J

    2018-05-01

    Recurrent Clostridium difficile infection (rCDI) places a huge economic and practical burden on healthcare facilities. Furthermore, rCDI may affect quality of life, leaving patients in an rCDI cycle and dependant on antibiotic therapy. To discuss the importance of microbiologic factors in the development of rCDI. Literature was drawn from a search of PubMed from 2000 onwards with the search term 'recurrent Clostridium difficile infection' and further references cited within these articles. Meta-analyses and systematic reviews have shown that CDI and rCDI risk factors are similar. Development of rCDI is attendant on many factors, including immune status or function, comorbidities and concomitant treatments. Studies suggest that poor bacterial diversity is correlated with clinical rCDI. Narrow-spectrum gut microflora-sparing antimicrobials (e.g. surotomycin, cadazolid, ridinilazole) are in development for CDI treatment, while microbiota therapeutics (faecal microbiota transplantation, nontoxigenic C. difficile, stool substitutes) are increasingly being explored. rCDI can only occur when viable C. difficile spores are present, either within the gut lumen after infection or when reacquired from the environment. C. difficile spore germination can be influenced by gut environmental factors resulting from dysbiosis, and spore outgrowth may be affected stage by some antimicrobials (e.g. fidaxomicin, ramoplanin, oritavancin). rCDI is a significant challenge for healthcare professionals, requiring a multifaceted approach; optimized infection control to minimize reinfection; C. difficile-targeted antibiotics to minimize dysbiosis; and gut microflora restoration to promote colonization resistance. These elements should be informed by our understanding of the microbiologic factors involved in both C. difficile itself and the gut microbiome. Copyright © 2017 European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  14. Problems of Face Recognition in Patients with Behavioral Variant Frontotemporal Dementia.

    PubMed

    Chandra, Sadanandavalli Retnaswami; Patwardhan, Ketaki; Pai, Anupama Ramakanth

    2017-01-01

    Faces are very special as they are most essential for social cognition in humans. It is partly understood that face processing in its abstractness involves several extra striate areas. One of the most important causes for caregiver suffering in patients with anterior dementia is lack of empathy. This apart from being a behavioral disorder could be also due to failure to categorize the emotions of the people around them. Inlusion criteria: DSM IV for Bv FTD Tested for prosopagnosia - familiar faces, famous face, smiling face, crying face and reflected face using a simple picture card (figure 1). Advanced illness and mixed causes. 46 patients (15 females, 31 males) 24 had defective face recognition. (mean age 51.5),10/15 females (70%) and 14/31males(47. Familiar face recognition defect was found in 6/10 females and 6/14 males. Total- 40%(6/15) females and 19.35%(6/31)males with FTD had familiar face recognition. Famous Face: 9/10 females and 7/14 males. Total- 60% (9/15) females with FTD had famous face recognition defect as against 22.6%(7/31) males with FTD Smiling face defects in 8/10 female and no males. Total- 53.33% (8/15) females. Crying face recognition defect in 3/10 female and 2 /14 males. Total- 20%(3/15) females and 6.5%(2/31) males. Reflected face recognition defect in 4 females. Famous face recognition and positive emotion recognition defect in 80%, only 20% comprehend positive emotions, Face recognition defects are found in only 45% of males and more common in females. Face recognition is more affected in females with FTD There is differential involvement of different aspects of the face recognition could be one of the important factor underlying decline in the emotional and social behavior of these patients. Understanding these pathological processes will give more insight regarding patient behavior.

  15. Factors affecting strategic plan implementation using interpretive structural modeling (ISM).

    PubMed

    Bahadori, Mohammadkarim; Teymourzadeh, Ehsan; Tajik, Hamidreza; Ravangard, Ramin; Raadabadi, Mehdi; Hosseini, Seyed Mojtaba

    2018-06-11

    Purpose Strategic planning is the best tool for managers seeking an informed presence and participation in the market without surrendering to changes. Strategic planning enables managers to achieve their organizational goals and objectives. Hospital goals, such as improving service quality and increasing patient satisfaction cannot be achieved if agreed strategies are not implemented. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the factors affecting strategic plan implementation in one teaching hospital using interpretive structural modeling (ISM). Design/methodology/approach The authors used a descriptive study involving experts and senior managers; 16 were selected as the study sample using a purposive sampling method. Data were collected using a questionnaire designed and prepared based on previous studies. Data were analyzed using ISM. Findings Five main factors affected strategic plan implementation. Although all five variables and factors are top level, "senior manager awareness and participation in the strategic planning process" and "creating and maintaining team participation in the strategic planning process" had maximum drive power. "Organizational structure effects on the strategic planning process" and "Organizational culture effects on the strategic planning process" had maximum dependence power. Practical implications Identifying factors affecting strategic plan implementation is a basis for healthcare quality improvement by analyzing the relationship among factors and overcoming the barriers. Originality/value The authors used ISM to analyze the relationship between factors affecting strategic plan implementation.

  16. Sparse Feature Extraction for Pose-Tolerant Face Recognition.

    PubMed

    Abiantun, Ramzi; Prabhu, Utsav; Savvides, Marios

    2014-10-01

    Automatic face recognition performance has been steadily improving over years of research, however it remains significantly affected by a number of factors such as illumination, pose, expression, resolution and other factors that can impact matching scores. The focus of this paper is the pose problem which remains largely overlooked in most real-world applications. Specifically, we focus on one-to-one matching scenarios where a query face image of a random pose is matched against a set of gallery images. We propose a method that relies on two fundamental components: (a) A 3D modeling step to geometrically correct the viewpoint of the face. For this purpose, we extend a recent technique for efficient synthesis of 3D face models called 3D Generic Elastic Model. (b) A sparse feature extraction step using subspace modeling and ℓ1-minimization to induce pose-tolerance in coefficient space. This in return enables the synthesis of an equivalent frontal-looking face, which can be used towards recognition. We show significant performance improvements in verification rates compared to commercial matchers, and also demonstrate the resilience of the proposed method with respect to degrading input quality. We find that the proposed technique is able to match non-frontal images to other non-frontal images of varying angles.

  17. Exploring paraprofessional and classroom factors affecting teacher supervision.

    PubMed

    Irvin, Dwight W; Ingram, Paul; Huffman, Jonathan; Mason, Rose; Wills, Howard

    2018-02-01

    Paraprofessionals serve a primary role in supporting students with disabilities in the classroom, which necessitates teachers' supervision as a means to improve their practice. Yet, little is known regarding what factors affect teacher supervision. We sought to identify how paraprofessional competence and classroom type affected the levels of teacher direction. We administered an adapted version of the Paraprofessional Needs, Knowledge & Tasks Survey and the Survey for Teachers Supervising Paraprofessionals to teachers supervising paraprofessionals in elementary schools. Structural Equation Modeling was used to examine the link between paraprofessional competence and classroom factors affecting the level of teacher supervision. Our results indicated that when teachers perceived paraprofessionals as being more skilled, they provided more supervision, and when more supervision was provided the less they thought paraprofessionals should be doing their assigned tasks. Additionally, paraprofessionals working in classrooms with more students with mild disabilities received less supervision than paraprofessionals working in classrooms with more students with moderate-to-severe disabilities. Those paraprofessionals in classrooms serving mostly children with mild disabilities were also perceived as having lower levels of skill competence than those serving in classrooms with students with more moderate-to-severe disabilities. By understanding the factors that affect teacher supervision, policy and professional development opportunities can be refined/developed to better support both supervising teachers and paraprofessionals and, in turn, improve the outcomes of children with disabilities. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  18. Structural basis for signal recognition and transduction by platelet-activating-factor receptor.

    PubMed

    Cao, Can; Tan, Qiuxiang; Xu, Chanjuan; He, Lingli; Yang, Linlin; Zhou, Ye; Zhou, Yiwei; Qiao, Anna; Lu, Minmin; Yi, Cuiying; Han, Gye Won; Wang, Xianping; Li, Xuemei; Yang, Huaiyu; Rao, Zihe; Jiang, Hualiang; Zhao, Yongfang; Liu, Jianfeng; Stevens, Raymond C; Zhao, Qiang; Zhang, Xuejun C; Wu, Beili

    2018-06-01

    Platelet-activating-factor receptor (PAFR) responds to platelet-activating factor (PAF), a phospholipid mediator of cell-to-cell communication that exhibits diverse physiological effects. PAFR is considered an important drug target for treating asthma, inflammation and cardiovascular diseases. Here we report crystal structures of human PAFR in complex with the antagonist SR 27417 and the inverse agonist ABT-491 at 2.8-Å and 2.9-Å resolution, respectively. The structures, supported by molecular docking of PAF, provide insights into the signal-recognition mechanisms of PAFR. The PAFR-SR 27417 structure reveals an unusual conformation showing that the intracellular tips of helices II and IV shift outward by 13 Å and 4 Å, respectively, and helix VIII adopts an inward conformation. The PAFR structures, combined with single-molecule FRET and cell-based functional assays, suggest that the conformational change in the helical bundle is ligand dependent and plays a critical role in PAFR activation, thus greatly extending knowledge about signaling by G-protein-coupled receptors.

  19. Ranking factors affecting emissions of GHG from incubated agricultural soils.

    PubMed

    García-Marco, S; Ravella, S R; Chadwick, D; Vallejo, A; Gregory, A S; Cárdenas, L M

    2014-07-01

    Agriculture significantly contributes to global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and there is a need to develop effective mitigation strategies. The efficacy of methods to reduce GHG fluxes from agricultural soils can be affected by a range of interacting management and environmental factors. Uniquely, we used the Taguchi experimental design methodology to rank the relative importance of six factors known to affect the emission of GHG from soil: nitrate (NO 3 - ) addition, carbon quality (labile and non-labile C), soil temperature, water-filled pore space (WFPS) and extent of soil compaction. Grassland soil was incubated in jars where selected factors, considered at two or three amounts within the experimental range, were combined in an orthogonal array to determine the importance and interactions between factors with a L 16 design, comprising 16 experimental units. Within this L 16 design, 216 combinations of the full factorial experimental design were represented. Headspace nitrous oxide (N 2 O), methane (CH 4 ) and carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) concentrations were measured and used to calculate fluxes. Results found for the relative influence of factors (WFPS and NO 3 - addition were the main factors affecting N 2 O fluxes, whilst glucose, NO 3 - and soil temperature were the main factors affecting CO 2 and CH 4 fluxes) were consistent with those already well documented. Interactions between factors were also studied and results showed that factors with little individual influence became more influential in combination. The proposed methodology offers new possibilities for GHG researchers to study interactions between influential factors and address the optimized sets of conditions to reduce GHG emissions in agro-ecosystems, while reducing the number of experimental units required compared with conventional experimental procedures that adjust one variable at a time.

  20. Ranking factors affecting emissions of GHG from incubated agricultural soils

    PubMed Central

    García-Marco, S; Ravella, S R; Chadwick, D; Vallejo, A; Gregory, A S; Cárdenas, L M

    2014-01-01

    Agriculture significantly contributes to global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and there is a need to develop effective mitigation strategies. The efficacy of methods to reduce GHG fluxes from agricultural soils can be affected by a range of interacting management and environmental factors. Uniquely, we used the Taguchi experimental design methodology to rank the relative importance of six factors known to affect the emission of GHG from soil: nitrate (NO3−) addition, carbon quality (labile and non-labile C), soil temperature, water-filled pore space (WFPS) and extent of soil compaction. Grassland soil was incubated in jars where selected factors, considered at two or three amounts within the experimental range, were combined in an orthogonal array to determine the importance and interactions between factors with a L16 design, comprising 16 experimental units. Within this L16 design, 216 combinations of the full factorial experimental design were represented. Headspace nitrous oxide (N2O), methane (CH4) and carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations were measured and used to calculate fluxes. Results found for the relative influence of factors (WFPS and NO3− addition were the main factors affecting N2O fluxes, whilst glucose, NO3− and soil temperature were the main factors affecting CO2 and CH4 fluxes) were consistent with those already well documented. Interactions between factors were also studied and results showed that factors with little individual influence became more influential in combination. The proposed methodology offers new possibilities for GHG researchers to study interactions between influential factors and address the optimized sets of conditions to reduce GHG emissions in agro-ecosystems, while reducing the number of experimental units required compared with conventional experimental procedures that adjust one variable at a time. PMID:25177207

  1. Emotion recognition and social skills in child and adolescent offspring of parents with schizophrenia.

    PubMed

    Horton, Leslie E; Bridgwater, Miranda A; Haas, Gretchen L

    2017-05-01

    Emotion recognition, a social cognition domain, is impaired in people with schizophrenia and contributes to social dysfunction. Whether impaired emotion recognition emerges as a manifestation of illness or predates symptoms is unclear. Findings from studies of emotion recognition impairments in first-degree relatives of people with schizophrenia are mixed and, to our knowledge, no studies have investigated the link between emotion recognition and social functioning in that population. This study examined facial affect recognition and social skills in 16 offspring of parents with schizophrenia (familial high-risk/FHR) compared to 34 age- and sex-matched healthy controls (HC), ages 7-19. As hypothesised, FHR children exhibited impaired overall accuracy, accuracy in identifying fearful faces, and overall recognition speed relative to controls. Age-adjusted facial affect recognition accuracy scores predicted parent's overall rating of their child's social skills for both groups. This study supports the presence of facial affect recognition deficits in FHR children. Importantly, as the first known study to suggest the presence of these deficits in young, asymptomatic FHR children, it extends findings to a developmental stage predating symptoms. Further, findings point to a relationship between early emotion recognition and social skills. Improved characterisation of deficits in FHR children could inform early intervention.

  2. Factors that influence the recognition, reporting and resolution of incidents related to medical devices and other healthcare technologies: a systematic review.

    PubMed

    Polisena, Julie; Gagliardi, Anna; Urbach, David; Clifford, Tammy; Fiander, Michelle

    2015-03-29

    Medical devices have improved the treatment of many medical conditions. Despite their benefit, the use of devices can lead to unintended incidents, potentially resulting in unnecessary harm, injury or complications to the patient, a complaint, loss or damage. Devices are used in hospitals on a routine basis. Research to date, however, has been primarily limited to describing incidents rates, so the optimal design of a hospital-based surveillance system remains unclear. Our research objectives were twofold: i) to explore factors that influence device-related incident recognition, reporting and resolution and ii) to investigate interventions or strategies to improve the recognition, reporting and resolution of medical device-related incidents. We searched the bibliographic databases: MEDLINE, Embase, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials and PsycINFO database. Grey literature (literature that is not commercially available) was searched for studies on factors that influence incident recognition, reporting and resolution published and interventions or strategies for their improvement from 2003 to 2014. Although we focused on medical devices, other health technologies were eligible for inclusion. Thirty studies were included in our systematic review, but most studies were concentrated on other health technologies. The study findings indicate that fear of punishment, uncertainty of what should be reported and how incident reports will be used and time constraints to incident reporting are common barriers to incident recognition and reporting. Relevant studies on the resolution of medical errors were not found. Strategies to improve error reporting include the use of an electronic error reporting system, increased training and feedback to frontline clinicians about the reported error. The available evidence on factors influencing medical device-related incident recognition, reporting and resolution by healthcare professionals can inform data collection and

  3. Can the usage of human growth hormones affect facial appearance and the accuracy of face recognition systems?

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Rose, Jake; Martin, Michael; Bourlai, Thirimachos

    2014-06-01

    In law enforcement and security applications, the acquisition of face images is critical in producing key trace evidence for the successful identification of potential threats. The goal of the study is to demonstrate that steroid usage significantly affects human facial appearance and hence, the performance of commercial and academic face recognition (FR) algorithms. In this work, we evaluate the performance of state-of-the-art FR algorithms on two unique face image datasets of subjects before (gallery set) and after (probe set) steroid (or human growth hormone) usage. For the purpose of this study, datasets of 73 subjects were created from multiple sources found on the Internet, containing images of men and women before and after steroid usage. Next, we geometrically pre-processed all images of both face datasets. Then, we applied image restoration techniques on the same face datasets, and finally, we applied FR algorithms in order to match the pre-processed face images of our probe datasets against the face images of the gallery set. Experimental results demonstrate that only a specific set of FR algorithms obtain the most accurate results (in terms of the rank-1 identification rate). This is because there are several factors that influence the efficiency of face matchers including (i) the time lapse between the before and after image pre-processing and restoration face photos, (ii) the usage of different drugs (e.g. Dianabol, Winstrol, and Decabolan), (iii) the usage of different cameras to capture face images, and finally, (iv) the variability of standoff distance, illumination and other noise factors (e.g. motion noise). All of the previously mentioned complicated scenarios make clear that cross-scenario matching is a very challenging problem and, thus, further investigation is required.

  4. Reviews on factors affecting fatigue behavior of high-Mn steels

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kim, Sangshik; Jeong, Daeho; Sung, Hyokyung

    2018-01-01

    A variety of factors affect the fatigue behavior of high-Mn steels, which include both extrinsic (i.e., loading type, R ratio, specimen type, surface condition, temperature, and environment) and intrinsic (i.e., chemical composition, grain size, microstructure, stacking fault energy) factors. Very often, the influence of extrinsic factors on the fatigue behavior is even greater than that of intrinsic factors, misleading the interpretation of fatigue data. The metallurgical factors influence the initiation and propagation behaviors of fatigue by altering the characteristics of slip that is prerequisite for fatigue damage accumulation. It is however not easy to separate the effect of each factor since they affect the fatigue behavior of high-Mn steels in complex and synergistic way. In this review, the fatigue data of high-Mn steels are summarized and the factors complicating the interpretation are discussed.

  5. Review: Factors affecting fouling in conventional pens for slaughter pigs.

    PubMed

    Larsen, M L V; Bertelsen, M; Pedersen, L J

    2018-02-01

    This review assesses factors affecting fouling in conventional pens for slaughter pigs. Fouling of the pen happens when pigs change their excretory behaviour from occurring in the designated dunging area to the lying area. This can result in a lower hygiene, bad air quality, extra work for the farmer, disturbance of the pigs' resting behaviour and an increase in agonistic interactions. A systematic search was conducted and results narrowed down to 21 articles. Four factors were found to affect fouling directly: insufficient space allowance, the flooring design of the pen, the thermal climate and pigs' earlier experience. Further, these primary factors are affected by secondary factors such as the shape of the pen, the weight of the pigs and especially the heat balance of the pigs, which is affected by several tertiary factors including, for example, temperature, humidity and draught. Results indicate that the most important factor to control when trying to prevent fouling of a pen is the pen climate. An appropriate climate may be accomplished through floor cooling in the designated lying area, sprinklers above the designated dunging area and by ensuring a more optimal ambient temperature curve that also fits the weight of the pigs in different stages of the production. All in all, fouling of the pen in conventional slaughter pigs is a multifactorial problem, but it is important to focus on increasing the comfortability, and especially the climate, of the designated lying area.

  6. Factors affecting Mental Health Nurses working with Clients with First Episode Psychosis: A qualitative study.

    PubMed

    Odeyemi, Constance; Morrissey, Jean; Donohue, Gráinne

    2018-06-27

    Although there is much research on mental health nurses working with individuals presenting with psychosis, there is a lack of knowledge about the factors that impact the experience of nurses in the presentation specifically of first time psychosis. This study aims to explore the factors that impact on the experience of mental health nurses working with individuals and their families who present with a first time psychosis. This qualitative study was conducted through individual semi-structured interviews with eight mental health nurses recruited from community mental health settings with a minimum of two years post qualification experience. Data was then subjected to a thematic content analysis. This study identified the importance of therapeutic engagement, as well as the need to have clear pathways to care and building capacity through clinical supervision and training when working with this population. Mental Health nurses should engage with additional training, formalized clinical supervision and avail of peer support in order to improve confidence, skills and quality of care, leading to better therapeutic engagement. Pathways to care should be embedded within the wider community to ensure ease of access for individual and their families. There should be more recognition of the social impact on the individual during untreated psychosis with regards to isolation and withdrawal as well as factors which also affect help-seeking behaviours. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

  7. Facial Emotion Recognition in Child Psychiatry: A Systematic Review

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Collin, Lisa; Bindra, Jasmeet; Raju, Monika; Gillberg, Christopher; Minnis, Helen

    2013-01-01

    This review focuses on facial affect (emotion) recognition in children and adolescents with psychiatric disorders other than autism. A systematic search, using PRISMA guidelines, was conducted to identify original articles published prior to October 2011 pertaining to face recognition tasks in case-control studies. Used in the qualitative…

  8. [Association between intelligence development and facial expression recognition ability in children with autism spectrum disorder].

    PubMed

    Pan, Ning; Wu, Gui-Hua; Zhang, Ling; Zhao, Ya-Fen; Guan, Han; Xu, Cai-Juan; Jing, Jin; Jin, Yu

    2017-03-01

    To investigate the features of intelligence development, facial expression recognition ability, and the association between them in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). A total of 27 ASD children aged 6-16 years (ASD group, full intelligence quotient >70) and age- and gender-matched normally developed children (control group) were enrolled. Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children Fourth Edition and Chinese Static Facial Expression Photos were used for intelligence evaluation and facial expression recognition test. Compared with the control group, the ASD group had significantly lower scores of full intelligence quotient, verbal comprehension index, perceptual reasoning index (PRI), processing speed index(PSI), and working memory index (WMI) (P<0.05). The ASD group also had a significantly lower overall accuracy rate of facial expression recognition and significantly lower accuracy rates of the recognition of happy, angry, sad, and frightened expressions than the control group (P<0.05). In the ASD group, the overall accuracy rate of facial expression recognition and the accuracy rates of the recognition of happy and frightened expressions were positively correlated with PRI (r=0.415, 0.455, and 0.393 respectively; P<0.05). The accuracy rate of the recognition of angry expression was positively correlated with WMI (r=0.397; P<0.05). ASD children have delayed intelligence development compared with normally developed children and impaired expression recognition ability. Perceptual reasoning and working memory abilities are positively correlated with expression recognition ability, which suggests that insufficient perceptual reasoning and working memory abilities may be important factors affecting facial expression recognition ability in ASD children.

  9. Identification of single nucleotide polymorphisms in hematopoietic cell transplant patients affecting early recognition of, and response to, endotoxin.

    PubMed

    Guinan, Eva C; Palmer, Christine D; Mancuso, Christy J; Brennan, Lisa; Stoler-Barak, Liat; Kalish, Leslie A; Suter, Eugenie E; Gallington, Leighanne C; Huhtelin, David P; Mansilla, Maria; Schumann, Ralf R; Murray, Jeffrey C; Weiss, Jerrold; Levy, Ofer

    2014-10-01

    Hematopoietic cell transplant (HCT) is a life-saving therapy for many malignant and non-malignant bone marrow diseases. Associated morbidities are often due to transplant-related toxicities and infections, exacerbated by regimen-induced immune suppression and systemic incursion of bacterial products. Patients undergoing myeloablative conditioning for HCT become endotoxemic and display blood/plasma changes consistent with lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced systemic innate immune activation. Herein, we addressed whether patients scheduled for HCT display differences in recognition/response to LPS ex vivo traceable to specific single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). Two SNPs of LPS binding protein (LBP) were associated with changes in plasma LBP levels, with one LBP SNP also associating with differences in efficiency of extraction and transfer of endotoxin to myeloid differentiation factor-2 (MD-2), a step needed for activation of TLR4. None of the examined SNPs of CD14, bactericidal/permeability-increasing protein (BPI), TLR4 or MD-2 were associated with corresponding protein plasma levels or endotoxin delivery to MD-2, but CD14 and BPI SNPs significantly associated with differences in LPS-induced TNF-α release ex vivo and infection frequency, respectively. These findings suggest that specific LBP, CD14 and BPI SNPs might be contributory assessments in studies where clinical outcome may be affected by host response to endotoxin and bacterial infection. © The Author(s) 2013 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav.

  10. Nuclear factor kappa B-dependent Zif268 expression in hippocampus is required for recognition memory in mice.

    PubMed

    Zalcman, Gisela; Federman, Noel; de la Fuente, Verónica; Romano, Arturo

    2015-03-01

    Long-term memory formation requires gene expression after acquisition of new information. The first step in the regulation of gene expression is the participation of transcription factors (TFs) such as nuclear factor kappa B (NF-кB), which are present before the neuronal activity induced by training. It was proposed that the activation of these types of TFs allows a second step in gene regulation by induction of immediate-early genes (IEGs) whose protein products are, in turn, TFs. Between these IEGs, zif268 has been found to play a critical role in long-term memory formation and reprocessing after retrieval. Here we found in mice hippocampus that, on one hand, NF-кB was activated 45 min after training in a novel object recognition (NOR) task and that inhibiting NF-кB immediately after training by intrahippocampal administration of NF-кB Decoy DNA impaired NOR memory consolidation. On the other hand, Zif268 protein expression was induced 45 min after NOR training and the administration of DNA antisense to its mRNA post-training impaired recognition memory. Finally, we found that the inhibition of NF-кB by NF-кB Decoy DNA reduced significantly the training-induced Zif268 increment, indicating that NF-кB is involved in the regulation of Zif268 expression. Thus, the present results support the involvement of NF-кB activity-dependent Zif268 expression in the hippocampus during recognition memory consolidation. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  11. Social cognition intervention in schizophrenia: Description of the training of affect recognition program - Indian version.

    PubMed

    Thonse, Umesh; Behere, Rishikesh V; Frommann, Nicole; Sharma, Psvn

    2018-01-01

    Social cognition refers to mental operations involved in processing of social cues and includes the domains of emotion processing, Theory of Mind (ToM), social perception, social knowledge and attributional bias. Significant deficits in ToM, emotion perception and social perception have been demonstrated in schizophrenia which can have an impact on socio-occupational functioning. Intervention modules for social cognition have demonstrated moderate effect sizes for improving emotion identification and discrimination. We describe the Indian version of the Training of Affect Recognition (TAR) program and a pilot study to demonstrate the feasibility of administering this intervention program in the Indian population. We also discuss the cultural sensibilities in adopting an intervention program for the Indian setting. To the best of our knowledge this is the first intervention program for social cognition for use in persons with schizophrenia in India. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  12. Factors affecting academic leadership in dermatology.

    PubMed

    Martires, Kathryn J; Aquino, Lisa L; Wu, Jashin J

    2015-02-01

    Although prior studies have examined methods by which to recruit and retain academic dermatologists, few have examined factors that are important for developing academic leaders in dermatology. This study sought to examine characteristics of dermatology residency programs that affect the odds of producing department or division chairs/chiefs and program directors (PDs). Data regarding program size, faculty, grants, alumni residency program attended, lectures, and publications for all accredited US dermatology residency programs were collected. Of the 103 programs examined, 46% had graduated at least 1 chair/chief, and 53% had graduated at least 1 PD. Results emphasize that faculty guidance and research may represent modifiable factors by which a dermatology residency program can increase its graduation of academic leaders.

  13. Predictive factor analysis for successful performance of iris recognition-assisted dynamic rotational eye tracking during laser in situ keratomileusis.

    PubMed

    Prakash, Gaurav; Ashok Kumar, Dhivya; Agarwal, Amar; Jacob, Soosan; Sarvanan, Yoga; Agarwal, Athiya

    2010-02-01

    To analyze the predictive factors associated with success of iris recognition and dynamic rotational eye tracking on a laser in situ keratomileusis (LASIK) platform with active assessment and correction of intraoperative cyclotorsion. Interventional case series. Two hundred seventy-five eyes of 142 consecutive candidates underwent LASIK with attempted iris recognition and dynamic rotational tracking on the Technolas 217z100 platform (Techolas Perfect Vision, St Louis, Missouri, USA) at a tertiary care ophthalmic hospital. The main outcome measures were age, gender, flap creation method (femtosecond, microkeratome, epi-LASIK), success of static rotational tracking, ablation algorithm, pulses, and depth; preablation and intraablation rotational activity were analyzed and evaluated using regression models. Preablation static iris recognition was successful in 247 eyes, without difference in flap creation methods (P = .6). Age (partial correlation, -0.16; P = .014), amount of pulses (partial correlation, 0.39; P = 1.6 x 10(-8)), and gender (P = .02) were significant predictive factors for the amount of intraoperative cyclodeviation. Tracking difficulties leading to linking the ablation with a new intraoperatively acquired iris image were more with femtosecond-assisted flaps (P = 2.8 x 10(-7)) and the amount of intraoperative cyclotorsion (P = .02). However, the number of cases having nonresolvable failure of intraoperative rotational tracking was similar in the 3 flap creation methods (P = .22). Intraoperative cyclotorsional activity depends on the age, gender, and duration of ablation (pulses delivered). Femtosecond flaps do not seem to have a disadvantage over microkeratome flaps as far as iris recognition and success of intraoperative dynamic rotational tracking is concerned. Copyright (c) 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  14. The effects of gender and COMT Val158Met polymorphism on fearful facial affect recognition: a fMRI study.

    PubMed

    Kempton, Matthew J; Haldane, Morgan; Jogia, Jigar; Christodoulou, Tessa; Powell, John; Collier, David; Williams, Steven C R; Frangou, Sophia

    2009-04-01

    The functional catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT Val108/158Met) polymorphism has been shown to have an impact on tasks of executive function, memory and attention and recently, tasks with an affective component. As oestrogen reduces COMT activity, we focused on the interaction between gender and COMT genotype on brain activations during an affective processing task. We used functional MRI (fMRI) to record brain activations from 74 healthy subjects who engaged in a facial affect recognition task; subjects viewed and identified fearful compared to neutral faces. There was no main effect of the COMT polymorphism, gender or genotypexgender interaction on task performance. We found a significant effect of gender on brain activations in the left amygdala and right temporal pole, where females demonstrated increased activations over males. Within these regions, Val/Val carriers showed greater signal magnitude compared to Met/Met carriers, particularly in females. The COMT Val108/158Met polymorphism impacts on gender-related patterns of activation in limbic and paralimbic regions but the functional significance of any oestrogen-related COMT inhibition appears modest.

  15. Visual recognition of permuted words

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Rashid, Sheikh Faisal; Shafait, Faisal; Breuel, Thomas M.

    2010-02-01

    In current study we examine how letter permutation affects in visual recognition of words for two orthographically dissimilar languages, Urdu and German. We present the hypothesis that recognition or reading of permuted and non-permuted words are two distinct mental level processes, and that people use different strategies in handling permuted words as compared to normal words. A comparison between reading behavior of people in these languages is also presented. We present our study in context of dual route theories of reading and it is observed that the dual-route theory is consistent with explanation of our hypothesis of distinction in underlying cognitive behavior for reading permuted and non-permuted words. We conducted three experiments in lexical decision tasks to analyze how reading is degraded or affected by letter permutation. We performed analysis of variance (ANOVA), distribution free rank test, and t-test to determine the significance differences in response time latencies for two classes of data. Results showed that the recognition accuracy for permuted words is decreased 31% in case of Urdu and 11% in case of German language. We also found a considerable difference in reading behavior for cursive and alphabetic languages and it is observed that reading of Urdu is comparatively slower than reading of German due to characteristics of cursive script.

  16. 78 FR 46418 - Proposed Information Collection (Obligation To Report Factors Affecting Entitlement) Activity...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-07-31

    ... (Obligation To Report Factors Affecting Entitlement) Activity; Comment Request AGENCY: Veterans Benefits... use of other forms of information technology. Title: Obligation to Report Factors Affecting... entitlement factors. Individual factors such as income, marital status, and the beneficiary's number of...

  17. 75 FR 62634 - Proposed Information Collection (Obligation to Report Factors Affecting Entitlement) Activity...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-10-12

    ... (Obligation to Report Factors Affecting Entitlement) Activity: Comment Request AGENCY: Veterans Benefits... use of other forms of information technology. Title: Obligation to Report Factors Affecting... entitlement factors. Individual factors such as income, marital status, and the beneficiary's number of...

  18. Effects of compression and individual variability on face recognition performance

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    McGarry, Delia P.; Arndt, Craig M.; McCabe, Steven A.; D'Amato, Donald P.

    2004-08-01

    The Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry Reform Act of 2002 requires that the Visa Waiver Program be available only to countries that have a program to issue to their nationals machine-readable passports incorporating biometric identifiers complying with applicable standards established by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). In June 2002, the New Technologies Working Group of ICAO unanimously endorsed the use of face recognition (FR) as the globally interoperable biometric for machine-assisted identity confirmation with machine-readable travel documents (MRTDs), although Member States may elect to use fingerprint and/or iris recognition as additional biometric technologies. The means and formats are still being developed through which biometric information might be stored in the constrained space of integrated circuit chips embedded within travel documents. Such information will be stored in an open, yet unalterable and very compact format, probably as digitally signed and efficiently compressed images. The objective of this research is to characterize the many factors that affect FR system performance with respect to the legislated mandates concerning FR. A photograph acquisition environment and a commercial face recognition system have been installed at Mitretek, and over 1,400 images have been collected of volunteers. The image database and FR system are being used to analyze the effects of lossy image compression, individual differences, such as eyeglasses and facial hair, and the acquisition environment on FR system performance. Images are compressed by varying ratios using JPEG2000 to determine the trade-off points between recognition accuracy and compression ratio. The various acquisition factors that contribute to differences in FR system performance among individuals are also being measured. The results of this study will be used to refine and test efficient face image interchange standards that ensure highly accurate recognition, both

  19. Analysis of factors affecting employee satisfaction: A case study from Pakistan.

    PubMed

    Rukh, Lala; Choudhary, Muhammad Abbas; Abbasi, Saddam Akber

    2015-01-01

    Employee job satisfaction has been a research focal point throughout the world. It is a key factor when measuring the performance of an organization and individuals. A leading engineering goods manufacturing enterprise in Pakistan, has been used in this case study. In Pakistan, very limited research has been done with respect to factors affecting job satisfaction. Some research has been done in medical institutions, banks, universities and the information technology sector but large public sector organizations in Pakistan have not been studied. A theoretical foundation for researching factors affecting job satisfaction in large organizations is outlined. The objective of this research is to analyze various demographic, financial and non-financial factors affecting the satisfaction level of employees and to study the effects across different employee groups. This study is based on quantitative data analysis. The employees of the organization under study have been divided into 10 homogeneous groups based on their departments. Information on job related factors (affecting the satisfaction level) have been collected from subsamples of each group using a self-administered questionnaire. An overall sample of 250 (out of total 1100) employees has been selected. Before conducting the survey, reliability of the questionnaire was measured using Cronbach's alpha. The normality of data was also examined using the Kolmogorov Smirnov test. Hypotheses devised to address the research questions were tested by using non-parametric Spearman correlation and Kruskal-Wallis tests. The response rate was 73.2%. Research findings indicated the significant factors that affect the satisfaction level of employees. Median group differences existed between responses based on age, work experience, salary and designation (i.e. job position/rank) of employees. Job satisfaction was also positively and significantly associated with job related factors such as pay, promotion, relation with employees

  20. Factors Affecting Successful Implementation of Hospital Information Systems.

    PubMed

    Farzandipur, Mehrdad; Jeddi, Fatemeh Rangraz; Azimi, Esmaeil

    2016-02-01

    Today, the use of information systems in health environments, like any other fields, is necessary and organizational managers are convinced to use these systems. However, managers' satisfaction is not the only factor in successfully implementing these systems and failed information technology projects (IT) are reported despite the consent of the directors. Therefore, this study aims to determine the factors affecting the successful implementation of a hospital information system. The study was carried out as a descriptive method in 20 clinical hospitals that the hospital information system (HIS) was conducted in them. The clinical and paraclinical users of mentioned hospitals are the study group. 400 people were chosen as samples in scientific method and the data was collected using a questionnaire consisted of three main human, managerial and organizational, and technological factors, by questionnaire and interview. Then the data was scored in Likert scale (score of 1 to 5) and were analyzed using the SPSS software. About 75 percent of the population were female, with average work experience of 10 years and the mean age was 30 years. The human factors affecting the success of hospital information system implementation achieved the mean score of 3.5, both organizational and managerial factors 2.9 and technological factors the mean of 3. Human factors including computer skills, perceiving usefulness and perceiving the ease of a hospital information system use are more effective on the acceptance and successful implementation of hospital information systems; then the technological factors play a greater role. It is recommended that for the successful implementation of hospital information systems, most of these factors to be considered.

  1. Factors affecting self-regulated learning in medical students: a qualitative study

    PubMed Central

    Jouhari, Zahra; Haghani, Fariba; Changiz, Tahereh

    2015-01-01

    Introduction Clinical courses are required of all medical students and means that they must develop the key skill of self-regulation during learning. The ability to self-regulate learning strategies is affected by different factors. This study determined the views of medical students on the factors affecting self-regulated learning (SRL). Method This study uses a qualitative approach and the content analysis method. Nineteen medical students in their fourth, fifth, and sixth years of study at Isfahan University of Medical Science participated in semi-structured, in-depth interviews. The students were selected using purposive sampling based on their overall grade point average (GPA). Results Five main themes were found to affect SRL. These themes included family with the two subthemes of family supervisory and supportive roles; peers with the two subthemes of facilitating and inhibiting roles; instructors with the two subthemes of personal and educational instructor's characteristics; educational environment with the two subthemes of facilitator and inhibitor roles; and student with the two subthemes of facilitating and inhibiting personal factors. Conclusion The outcomes of student understanding of the factors affecting self-regulation indicate that facilitating factors should be used on an individual basis to reduce the effect of inhibiting factors to improve self-regulation in students. PMID:26549046

  2. Factors affecting self-regulated learning in medical students: a qualitative study.

    PubMed

    Jouhari, Zahra; Haghani, Fariba; Changiz, Tahereh

    2015-01-01

    Introduction Clinical courses are required of all medical students and means that they must develop the key skill of self-regulation during learning. The ability to self-regulate learning strategies is affected by different factors. This study determined the views of medical students on the factors affecting self-regulated learning (SRL). Method This study uses a qualitative approach and the content analysis method. Nineteen medical students in their fourth, fifth, and sixth years of study at Isfahan University of Medical Science participated in semi-structured, in-depth interviews. The students were selected using purposive sampling based on their overall grade point average (GPA). Results Five main themes were found to affect SRL. These themes included family with the two subthemes of family supervisory and supportive roles; peers with the two subthemes of facilitating and inhibiting roles; instructors with the two subthemes of personal and educational instructor's characteristics; educational environment with the two subthemes of facilitator and inhibitor roles; and student with the two subthemes of facilitating and inhibiting personal factors. Conclusion The outcomes of student understanding of the factors affecting self-regulation indicate that facilitating factors should be used on an individual basis to reduce the effect of inhibiting factors to improve self-regulation in students.

  3. Factors affecting self-regulated learning in medical students: a qualitative study.

    PubMed

    Jouhari, Zahra; Haghani, Fariba; Changiz, Tahereh

    2015-01-01

    Clinical courses are required of all medical students and means that they must develop the key skill of self-regulation during learning. The ability to self-regulate learning strategies is affected by different factors. This study determined the views of medical students on the factors affecting self-regulated learning (SRL). This study uses a qualitative approach and the content analysis method. Nineteen medical students in their fourth, fifth, and sixth years of study at Isfahan University of Medical Science participated in semi-structured, in-depth interviews. The students were selected using purposive sampling based on their overall grade point average (GPA). Five main themes were found to affect SRL. These themes included family with the two subthemes of family supervisory and supportive roles; peers with the two subthemes of facilitating and inhibiting roles; instructors with the two subthemes of personal and educational instructor's characteristics; educational environment with the two subthemes of facilitator and inhibitor roles; and student with the two subthemes of facilitating and inhibiting personal factors. The outcomes of student understanding of the factors affecting self-regulation indicate that facilitating factors should be used on an individual basis to reduce the effect of inhibiting factors to improve self-regulation in students.

  4. Effects of lexical characteristics and demographic factors on mandarin chinese open-set word recognition in children with cochlear implants.

    PubMed

    Liu, Haihong; Liu, Sha; Wang, Suju; Liu, Chang; Kong, Ying; Zhang, Ning; Li, Shujing; Yang, Yilin; Han, Demin; Zhang, Luo

    2013-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to examine the open-set word recognition performance of Mandarin Chinese-speaking children who had received a multichannel cochlear implant (CI) and examine the effects of lexical characteristics and demographic factors (i.e., age at implantation and duration of implant use) on Mandarin Chinese open-set word recognition in these children. Participants were 230 prelingually deafened children with CIs. Age at implantation ranged from 0.9 to 16.0 years, with a mean of 3.9 years. The Standard-Chinese version of the Monosyllabic Lexical Neighborhood test and the Multisyllabic Lexical Neighborhood test were used to evaluate the open-set word identification abilities of the children. A two-way analysis of variance was performed to delineate the lexical effects on the open-set word identification, with word difficulty and syllable length as the two main factors. The effects of age at implantation and duration of implant use on open-set, word-recognition performance were examined using correlational/regressional models. First, the average percent-correct scores for the disyllabic "easy" list, disyllabic "hard" list, monosyllabic "easy" list, and monosyllabic "hard" list were 65.0%, 51.3%, 58.9%, and 46.2%, respectively. For both the easy and hard lists, the percentage of words correctly identified was higher for disyllabic words than for monosyllabic words, Second, the CI group scored 26.3%, 31.3%, and 18.8 % points lower than their hearing-age-matched normal-hearing peers for 4, 5, and 6 years of hearing age, respectively. The corresponding gaps between the CI group and the chronological-age-matched normal-hearing group were 47.6, 49.6, and 42.4, respectively. The individual variations in performance were much greater in the CI group than in the normal-hearing group, Third, the children exhibited steady improvements in performance as the duration of implant use increased, especially 1 to 6 years postimplantation. Last, age at implantation had

  5. 14 CFR Appendix B to Part 1215 - Factors Affecting Standard Charges

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... 14 Aeronautics and Space 5 2011-01-01 2010-01-01 true Factors Affecting Standard Charges B Appendix B to Part 1215 Aeronautics and Space NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION TRACKING AND DATA RELAY SATELLITE SYSTEM (TDRSS) Pt. 1215, App. B Appendix B to Part 1215—Factors Affecting Standard...

  6. Methods of Combinatorial Optimization to Reveal Factors Affecting Gene Length

    PubMed Central

    Bolshoy, Alexander; Tatarinova, Tatiana

    2012-01-01

    In this paper we present a novel method for genome ranking according to gene lengths. The main outcomes described in this paper are the following: the formulation of the genome ranking problem, presentation of relevant approaches to solve it, and the demonstration of preliminary results from prokaryotic genomes ordering. Using a subset of prokaryotic genomes, we attempted to uncover factors affecting gene length. We have demonstrated that hyperthermophilic species have shorter genes as compared with mesophilic organisms, which probably means that environmental factors affect gene length. Moreover, these preliminary results show that environmental factors group together in ranking evolutionary distant species. PMID:23300345

  7. A Diffusion Model Analysis of Decision Biases Affecting Delayed Recognition of Emotional Stimuli

    PubMed Central

    Bowen, Holly J.; Spaniol, Julia; Patel, Ronak; Voss, Andreas

    2016-01-01

    Previous empirical work suggests that emotion can influence accuracy and cognitive biases underlying recognition memory, depending on the experimental conditions. The current study examines the effects of arousal and valence on delayed recognition memory using the diffusion model, which allows the separation of two decision biases thought to underlie memory: response bias and memory bias. Memory bias has not been given much attention in the literature but can provide insight into the retrieval dynamics of emotion modulated memory. Participants viewed emotional pictorial stimuli; half were given a recognition test 1-day later and the other half 7-days later. Analyses revealed that emotional valence generally evokes liberal responding, whereas high arousal evokes liberal responding only at a short retention interval. The memory bias analyses indicated that participants experienced greater familiarity with high-arousal compared to low-arousal items and this pattern became more pronounced as study-test lag increased; positive items evoke greater familiarity compared to negative and this pattern remained stable across retention interval. The findings provide insight into the separate contributions of valence and arousal to the cognitive mechanisms underlying delayed emotion modulated memory. PMID:26784108

  8. A Diffusion Model Analysis of Decision Biases Affecting Delayed Recognition of Emotional Stimuli.

    PubMed

    Bowen, Holly J; Spaniol, Julia; Patel, Ronak; Voss, Andreas

    2016-01-01

    Previous empirical work suggests that emotion can influence accuracy and cognitive biases underlying recognition memory, depending on the experimental conditions. The current study examines the effects of arousal and valence on delayed recognition memory using the diffusion model, which allows the separation of two decision biases thought to underlie memory: response bias and memory bias. Memory bias has not been given much attention in the literature but can provide insight into the retrieval dynamics of emotion modulated memory. Participants viewed emotional pictorial stimuli; half were given a recognition test 1-day later and the other half 7-days later. Analyses revealed that emotional valence generally evokes liberal responding, whereas high arousal evokes liberal responding only at a short retention interval. The memory bias analyses indicated that participants experienced greater familiarity with high-arousal compared to low-arousal items and this pattern became more pronounced as study-test lag increased; positive items evoke greater familiarity compared to negative and this pattern remained stable across retention interval. The findings provide insight into the separate contributions of valence and arousal to the cognitive mechanisms underlying delayed emotion modulated memory.

  9. Orthographic Facilitation in Chinese Spoken Word Recognition: An ERP Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Zou, Lijuan; Desroches, Amy S.; Liu, Youyi; Xia, Zhichao; Shu, Hua

    2012-01-01

    Orthographic influences in spoken word recognition have been previously examined in alphabetic languages. However, it is unknown whether orthographic information affects spoken word recognition in Chinese, which has a clean dissociation between orthography (O) and phonology (P). The present study investigated orthographic effects using event…

  10. Laptop Computer - Based Facial Recognition System Assessment

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

    R. A. Cain; G. B. Singleton

    2001-03-01

    The objective of this project was to assess the performance of the leading commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) facial recognition software package when used as a laptop application. We performed the assessment to determine the system's usefulness for enrolling facial images in a database from remote locations and conducting real-time searches against a database of previously enrolled images. The assessment involved creating a database of 40 images and conducting 2 series of tests to determine the product's ability to recognize and match subject faces under varying conditions. This report describes the test results and includes a description of the factors affecting the results.more » After an extensive market survey, we selected Visionics' FaceIt{reg_sign} software package for evaluation and a review of the Facial Recognition Vendor Test 2000 (FRVT 2000). This test was co-sponsored by the US Department of Defense (DOD) Counterdrug Technology Development Program Office, the National Institute of Justice, and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). Administered in May-June 2000, the FRVT 2000 assessed the capabilities of facial recognition systems that were currently available for purchase on the US market. Our selection of this Visionics product does not indicate that it is the ''best'' facial recognition software package for all uses. It was the most appropriate package based on the specific applications and requirements for this specific application. In this assessment, the system configuration was evaluated for effectiveness in identifying individuals by searching for facial images captured from video displays against those stored in a facial image database. An additional criterion was that the system be capable of operating discretely. For this application, an operational facial recognition system would consist of one central computer hosting the master image database with multiple standalone systems configured with duplicates of the master

  11. Factors Affecting Smoking Tendency and Smoking Intensity

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    David, Nissim Ben; Zion, Uri Ben

    2009-01-01

    Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to measure the relative effect of relevant explanatory variable on smoking tendency and smoking intensity. Design/methodology/approach: Using survey data collected by the Israeli Bureau of Statistics in 2003-2004, a probit procedure is estimated for analyzing factors that affect the probability of being a…

  12. Arousal Rather than Basic Emotions Influence Long-Term Recognition Memory in Humans

    PubMed Central

    Marchewka, Artur; Wypych, Marek; Moslehi, Abnoos; Riegel, Monika; Michałowski, Jarosław M.; Jednoróg, Katarzyna

    2016-01-01

    Emotion can influence various cognitive processes, however its impact on memory has been traditionally studied over relatively short retention periods and in line with dimensional models of affect. The present study aimed to investigate emotional effects on long-term recognition memory according to a combined framework of affective dimensions and basic emotions. Images selected from the Nencki Affective Picture System were rated on the scale of affective dimensions and basic emotions. After 6 months, subjects took part in a surprise recognition test during an fMRI session. The more negative the pictures the better they were remembered, but also the more false recognitions they provoked. Similar effects were found for the arousal dimension. Recognition success was greater for pictures with lower intensity of happiness and with higher intensity of surprise, sadness, fear, and disgust. Consecutive fMRI analyses showed a significant activation for remembered (recognized) vs. forgotten (not recognized) images in anterior cingulate and bilateral anterior insula as well as in bilateral caudate nuclei and right thalamus. Further, arousal was found to be the only subjective rating significantly modulating brain activation. Higher subjective arousal evoked higher activation associated with memory recognition in the right caudate and the left cingulate gyrus. Notably, no significant modulation was observed for other subjective ratings, including basic emotion intensities. These results emphasize the crucial role of arousal for long-term recognition memory and support the hypothesis that the memorized material, over time, becomes stored in a distributed cortical network including the core salience network and basal ganglia. PMID:27818626

  13. Arousal Rather than Basic Emotions Influence Long-Term Recognition Memory in Humans.

    PubMed

    Marchewka, Artur; Wypych, Marek; Moslehi, Abnoos; Riegel, Monika; Michałowski, Jarosław M; Jednoróg, Katarzyna

    2016-01-01

    Emotion can influence various cognitive processes, however its impact on memory has been traditionally studied over relatively short retention periods and in line with dimensional models of affect. The present study aimed to investigate emotional effects on long-term recognition memory according to a combined framework of affective dimensions and basic emotions. Images selected from the Nencki Affective Picture System were rated on the scale of affective dimensions and basic emotions. After 6 months, subjects took part in a surprise recognition test during an fMRI session. The more negative the pictures the better they were remembered, but also the more false recognitions they provoked. Similar effects were found for the arousal dimension. Recognition success was greater for pictures with lower intensity of happiness and with higher intensity of surprise, sadness, fear, and disgust. Consecutive fMRI analyses showed a significant activation for remembered (recognized) vs. forgotten (not recognized) images in anterior cingulate and bilateral anterior insula as well as in bilateral caudate nuclei and right thalamus. Further, arousal was found to be the only subjective rating significantly modulating brain activation. Higher subjective arousal evoked higher activation associated with memory recognition in the right caudate and the left cingulate gyrus. Notably, no significant modulation was observed for other subjective ratings, including basic emotion intensities. These results emphasize the crucial role of arousal for long-term recognition memory and support the hypothesis that the memorized material, over time, becomes stored in a distributed cortical network including the core salience network and basal ganglia.

  14. [Neurological disease and facial recognition].

    PubMed

    Kawamura, Mitsuru; Sugimoto, Azusa; Kobayakawa, Mutsutaka; Tsuruya, Natsuko

    2012-07-01

    To discuss the neurological basis of facial recognition, we present our case reports of impaired recognition and a review of previous literature. First, we present a case of infarction and discuss prosopagnosia, which has had a large impact on face recognition research. From a study of patient symptoms, we assume that prosopagnosia may be caused by unilateral right occipitotemporal lesion and right cerebral dominance of facial recognition. Further, circumscribed lesion and degenerative disease may also cause progressive prosopagnosia. Apperceptive prosopagnosia is observed in patients with posterior cortical atrophy (PCA), pathologically considered as Alzheimer's disease, and associative prosopagnosia in frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD). Second, we discuss face recognition as part of communication. Patients with Parkinson disease show social cognitive impairments, such as difficulty in facial expression recognition and deficits in theory of mind as detected by the reading the mind in the eyes test. Pathological and functional imaging studies indicate that social cognitive impairment in Parkinson disease is possibly related to damages in the amygdalae and surrounding limbic system. The social cognitive deficits can be observed in the early stages of Parkinson disease, and even in the prodromal stage, for example, patients with rapid eye movement (REM) sleep behavior disorder (RBD) show impairment in facial expression recognition. Further, patients with myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM 1), which is a multisystem disease that mainly affects the muscles, show social cognitive impairment similar to that of Parkinson disease. Our previous study showed that facial expression recognition impairment of DM 1 patients is associated with lesion in the amygdalae and insulae. Our study results indicate that behaviors and personality traits in DM 1 patients, which are revealed by social cognitive impairment, are attributable to dysfunction of the limbic system.

  15. Identification of Factors That Affect Software Complexity.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kaiser, Javaid

    A survey of computer scientists was conducted to identify factors that affect software complexity. A total of 160 items were selected from the literature to include in a questionnaire sent to 425 individuals who were employees of computer-related businesses in Lawrence and Kansas City. The items were grouped into nine categories called system…

  16. INTERNATIONAL DIFFERENCES IN FACTORS AFFECTING LABOUR MOBILITY.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    SELLIER, F.; ZARKA, C.

    THE GEOGRAPHICAL, OCCUPATIONAL, AND INTERFIRM MOBILITY, AND THE FACTORS AFFECTING THESE MOVEMENTS FOR WORKERS IN FRANCE, ITALY, GERMANY, AND SWEDEN IN THE PERIOD SINCE THE SECOND WORLD WAR ARE STUDIED. DATA OBTAINED FROM INDUSTRIAL SURVEYS AND GENERAL CENSUSES WERE USED TO COMPARE THE FOUR COUNTRIES WITH EACH OTHER AND WITH THE UNITED STATES.…

  17. Factors affecting the ecology of tick-borne encephalitis in Slovenia.

    PubMed

    Knap, N; Avšič-Županc, T

    2015-07-01

    Recognition of factors that influence the formation of tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) foci is important for assessing the risk of humans acquiring the viral infection and for establishing what can be done (within reasonable boundaries) to minimize that risk. In Slovenia, the dynamics of the TBE vector, i.e. Ixodes ricinus, was studied over a 4-year period and the prevalence of infection in ticks was established. Two groups of tick hosts were investigated: deer and small mammals. Red deer have been confirmed as having a direct influence on the incidence of TBE and rodents have been recognized as important sentinels for TBE infections, although their role in the enzootic cycle of the virus still remains to be elucidated. Last, forest and agricultural areas, which are influenced by human activity, are suitable habitats for ticks, and important for TBEV transmission and establishment. Human behaviour is also therefore an important factor and should always be considered in studies of TBE ecology.

  18. Textual emotion recognition for enhancing enterprise computing

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Quan, Changqin; Ren, Fuji

    2016-05-01

    The growing interest in affective computing (AC) brings a lot of valuable research topics that can meet different application demands in enterprise systems. The present study explores a sub area of AC techniques - textual emotion recognition for enhancing enterprise computing. Multi-label emotion recognition in text is able to provide a more comprehensive understanding of emotions than single label emotion recognition. A representation of 'emotion state in text' is proposed to encompass the multidimensional emotions in text. It ensures the description in a formal way of the configurations of basic emotions as well as of the relations between them. Our method allows recognition of the emotions for the words bear indirect emotions, emotion ambiguity and multiple emotions. We further investigate the effect of word order for emotional expression by comparing the performances of bag-of-words model and sequence model for multi-label sentence emotion recognition. The experiments show that the classification results under sequence model are better than under bag-of-words model. And homogeneous Markov model showed promising results of multi-label sentence emotion recognition. This emotion recognition system is able to provide a convenient way to acquire valuable emotion information and to improve enterprise competitive ability in many aspects.

  19. Some factors underlying individual differences in speech recognition on PRESTO: a first report.

    PubMed

    Tamati, Terrin N; Gilbert, Jaimie L; Pisoni, David B

    2013-01-01

    Previous studies investigating speech recognition in adverse listening conditions have found extensive variability among individual listeners. However, little is currently known about the core underlying factors that influence speech recognition abilities. To investigate sensory, perceptual, and neurocognitive differences between good and poor listeners on the Perceptually Robust English Sentence Test Open-set (PRESTO), a new high-variability sentence recognition test under adverse listening conditions. Participants who fell in the upper quartile (HiPRESTO listeners) or lower quartile (LoPRESTO listeners) on key word recognition on sentences from PRESTO in multitalker babble completed a battery of behavioral tasks and self-report questionnaires designed to investigate real-world hearing difficulties, indexical processing skills, and neurocognitive abilities. Young, normal-hearing adults (N = 40) from the Indiana University community participated in the current study. Participants' assessment of their own real-world hearing difficulties was measured with a self-report questionnaire on situational hearing and hearing health history. Indexical processing skills were assessed using a talker discrimination task, a gender discrimination task, and a forced-choice regional dialect categorization task. Neurocognitive abilities were measured with the Auditory Digit Span Forward (verbal short-term memory) and Digit Span Backward (verbal working memory) tests, the Stroop Color and Word Test (attention/inhibition), the WordFam word familiarity test (vocabulary size), the Behavioral Rating Inventory of Executive Function-Adult Version (BRIEF-A) self-report questionnaire on executive function, and two performance subtests of the Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence (WASI) Performance Intelligence Quotient (IQ; nonverbal intelligence). Scores on self-report questionnaires and behavioral tasks were tallied and analyzed by listener group (HiPRESTO and LoPRESTO). The extreme

  20. Some Factors Underlying Individual Differences in Speech Recognition on PRESTO: A First Report

    PubMed Central

    Tamati, Terrin N.; Gilbert, Jaimie L.; Pisoni, David B.

    2013-01-01

    Background Previous studies investigating speech recognition in adverse listening conditions have found extensive variability among individual listeners. However, little is currently known about the core, underlying factors that influence speech recognition abilities. Purpose To investigate sensory, perceptual, and neurocognitive differences between good and poor listeners on PRESTO, a new high-variability sentence recognition test under adverse listening conditions. Research Design Participants who fell in the upper quartile (HiPRESTO listeners) or lower quartile (LoPRESTO listeners) on key word recognition on sentences from PRESTO in multitalker babble completed a battery of behavioral tasks and self-report questionnaires designed to investigate real-world hearing difficulties, indexical processing skills, and neurocognitive abilities. Study Sample Young, normal-hearing adults (N = 40) from the Indiana University community participated in the current study. Data Collection and Analysis Participants’ assessment of their own real-world hearing difficulties was measured with a self-report questionnaire on situational hearing and hearing health history. Indexical processing skills were assessed using a talker discrimination task, a gender discrimination task, and a forced-choice regional dialect categorization task. Neurocognitive abilities were measured with the Auditory Digit Span Forward (verbal short-term memory) and Digit Span Backward (verbal working memory) tests, the Stroop Color and Word Test (attention/inhibition), the WordFam word familiarity test (vocabulary size), the BRIEF-A self-report questionnaire on executive function, and two performance subtests of the WASI Performance IQ (non-verbal intelligence). Scores on self-report questionnaires and behavioral tasks were tallied and analyzed by listener group (HiPRESTO and LoPRESTO). Results The extreme groups did not differ overall on self-reported hearing difficulties in real-world listening environments

  1. A Metasynthesis of Factors Affecting Self-Management of Chronic Illness

    PubMed Central

    SCHULMAN-GREEN, Dena; JASER, Sarah S.; PARK, Chorong; WHITTEMORE, Robin

    2015-01-01

    Aim To identify factors that may serve as facilitators and barriers to self-management described by adults living with chronic illness by conducting a qualitative metasynthesis. Background Self-management is an individuals’ active management of a chronic illness in collaboration with their family members and clinicians. Design Qualitative metasynthesis. Data Sources We analyzed studies (N=53) published between January 2000–May 2013 that described factors affecting self-management in chronic illness as reported by adults aged over 18 years with chronic illness. Review Methods Sandelowsi and Barroso approach to qualitative metasynthesis: literature search; quality appraisal; analysis; and synthesis of findings. Results Collectively, article authors reported on sixteen chronic illnesses, most commonly diabetes (N=28) and cardiovascular disease (N=20). Participants included men and women (mean age=57, range 18–94) from twenty countries representing diverse races and ethnicities. We identified five categories of factors affecting self-management: Personal/Lifestyle Characteristics; Health Status; Resources; Environmental Characteristics; and Health Care System. Factors may interact to affect self-management and may exist on a continuum of positive (facilitator) to negative (barrier). Conclusion Understanding factors that influence self-management may improve assessment of self-management among adults with chronic illness and may inform interventions tailored to meet individuals’ needs and improve health outcomes. PMID:26781649

  2. Factors affecting post-pubertal penile size in patients with hypospadias.

    PubMed

    Moriya, Kimihiko; Nakamura, Michiko; Nishimura, Yoko; Kitta, Takeya; Kanno, Yukiko; Chiba, Hiroki; Kon, Masafumi; Shinohara, Nobuo

    2016-09-01

    To evaluate actual post-pubertal penile size and factors affecting it in hypospadias patients, we retrospectively reviewed medical charts. Hypospadias patients whose external genitalia were categorized into Tanner stage 5, and whose stretched penile length was evaluated at 15 years old or older from April 2008 to April 2015, were enrolled in the present study. Stretched penile length was measured by a single examiner. Actual post-pubertal stretched penile length and factors affecting the post-pubertal stretched penile length were estimated. Statistical analysis was performed using Mann-Whitney U test and univariate and multivariate linear regression models for the determination of independent factors. Thirty patients met the inclusion criteria. Median age at evaluation was 17.2 years. Thirteen and 17 had mild and severe hypospadias, respectively. Endocrinological abnormality was identified in 5. Multivariate analysis showed that the severity of hypospadias and endocrinological abnormality were significant factors affecting stretched penile length. Stretched penile length in 25 patients without endocrinological abnormality was significantly longer than that in those with endocrinological abnormality (p = 0.036). Among patients without endocrinological abnormality, stretched penile length in 13 with severe hypospadias was significantly shorter than that in 12 with mild hypospadias (p = 0.004). While the severity of hypospadias and endocrinological abnormality at post-pubertal evaluation were factors affecting post-pubertal penile size, stretched penile length in patients with severe hypospadias was shorter even in cases without endocrinological abnormality. These results suggest that severe hypospadias is not only a disorder of urethral development, but also a disorder of penile development.

  3. Factors affecting rotator cuff healing.

    PubMed

    Mall, Nathan A; Tanaka, Miho J; Choi, Luke S; Paletta, George A

    2014-05-07

    Several studies have noted that increasing age is a significant factor for diminished rotator cuff healing, while biomechanical studies have suggested the reason for this may be an inferior healing environment in older patients. Larger tears and fatty infiltration or atrophy negatively affect rotator cuff healing. Arthroscopic rotator cuff repair, double-row repairs, performing a concomitant acromioplasty, and the use of platelet-rich plasma (PRP) do not demonstrate an improvement in structural healing over mini-open rotator cuff repairs, single-row repairs, not performing an acromioplasty, or not using PRP. There is conflicting evidence to support postoperative rehabilitation protocols using early motion over immobilization following rotator cuff repair.

  4. Factors affecting corticosteroid concentrations in yellow-bellied marmots.

    PubMed

    Armitage, K B

    1991-01-01

    1. Bound and total corticosteroid concentrations of yellow-bellied marmots (Marmota flaviventris) were lowest in May after emergence from hibernation and peaked in August prior to immergence. 2. Total corticosteroids were affected by age but not by sex or reproductive status. 3. There was no consistent relationship between measures of population density and concentrations of corticosteroids; when a significant relationship occurred, only 22-34% of the variation was explained. 4. Social status and social behavior were the major factors affecting corticosteroid concentrations.

  5. Factors affecting Iran`s future. Final report

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

    Sinai, J.

    1993-05-28

    This study examines the factors affecting Iran`s future by focusing on the demographic, economic, and military trends in Iran and their impact on the country`s national security objectives in the next decade. The paper also assesses the implications of an economic embargo on Iran and potential Iranian threats to regional and United States national interests.

  6. Sleep deprivation impairs the accurate recognition of human emotions.

    PubMed

    van der Helm, Els; Gujar, Ninad; Walker, Matthew P

    2010-03-01

    Investigate the impact of sleep deprivation on the ability to recognize the intensity of human facial emotions. Randomized total sleep-deprivation or sleep-rested conditions, involving between-group and within-group repeated measures analysis. Experimental laboratory study. Thirty-seven healthy participants, (21 females) aged 18-25 y, were randomly assigned to the sleep control (SC: n = 17) or total sleep deprivation group (TSD: n = 20). Participants performed an emotional face recognition task, in which they evaluated 3 different affective face categories: Sad, Happy, and Angry, each ranging in a gradient from neutral to increasingly emotional. In the TSD group, the task was performed once under conditions of sleep deprivation, and twice under sleep-rested conditions following different durations of sleep recovery. In the SC group, the task was performed twice under sleep-rested conditions, controlling for repeatability. In the TSD group, when sleep-deprived, there was a marked and significant blunting in the recognition of Angry and Happy affective expressions in the moderate (but not extreme) emotional intensity range; differences that were most reliable and significant in female participants. No change in the recognition of Sad expressions was observed. These recognition deficits were, however, ameliorated following one night of recovery sleep. No changes in task performance were observed in the SC group. Sleep deprivation selectively impairs the accurate judgment of human facial emotions, especially threat relevant (Anger) and reward relevant (Happy) categories, an effect observed most significantly in females. Such findings suggest that sleep loss impairs discrete affective neural systems, disrupting the identification of salient affective social cues.

  7. Face Recognition Is Affected by Similarity in Spatial Frequency Range to a Greater Degree Than Within-Category Object Recognition

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Collin, Charles A.; Liu, Chang Hong; Troje, Nikolaus F.; McMullen, Patricia A.; Chaudhuri, Avi

    2004-01-01

    Previous studies have suggested that face identification is more sensitive to variations in spatial frequency content than object recognition, but none have compared how sensitive the 2 processes are to variations in spatial frequency overlap (SFO). The authors tested face and object matching accuracy under varying SFO conditions. Their results…

  8. Are Affective Factors a Good Predictor of Science Achievement? Examining the Role of Affective Factors Based on PISA 2006

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ozel, Murat; Caglak, Serdar; Erdogan, Mehmet

    2013-01-01

    This study investigated how affective factors like attitude and motivation contribute to science achievement in PISA 2006 using linear structural modeling. The data set of PISA 2006 collected from 4942 fifteen-year-old Turkish students (2290 females, 2652 males) was used for the statistical analyses. A total of 42 selected items on a four point…

  9. Bidirectional Modulation of Recognition Memory

    PubMed Central

    Ho, Jonathan W.; Poeta, Devon L.; Jacobson, Tara K.; Zolnik, Timothy A.; Neske, Garrett T.; Connors, Barry W.

    2015-01-01

    Perirhinal cortex (PER) has a well established role in the familiarity-based recognition of individual items and objects. For example, animals and humans with perirhinal damage are unable to distinguish familiar from novel objects in recognition memory tasks. In the normal brain, perirhinal neurons respond to novelty and familiarity by increasing or decreasing firing rates. Recent work also implicates oscillatory activity in the low-beta and low-gamma frequency bands in sensory detection, perception, and recognition. Using optogenetic methods in a spontaneous object exploration (SOR) task, we altered recognition memory performance in rats. In the SOR task, normal rats preferentially explore novel images over familiar ones. We modulated exploratory behavior in this task by optically stimulating channelrhodopsin-expressing perirhinal neurons at various frequencies while rats looked at novel or familiar 2D images. Stimulation at 30–40 Hz during looking caused rats to treat a familiar image as if it were novel by increasing time looking at the image. Stimulation at 30–40 Hz was not effective in increasing exploration of novel images. Stimulation at 10–15 Hz caused animals to treat a novel image as familiar by decreasing time looking at the image, but did not affect looking times for images that were already familiar. We conclude that optical stimulation of PER at different frequencies can alter visual recognition memory bidirectionally. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Recognition of novelty and familiarity are important for learning, memory, and decision making. Perirhinal cortex (PER) has a well established role in the familiarity-based recognition of individual items and objects, but how novelty and familiarity are encoded and transmitted in the brain is not known. Perirhinal neurons respond to novelty and familiarity by changing firing rates, but recent work suggests that brain oscillations may also be important for recognition. In this study, we showed that

  10. Face memory and face recognition in children and adolescents with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: A systematic review.

    PubMed

    Romani, Maria; Vigliante, Miriam; Faedda, Noemi; Rossetti, Serena; Pezzuti, Lina; Guidetti, Vincenzo; Cardona, Francesco

    2018-06-01

    This review focuses on facial recognition abilities in children and adolescents with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). A systematic review, using PRISMA guidelines, was conducted to identify original articles published prior to May 2017 pertaining to memory, face recognition, affect recognition, facial expression recognition and recall of faces in children and adolescents with ADHD. The qualitative synthesis based on different studies shows a particular focus of the research on facial affect recognition without paying similar attention to the structural encoding of facial recognition. In this review, we further investigate facial recognition abilities in children and adolescents with ADHD, providing synthesis of the results observed in the literature, while detecting face recognition tasks used on face processing abilities in ADHD and identifying aspects not yet explored. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  11. Factors affecting cardiac rehabilitation referral by physician specialty.

    PubMed

    Grace, Sherry L; Grewal, Keerat; Stewart, Donna E

    2008-01-01

    Cardiac rehabilitation (CR) is widely underutilized because of multiple factors including physician referral practices. Previous research has shown CR referral varies by type of provider, with cardiologists more likely to refer than primary care physicians. The objective of this study was to compare factors affecting CR referral in primary care physicians versus cardiac specialists. A cross-sectional survey of a stratified random sample of 510 primary care physicians and cardiac specialists (cardiologists or cardiovascular surgeons) in Ontario identified through the Canadian Medical Directory Online was administered. One hundred four primary care physicians and 81 cardiac specialists responded to the 26-item investigator-generated survey examining medical, demographic, attitudinal, and health system factors affecting CR referral. Primary care physicians were more likely to endorse lack of familiarity with CR site locations (P < .001), lack of standardized referral forms (P < .001), inconvenience (P = .04), program quality (P = .004), and lack of discharge communication from CR (P = .001) as factors negatively impacting CR referral practices than cardiac specialists. Cardiac specialists were significantly more likely to perceive that their colleagues and department would regularly refer patients to CR than primary care physicians (P < .001). Where differences emerged, primary care physicians were more likely to perceive factors that would impede CR referral, some of which are modifiable. Marketing CR site locations, provision of standardized referral forms, and ensuring discharge summaries are communicated to primary care physicians may improve their willingness to refer to CR.

  12. The range of confidence scales does not affect the relationship between confidence and accuracy in recognition memory.

    PubMed

    Tekin, Eylul; Roediger, Henry L

    2017-01-01

    Researchers use a wide range of confidence scales when measuring the relationship between confidence and accuracy in reports from memory, with the highest number usually representing the greatest confidence (e.g., 4-point, 20-point, and 100-point scales). The assumption seems to be that the range of the scale has little bearing on the confidence-accuracy relationship. In two old/new recognition experiments, we directly investigated this assumption using word lists (Experiment 1) and faces (Experiment 2) by employing 4-, 5-, 20-, and 100-point scales. Using confidence-accuracy characteristic (CAC) plots, we asked whether confidence ratings would yield similar CAC plots, indicating comparability in use of the scales. For the comparisons, we divided 100-point and 20-point scales into bins of either four or five and asked, for example, whether confidence ratings of 4, 16-20, and 76-100 would yield similar values. The results show that, for both types of material, the different scales yield similar CAC plots. Notably, when subjects express high confidence, regardless of which scale they use, they are likely to be very accurate (even though they studied 100 words and 50 faces in each list in 2 experiments). The scales seem convertible from one to the other, and choice of scale range probably does not affect research into the relationship between confidence and accuracy. High confidence indicates high accuracy in recognition in the present experiments.

  13. Do congenital prosopagnosia and the other-race effect affect the same face recognition mechanisms?

    PubMed Central

    Esins, Janina; Schultz, Johannes; Wallraven, Christian; Bülthoff, Isabelle

    2014-01-01

    Congenital prosopagnosia (CP), an innate impairment in recognizing faces, as well as the other-race effect (ORE), a disadvantage in recognizing faces of foreign races, both affect face recognition abilities. Are the same face processing mechanisms affected in both situations? To investigate this question, we tested three groups of 21 participants: German congenital prosopagnosics, South Korean participants and German controls on three different tasks involving faces and objects. First we tested all participants on the Cambridge Face Memory Test in which they had to recognize Caucasian target faces in a 3-alternative-forced-choice task. German controls performed better than Koreans who performed better than prosopagnosics. In the second experiment, participants rated the similarity of Caucasian faces that differed parametrically in either features or second-order relations (configuration). Prosopagnosics were less sensitive to configuration changes than both other groups. In addition, while all groups were more sensitive to changes in features than in configuration, this difference was smaller in Koreans. In the third experiment, participants had to learn exemplars of artificial objects, natural objects, and faces and recognize them among distractors of the same category. Here prosopagnosics performed worse than participants in the other two groups only when they were tested on face stimuli. In sum, Koreans and prosopagnosic participants differed from German controls in different ways in all tests. This suggests that German congenital prosopagnosics perceive Caucasian faces differently than do Korean participants. Importantly, our results suggest that different processing impairments underlie the ORE and CP. PMID:25324757

  14. Emotion recognition in borderline personality disorder: effects of emotional information on negative bias.

    PubMed

    Fenske, Sabrina; Lis, Stefanie; Liebke, Lisa; Niedtfeld, Inga; Kirsch, Peter; Mier, Daniela

    2015-01-01

    Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is characterized by severe deficits in social interactions, which might be linked to deficits in emotion recognition. Research on emotion recognition abilities in BPD revealed heterogeneous results, ranging from deficits to heightened sensitivity. The most stable findings point to an impairment in the evaluation of neutral facial expressions as neutral, as well as to a negative bias in emotion recognition; that is the tendency to attribute negative emotions to neutral expressions, or in a broader sense to report a more negative emotion category than depicted. However, it remains unclear which contextual factors influence the occurrence of this negative bias. Previous studies suggest that priming by preceding emotional information and also constrained processing time might augment the emotion recognition deficit in BPD. To test these assumptions, 32 female BPD patients and 31 healthy females, matched for age and education, participated in an emotion recognition study, in which every facial expression was preceded by either a positive, neutral or negative scene. Furthermore, time constraints for processing were varied by presenting the facial expressions with short (100 ms) or long duration (up to 3000 ms) in two separate blocks. BPD patients showed a significant deficit in emotion recognition for neutral and positive facial expression, associated with a significant negative bias. In BPD patients, this emotion recognition deficit was differentially affected by preceding emotional information and time constraints, with a greater influence of emotional information during long face presentations and a greater influence of neutral information during short face presentations. Our results are in line with previous findings supporting the existence of a negative bias in emotion recognition in BPD patients, and provide further insights into biased social perceptions in BPD patients.

  15. Exploring factors affecting registered nurses' pursuit of postgraduate education in Australia.

    PubMed

    Ng, Linda; Eley, Robert; Tuckett, Anthony

    2016-12-01

    The aim of this study was to explore the factors influencing registered nurses' pursuit of postgraduate education in specialty nursing practice in Australia. Despite the increased requirement for postgraduate education for advanced practice, little has been reported on the contributory factors involved in the decision to undertake further education. The Nurses' Attitudes Towards Postgraduate Education instrument was administered to 1632 registered nurses from the Nurses and Midwives e-Cohort Study across Australia, with a response rate of 35.9% (n = 568). Data reduction techniques using principal component analysis with varimax rotation were used. The analysis identified a three-factor solution for 14 items, accounting for 52.5% of the variance of the scale: "facilitators," "professional recognition," and "inhibiting factors." Facilitators of postgraduate education accounted for 28.5% of the variance, including: (i) improves knowledge; (ii) increases nurses' confidence in clinical decision-making; (iii) enhances nurses' careers; (iv) improves critical thinking; (v) improves nurses' clinical skill; and (vi) increased job satisfaction. This new instrument has potential clinical and research applications to support registered nurses' pursuit of postgraduate education. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.

  16. Factors Affecting Radiologist's PACS Usage.

    PubMed

    Forsberg, Daniel; Rosipko, Beverly; Sunshine, Jeffrey L

    2016-12-01

    The purpose of this study was to determine if any of the factors radiologist, examination category, time of week, and week effect PACS usage, with PACS usage defined as the sequential order of computer commands issued by a radiologist in a PACS during interpretation and dictation. We initially hypothesized that only radiologist and examination category would have significant effects on PACS usage. Command logs covering 8 weeks of PACS usage were analyzed. For each command trace (describing performed activities of an attending radiologist interpreting a single examination), the PACS usage variables number of commands, number of command classes, bigram repetitiveness, and time to read were extracted. Generalized linear models were used to determine the significance of the factors on the PACS usage variables. The statistical results confirmed the initial hypothesis that radiologist and examination category affect PACS usage and that the factors week and time of week to a large extent have no significant effect. As such, this work provides direction for continued efforts to analyze system data to better understand PACS utilization, which in turn can provide input to enable optimal utilization and configuration of corresponding systems. These continued efforts were, in this work, exemplified by a more detailed analysis using PACS usage profiles, which revealed insights directly applicable to improve PACS utilization through modified system configuration.

  17. Cognitive Factors Affecting Freeze-like Behavior in Humans.

    PubMed

    Alban, Michael W; Pocknell, Victoria

    2017-01-01

    Contemporary research on survival-related defensive behaviors has identified physiological markers of freeze/flight/fight. Our research focused on cognitive factors associated with freeze-like behavior in humans. Study 1 tested if an explicit decision to freeze is associated with the psychophysiological state of freezing. Heart rate deceleration occurred when participants chose to freeze. Study 2 varied the efficacy of freezing relative to other defense options and found "freeze" was responsive to variations in the perceived effectiveness of alternative actions. Study 3 tested if individual differences in motivational orientation affect preference for a "freeze" option when the efficacy of options is held constant. A trend in the predicted direction suggested that naturally occurring cognitions led loss-avoiders to select "freeze" more often than reward-seekers. In combination, our attention to the cognitive factors affecting freeze-like behavior in humans represents a preliminary step in addressing an important but neglected research area.

  18. Factors affecting the use of hardwood flooring in urban rehabilitation

    Treesearch

    Robert L. Jr. Nevel; Robert L. Jr. Nevel

    1973-01-01

    The continued use of hardwood flooring in urban rehabilitation is being threatened. A study of the influences that determine the choice of flooring indicates that economic, physical, or technological factors dominate. Most factors affecting the use of hardwood flooring are related to cost, availability, and compatibility. Of these factors, time and cost of installation...

  19. Aging and solid shape recognition: Vision and haptics.

    PubMed

    Norman, J Farley; Cheeseman, Jacob R; Adkins, Olivia C; Cox, Andrea G; Rogers, Connor E; Dowell, Catherine J; Baxter, Michael W; Norman, Hideko F; Reyes, Cecia M

    2015-10-01

    The ability of 114 younger and older adults to recognize naturally-shaped objects was evaluated in three experiments. The participants viewed or haptically explored six randomly-chosen bell peppers (Capsicum annuum) in a study session and were later required to judge whether each of twelve bell peppers was "old" (previously presented during the study session) or "new" (not presented during the study session). When recognition memory was tested immediately after study, the younger adults' (Experiment 1) performance for vision and haptics was identical when the individual study objects were presented once. Vision became superior to haptics, however, when the individual study objects were presented multiple times. When 10- and 20-min delays (Experiment 2) were inserted in between study and test sessions, no significant differences occurred between vision and haptics: recognition performance in both modalities was comparable. When the recognition performance of older adults was evaluated (Experiment 3), a negative effect of age was found for visual shape recognition (younger adults' overall recognition performance was 60% higher). There was no age effect, however, for haptic shape recognition. The results of the present experiments indicate that the visual recognition of natural object shape is different from haptic recognition in multiple ways: visual shape recognition can be superior to that of haptics and is affected by aging, while haptic shape recognition is less accurate and unaffected by aging. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  20. 8 CFR 1292.2 - Organizations qualified for recognition; requests for recognition; withdrawal of recognition...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ...; requests for recognition; withdrawal of recognition; accreditation of representatives; roster. 1292.2...; requests for recognition; withdrawal of recognition; accreditation of representatives; roster. (a) Qualifications of organizations. A non-profit religious, charitable, social service, or similar organization...

  1. Self-recognition in retarded children.

    PubMed

    Hill, S D; Tomlin, C

    1981-03-01

    This study was designed to investigate the relationship between cognitive and affective development. Young preverbal retarded children watched TV images of themselves with faces marked or unmarked and of a peer whose face was marked. We used the objective technique of increased mark-directed responses as evidence of self-recognition and rated the children's reactions as they watched these images. The emergence of self-recognition was closely tied to the maturity of the children's general responsiveness to their reflections. The Down's syndrome children made a broad range of responses, including the curiosity and self-conscious behaviors characteristic of normal children during the second year of life, and all except one of these children showed evidence that they recognized their images. In contrast, the range of behaviors displayed by multihandicapped children was greatly restricted and similar to children in the first year of life. Less than half of these children showed an emergence of self-recognition.

  2. Factors Affecting Sleep Quality of Patients in Intensive Care Unit

    PubMed Central

    Bihari, Shailesh; Doug McEvoy, R.; Matheson, Elisha; Kim, Susan; Woodman, Richard J.; Bersten, Andrew D.

    2012-01-01

    Introduction: Sleep disturbance is a frequently overlooked complication of intensive care unit (ICU) stay. Aim: To evaluate sleep quality among patients admitted to ICU and investigate environmental and non-environmental factors that affect sleep quality in ICU. Methods: Over a 22-month period, we consecutively recruited patients who spent ≥ 2 nights post-endotracheal extubation in ICU and who were orientated to time, place, and person on the day of discharge. Self-reported sleep quality, according to a modified Freedman questionnaire, which provided data on self-reported ICU sleep quality in ICU and environmental factors affecting sleep quality in the ICU, were collected. We also investigated non-environmental factors, such as severity of illness, ICU interventions, and medications that can affect sleep quality. Results: Fifty males and 50 females were recruited with a mean (± SD) age of 65.1 ± 15.2 years. APACHE II score at admission to ICU was 18.1 ± 7.5 with duration of stay 6.7 ± 6.5days. Self-reported sleep quality score at home (1 = worst; 10 = best) was 7.0 ± 2.2; this decreased to 4.0 ± 1.7 during their stay in ICU (p < 0.001). In multivariate analysis with APACHE III as severity of illness (R2 = 0.25), factors [exp(b)(95% CI), p value] which significantly affected sleep in ICU were sex [0.37(0.19-0.72), p < 0.01], age and sex interaction [1.02(1.01-1.03), p < 0.01], bedside phone [0.92(0.87-0.97), p < 0.01], prior quality of sleep at home [1.30(1.05-1.62), p = 0.02], and use of steroids [0.82(0.69-0.98), p = 0.03] during the stay in ICU. Conclusion: Reduced sleep quality is a common problem in ICU with a multifactorial etiology. Citation: Bihari S; McEvoy RD; Kim S; Woodman RJ; Bersten AD. Factors affecting sleep quality of patients in intensive care unit. J Clin Sleep Med 2012;8(3):301-307. PMID:22701388

  3. An Analysis of Factors That Affect the Educational Performance of Agricultural Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Greenway, Gina

    2012-01-01

    Many factors contribute to student achievement. This study focuses on three areas: how students learn, how student personality type affects performance, and how course format affects performance outcomes. The analysis sought to improve understanding of the direction and magnitude with which each of these factors impacts student success. Improved…

  4. Assessment of Factor Affecting Institutional Performance: The Case of Wolaita Sodo University

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Shibru, Sintayehu; Bibiso, Mesfin; Ousman, Kedir

    2017-01-01

    The purpose of this study is to explore factors that affect institutional performance of Wolaita Sodo University. The study has identified middle level manager's perceptions toward institutional performance to indicate the key factors that seem to affect the performance of the university. Data were collected using structured questionnaires and…

  5. Schizotypy and impaired basic face recognition? Another non-confirmatory study.

    PubMed

    Bell, Vaughan; Halligan, Peter

    2015-12-01

    Although schizotypy has been found to be reliably associated with a reduced recognition of facial affect, the few studies that have tested the association between basic face recognition abilities and schizotypy have found mixed results. This study formally tested the association in a large non-clinical sample with established neurological measures of face recognition. Two hundred and twenty-seven participants completed the Oxford-Liverpool Inventory of Feelings and Experiences schizotypy scale and completed the Famous Faces Test and the Cardiff Repeated Recognition Test for Faces. No association between any schizotypal dimension and performance on either of the facial recognition and learning tests was found. The null results can be accepted with a high degree of confidence. Further additional evidence is provided for a lack of association between schizotypy and basic face recognition deficits. © 2014 Wiley Publishing Asia Pty Ltd.

  6. [Services for the early recognition of psychoses and bipolar disorders in Germany: inventory survey study].

    PubMed

    Leopold, K; Nikolaides, A; Bauer, M; Bechdolf, A; Correll, C U; Jessen, F; Juckel, G; Karow, A; Lambert, M; Klosterkötter, J; Ruhrmann, S; Pfeiffer, S; Pfennig, A

    2015-03-01

    In order to successfully implement early recognition and intervention services in psychiatry, it is crucial to improve the attention to and recognition of severe mental disorders and to establish low threshold services that are available at short notice for diagnostic and treatment procedures. For this inventory survey study, questionnaires regarding the presence and type of early recognition services for psychoses and bipolar disorders were sent separately to German psychiatric hospitals by mail in September and October 2012. Additionally, an internet search and telephone inquiries as well as an alignment of responses from the two surveys and with network lists from published and ongoing early recognition studies were performed. Response rates in the psychosis and bipolar disorder surveys were 21 % (51/246) and 36 % (91/255), respectively. Three quarters of participating institutions reported at least an interest in creating an early recognition service for psychoses and one half for bipolar disorders. Overall, 26 institutions were identified that already offer early recognition of psychoses and 18 of bipolar disorders. Of these 16 are low threshold early recognition centres with direct access at short notice for first-episode patients and person from at-risk groups and separate specific public relations work. Of these early recognition centres five have a separate and easy to find homepage available; in an additional 15 institutions the specific websites are part of the institutions homepage. Despite widespread interest and the increasingly recognized importance of early recognition and intervention services in psychiatry, there is currently no nationwide coverage with early recognition services for severe mental disorders in Germany. Public relations and information activities are not (yet) sufficiently provided to reach affected persons and their environment. Common standards are (still) missing and interdisciplinary models are sparse. To correct these

  7. Thinking versus feeling: differentiating between cognitive and affective components of perceived cancer risk.

    PubMed

    Janssen, Eva; van Osch, Liesbeth; Lechner, Lilian; Candel, Math; de Vries, Hein

    2012-01-01

    Despite the increased recognition of affect in guiding probability estimates, perceived risk has been mainly operationalised in a cognitive way and the differentiation between rational and intuitive judgements is largely unexplored. This study investigated the validity of a measurement instrument differentiating cognitive and affective probability beliefs and examined whether behavioural decision making is mainly guided by cognition or affect. Data were obtained from four surveys focusing on smoking (N=268), fruit consumption (N=989), sunbed use (N=251) and sun protection (N=858). Correlational analyses showed that affective likelihood was more strongly correlated with worry compared to cognitive likelihood and confirmatory factor analysis provided support for a two-factor model of perceived likelihood instead of a one-factor model (i.e. cognition and affect combined). Furthermore, affective likelihood was significantly associated with the various outcome variables, whereas the association for cognitive likelihood was absent in three studies. The findings provide support for the construct validity of the measures used to assess cognitive and affective likelihood. Since affective likelihood might be a better predictor of health behaviour than the commonly used cognitive operationalisation, both dimensions should be considered in future research.

  8. Ecological factors affecting gene flow in the Brachionus plicatilis complex (Rotifera).

    PubMed

    Gómez, Africa; Carmona, María José; Serra, Manuel

    1997-07-01

    We investigated how adaptation to salinity and temperature acts as reproductive barriers in three sympatric species from the Brachionus plicatilis species complex. These species co-occur in a salt marsh in Spain, and a previous electrophoretic study of variation revealed no hybrids between them. A factorial experiment was designed to test for differences in population growth rates and patterns of bisexual reproduction. The design combined representative strains from each species in different salinity and temperature conditions, representing the range over which these rotifers are found in their natural environment. We found differences in the growth response of the three species to both factors and in the pattern of bisexual reproduction. These differences help to explain patterns of succession observed in the field. We conclude that these ecological factors, together with mate recognition systems, account for the absence of gene flow in these sympatric species.

  9. Exploring Factors Affecting Emergency Medical Services Staffs' Decision about Transporting Medical Patients to Medical Facilities.

    PubMed

    Ebrahimian, Abbasali; Seyedin, Hesam; Jamshidi-Orak, Roohangiz; Masoumi, Gholamreza

    2014-01-01

    Transfer of patients in medical emergency situations is one of the most important missions of emergency medical service (EMS) staffs. So this study was performed to explore affecting factors in EMS staffs' decision during transporting of patients in medical situations to medical facilities. The participants in this qualitative study consisted of 18 EMS staffs working in prehospital care facilities in Tehran, Iran. Data were gathered through semistructured interviews. The data were analyzed using a content analysis approach. The data analysis revealed the following theme: "degree of perceived risk in EMS staffs and their patients." This theme consisted of two main categories: (1) patient's condition' and (2) the context of the EMS mission'. The patent's condition category emerged from "physical health statuses," "socioeconomic statuses," and "cultural background" subcategories. The context of the EMS mission also emerged from two subcategories of "characteristics of the mission" and EMS staffs characteristics'. EMS system managers can consider adequate technical, informational, financial, educational, and emotional supports to facilitate the decision making of their staffs. Also, development of an effective and user-friendly checklist and scoring system was recommended for quick and easy recognition of patients' needs for transportation in a prehospital situation.

  10. The influence of averaging and noisy decision strategies on the recognition memory ROC.

    PubMed

    Malmberg, Kenneth J; Xu, Jing

    2006-02-01

    Many single- and dual-process models of recognition memory predict that the ratings and remember-know receiver operating characteristics (ROCs) are the same, but Rotello, Macmillan, and Reeder (2004) reported that the slopes of the remember-know and ratings z-transformed ROCs (zROCs) are different The authors show that averaging introduces nonlinearities to the form of the zROC and that ratings and remember-know zROCs are indistinguishable when constructed in a conventional manner. The authors show, further, that some nonoptimal decision strategies have a distinctive, nonlinear effect on the form of the single-process continuous-state zROC. The conclusion is that many factors having nothing to do with the nature of recognition memory can affect the shape of zROCs, and that therefore, the shape of the zROC does not, alone, characterize different memory models.

  11. Factors affecting onset of puberty in Denizli province in Turkey.

    PubMed

    Semiz, Serap; Kurt, Funda; Kurt, Devrim Tanil; Zencir, Mehmet; Sevinç, Ozgür

    2009-01-01

    The relationship between the possible factors affecting pubertal onset and pubertal timing was investigated in the Denizli province in Turkey. A total number of 3311 subjects (1562 girls, 1749 boys) aged 6-16.5 years participated in this study. Body mass index (BMI) was calculated. Pubertal stages were assessed according to methods of Marshall and Tanner. Testicular volume was determined using Prader orchidometer. Menarcheal age was recorded. All parents and students completed different questionnaires on demographic variables affecting pubertal timing such as socioeconomic conditions, psychosocial factors, exercise, nutritional status, chronic diseases, migration and birth weight. Using distribution percentiles of pubertal stages according to age, the relation between pubertal timing and factors affecting puberty was investigated. There was no significant association between exercise, birth weight, migration, chronic disease, and socioeconomic status and age of puberty onset. Menarcheal age of overweight and obese girls was significantly lower than that of girls with normal weight. In-family stress was the cause of early puberty in girls and of delayed puberty in boys.

  12. Emotion Recognition in Children and Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorders

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kuusikko, Sanna; Haapsamo, Helena; Jansson-Verkasalo, Eira; Hurtig, Tuula; Mattila, Marja-Leena; Ebeling, Hanna; Jussila, Katja; Bolte, Sven; Moilanen, Irma

    2009-01-01

    We examined upper facial basic emotion recognition in 57 subjects with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) (M = 13.5 years) and 33 typically developing controls (M = 14.3 years) by using a standardized computer-aided measure (The Frankfurt Test and Training of Facial Affect Recognition, FEFA). The ASD group scored lower than controls on the total…

  13. Improving language models for radiology speech recognition.

    PubMed

    Paulett, John M; Langlotz, Curtis P

    2009-02-01

    Speech recognition systems have become increasingly popular as a means to produce radiology reports, for reasons both of efficiency and of cost. However, the suboptimal recognition accuracy of these systems can affect the productivity of the radiologists creating the text reports. We analyzed a database of over two million de-identified radiology reports to determine the strongest determinants of word frequency. Our results showed that body site and imaging modality had a similar influence on the frequency of words and of three-word phrases as did the identity of the speaker. These findings suggest that the accuracy of speech recognition systems could be significantly enhanced by further tailoring their language models to body site and imaging modality, which are readily available at the time of report creation.

  14. Factors affecting the innovative practice of nurse managers in health organisations.

    PubMed

    Williams, Lindy; McMurray, Adela J

    This exploratory study reports on two surveys conducted in metropolitan and rural health organisations. Two questionnaires consisting of open and closed questions were distributed to a total of 340 respondents resulting in 176 usable responses, yielding a response rate of 53%. The findings revealed that nurse managers require fairness, trust, recognition, supervisory encouragement, organisational support, and reward for efforts. These are key aspects of organisational climate, which support innovative practice. Experience and innovation were significantly related and other factors such as, management structures and management styles, also had an impact on nurse managers' ability to exhibit innovative behaviour in the 21st Century workplace.

  15. An effective method for cirrhosis recognition based on multi-feature fusion

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chen, Yameng; Sun, Gengxin; Lei, Yiming; Zhang, Jinpeng

    2018-04-01

    Liver disease is one of the main causes of human healthy problem. Cirrhosis, of course, is the critical phase during the development of liver lesion, especially the hepatoma. Many clinical cases are still influenced by the subjectivity of physicians in some degree, and some objective factors such as illumination, scale, edge blurring will affect the judgment of clinicians. Then the subjectivity will affect the accuracy of diagnosis and the treatment of patients. In order to solve the difficulty above and improve the recognition rate of liver cirrhosis, we propose a method of multi-feature fusion to obtain more robust representations of texture in ultrasound liver images, the texture features we extract include local binary pattern(LBP), gray level co-occurrence matrix(GLCM) and histogram of oriented gradient(HOG). In this paper, we firstly make a fusion of multi-feature to recognize cirrhosis and normal liver based on parallel combination concept, and the experimental results shows that the classifier is effective for cirrhosis recognition which is evaluated by the satisfying classification rate, sensitivity and specificity of receiver operating characteristic(ROC), and cost time. Through the method we proposed, it will be helpful to improve the accuracy of diagnosis of cirrhosis and prevent the development of liver lesion towards hepatoma.

  16. Factors affecting the periapical healing process of endodontically treated teeth.

    PubMed

    Holland, Roberto; Gomes, João Eduardo; Cintra, Luciano Tavares Angelo; Queiroz, Índia Olinta de Azevedo; Estrela, Carlos

    2017-01-01

    Tissue repair is an essential process that reestablishes tissue integrity and regular function. Nevertheless, different therapeutic factors and clinical conditions may interfere in this process of periapical healing. This review aims to discuss the important therapeutic factors associated with the clinical protocol used during root canal treatment and to highlight the systemic conditions associated with the periapical healing process of endodontically treated teeth. The antibacterial strategies indicated in the conventional treatment of an inflamed and infected pulp and the modulation of the host's immune response may assist in tissue repair, if wound healing has been hindered by infection. Systemic conditions, such as diabetes mellitus and hypertension, can also inhibit wound healing. The success of root canal treatment is affected by the correct choice of clinical protocol. These factors are dependent on the sanitization process (instrumentation, irrigant solution, irrigating strategies, and intracanal dressing), the apical limit of the root canal preparation and obturation, and the quality of the sealer. The challenges affecting the healing process of endodontically treated teeth include control of the inflammation of pulp or infectious processes and simultaneous neutralization of unpredictable provocations to the periapical tissue. Along with these factors, one must understand the local and general clinical conditions (systemic health of the patient) that affect the outcome of root canal treatment prediction.

  17. Nurse aide decision making in nursing homes: factors affecting empowerment.

    PubMed

    Chaudhuri, Tanni; Yeatts, Dale E; Cready, Cynthia M

    2013-09-01

    To evaluate factors affecting structural empowerment among nurse aides in nursing homes. Structural empowerment can be defined as the actual rather than perceived ability to make autonomous decisions within an organisation. Given the paucity of research on the subject, this study helps to close the gap by identifying factors that affect nurse aide empowerment, that is, decision-making among nurse aides. The data for the study come from self-administered questionnaires distributed to direct-care workers (nurse aides) in 11 nursing homes in a southern state in the USA. Ordinary least square regression models were estimated to analyse the effects of demographic predictors, personal factors (competency, emotional exhaustion and positive attitude) and structural characteristics (coworker and supervisor support, information availability and shared governance) on nurse aide decision-making. Findings suggest race among demographic predictors, emotional exhaustion among personal characteristics, and supervisor support, and shared governance among structural factors, significantly affect nurse aide decision-making. It is important to explore race as one of the central determinants of structural empowerment among nurse aides. In addition, the nature and type of emotional exhaustion that propels decision-making needs to be further examined. The study shows the importance of shared governance and supervisor support for fostering nurse aide empowerment. © 2013 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

  18. Good initialization model with constrained body structure for scene text recognition

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhu, Anna; Wang, Guoyou; Dong, Yangbo

    2016-09-01

    Scene text recognition has gained significant attention in the computer vision community. Character detection and recognition are the promise of text recognition and affect the overall performance to a large extent. We proposed a good initialization model for scene character recognition from cropped text regions. We use constrained character's body structures with deformable part-based models to detect and recognize characters in various backgrounds. The character's body structures are achieved by an unsupervised discriminative clustering approach followed by a statistical model and a self-build minimum spanning tree model. Our method utilizes part appearance and location information, and combines character detection and recognition in cropped text region together. The evaluation results on the benchmark datasets demonstrate that our proposed scheme outperforms the state-of-the-art methods both on scene character recognition and word recognition aspects.

  19. Oxytocin improves emotion recognition for older males.

    PubMed

    Campbell, Anna; Ruffman, Ted; Murray, Janice E; Glue, Paul

    2014-10-01

    Older adults (≥60 years) perform worse than young adults (18-30 years) when recognizing facial expressions of emotion. The hypothesized cause of these changes might be declines in neurotransmitters that could affect information processing within the brain. In the present study, we examined the neuropeptide oxytocin that functions to increase neurotransmission. Research suggests that oxytocin benefits the emotion recognition of less socially able individuals. Men tend to have lower levels of oxytocin and older men tend to have worse emotion recognition than older women; therefore, there is reason to think that older men will be particularly likely to benefit from oxytocin. We examined this idea using a double-blind design, testing 68 older and 68 young adults randomly allocated to receive oxytocin nasal spray (20 international units) or placebo. Forty-five minutes afterward they completed an emotion recognition task assessing labeling accuracy for angry, disgusted, fearful, happy, neutral, and sad faces. Older males receiving oxytocin showed improved emotion recognition relative to those taking placebo. No differences were found for older females or young adults. We hypothesize that oxytocin facilitates emotion recognition by improving neurotransmission in the group with the worst emotion recognition. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  20. Nutritional Factors Affecting Adult Neurogenesis and Cognitive Function

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Adult neurogenesis, a complex process by which stem cells in the hippocampal brain region differentiate and proliferate into new neurons and other resident brain cells, is known to be affected by many intrinsic and extrinsic factors, including diet. Neurogenesis plays a critical role in neural plas...

  1. The key factors affecting students' individual interest in school science lessons

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Cheung, Derek

    2018-01-01

    Individual interest in school science lessons can be defined as a relatively stable and enduring personal emotion comprising affective and behavioural reactions to events in the regular science lessons at school. Little research has compared the importance of different factors affecting students' individual interest in school science lessons. The present study aimed to address this gap, using a mixed methods design. Qualitative interview data were collected from 60 Hong Kong junior secondary school students, who were asked to describe the nature of their interest in science lessons and the factors to which they attribute this. Teacher interviews, parent interviews, and classroom observations were conducted to triangulate student interview data. Five factors affecting students' individual interest in school science lessons were identified: situational influences in science lessons, individual interest in science, science self-concept, grade level, and gender. Quantitative data were then collected from 591 students using a questionnaire. Structural equation modelling was applied to test a hypothesised model, which provided an acceptable fit to the student data. The strongest factor affecting students' individual interest in school science lessons was science self-concept, followed by individual interest in science and situational influences in science lessons. Grade level and gender were found to be nonsignificant factors. These findings suggest that teachers should pay special attention to the association between academic self-concept and interest if they want to motivate students to learn science at school.

  2. Age and measurement time-of-day effects on speech recognition in noise.

    PubMed

    Veneman, Carrie E; Gordon-Salant, Sandra; Matthews, Lois J; Dubno, Judy R

    2013-01-01

    for the older adults on the speech recognition or rating tasks. Although older adults required significantly more advantageous signal-to-noise ratios than younger adults for equivalent speech-recognition performance, a significantly larger younger versus older age difference in speech recognition was observed in the evening than in the morning. Older adults performed significantly poorer than younger adults on the VDT, but performance was not affected by measurement time of day. VDT performance for misleading distracter items was significantly correlated with HINT and QuickSIN test performance at the peak measurement time of day. Although all participants had normal hearing, speech recognition in noise was significantly poorer for older than younger adults, with larger age-related differences in the evening (an off-peak time for older adults) than in the morning. The significant effect of measurement time of day suggests that this factor may impact the clinical assessment of speech recognition in noise for all individuals. It appears that inhibition, as estimated by a visual distraction task for misleading visual items, is a cognitive mechanism that is related to speech-recognition performance in noise, at least at a listener's peak time of day.

  3. Emotional valence of stimuli modulates false recognition: Using a modified version of the simplified conjoint recognition paradigm.

    PubMed

    Gong, Xianmin; Xiao, Hongrui; Wang, Dahua

    2016-11-01

    False recognition results from the interplay of multiple cognitive processes, including verbatim memory, gist memory, phantom recollection, and response bias. In the current study, we modified the simplified Conjoint Recognition (CR) paradigm to investigate the way in which the valence of emotional stimuli affects the cognitive process and behavioral outcome of false recognition. In Study 1, we examined the applicability of the modification to the simplified CR paradigm and model. Twenty-six undergraduate students (13 females, aged 21.00±2.30years) learned and recognized both the large and small categories of photo objects. The applicability of the paradigm and model was confirmed by a fair goodness-of-fit of the model to the observational data and by their competence in detecting the memory differences between the large- and small-category conditions. In Study 2, we recruited another sample of 29 undergraduate students (14 females, aged 22.60±2.74years) to learn and recognize the categories of photo objects that were emotionally provocative. The results showed that negative valence increased false recognition, particularly the rate of false "remember" responses, by facilitating phantom recollection; positive valence did not influence false recognition significantly though enhanced gist processing. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  4. 75 FR 80114 - Agency Information Collection (Obligation To Report Factors Affecting Entitlement) Activity Under...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-12-21

    ... (Obligation To Report Factors Affecting Entitlement) Activity Under OMB Review AGENCY: Veterans Benefits... Report Factors Affecting Entitlement (38 CFR 3.204(a)(1), 38 CFR 3.256(a) and 38 CFR 3.277(b)). OMB... benefits must report changes in their entitlement factors. Individual factors such as income, marital...

  5. Image preprocessing study on KPCA-based face recognition

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Li, Xuan; Li, Dehua

    2015-12-01

    Face recognition as an important biometric identification method, with its friendly, natural, convenient advantages, has obtained more and more attention. This paper intends to research a face recognition system including face detection, feature extraction and face recognition, mainly through researching on related theory and the key technology of various preprocessing methods in face detection process, using KPCA method, focuses on the different recognition results in different preprocessing methods. In this paper, we choose YCbCr color space for skin segmentation and choose integral projection for face location. We use erosion and dilation of the opening and closing operation and illumination compensation method to preprocess face images, and then use the face recognition method based on kernel principal component analysis method for analysis and research, and the experiments were carried out using the typical face database. The algorithms experiment on MATLAB platform. Experimental results show that integration of the kernel method based on PCA algorithm under certain conditions make the extracted features represent the original image information better for using nonlinear feature extraction method, which can obtain higher recognition rate. In the image preprocessing stage, we found that images under various operations may appear different results, so as to obtain different recognition rate in recognition stage. At the same time, in the process of the kernel principal component analysis, the value of the power of the polynomial function can affect the recognition result.

  6. Factors Affecting Students' Grades in Principles of Economics

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kara, Orhan; Bagheri, Fathollah; Tolin, Thomas

    2009-01-01

    Factors affecting students' grades in principles of microeconomics and macroeconomics students are analyzed from the data collected in two public universities. Results indicate that gender, number of hours worked, SAT scores, number of missed classes, recommending the course to a friend, instructors, being a junior, number of economics courses…

  7. Adolescent recognition of parental affect: influence of depressive symptoms.

    PubMed

    Ehrmantrout, Nikki; Allen, Nicholas B; Leve, Craig; Davis, Betsy; Sheeber, Lisa

    2011-08-01

    This study examined depressive biases in adolescents' labeling of parental affect. Adolescents (151 girls; 82 boys) and their parents engaged in videotaped problem-solving interactions. Adolescents then participated in a video-mediated recall procedure in which they watched the videotaped interaction and indicated how they thought their parents were feeling. Indices of parents' affect during the problem-solving interactions were also provided by parent self-report and behavioral observations. Adolescent depressive symptoms were associated with overreporting of parental aggressive affect and underreporting of parental happy and neutral affects, relative to both directly observed and self-reported parental affect. Depressive symptoms were not associated with overreporting of parental dysphoric affect. Given the importance of accurately reading affective cues for negotiating interpersonal interactions, these findings likely have implications for understanding processes that contribute to adverse relationships among the families of adolescents with depressive symptoms. © 2011 American Psychological Association

  8. Ketamine impairs recognition memory consolidation and prevents learning-induced increase in hippocampal brain-derived neurotrophic factor levels.

    PubMed

    Goulart, B K; de Lima, M N M; de Farias, C B; Reolon, G K; Almeida, V R; Quevedo, J; Kapczinski, F; Schröder, N; Roesler, R

    2010-06-02

    The non-competitive N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) glutamate receptor antagonist ketamine has been shown to produce cognitive deficits. However, the effects of ketamine on the consolidation phase of memory remain poorly characterized. Here we show that systemic administration of ketamine immediately after training dose-dependently impairs long-term retention of memory for a novel object recognition (NOR) task in rats. Control experiments showed that the impairing effects of ketamine could not be attributed to an influence on memory retrieval or sensorimotor effects. In addition, ketamine prevented the increase in hippocampal brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) levels induced by NOR learning. Our results show for the first time that ketamine disrupts the consolidation phase of long-term recognition memory. In addition, the findings suggest that the amnestic effects of ketamine might be at least partially mediated by an influence on BDNF signaling in the hippocampus. Copyright 2010 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  9. Burkholderia cenocepacia Lipopolysaccharide Modification and Flagellin Glycosylation Affect Virulence but Not Innate Immune Recognition in Plants

    PubMed Central

    Khodai-Kalaki, Maryam; Andrade, Angel; Fathy Mohamed, Yasmine

    2015-01-01

    ABSTRACT Burkholderia cenocepacia causes opportunistic infections in plants, insects, animals, and humans, suggesting that “virulence” depends on the host and its innate susceptibility to infection. We hypothesized that modifications in key bacterial molecules recognized by the innate immune system modulate host responses to B. cenocepacia. Indeed, modification of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) with 4-amino-4-deoxy-l-arabinose and flagellin glycosylation attenuates B. cenocepacia infection in Arabidopsis thaliana and Galleria mellonella insect larvae. However, B. cenocepacia LPS and flagellin triggered rapid bursts of nitric oxide and reactive oxygen species in A. thaliana leading to activation of the PR-1 defense gene. These responses were drastically reduced in plants with fls2 (flagellin FLS2 host receptor kinase), Atnoa1 (nitric oxide-associated protein 1), and dnd1-1 (reduced production of nitric oxide) null mutations. Together, our results indicate that LPS modification and flagellin glycosylation do not affect recognition by plant receptors but are required for bacteria to establish overt infection. PMID:26045541

  10. Systematic review of factors affecting pharmaceutical expenditures.

    PubMed

    Mousnad, Mohamed Awad; Shafie, Asrul Akmal; Ibrahim, Mohamed Izham

    2014-06-01

    To systematically identify the main factors contributing to the increase in pharmaceutical expenditures. A systematic search of published studies was conducted utilising major widely used electronic databases using the search terms 'factors,' 'financing,' 'pharmaceutical,' and 'expenditures.' To be included, the studies needed to: (1) measure at least one of the following outcomes: total growth in pharmaceutical expenditures, price growth or quantity growth; (2) mention a clear method for analysing the impact of factors affecting the increases in drug expenditures; (3) be written in English. Nonprimary articles that were published only as an abstract, a review, a commentary or a letter were excluded. From a total of 2039 studies, only 25 were included in the full review. The main determinant categories that were identified in the review were factors related to price, utilisation, therapeutic choice, demand and health care system. The major cost drivers were found to be changes in drug quantities and therapies as well as new drugs. It is important for policymakers to understand pharmaceutical spending trends and the factors that influence them in order to formulate effective cost containment strategies and design optimum drug policy. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  11. Patterns of evolution at the gametophytic self-incompatibility Sorbus aucuparia (Pyrinae) S pollen genes support the non-self recognition by multiple factors model

    PubMed Central

    Aguiar, Bruno; Vieira, Jorge; Cunha, Ana E.; Fonseca, Nuno A.; Reboiro-Jato, David; Reboiro-Jato, Miguel; Fdez-Riverola, Florentino; Raspé, Olivier; Vieira, Cristina P.

    2013-01-01

    S-RNase-based gametophytic self-incompatibility evolved once before the split of the Asteridae and Rosidae. In Prunus (tribe Amygdaloideae of Rosaceae), the self-incompatibility S-pollen is a single F-box gene that presents the expected evolutionary signatures. In Malus and Pyrus (subtribe Pyrinae of Rosaceae), however, clusters of F-box genes (called SFBBs) have been described that are expressed in pollen only and are linked to the S-RNase gene. Although polymorphic, SFBB genes present levels of diversity lower than those of the S-RNase gene. They have been suggested as putative S-pollen genes, in a system of non-self recognition by multiple factors. Subsets of allelic products of the different SFBB genes interact with non-self S-RNases, marking them for degradation, and allowing compatible pollinations. This study performed a detailed characterization of SFBB genes in Sorbus aucuparia (Pyrinae) to address three predictions of the non-self recognition by multiple factors model. As predicted, the number of SFBB genes was large to account for the many S-RNase specificities. Secondly, like the S-RNase gene, the SFBB genes were old. Thirdly, amino acids under positive selection—those that could be involved in specificity determination—were identified when intra-haplotype SFBB genes were analysed using codon models. Overall, the findings reported here support the non-self recognition by multiple factors model. PMID:23606363

  12. Patterns of evolution at the gametophytic self-incompatibility Sorbus aucuparia (Pyrinae) S pollen genes support the non-self recognition by multiple factors model.

    PubMed

    Aguiar, Bruno; Vieira, Jorge; Cunha, Ana E; Fonseca, Nuno A; Reboiro-Jato, David; Reboiro-Jato, Miguel; Fdez-Riverola, Florentino; Raspé, Olivier; Vieira, Cristina P

    2013-05-01

    S-RNase-based gametophytic self-incompatibility evolved once before the split of the Asteridae and Rosidae. In Prunus (tribe Amygdaloideae of Rosaceae), the self-incompatibility S-pollen is a single F-box gene that presents the expected evolutionary signatures. In Malus and Pyrus (subtribe Pyrinae of Rosaceae), however, clusters of F-box genes (called SFBBs) have been described that are expressed in pollen only and are linked to the S-RNase gene. Although polymorphic, SFBB genes present levels of diversity lower than those of the S-RNase gene. They have been suggested as putative S-pollen genes, in a system of non-self recognition by multiple factors. Subsets of allelic products of the different SFBB genes interact with non-self S-RNases, marking them for degradation, and allowing compatible pollinations. This study performed a detailed characterization of SFBB genes in Sorbus aucuparia (Pyrinae) to address three predictions of the non-self recognition by multiple factors model. As predicted, the number of SFBB genes was large to account for the many S-RNase specificities. Secondly, like the S-RNase gene, the SFBB genes were old. Thirdly, amino acids under positive selection-those that could be involved in specificity determination-were identified when intra-haplotype SFBB genes were analysed using codon models. Overall, the findings reported here support the non-self recognition by multiple factors model.

  13. The role of the hippocampus in recognition memory.

    PubMed

    Bird, Chris M

    2017-08-01

    Many theories of declarative memory propose that it is supported by partially separable processes underpinned by different brain structures. The hippocampus plays a critical role in binding together item and contextual information together and processing the relationships between individual items. By contrast, the processing of individual items and their later recognition can be supported by extrahippocampal regions of the medial temporal lobes (MTL), particularly when recognition is based on feelings of familiarity without the retrieval of any associated information. These theories are domain-general in that "items" might be words, faces, objects, scenes, etc. However, there is mixed evidence that item recognition does not require the hippocampus, or that familiarity-based recognition can be supported by extrahippocampal regions. By contrast, there is compelling evidence that in humans, hippocampal damage does not affect recognition memory for unfamiliar faces, whilst recognition memory for several other stimulus classes is impaired. I propose that regions outside of the hippocampus can support recognition of unfamiliar faces because they are perceived as discrete items and have no prior conceptual associations. Conversely, extrahippocampal processes are inadequate for recognition of items which (a) have been previously experienced, (b) are conceptually meaningful, or (c) are perceived as being comprised of individual elements. This account reconciles findings from primate and human studies of recognition memory. Furthermore, it suggests that while the hippocampus is critical for binding and relational processing, these processes are required for item recognition memory in most situations. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  14. Functional Characterization of the Role of the N-terminal Domain of the c/Nip1 Subunit of Eukaryotic Initiation Factor 3 (eIF3) in AUG Recognition*

    PubMed Central

    Karásková, Martina; Gunišová, Stanislava; Herrmannová, Anna; Wagner, Susan; Munzarová, Vanda; Valášek, Leoš Shivaya

    2012-01-01

    In eukaryotes, for a protein to be synthesized, the 40 S subunit has to first scan the 5′-UTR of the mRNA until it has encountered the AUG start codon. Several initiation factors that ensure high fidelity of AUG recognition were identified previously, including eIF1A, eIF1, eIF2, and eIF5. In addition, eIF3 was proposed to coordinate their functions in this process as well as to promote their initial binding to 40 S subunits. Here we subjected several previously identified segments of the N-terminal domain (NTD) of the eIF3c/Nip1 subunit, which mediates eIF3 binding to eIF1 and eIF5, to semirandom mutagenesis to investigate the molecular mechanism of eIF3 involvement in these reactions. Three major classes of mutant substitutions or internal deletions were isolated that affect either the assembly of preinitiation complexes (PICs), scanning for AUG, or both. We show that eIF5 binds to the extreme c/Nip1-NTD (residues 1–45) and that impairing this interaction predominantly affects the PIC formation. eIF1 interacts with the region (60–137) that immediately follows, and altering this contact deregulates AUG recognition. Together, our data indicate that binding of eIF1 to the c/Nip1-NTD is equally important for its initial recruitment to PICs and for its proper functioning in selecting the translational start site. PMID:22718758

  15. Sensory factors limiting horizontal and vertical visual span for letter recognition

    PubMed Central

    Yu, Deyue; Legge, Gordon E.; Wagoner, Gunther; Chung, Susana T. L.

    2014-01-01

    Reading speed for English text is slower for text oriented vertically than horizontally. Yu, Park, Gerold, and Legge (2010) showed that slower reading of vertical text is associated with a smaller visual span (the number of letters recognized with high accuracy without moving the eyes). Three possible sensory determinants of the size of the visual span are: resolution (decreasing acuity at letter positions farther from the midline), mislocations (uncertainty about the relative position of letters in strings), and crowding (interference from flanking letters in recognizing the target letter). In the present study, we asked which of these factors is most important in determining the size of the visual span, and likely in turn in determining the horizontal/vertical difference in reading when letter size is above the critical print size for reading. We used a decomposition analysis to represent constraints due to resolution, mislocations, and crowding as losses in information transmitted (in bits) about letter recognition. Across vertical and horizontal conditions, crowding accounted for 75% of the loss in information, mislocations accounted for 19% of the loss, and declining acuity away from fixation accounted for only 6%. We conclude that crowding is the major factor limiting the size of the visual span, and that the horizontal/vertical difference in the size of the visual span is associated with stronger crowding along the vertical midline. PMID:25187253

  16. Sensory factors limiting horizontal and vertical visual span for letter recognition

    PubMed Central

    Yu, Deyue; Legge, Gordon E.; Wagoner, Gunther; Chung, Susana T. L.

    2014-01-01

    Reading speed for English text is slower for text oriented vertically than horizontally. Yu, Park, Gerold, and Legge (2010) showed that slower reading of vertical text is associated with a smaller visual span (the number of letters recognized with high accuracy without moving the eyes). Three possible sensory determinants of the size of the visual span are: resolution (decreasing acuity at letter positions farther from the midline), mislocations (uncertainty about the relative position of letters in strings), and crowding (interference from flanking letters in recognizing the target letter). In the present study, we asked which of these factors is most important in determining the size of the visual span, and likely in turn in determining the horizontal/vertical difference in reading when letter size is above the critical print size for reading. We used a decomposition analysis to represent constraints due to resolution, mislocations, and crowding as losses in information transmitted (in bits) about letter recognition. Across vertical and horizontal conditions, crowding accounted for 75% of the loss in information, mislocations accounted for 19% of the loss, and declining acuity away from fixation accounted for only 6%. We conclude that crowding is the major factor limiting the size of the visual span, and that the horizontal/vertical difference in the size of the visual span is associated with stronger crowding along the vertical midline.

  17. Relative preservation of the recognition of positive facial expression "happiness" in Alzheimer disease.

    PubMed

    Maki, Yohko; Yoshida, Hiroshi; Yamaguchi, Tomoharu; Yamaguchi, Haruyasu

    2013-01-01

    Positivity recognition bias has been reported for facial expression as well as memory and visual stimuli in aged individuals, whereas emotional facial recognition in Alzheimer disease (AD) patients is controversial, with possible involvement of confounding factors such as deficits in spatial processing of non-emotional facial features and in verbal processing to express emotions. Thus, we examined whether recognition of positive facial expressions was preserved in AD patients, by adapting a new method that eliminated the influences of these confounding factors. Sensitivity of six basic facial expressions (happiness, sadness, surprise, anger, disgust, and fear) was evaluated in 12 outpatients with mild AD, 17 aged normal controls (ANC), and 25 young normal controls (YNC). To eliminate the factors related to non-emotional facial features, averaged faces were prepared as stimuli. To eliminate the factors related to verbal processing, the participants were required to match the images of stimulus and answer, avoiding the use of verbal labels. In recognition of happiness, there was no difference in sensitivity between YNC and ANC, and between ANC and AD patients. AD patients were less sensitive than ANC in recognition of sadness, surprise, and anger. ANC were less sensitive than YNC in recognition of surprise, anger, and disgust. Within the AD patient group, sensitivity of happiness was significantly higher than those of the other five expressions. In AD patient, recognition of happiness was relatively preserved; recognition of happiness was most sensitive and was preserved against the influences of age and disease.

  18. Key factors affecting dying children and their families.

    PubMed

    Hinds, Pamela S; Schum, Lisa; Baker, Justin N; Wolfe, Joanne

    2005-01-01

    The death of a child alters the life and health of others immediately and for the rest of their lives. How a child dies influences parents' abilities to continue their role functions as well as siblings' abilities to make and maintain friendships, and may be the basis for health care providers' decisions to exit direct care roles. Thus, facilitating a "good death"-an obvious care priority for all involved with the dying child-ought also to be a priority for the health of bereaved families and affected health care providers. Making this a care priority is complicated by a serious lack of data, as details of the last hours or weeks of a dying child or adolescent's life are largely unknown. The purpose of this paper is to identify key factors that affect the course of dying children and adolescents and that of their bereaved survivors, and to link those key factors to needed research that could produce clinically relevant findings to improve the care of these patients. Key factors described here include suffering (physical, psychological, and spiritual), communication, decision making, prognostic ambiguities, ability of the seriously ill child to give assent to research participation, and educational preparation of health care providers to give competent end-of-life care.

  19. Genetic factors affecting dental caries risk.

    PubMed

    Opal, S; Garg, S; Jain, J; Walia, I

    2015-03-01

    This article reviews the literature on genetic aspects of dental caries and provides a framework for the rapidly changing disease model of caries. The scope is genetic aspects of various dental factors affecting dental caries. The PubMed database was searched for articles with keywords 'caries', 'genetics', 'taste', 'diet' and 'twins'. This was followed by extensive handsearching using reference lists from relevant articles. The post-genomic era will present many opportunities for improvement in oral health care but will also present a multitude of challenges. We can conclude from the literature that genes have a role to play in dental caries; however, both environmental and genetic factors have been implicated in the aetiology of caries. Additional studies will have to be conducted to replicate the findings in a different population. Identification of genetic risk factors will help screen and identify susceptible patients to better understand the contribution of genes in caries aetiopathogenesis. Information derived from these diverse studies will provide new tools to target individuals and/or populations for a more efficient and effective implementation of newer preventive measures and diagnostic and novel therapeutic approaches in the management of this disease. © 2015 Australian Dental Association.

  20. [Asymmetric confusability effect in recognition memory of cats pictures].

    PubMed

    Ando, M; Hakoda, Y

    1999-06-01

    Performance superiority of the addition of features in the stimuli over the deletion on recognition (asymmetric confusability effect) has been shown in previous studies (Pezdek, Maki, Valencia-Laver, Whetstone, Stoeckert, & Dougherty, 1988; Ando & Hakoda, 1998). We investigated the same effect by using a familiar living thing (cat) as a stimulus. Ten subjects were given a recognition task using pictures of cats with feature changes (additions, deletions, or no change). Results showed that the picture with deletions were easier to recognize than those with additions, which was opposite to the previous studies. Then, we examined the possibility that performance superiority of the deletions over the additions was mediated by the factor of impression. Another group of 18 subjects was asked to rate the impression scales consisting of a "typicality-reality factor", a "stability-balance factor", and a "grotesque-disgust factor". Results showed that there was a significant difference in impression ratings for each factor between the additions and the deletions, and that impression ratings predicted recognition performance well. It was concluded that performance superiority of the deletions over the additions was mediated by the factor of impression.

  1. Factors affecting sustainability of rural water schemes in Swaziland

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Peter, Graciana; Nkambule, Sizwe E.

    The Millennium Development Goal (MDG) target to reduce the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water by the year 2015 has been met as of 2010, but huge disparities exist. Some regions, particularly Sub-Saharan Africa are lagging behind it is also in this region where up to 30% of the rural schemes are not functional at any given time. There is need for more studies on factors affecting sustainability and necessary measures which when implemented will improve the sustainability of rural water schemes. The main objective of this study was to assess the main factors affecting the sustainability of rural water schemes in Swaziland using a Multi-Criteria Analysis Approach. The main factors considered were: financial, social, technical, environmental and institutional. The study was done in Lubombo region. Fifteen functional water schemes in 11 communities were studied. Data was collected using questionnaires, checklist and focused group discussion guide. A total of 174 heads of households were interviewed. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used to analyse the data and to calculate sustainability scores for water schemes. SPSS was also used to classify sustainability scores according to sustainability categories: sustainable, partially sustainable and non-sustainable. The averages of the ratings for the different sub-factors studied and the results on the sustainability scores for the sustainable, partially sustainable and non-sustainable schemes were then computed and compared to establish the main factors influencing sustainability of the water schemes. The results indicated technical and social factors as most critical while financial and institutional, although important, played a lesser role. Factors which contributed to the sustainability of water schemes were: functionality; design flow; water fetching time; ability to meet additional demand; use by population; equity; participation in decision making on operation and

  2. Factors Affecting Online Groupwork Interest: A Multilevel Analysis

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Du, Jianxia; Xu, Jianzhong; Fan, Xitao

    2013-01-01

    The purpose of the present study is to examine the personal and contextual factors that may affect students' online groupwork interest. Using the data obtained from graduate students in an online course, both student- and group-level predictors for online groupwork interest were analyzed within the framework of hierarchical linear modeling…

  3. Factors Affecting the Technology Readiness of Health Professionals

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Myers, Stephanie E.

    2010-01-01

    Federal government policies are promoting diffusion of technologies into the healthcare system. If health professionals reject the new technologies planned for the healthcare system, it could result in costly failures, delays, and workforce problems. There is a lack of knowledge about factors that affect technology readiness (TR), defined as the…

  4. Factors affecting receipt of chemotherapy in women with breast cancer

    PubMed Central

    Morimoto, Libby; Coalson, Jenna; Mowat, Fionna; O’Malley, Cynthia

    2010-01-01

    Aims: To review literature describing factors associated with receipt of chemotherapy for breast cancer, to better understand what factors are most relevant to women’s health and whether health disparities are apparent, and to assess how these factors might affect observational studies and outcomes research. Patterns of care for metastatic breast cancer, for which no standard-of-care exists, were of particular interest. Methods: Relevant studies written in English, Italian, French, or Spanish, published in 2000 or later, were identified through MEDLINE and reviewed. Review articles and clinical trials were excluded; all observational studies and surveys were considered. Articles were reviewed for any discussion of patient characteristics, hospital/physician/insurance characteristics, psychosocial characteristics, and clinical characteristics affecting receipt of chemotherapy by breast cancer patients. Results: In general, factors associated with increased likelihood of receiving chemotherapy included younger age, being Caucasian, having good general health and few co-morbidities, having more severe clinical disease, having responded well to previous treatment, and having breast cancer that is estrogen- or progesterone-receptor-negative. Many of the clinical factors found to increase the likelihood of receiving chemotherapy were consistent with current oncology guidelines. Of the relevant 19 studies identified, only six (32%) reported data specific to metastatic cancer; most studies aggregated women with stage I–IV for purposes of analysis. Conclusion: Studies of patterns of care in breast cancer treatment can help identify challenges in health care provided to particular subgroups of women and can aid researchers in designing studies that account for such factors in clinical and outcomes research. Although scarce, studies evaluating only women with metastatic breast cancer indicate that factors affecting decisions related to receipt of chemotherapy are similar

  5. Two-step interrogation then recognition of DNA binding site by Integration Host Factor: an architectural DNA-bending protein.

    PubMed

    Velmurugu, Yogambigai; Vivas, Paula; Connolly, Mitchell; Kuznetsov, Serguei V; Rice, Phoebe A; Ansari, Anjum

    2018-02-28

    The dynamics and mechanism of how site-specific DNA-bending proteins initially interrogate potential binding sites prior to recognition have remained elusive for most systems. Here we present these dynamics for Integration Host factor (IHF), a nucleoid-associated architectural protein, using a μs-resolved T-jump approach. Our studies show two distinct DNA-bending steps during site recognition by IHF. While the faster (∼100 μs) step is unaffected by changes in DNA or protein sequence that alter affinity by >100-fold, the slower (1-10 ms) step is accelerated ∼5-fold when mismatches are introduced at DNA sites that are sharply kinked in the specific complex. The amplitudes of the fast phase increase when the specific complex is destabilized and decrease with increasing [salt], which increases specificity. Taken together, these results indicate that the fast phase is non-specific DNA bending while the slow phase, which responds only to changes in DNA flexibility at the kink sites, is specific DNA kinking during site recognition. Notably, the timescales for the fast phase overlap with one-dimensional diffusion times measured for several proteins on DNA, suggesting that these dynamics reflect partial DNA bending during interrogation of potential binding sites by IHF as it scans DNA.

  6. Relationships between egg-recognition and egg-ejection in a grasp-ejector species.

    PubMed

    Soler, Manuel; Ruiz-Raya, Francisco; Roncalli, Gianluca; Ibáñez-Álamo, Juan Diego

    2017-01-01

    Brood parasitism frequently leads to a total loss of host fitness, which selects for the evolution of defensive traits in host species. Experimental studies have demonstrated that recognition and rejection of the parasite egg is the most common and efficient defence used by host species. Egg-recognition experiments have advanced our knowledge of the evolutionary and coevolutionary implications of egg recognition and rejection. However, our understanding of the proximate mechanisms underlying both processes remains poor. Egg rejection is a complex behavioural process consisting of three stages: egg recognition, the decision whether or not to reject the putative parasitic egg and the act of ejection itself. We have used the blackbird (Turdus merula) as a model species to explore the relationship between egg recognition and the act of egg ejection. We have manipulated the two main characteristics of parasitic eggs affecting egg ejection in this grasp-ejector species: the degree of colour mimicry (mimetic and non-mimetic, which mainly affects the egg-recognition stage of the egg-rejection process) and egg size (small, medium and large, which affects the decision to eject), while maintaining a control group of non-parasitized nests. The behaviour of the female when confronted with an experimental egg was filmed using a video camera. Our results show that egg touching is an indication of egg recognition and demonstrate that blackbirds recognized (i.e., touched) non-mimetic experimental eggs significantly more than mimetic eggs. However, twenty per cent of the experimental eggs were touched but not subsequently ejected, which confirms that egg recognition does not necessarily mean egg ejection and that accepting parasitic eggs, at least sometimes, is the consequence of acceptance decisions. Regarding proximate mechanisms, our results show that the delay in egg ejection is not only due to recognition problems as usually suggested, given that experimental eggs are not

  7. Relationships between egg-recognition and egg-ejection in a grasp-ejector species

    PubMed Central

    Soler, Manuel; Ruiz-Raya, Francisco; Roncalli, Gianluca; Ibáñez-Álamo, Juan Diego

    2017-01-01

    Brood parasitism frequently leads to a total loss of host fitness, which selects for the evolution of defensive traits in host species. Experimental studies have demonstrated that recognition and rejection of the parasite egg is the most common and efficient defence used by host species. Egg-recognition experiments have advanced our knowledge of the evolutionary and coevolutionary implications of egg recognition and rejection. However, our understanding of the proximate mechanisms underlying both processes remains poor. Egg rejection is a complex behavioural process consisting of three stages: egg recognition, the decision whether or not to reject the putative parasitic egg and the act of ejection itself. We have used the blackbird (Turdus merula) as a model species to explore the relationship between egg recognition and the act of egg ejection. We have manipulated the two main characteristics of parasitic eggs affecting egg ejection in this grasp-ejector species: the degree of colour mimicry (mimetic and non-mimetic, which mainly affects the egg-recognition stage of the egg-rejection process) and egg size (small, medium and large, which affects the decision to eject), while maintaining a control group of non-parasitized nests. The behaviour of the female when confronted with an experimental egg was filmed using a video camera. Our results show that egg touching is an indication of egg recognition and demonstrate that blackbirds recognized (i.e., touched) non-mimetic experimental eggs significantly more than mimetic eggs. However, twenty per cent of the experimental eggs were touched but not subsequently ejected, which confirms that egg recognition does not necessarily mean egg ejection and that accepting parasitic eggs, at least sometimes, is the consequence of acceptance decisions. Regarding proximate mechanisms, our results show that the delay in egg ejection is not only due to recognition problems as usually suggested, given that experimental eggs are not

  8. Factors affecting the periapical healing process of endodontically treated teeth

    PubMed Central

    Holland, Roberto; Gomes, João Eduardo; Cintra, Luciano Tavares Angelo; Queiroz, Índia Olinta de Azevedo; Estrela, Carlos

    2017-01-01

    Abstract Tissue repair is an essential process that reestablishes tissue integrity and regular function. Nevertheless, different therapeutic factors and clinical conditions may interfere in this process of periapical healing. This review aims to discuss the important therapeutic factors associated with the clinical protocol used during root canal treatment and to highlight the systemic conditions associated with the periapical healing process of endodontically treated teeth. The antibacterial strategies indicated in the conventional treatment of an inflamed and infected pulp and the modulation of the host's immune response may assist in tissue repair, if wound healing has been hindered by infection. Systemic conditions, such as diabetes mellitus and hypertension, can also inhibit wound healing. The success of root canal treatment is affected by the correct choice of clinical protocol. These factors are dependent on the sanitization process (instrumentation, irrigant solution, irrigating strategies, and intracanal dressing), the apical limit of the root canal preparation and obturation, and the quality of the sealer. The challenges affecting the healing process of endodontically treated teeth include control of the inflammation of pulp or infectious processes and simultaneous neutralization of unpredictable provocations to the periapical tissue. Along with these factors, one must understand the local and general clinical conditions (systemic health of the patient) that affect the outcome of root canal treatment prediction. PMID:29069143

  9. Factors affecting outcome in ocular myasthenia gravis.

    PubMed

    Mazzoli, Marco; Ariatti, Alessandra; Valzania, Franco; Kaleci, Shaniko; Tondelli, Manuela; Nichelli, Paolo F; Galassi, Giuliana

    2018-01-01

    50%-60% of patients with ocular myasthenia gravis (OMG) progress to generalized myasthenia gravis (GMG) within two years. The aim of our study was to explore factors affecting prognosis of OMG and to test the predictive role of several independent clinical variables. We reviewed a cohort of 168 Caucasian patients followed from September 2000 to January 2016. Several independent variables were considered as prognostic factors: gender, age of onset, results on electrophysiological tests, presence and level of antibodies against acetylcholine receptors (AChR Abs), treatments, thymic abnormalities. The primary outcome was the progression to GMG and/or the presence of bulbar symptoms. Secondary outcomes were either achievement of sustained minimal manifestation status or worsening in ocular quantitative MG subscore (O-QMGS) or worsening in total QMG score (T-QMGS), assessed by Myasthenia Gravis Foundation of America (MGFA) quantitative scores. Changes in mental and physical subscores of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) were assessed with SF-36 questionnaire. Variance analysis was used to interpret the differences between AChR Ab titers at different times of follow up among the generalized and non-generalized patients. Conversion to GMG occurred in 18.4% of patients; it was significantly associated with sex, later onset of disease and anti-AChR Ab positivity. Antibody titer above the mean value of 25.8 pmol/mL showed no significant effect on generalization. Sex and late onset of disease significantly affected T-QMGS worsening. None of the other independent variables significantly affected O-QMGS and HRQoL. Sex, later onset and anti-AChR Ab positivity were significantly associated with clinical worsening.

  10. Risk factors in neuroleptic malignant syndrome.

    PubMed

    Gupta, Vinay; Magon, Rakesh; Mishra, B P; Sidhu, G B S; Mahajan, Ranjiv

    2003-01-01

    Neuroleptic malignant syndrome (NMS) is an uncommon but potentially serious idiosyncratic response to neuroleptic antipsychotics. It usually affects young males, but the risk has been seen to increase with certain factors including the administration practices of antipsychotic neuroleptics in these individuals. Even though no predictors for NMS are yet known, this article highlights the findings on certain risk factors as seen from a series of fifteen patients who developed NMS. Cautious use of neuroleptics in those at risk, early recognition and institution of immediate management is important.

  11. Survey of Literature Pertaining to Decision Making Styles and Individual Factors

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2005-10-01

    facilitation Rules of engagement (ROE) Deductive reasoning Heuristic(s) Emotion/ Affect Consensus Time pressure Rational decision making Recognition...managers are more likely to use an intuitive decision making style, while Sensing/ Feeling types use more of a rational style. These results were also...performance of the individual, team and organization. Research has indicated that a variety of individual factors affect the way in which people make

  12. α7nAchR/NMDAR coupling affects NMDAR function and object recognition.

    PubMed

    Li, Shupeng; Nai, Qiang; Lipina, Tatiana V; Roder, John C; Liu, Fang

    2013-12-20

    The α7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAchR) and NMDA glutamate receptor (NMDAR) are both ligand-gated ion channels permeable to Ca2+ and Na+. Previous studies have demonstrated functional modulation of NMDARs by nAchRs, although the molecular mechanism remains largely unknown. We have previously reported that α7nAchR forms a protein complex with the NMDAR through a protein-protein interaction. We also developed an interfering peptide that is able to disrupt the α7nAchR-NMDAR complex and blocks cue-induced reinstatement of nicotine-seeking in rat models of relapse. In the present study, we investigated whether the α7nAchR-NMDAR interaction is responsible for the functional modulation of NMDAR by α7nAchR using both electrophysiological and behavioral tests. We have found that activation of α7nAchR upregulates NMDAR-mediated whole cell currents and LTP of mEPSC in cultured hippocampal neurons, which can be abolished by the interfering peptide that disrupts the α7nAchR-NMDAR interaction. Moreover, administration of the interfering peptide in mice impairs novel object recognition but not Morris water maze performance. Our results suggest that α7nAchR/NMDAR coupling may selectively affect some aspects of learning and memory.

  13. Pedestrian recognition using automotive radar sensors

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bartsch, A.; Fitzek, F.; Rasshofer, R. H.

    2012-09-01

    The application of modern series production automotive radar sensors to pedestrian recognition is an important topic in research on future driver assistance systems. The aim of this paper is to understand the potential and limits of such sensors in pedestrian recognition. This knowledge could be used to develop next generation radar sensors with improved pedestrian recognition capabilities. A new raw radar data signal processing algorithm is proposed that allows deep insights into the object classification process. The impact of raw radar data properties can be directly observed in every layer of the classification system by avoiding machine learning and tracking. This gives information on the limiting factors of raw radar data in terms of classification decision making. To accomplish the very challenging distinction between pedestrians and static objects, five significant and stable object features from the spatial distribution and Doppler information are found. Experimental results with data from a 77 GHz automotive radar sensor show that over 95% of pedestrians can be classified correctly under optimal conditions, which is compareable to modern machine learning systems. The impact of the pedestrian's direction of movement, occlusion, antenna beam elevation angle, linear vehicle movement, and other factors are investigated and discussed. The results show that under real life conditions, radar only based pedestrian recognition is limited due to insufficient Doppler frequency and spatial resolution as well as antenna side lobe effects.

  14. Factors affecting sexual function in menopause: A review article.

    PubMed

    Nazarpour, Soheila; Simbar, Masoumeh; Tehrani, Fahimeh Ramezani

    2016-08-01

    This study aimed to systematically review the articles on factors affecting sexual function during menopause. Searching articles indexed in Pubmed, Science Direct, Iranmedex, EMBASE, Scopus, and Scientific Information Database databases, a total number of 42 studies published between 2003 and 2013 were selected. Age, estrogen deficiency, type of menopause, chronic medical problems, partner's sex problems, severity of menopause symptoms, dystocia history, and health status were the physical factors influencing sexual function of menopausal women. There were conflicting results regarding the amount of androgens, hormonal therapy, exercise/physical activity, and obstetric history. In the mental-emotional area, all studies confirmed the impact of depression and anxiety. Social factors, including smoking, alcohol consumption, the quality of relationship with husband, partner's loyalty, sexual knowledge, access to health care, a history of divorce or the death of a husband, living apart from a spouse, and a negative understanding of women's health were found to affect sexual function; however, there were conflicting results regarding the effects of education, occupation, socioeconomic status, marital duration, and frequency of sexual intercourse. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier B.V.

  15. Efficient local representations for three-dimensional palmprint recognition

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yang, Bing; Wang, Xiaohua; Yao, Jinliang; Yang, Xin; Zhu, Wenhua

    2013-10-01

    Palmprints have been broadly used for personal authentication because they are highly accurate and incur low cost. Most previous works have focused on two-dimensional (2-D) palmprint recognition in the past decade. Unfortunately, 2-D palmprint recognition systems lose the shape information when capturing palmprint images. Moreover, such 2-D palmprint images can be easily forged or affected by noise. Hence, three-dimensional (3-D) palmprint recognition has been regarded as a promising way to further improve the performance of palmprint recognition systems. We have developed a simple, but efficient method for 3-D palmprint recognition by using local features. We first utilize shape index representation to describe the geometry of local regions in 3-D palmprint data. Then, we extract local binary pattern and Gabor wavelet features from the shape index image. The two types of complementary features are finally fused at a score level for further improvements. The experimental results on the Hong Kong Polytechnic 3-D palmprint database, which contains 8000 samples from 400 palms, illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.

  16. Emotion recognition deficits associated with ventromedial prefrontal cortex lesions are improved by gaze manipulation.

    PubMed

    Wolf, Richard C; Pujara, Maia; Baskaya, Mustafa K; Koenigs, Michael

    2016-09-01

    Facial emotion recognition is a critical aspect of human communication. Since abnormalities in facial emotion recognition are associated with social and affective impairment in a variety of psychiatric and neurological conditions, identifying the neural substrates and psychological processes underlying facial emotion recognition will help advance basic and translational research on social-affective function. Ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) has recently been implicated in deploying visual attention to the eyes of emotional faces, although there is mixed evidence regarding the importance of this brain region for recognition accuracy. In the present study of neurological patients with vmPFC damage, we used an emotion recognition task with morphed facial expressions of varying intensities to determine (1) whether vmPFC is essential for emotion recognition accuracy, and (2) whether instructed attention to the eyes of faces would be sufficient to improve any accuracy deficits. We found that vmPFC lesion patients are impaired, relative to neurologically healthy adults, at recognizing moderate intensity expressions of anger and that recognition accuracy can be improved by providing instructions of where to fixate. These results suggest that vmPFC may be important for the recognition of facial emotion through a role in guiding visual attention to emotionally salient regions of faces. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  17. Analysis on factors affecting consumers decision on purchasing simple-type houses

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Rumintang, A.; Sholichin, I.

    2018-01-01

    In line with the increase of the population and the need of comfortable houses, as affected by modernization era, the house demand is getting higher. Hence, conducting a research on consumers need and want in buying a house should be seriously attempted to succeed marketing activity. Using an analysis consumers’ behavior, the researcher will know few affecting factors related to consumers’ satisfaction in buying a house. Among other, the factors in question include: house price, house condition, facilities, location and accessability. The sample of this research was drawn from the residents of Graha Asri Housing, Taman Bulang Permai, and Sukodono Permai. Based on the analysis and discussion, some conclusions are made as follow: the factors and variables affecting the consumers’ decision on each choice of house is different and also the same variables on three sources of data include housing atmosphere, cleaning service, ease of access to shopping center, health clinics or hospitals, tourism spot, schools, and the bus station.

  18. Exploring a recognition-induced recognition decrement

    PubMed Central

    Dopkins, Stephen; Ngo, Catherine Trinh; Sargent, Jesse

    2007-01-01

    Four experiments explored a recognition decrement that is associated with the recognition of a word from a short list. The stimulus material for demonstrating the phenomenon was a list of words of different syntactic types. A word from the list was recognized less well following a decision that a word of the same type had occurred in the list than following a decision that such a word had not occurred in the list. A recognition decrement did not occur for a word of a given type following a positive recognition decision to a word of a different type. A recognition decrement did not occur when the list consisted exclusively of nouns. It was concluded that the phenomenon may reflect a criterion shift but probably does not reflect a list strength effect, suppression, or familiarity attribution consequent to a perceived discrepancy between actual and expected fluency. PMID:17063915

  19. 14 CFR Appendix B to Part 1215 - Factors Affecting Standard Charges

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... DATA RELAY SATELLITE SYSTEM (TDRSS) Pt. 1215, App. B Appendix B to Part 1215—Factors Affecting Standard Charges Charges for services shall be determined by multiplying the factors below by the base rates for...

  20. Other Factors That Affect Heart Disease: Birth Control Pills

    MedlinePlus

    ... Heart Handbook for Women Other Factors That Affect Heart Disease Birth Control Pills Studies show that women who ... t had any more complications because of my heart disease." — Diane Pay attention to diabetes. Levels of glucose, ...

  1. Reappraising factors affecting mourning dove perch coos

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Sayre, M.W.; Atkinson, R.D.; Baskett, T.S.; Haas, G.H.

    1978-01-01

    Results confirmed pairing as the primary factor influencing perch-cooing rates of wild mourning doves (Zenaida macroura). Marked unmated males cooed at substantially higher rates (6.2x) than mated males, had greater probability of cooing (2.3x) during 3-minute periods, and continued cooing longer each morning than mated males. Population density was not a major factor affecting cooing. Unmated males cooed more frequently in the presence of other cooing doves (P < 0.05) than when alone, but the number of additional doves above 1 was unimportant. Cooing rates of both mated and unmated males on areas with dissimilar dove densities were not significantly different. Within limits of standard call-count procedure, weather exerted no detectable influence on cooing.

  2. Organisational Factors Affecting Policy and Programme Decision Making in a Public Health Policy Environment

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Zardo, Pauline; Collie, Alex; Livingstone, Charles

    2015-01-01

    Organisational factors can affect the success of interventions aimed at increasing research use. Research is needed to identify organisational factors affecting research use in specific public health policy contexts. Qualitative interviews with decision makers from a specific public health context identified a range of organisational factors that…

  3. Facial Affect Recognition Using Regularized Discriminant Analysis-Based Algorithms

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lee, Chien-Cheng; Huang, Shin-Sheng; Shih, Cheng-Yuan

    2010-12-01

    This paper presents a novel and effective method for facial expression recognition including happiness, disgust, fear, anger, sadness, surprise, and neutral state. The proposed method utilizes a regularized discriminant analysis-based boosting algorithm (RDAB) with effective Gabor features to recognize the facial expressions. Entropy criterion is applied to select the effective Gabor feature which is a subset of informative and nonredundant Gabor features. The proposed RDAB algorithm uses RDA as a learner in the boosting algorithm. The RDA combines strengths of linear discriminant analysis (LDA) and quadratic discriminant analysis (QDA). It solves the small sample size and ill-posed problems suffered from QDA and LDA through a regularization technique. Additionally, this study uses the particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm to estimate optimal parameters in RDA. Experiment results demonstrate that our approach can accurately and robustly recognize facial expressions.

  4. Factors affecting dental service quality.

    PubMed

    Bahadori, Mohammadkarim; Raadabadi, Mehdi; Ravangard, Ramin; Baldacchino, Donia

    2015-01-01

    Measuring dental clinic service quality is the first and most important factor in improving care. The quality provided plays an important role in patient satisfaction. The purpose of this paper is to identify factors affecting dental service quality from the patients' viewpoint. This cross-sectional, descriptive-analytical study was conducted in a dental clinic in Tehran between January and June 2014. A sample of 385 patients was selected from two work shifts using stratified sampling proportional to size and simple random sampling methods. The data were collected, a self-administered questionnaire designed for the purpose of the study, based on the Parasuraman and Zeithaml's model of service quality which consisted of two parts: the patients' demographic characteristics and a 30-item questionnaire to measure the five dimensions of the service quality. The collected data were analysed using SPSS 21.0 and Amos 18.0 through some descriptive statistics such as mean, standard deviation, as well as analytical methods, including confirmatory factor. Results showed that the correlation coefficients for all dimensions were higher than 0.5. In this model, assurance (regression weight=0.99) and tangibility (regression weight=0.86) had, respectively, the highest and lowest effects on dental service quality. The Parasuraman and Zeithaml's model is suitable to measure quality in dental services. The variables related to dental services quality have been made according to the model. This is a pioneering study that uses Parasuraman and Zeithaml's model and CFA in a dental setting. This study provides useful insights and guidance for dental service quality assurance.

  5. Exploring Factors that Affect Purchase Intention of Athletic Team Merchandise

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lee, Donghun; Trail, Galen T.; Lee, Cindy; Schoenstedt, Linda J.

    2013-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to test a structural model to determine which psychosocial constructs affected the purchase intention of athletic team merchandise (ATM). Results from the analyses indicated that the twelve-factor ATM model fit the data from collegiate athletic events well, explaining the various impact factors that lead to purchase…

  6. Association of enhanced limbic response to threat with decreased cortical facial recognition memory response in schizophrenia

    PubMed Central

    Satterthwaite, Theodore D.; Wolf, Daniel H.; Loughead, James; Ruparel, Kosha; Valdez, Jeffrey N.; Siegel, Steven J.; Kohler, Christian G.; Gur, Raquel E.; Gur, Ruben C.

    2014-01-01

    Objective Recognition memory of faces is impaired in patients with schizophrenia, as is the neural processing of threat-related signals, but how these deficits interact to produce symptoms is unclear. Here we used an affective face recognition paradigm to examine possible interactions between cognitive and affective neural systems in schizophrenia. Methods fMRI (3T) BOLD response was examined in 21 controls and 16 patients during a two-choice recognition task using images of human faces. Each target face had previously been displayed with a threatening or non-threatening affect, but here were displayed with neutral affect. Responses to successful recognition and for the effect of previously threatening vs. non-threatening affect were evaluated, and correlations with total BPRS examined. Functional connectivity analyses examined the relationship between activation in the amygdala and cortical regions involved in recognition memory. Results Patients performed the task more slowly than controls. Controls recruited the expected cortical regions to a greater degree than patients, and patients with more severe symptoms demonstrated proportionally less recruitment. Increased symptoms were also correlated with augmented amygdala and orbitofrontal cortex response to threatening faces. Controls exhibited a negative correlation between activity in the amygdala and cortical regions involved in cognition, while patients showed a weakening of that relationship. Conclusions Increased symptoms were related to an enhanced threat response in limbic regions and a diminished recognition memory response in cortical regions, supporting a link between two brain systems often examined in isolation. This finding suggests that abnormal processing of threat-related signals in the environment may exacerbate cognitive impairment in schizophrenia. PMID:20194482

  7. Survey on RGB, 3D, Thermal, and Multimodal Approaches for Facial Expression Recognition: History, Trends, and Affect-Related Applications.

    PubMed

    Corneanu, Ciprian Adrian; Simon, Marc Oliu; Cohn, Jeffrey F; Guerrero, Sergio Escalera

    2016-08-01

    Facial expressions are an important way through which humans interact socially. Building a system capable of automatically recognizing facial expressions from images and video has been an intense field of study in recent years. Interpreting such expressions remains challenging and much research is needed about the way they relate to human affect. This paper presents a general overview of automatic RGB, 3D, thermal and multimodal facial expression analysis. We define a new taxonomy for the field, encompassing all steps from face detection to facial expression recognition, and describe and classify the state of the art methods accordingly. We also present the important datasets and the bench-marking of most influential methods. We conclude with a general discussion about trends, important questions and future lines of research.

  8. 29 CFR 784.118 - The exemption is intended for work affected by natural factors.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-07-01

    ... 29 Labor 3 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false The exemption is intended for work affected by natural...(a)(5) Exemption § 784.118 The exemption is intended for work affected by natural factors. As... that are controlled or materially affected by natural factors or elements, such as the vicissitudes of...

  9. 29 CFR 784.118 - The exemption is intended for work affected by natural factors.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... 29 Labor 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false The exemption is intended for work affected by natural...(a)(5) Exemption § 784.118 The exemption is intended for work affected by natural factors. As... that are controlled or materially affected by natural factors or elements, such as the vicissitudes of...

  10. Hierarchical Recognition Scheme for Human Facial Expression Recognition Systems

    PubMed Central

    Siddiqi, Muhammad Hameed; Lee, Sungyoung; Lee, Young-Koo; Khan, Adil Mehmood; Truc, Phan Tran Ho

    2013-01-01

    Over the last decade, human facial expressions recognition (FER) has emerged as an important research area. Several factors make FER a challenging research problem. These include varying light conditions in training and test images; need for automatic and accurate face detection before feature extraction; and high similarity among different expressions that makes it difficult to distinguish these expressions with a high accuracy. This work implements a hierarchical linear discriminant analysis-based facial expressions recognition (HL-FER) system to tackle these problems. Unlike the previous systems, the HL-FER uses a pre-processing step to eliminate light effects, incorporates a new automatic face detection scheme, employs methods to extract both global and local features, and utilizes a HL-FER to overcome the problem of high similarity among different expressions. Unlike most of the previous works that were evaluated using a single dataset, the performance of the HL-FER is assessed using three publicly available datasets under three different experimental settings: n-fold cross validation based on subjects for each dataset separately; n-fold cross validation rule based on datasets; and, finally, a last set of experiments to assess the effectiveness of each module of the HL-FER separately. Weighted average recognition accuracy of 98.7% across three different datasets, using three classifiers, indicates the success of employing the HL-FER for human FER. PMID:24316568

  11. Formal Classroom Observations: Factors That Affect Their Success

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Zaidi, Zeba

    2017-01-01

    Formal class room observation is a very delicate topic in any educational institution. It involves a series of emotions and sentiments that come with the package. In this paper, the researcher will attempt to analyze the factors that affect the process in a relatively significant manner and thereby contribute greatly to the success or failure of…

  12. Factors affecting patient compliance with compressive brace therapy for pectus carinatum.

    PubMed

    Kang, Du-Young; Jung, Junho; Chung, Sangho; Cho, Jinkyung; Lee, Sungsoo

    2014-12-01

    The aim of this study was to identify factors affecting patient compliance with brace therapy for pectus carinatum. Eighty-six pectus carinatum patients who started brace therapy from August 2008 to November 2011 were included in this study. Patients were divided into two groups: patients who wore the brace for ≥6 months (compliance group) or patients who wore the brace for <6 months (non-compliance group). Factors affecting patient compliance were assessed at the last day of follow-up with a multiple-choice questionnaire. The questionnaire comprised seven items: pain at compression site, skin problems on compression area, confidence in brace treatment, shame, discomfort, initial result of bracing treatment and total number of factors affecting patient compliance. Eighty-six patients completed the survey, including seven (8.1%) female patients and 79 (91.9%) male patients, with a mean age of 12.0 years at the time of treatment (range, 3-20 years). The initial result of the compression period (P <0.001) and total number of factors affecting patient compliance (P <0.05) were significant predictors of patient compliance. An initial successful result of the compression period may increase patient compliance during treatment for pectus carinatum. Additional efforts to decrease pain, skin problems, shame and discomfort, and to give confidence may be beneficial in increasing compliance with bracing treatment. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery. All rights reserved.

  13. Factors affecting scholastic performances of adolescents.

    PubMed

    Shashidhar, Saraswati; Rao, Chandrika; Hegde, Radhakrishna

    2009-05-01

    The present study aims at recognizing the social influence, study habits and health factors affecting scholastic performances of adolescents and to compare these factors among the adolescents between two categories of school. A total of 1230 adolescents (13-18 yrs) were screened. Data was collected by personal interview, using the teenage screening questionnaire, Trivandrum, between May 2004 and November 2005. A total 615 students from corporation and private schools were studied. 39.76% (489) were high achievers, 13.5% (166) were low achievers with p < 0.001. In the low achievers, 12.03% were from the corporation schools and 1.46% from private schools. The incidence of poor study habits and social factors were increased in low achievers of corporation schools. On multivariate analysis, the predictor variables for poor scholastic performance were adolescent having refractory error, not having help for study at home, not doing home work regularly, not solving question bank papers and reading only before examinations. It is feasible and worthwhile to identify the determinants of scholastic performance and plan intervention strategies at each school. The results of this study highlight the importance of implementing newer strategies, focusing on strict study patterns and creating the conducive school and home environment for study, so as to achieve better scholastic performances.

  14. Factors affecting maintenance overlay ride quality : 1996 rideability status.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1997-01-01

    In early 1996, the Virginia Transportation Research Council initiated a formal analysis of the factors affecting overlay ride quality. As part of that effort, a statewide, multi-year survey of the ride quality for both new overlays and pavement await...

  15. Learning task affects ERP-correlates of the own-race bias, but not recognition memory performance.

    PubMed

    Stahl, Johanna; Wiese, Holger; Schweinberger, Stefan R

    2010-06-01

    People are generally better in recognizing faces from their own ethnic group as opposed to faces from another ethnic group, a finding which has been interpreted in the context of two opposing theories. Whereas perceptual expertise theories stress the role of long-term experience with one's own ethnic group, race feature theories assume that the processing of an other-race-defining feature triggers inferior coding and recognition of faces. The present study tested these hypotheses by manipulating the learning task in a recognition memory test. At learning, one group of participants categorized faces according to ethnicity, whereas another group rated facial attractiveness. Subsequent recognition tests indicated clear and similar own-race biases for both groups. However, ERPs from learning and test phases demonstrated an influence of learning task on neurophysiological processing of own- and other-race faces. While both groups exhibited larger N170 responses to Asian as compared to Caucasian faces, task-dependent differences were seen in a subsequent P2 ERP component. Whereas the P2 was more pronounced for Caucasian faces in the categorization group, this difference was absent in the attractiveness rating group. The learning task thus influences early face encoding. Moreover, comparison with recent research suggests that this attractiveness rating task influences the processes reflected in the P2 in a similar manner as perceptual expertise for other-race faces does. By contrast, the behavioural own-race bias suggests that long-term expertise is required to increase other-race face recognition and hence attenuate the own-race bias. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  16. 8 CFR 292.2 - Organizations qualified for recognition; requests for recognition; withdrawal of recognition...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ...; requests for recognition; withdrawal of recognition; accreditation of representatives; roster. 292.2...; withdrawal of recognition; accreditation of representatives; roster. (a) Qualifications of organizations. A non-profit religious, charitable, social service, or similar organization established in the United...

  17. [The present state and progress of researches on gait recognition].

    PubMed

    Xue, Zhaojun; Jin, Jingna; Ming, Dong; Wan, Baikun

    2008-10-01

    Recognition by gait is a new field for the biometric recognition technology. Its aim is to recognize people and detect physiological, pathological and mental characters by their walk style. The use of gait as a biometric for human identification is promising. The technique of gait recognition, as an attractive research area of biomedical information detection, attracts more and more attention. In this paper is introduced a survey of the basic theory, existing gait recognition methods and potential prospects. The latest progress and key factors of research difficulties are analyzed, and future researches are envisaged.

  18. External factors affecting data acquisition during corneal topography examination.

    PubMed

    González-Méijome, José Manuel; Queirós, Antonio; Jorge, Jorge; Fernandes, Paulo; Cerviño, Alejandro; de Almeida, José Borges

    2007-03-01

    To analyze the factors affecting data acquisition during corneal topography examination with the Medmont E-300 videokeratoscope and to provide strategies to minimize their effects. Sixty eyes from thirty young adults were examined. A second observer registered incidences with the potential to affect data acquisition. Those factors were correlated with the difficulty of measurements as judged subjectively by the practitioner who performed the examination. Measurements of axial curvature were analyzed to evaluate the variability expressed as intrasession and intersession coefficient of variation and the standard error of the mean (SEM). The level of difficulty rated by the practitioner was in general low, with 70% of the eyes being easy or very easy to measure. For the remaining 30% of the eyes, corneal topography measurements were considered to be difficult (27%) or very difficult (3%). Of the external parameters investigated, only fixation instability (P<0.001, chi2) and the need for head repositioning (P=0.024, chi2) were associated significantly with a higher level of difficulty, as rated subjectively by the practitioner. Further analysis showed that some external factors, including those previously mentioned and others related to tear instability, affect the variability of measurements at certain corneal locations, particularly in the vertical meridian when related to tear instability and in the horizontal meridian when related to the need for head repositioning on the chin rest owing to physiognomy interferences with the keratoscope cone. Intersession SEM improved when three readings from each session were considered. The level of subjective difficulty found during videokeratoscopy examination is correlated strongly with fixation instability and the need for head reorientation in the chin rest, whereas tear-related events seem to be less relevant in the practitioner perception of test ease or difficulty. Those factors have relevance in measurement variability.

  19. Factors affecting 30-month survival in lung cancer patients.

    PubMed

    Mahesh, P A; Archana, S; Jayaraj, B S; Patil, Shekar; Chaya, S K; Shashidhar, H P; Sunitha, B S; Prabhakar, A K

    2012-10-01

    Age adjusted incidence rate of lung cancer in India ranges from 7.4 to 13.1 per 100,000 among males and 3.9 to 5.8 per 100,000 among females. The factors affecting survival in lung cancer patients in India are not fully understood. The current study was undertaken to evaluate the factors affecting survival in patients diagnosed with lung cancer attending a tertiary care cancer institute in Bangalore, Karnataka, India. Consecutive patients with primary lung cancer attending Bangalore Institute of Oncology, a tertiary care centre at Bangalore, between 2006 and 2009 were included. Demographic, clinical, radiological data were collected retrospectively from the medical records. A total of 170 consecutive subjects (128 males, 42 females) diagnosed to have lung cancer; 151 non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and 19 small cell lung cancer (SCLC) were included. A higher proportion of never-smokers (54.1%) were observed, mostly presenting below the age of 60 yr. Most subjects were in stage IV and III at the time of diagnosis. More than 50 per cent of patients presented with late stage lung cancer even though the duration of symptoms is less than 2 months. The 30-month overall survival rates for smokers and never-smokers were 32 and 49 per cent, respectively. No significant differences were observed in 30 month survival based on age at presentation, gender and type of lung cancer. Cox proportional hazards model identified never-smokers and duration of symptoms less than 1 month as factors adversely affecting survival. Our results showed that lung cancer in Indians involved younger subjects and associated with poorer survival as compared to other ethnic population. Studies on large sample need to be done to evaluate risk factors in lung cancer patients.

  20. Factors affecting 30-month survival in lung cancer patients

    PubMed Central

    Mahesh, P.A.; Archana, S.; Jayaraj, B.S.; Patil, Shekar; Chaya, S.K.; Shashidhar, H.P.; Sunitha, B.S.; Prabhakar, A.K.

    2012-01-01

    Background & objectives: Age adjusted incidence rate of lung cancer in India ranges from 7.4 to 13.1 per 100,000 among males and 3.9 to 5.8 per 100,000 among females. The factors affecting survival in lung cancer patients in India are not fully understood. The current study was undertaken to evaluate the factors affecting survival in patients diagnosed with lung cancer attending a tertiary care cancer institute in Bangalore, Karnataka, India. Methods: Consecutive patients with primary lung cancer attending Bangalore Institute of Oncology, a tertiary care centre at Bangalore, between 2006 and 2009 were included. Demographic, clinical, radiological data were collected retrospectively from the medical records. Results: A total of 170 consecutive subjects (128 males, 42 females) diagnosed to have lung cancer; 151 non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and 19 small cell lung cancer (SCLC) were included. A higher proportion of never-smokers (54.1%) were observed, mostly presenting below the age of 60 yr. Most subjects were in stage IV and III at the time of diagnosis. More than 50 per cent of patients presented with late stage lung cancer even though the duration of symptoms is less than 2 months. The 30-month overall survival rates for smokers and never-smokers were 32 and 49 per cent, respectively. No significant differences were observed in 30 month survival based on age at presentation, gender and type of lung cancer. Cox proportional hazards model identified never-smokers and duration of symptoms less than 1 month as factors adversely affecting survival. Interpretation & conclusions: Our results showed that lung cancer in Indians involved younger subjects and associated with poorer survival as compared to other ethnic population. Studies on large sample need to be done to evaluate risk factors in lung cancer patients. PMID:23168702

  1. Factors Affecting Outcomes in Cochlear Implant Recipients Implanted With a Perimodiolar Electrode Array Located in Scala Tympani.

    PubMed

    Holden, Laura K; Firszt, Jill B; Reeder, Ruth M; Uchanski, Rosalie M; Dwyer, Noël Y; Holden, Timothy A

    2016-12-01

    To identify primary biographic and audiologic factors contributing to cochlear implant (CI) performance variability in quiet and noise by controlling electrode array type and electrode position within the cochlea. Although CI outcomes have improved over time, considerable outcome variability still exists. Biographic, audiologic, and device-related factors have been shown to influence performance. Examining CI recipients with consistent array type and electrode position may allow focused investigation into outcome variability resulting from biographic and audiologic factors. Thirty-nine adults (40 ears) implanted for at least 6 months with a perimodiolar electrode array known (via computed tomography [CT] imaging) to be in scala tympani participated. Test materials, administered CI only, included monosyllabic words, sentences in quiet and noise, and spectral ripple discrimination. In quiet, scores were high with mean word and sentence scores of 76 and 87%, respectively; however, sentence scores decreased by an average of 35 percentage points when noise was added. A principal components (PC) analysis of biographic and audiologic factors found three distinct factors, PC1 Age, PC2 Duration, and PC3 Pre-op Hearing. PC1 Age was the only factor that correlated, albeit modestly, with speech recognition in quiet and noise. Spectral ripple discrimination strongly correlated with speech measures. For these recipients with consistent electrode position, PC1 Age was related to speech recognition performance. Consistent electrode position may have contributed to high speech understanding in quiet. Inter-subject variability in noise may have been influenced by auditory/cognitive processing, known to decline with age, and mechanisms that underlie spectral resolution ability.

  2. Factors affecting medication-order processing time.

    PubMed

    Beaman, M A; Kotzan, J A

    1982-11-01

    The factors affecting medication-order processing time at one hospital were studied. The order processing time was determined by directly observing the time to process randomly selected new drug orders on all three work shifts during two one-week periods. An order could list more than one drug for an individual patient. The observer recorded the nature, location, and cost of the drugs ordered, as well as the time to process the order. The time and type of interruptions also were noted. The time to process a drug order was classified as six dependent variables: (1) total time, (2) work time, (3) check time, (4) waiting time I--time from arrival on the dumbwaiter until work was initiated, (5) waiting time II--time between completion of the work and initiation of checking, and (6) waiting time III--time after the check was completed until the order left on the dumbwaiter. The significant predictors of each of the six dependent variables were determined using stepwise multiple regression. The total time to process a prescription order was 58.33 +/- 48.72 minutes; the urgency status of the order was the only significant determinant of total time. Urgency status also significantly predicted the three waiting-time variables. Interruptions and the number of drugs on the order were significant determinants of work time and check time. Each telephone interruption increased the work time by 1.72 minutes. While the results of this study cannot be generalized to other institutions, pharmacy managers can use the method of determining factors that affect medication-order processing time to identify problem areas in their institutions.

  3. Risk Factors in Neuroleptic Malignant Syndrome

    PubMed Central

    Gupta, Vinay; Magon, Rakesh; Mishra, B.P.; Sidhu, G.B.S.; Mahajan, Ranjiv

    2003-01-01

    Neuroleptic malignant syndrome (NMS) is an uncommon but potentially serious idiosyncratic response to neuroleptic antipsychotics. It usually affects young males, but the risk has been seen to increase with certain factors including the administration practices of antipsychotic neuroleptics in these individuals. Even though no predictors for NMS are yet known, this article highlights the findings on certain risk factors as seen from a series of fifteen patients who developed NMS. Cautious use of neuroleptics in those at risk, early recognition and institution of immediate management is important. PMID:21206810

  4. Legal Marriage, Unequal Recognition, and Mental Health among Same-Sex Couples.

    PubMed

    LeBlanc, Allen J; Frost, David M; Bowen, Kayla

    2018-04-01

    The authors examined whether the perception of unequal relationship recognition, a novel, couple-level minority stressor, has negative consequences for mental health among same-sex couples. Data came from a dyadic study of 100 ( N = 200) same-sex couples in the U.S. Being in a legal marriage was associated with lower perceived unequal recognition and better mental health; being in a registered domestic partnership or civil union - not also legally married - was associated with greater perceived unequal recognition and worse mental health. Actor Partner Interdependence Models tested associations between legal relationship status, unequal relationship recognition, and mental health (nonspecific psychological distress, depressive symptomatology, and problematic drinking), net controls (age, gender, race/ethnicity, education, and income). Unequal recognition was consistently associated with worse mental health, independent of legal relationship status. Legal changes affecting relationship recognition should not be seen as simple remedies for addressing the mental health effects of institutionalized discrimination.

  5. Conduct symptoms and emotion recognition in adolescent boys with externalization problems.

    PubMed

    Aspan, Nikoletta; Vida, Peter; Gadoros, Julia; Halasz, Jozsef

    2013-01-01

    In adults with antisocial personality disorder, marked alterations in the recognition of facial affect were described. Less consistent data are available on the emotion recognition in adolescents with externalization problems. The aim of the present study was to assess the relation between the recognition of emotions and conduct symptoms in adolescent boys with externalization problems. Adolescent boys with externalization problems referred to Vadaskert Child Psychiatry Hospital participated in the study after informed consent (N = 114, 11-17 years, mean = 13.4). The conduct problems scale of the strengths and difficulties questionnaire (parent and self-report) was used. The performance in a facial emotion recognition test was assessed. Conduct problems score (parent and self-report) was inversely correlated with the overall emotion recognition. In the self-report, conduct problems score was inversely correlated with the recognition of anger, fear, and sadness. Adolescents with high conduct problems scores were significantly worse in the recognition of fear, sadness, and overall recognition than adolescents with low conduct scores, irrespective of age and IQ. Our results suggest that impaired emotion recognition is dimensionally related to conduct problems and might have importance in the development of antisocial behavior.

  6. Facial recognition in children after perinatal stroke.

    PubMed

    Ballantyne, A O; Trauner, D A

    1999-04-01

    To examine the effects of prenatal or perinatal stroke on the facial recognition skills of children and young adults. It was hypothesized that the nature and extent of facial recognition deficits seen in patients with early-onset lesions would be different from that seen in adults with later-onset neurologic impairment. Numerous studies with normal and neurologically impaired adults have found a right-hemisphere superiority for facial recognition. In contrast, little is known about facial recognition in children after early focal brain damage. Forty subjects had single, unilateral brain lesions from pre- or perinatal strokes (20 had left-hemisphere damage, and 20 had right-hemisphere damage), and 40 subjects were controls who were individually matched to the lesion subjects on the basis of age, sex, and socioeconomic status. Each subject was given the Short-Form of Benton's Test of Facial Recognition. Data were analyzed using the Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed-rank test and multiple regression. The lesion subjects performed significantly more poorly than did matched controls. There was no clear-cut lateralization effect, with the left-hemisphere group performing significantly more poorly than matched controls and the right-hemisphere group showing a trend toward poorer performance. Parietal lobe involvement, regardless of lesion side, adversely affected facial recognition performance in the lesion group. Results could not be accounted for by IQ differences between lesion and control groups, nor was lesion severity systematically related to facial recognition performance. Pre- or perinatal unilateral brain damage results in a subtle disturbance in facial recognition ability, independent of the side of the lesion. Parietal lobe involvement, in particular, has an adverse effect on facial recognition skills. These findings suggest that the parietal lobes may be involved in the acquisition of facial recognition ability from a very early point in brain development, but

  7. Recognition of body image and food behavior factors among middle school students in San Francisco area

    PubMed Central

    2007-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to determine the recognition of body image and food behavior factors according to the BMI. The subjects of this study were 242 7th grade students resided in San Francisco area. The degree of recognition for self-estimated physique of subjects by gender and by race showed no significant differences by gender but significant differences by race, showing that 20.0% was considered as underweight in Asian and 7.5% was considered as underweight in White students. This showed the same tendency as actual physique status (BMI). Also, the ratio of being recognized as more than overweight was 17.3% in Asian, 23.3% in Hispanic, and 13.4% in White students. In case of female students, the ratio of dieting experience was 63.3%, and 49.3% of White students and 63.3% of Hispanic students experienced dieting. In case of students answered not healthy, their body weight were significantly higher than those answered as healthy, and the BMI was also over 19, showing significant differences. Thus cases that answered as not healthy had greater body weight and BMI. Also it showed that frequent dieting experience is related to higher height and weight. The analysis of food behavior factors perceived by body shape showed that the group perceived itself as overweight consumed more 'fast food' but had low scores in 'vegetables' intake, with frequent intake of 'soda' and tendency to 'overeat'. Also, the tendency for 'balanced life' was significantly lower and for skipping breakfast was significantly higher, suggesting problematic food behavior. PMID:20535383

  8. Neuroanatomical substrates involved in unrelated false facial recognition.

    PubMed

    Ronzon-Gonzalez, Eliane; Hernandez-Castillo, Carlos R; Pasaye, Erick H; Vaca-Palomares, Israel; Fernandez-Ruiz, Juan

    2017-11-22

    Identifying faces is a process central for social interaction and a relevant factor in eyewitness theory. False recognition is a critical mistake during an eyewitness's identification scenario because it can lead to a wrongful conviction. Previous studies have described neural areas related to false facial recognition using the standard Deese/Roediger-McDermott (DRM) paradigm, triggering related false recognition. Nonetheless, misidentification of faces without trying to elicit false memories (unrelated false recognition) in a police lineup could involve different cognitive processes, and distinct neural areas. To delve into the neural circuitry of unrelated false recognition, we evaluated the memory and response confidence of participants while watching faces photographs in an fMRI task. Functional activations of unrelated false recognition were identified by contrasting the activation on this condition vs. the activations related to recognition (hits) and correct rejections. The results identified the right precentral and cingulate gyri as areas with distinctive activations during false recognition events suggesting a conflict resulting in a dysfunction during memory retrieval. High confidence suggested that about 50% of misidentifications may be related to an unconscious process. These findings add to our understanding of the construction of facial memories and its biological basis, and the fallibility of the eyewitness testimony.

  9. Teaching the Factors Affecting Resistance Using Pencil Leads

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Küçüközer, Asuman

    2015-01-01

    The aim of this paper is to provide a way of teaching the factors that affect resistance using mechanical pencil leads and the brightness of the light given out by a light bulb connected to an electrical circuit. The resistance of a conductor is directly proportional to its length (L) and inversely proportional to its cross-sectional area (A).…

  10. LPN perspectives of factors that affect nurse mobility in Canada.

    PubMed

    Harris, Alexandra; Hall, Linda McGillis; Price, Sheri; Lalonde, Michelle; Andrews, Gavin; MacDonald-Rencz, Sandra

    2013-01-01

    Although the licensed practical nurse (LPN) workforce represents an ever-growing and valuable human resource, very little is known about reasons for practical nurse mobility. The purpose of this study was to describe LPN perspectives regarding motives for inter-provincial/territorial (P/T) movement in Canada. Participants included 200 LPNs from nine P/T, and data were analyzed using a qualitative descriptive approach. Three primary themes were identified regarding motivators for LPN migration, including (a) scope of practice, (b) education and advancement opportunities and (c) professional respect and recognition. Although current economic forces have a strong influence on nurse mobility, these findings emphasize that there are other equally important factors influencing LPNs to move between jurisdictions. As such, policy makers, administrators and researchers should further explore and address these themes in order to strengthen Canada's nursing workforce.

  11. Culture and affect: the factor structure of the affective style questionnaire and its relation with depression and anxiety among Japanese.

    PubMed

    Ito, Masaya; Hofmann, Stefan G

    2014-09-02

    Affective styles are assumed to be one of the underlying processes of depression and anxiety maintenance. However, little is known about the effect of depression and anxiety and the cultural influence of the factor structure. Here, we examined the cross-cultural validity of the Affective Style Questionnaire and its incremental validity for the influence on depression and anxiety. Affective Style Questionnaire was translated into Japanese using standard back-translation procedure. Japanese university students (N = 1,041) served as participants. Emotion Regulation Questionnaire, Acceptance and Action Questionnaire-II, Toronto Alexithymia Scale, Rumination and Reflection Questionnaire, Brief COPE, Self-Construal Scale, and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale were administered. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses showed that the Affective Style Questionnaire comprised four factors: Concealing, Adjusting, Holding and Tolerating (CFI = .92, TLI = .90, RMSEA = .07). The measure's convergent and discriminant validity was substantiated by its association with various emotion regulation measures. Regression analyses showed that negative influence of Adjusting, Holding, Reappraisal (β = -.17, -.19, -.30) and positive influence of Suppression (β = .23) were observed on depression. For anxiety, Adjusting and Reappraisal was negatively influenced (β = -.29, and -.18). Reliability and validity of the Affective Style Questionnaire was partly confirmed. Further study is needed to clarify the culturally dependent aspects of affective styles.

  12. Factors That Affect the Academic Success of Foreign Students at Cardinal Stritch University

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Annor, Peter

    2010-01-01

    There are limited studies in the literature on the factors that affect the academic success of foreign students in the United States. This ex post facto mixed method study investigated the factors that affect the academic success of foreign students at Cardinal Stitch University (CSU), a medium size, private university located in the Midwestern…

  13. Looking under the Bonnet: Factors Affecting Student Adoption of E-Learning Systems in Jordan

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Abbad, Muneer Mahmood; Morris, David; de Nahlik, Carmel

    2009-01-01

    The primary questions addressed in this paper are the following: what are the factors that affect students' adoption of an e-learning system and what are the relationships among these factors? This paper investigates and identifies some of the major factors affecting students' adoption of an e-learning system in a university in Jordan. E-learning…

  14. Iris recognition based on key image feature extraction.

    PubMed

    Ren, X; Tian, Q; Zhang, J; Wu, S; Zeng, Y

    2008-01-01

    In iris recognition, feature extraction can be influenced by factors such as illumination and contrast, and thus the features extracted may be unreliable, which can cause a high rate of false results in iris pattern recognition. In order to obtain stable features, an algorithm was proposed in this paper to extract key features of a pattern from multiple images. The proposed algorithm built an iris feature template by extracting key features and performed iris identity enrolment. Simulation results showed that the selected key features have high recognition accuracy on the CASIA Iris Set, where both contrast and illumination variance exist.

  15. Institutional and Managerial Factors Affecting International Student Recruitment Management

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ross, Mitchell; Heaney, Joo-Gim; Cooper, Maxine

    2007-01-01

    Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate international student recruitment from an institutional perspective and to consider institutional factors that may affect recruitment. Design/methodology/approach: A qualitative study is undertaken in which education marketing practitioners are interviewed regarding aspects of international…

  16. RIG-I in RNA virus recognition

    PubMed Central

    Kell, Alison M.; Gale, Michael

    2015-01-01

    Antiviral immunity is initiated upon host recognition of viral products via non-self molecular patterns known as pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs). Such recognition initiates signaling cascades that induce intracellular innate immune defenses and an inflammatory response that facilitates development of the acquired immune response. The retinoic acid-inducible gene I (RIG-I) and the RIG-I-like receptor (RLR) protein family are key cytoplasmic pathogen recognition receptors that are implicated in the recognition of viruses across genera and virus families, including functioning as major sensors of RNA viruses, and promoting recognition of some DNA viruses. RIG-I, the charter member of the RLR family, is activated upon binding to PAMP RNA. Activated RIG-I signals by interacting with the adapter protein MAVS leading to a signaling cascade that activates the transcription factors IRF3 and NF-κB. These actions induce the expression of antiviral gene products and the production of type I and III interferons that lead to an antiviral state in the infected cell and surrounding tissue. RIG-I signaling is essential for the control of infection by many RNA viruses. Recently, RIG-I crosstalk with other pathogen recognition receptors and components of the inflammasome has been described. In this review, we discuss the current knowledge regarding the role of RIG-I in recognition of a variety of virus families and its role in programming the adaptive immune response through cross-talk with parallel arms of the innate immune system, including how RIG-I can be leveraged for antiviral therapy. PMID:25749629

  17. How similar are recognition memory and inductive reasoning?

    PubMed

    Hayes, Brett K; Heit, Evan

    2013-07-01

    Conventionally, memory and reasoning are seen as different types of cognitive activities driven by different processes. In two experiments, we challenged this view by examining the relationship between recognition memory and inductive reasoning involving multiple forms of similarity. A common study set (members of a conjunctive category) was followed by a test set containing old and new category members, as well as items that matched the study set on only one dimension. The study and test sets were presented under recognition or induction instructions. In Experiments 1 and 2, the inductive property being generalized was varied in order to direct attention to different dimensions of similarity. When there was no time pressure on decisions, patterns of positive responding were strongly affected by property type, indicating that different types of similarity were driving recognition and induction. By comparison, speeded judgments showed weaker property effects and could be explained by generalization based on overall similarity. An exemplar model, GEN-EX (GENeralization from EXamples), could account for both the induction and recognition data. These findings show that induction and recognition share core component processes, even when the tasks involve flexible forms of similarity.

  18. Speech recognition technology: an outlook for human-to-machine interaction.

    PubMed

    Erdel, T; Crooks, S

    2000-01-01

    Speech recognition, as an enabling technology in healthcare-systems computing, is a topic that has been discussed for quite some time, but is just now coming to fruition. Traditionally, speech-recognition software has been constrained by hardware, but improved processors and increased memory capacities are starting to remove some of these limitations. With these barriers removed, companies that create software for the healthcare setting have the opportunity to write more successful applications. Among the criticisms of speech-recognition applications are the high rates of error and steep training curves. However, even in the face of such negative perceptions, there remains significant opportunities for speech recognition to allow healthcare providers and, more specifically, physicians, to work more efficiently and ultimately spend more time with their patients and less time completing necessary documentation. This article will identify opportunities for inclusion of speech-recognition technology in the healthcare setting and examine major categories of speech-recognition software--continuous speech recognition, command and control, and text-to-speech. We will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each area, the limitations of the software today, and how future trends might affect them.

  19. Psychological factors affecting medical condition: a new proposal for DSM-V.

    PubMed

    Fava, Giovanni A; Fabbri, Stefania; Sirri, Laura; Wise, Thomas N

    2007-01-01

    The DSM category of "psychological factors affecting medical condition" had virtually no impact on clinical practice. However, several clinically relevant psychosomatic syndromes have been described in the literature: disease phobia, persistent somatization, conversion symptoms, illness denial, demoralization, and irritable mood. These syndromes, in addition to the DSM definition of hypochondriasis, can yield clinical specification in the category of "psychological factors affecting medical condition" and eliminate the need for the highly criticized DSM classification of somatoform disorders. This new classification is supported by a growing body of research evidence and is in line with psychosomatic medicine as a recognized subspecialty.

  20. Consistency of response and image recognition, pulmonary nodules

    PubMed Central

    Liu, M A Q; Galvan, E; Bassett, R; Murphy, W A; Matamoros, A; Marom, E M

    2014-01-01

    Objective: To investigate the effect of recognition of a previously encountered radiograph on consistency of response in localized pulmonary nodules. Methods: 13 radiologists interpreted 40 radiographs each to locate pulmonary nodules. A few days later, they again interpreted 40 radiographs. Half of the images in the second set were new. We asked the radiologists whether each image had been in the first set. We used Fisher's exact test and Kruskal–Wallis test to evaluate the correlation between recognition of an image and consistency in its interpretation. We evaluated the data using all possible recognition levels—definitely, probably or possibly included vs definitely, probably or possibly not included by collapsing the recognition levels into two and by eliminating the “possibly included” and “possibly not included” scores. Results: With all but one of six methods of looking at the data, there was no significant correlation between consistency in interpretation and recognition of the image. When the possibly included and possibly not included scores were eliminated, there was a borderline statistical significance (p = 0.04) with slightly greater consistency in interpretation of recognized than that of non-recognized images. Conclusion: We found no convincing evidence that radiologists' recognition of images in an observer performance study affects their interpretation on a second encounter. Advances in knowledge: Conscious recognition of chest radiographs did not result in a greater degree of consistency in the tested interpretation than that in the interpretation of images that were not recognized. PMID:24697724

  1. Demographic and obstetric factors affecting women's sexual functioning during pregnancy.

    PubMed

    Abouzari-Gazafroodi, Kobra; Najafi, Fatemeh; Kazemnejad, Ehsan; Rahnama, Parvin; Montazeri, Ali

    2015-08-19

    Sexual desire and frequency of sexual relationships during pregnancy remains challenging. This study aimed to assess factors that affect women's sexual functioning during pregnancy. This was a cross sectional study carried out at prenatal care clinics of public health services in Iran. An author-designed structured questionnaire including items on socio-demographic characteristics, obstetric history, the current pregnancy, and women's sexual functioning during pregnancy was used to collect data. The generalized linear model was performed in order to find out factors that affect women's sexual functioning during pregnancy. In all, 518 pregnant women participated in the study. The mean age of participants was 26.4 years (SD = 4.7). Overall 309 women (59.7%) scored less than mean on sexual functioning. The results obtained from generalized linear model demonstrated that that lower education, unwanted pregnancy, earlier stage of pregnancy, older age, and longer duration of marriage were the most important factors contributing to disturbed sexual functioning among couples. The findings suggest that sexual function during pregnancy might be disturbed due to several factors. Indeed issues on sexual relationship should be included as part of prenatal care and reproductive health programs for every woman.

  2. Affect and Health Behavior Co-Occurrence: The Emerging Roles of Transdiagnostic Factors and Sociocultural Factors.

    PubMed

    Zvolensky, Michael J; Leventhal, Adam M

    2016-01-01

    The majority of scientific work addressing relations among affective states and health correlates has focused primarily on their co-occurrence and a limited range of health conditions. We have developed a Special Issue to highlight recent advances in this emerging field of work that addresses the nature and interplay between affective states and disorders, in terms of their impact and consequences from health status and behavior. This Special Issue is organized into three parts classified as (a) co-occurrence and interplay between (b) transdiagnostic factors and (c) sociocultural factors. It is hoped that this issue will (a) alert readers to the significance of this work at different levels of analysis, (b) illustrate the many domains currently being explored via innovative approaches, and (c) identify fecund areas for future systematic study. © The Author(s) 2016.

  3. Orientation and Affective Expression Effects on Face Recognition in Williams Syndrome and Autism

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rose, Fredric E.; Lincoln, Alan J.; Lai, Zona; Ene, Michaela; Searcy, Yvonne M.; Bellugi, Ursula

    2007-01-01

    We sought to clarify the nature of the face processing strength commonly observed in individuals with Williams syndrome (WS) by comparing the face recognition ability of persons with WS to that of persons with autism and to healthy controls under three conditions: Upright faces with neutral expressions, upright faces with varying affective…

  4. Prevalence, pathophysiological mechanisms and factors affecting urolithiasis.

    PubMed

    Khan, Aslam

    2018-05-01

    The formation of urinary stone, urolithiasis, is one the oldest known disease affecting human throughout different civilizations and times. The exact pathophysiological mechanism of urolithiasis is not yet clear, as these calculi are of various types and too complex for simple understanding. A single theory cannot explain its formation; therefore, different theories are presented in various times for its explanation like free particle, fixed particle, Randall's plaque theory. In addition, various factors and components are identified that play an important role in the formation of these urinary calculi. In this review, composition of kidney stones, its prevalence/incidence, explanation of pathophysiological mechanisms and role of various factors; urinary pH, uric acid, parathyroid hormone, citrate, oxalate, calcium and macromolecules; osteopontin, matrix Gla protein, kidney injury molecules, urinary prothrombin fragment-1, Tamm-Horsfall protein, inter-α-inhibitors, have been discussed in detail.

  5. Factors that affect the development of nurses' competencies: a systematic review.

    PubMed

    Rizany, Ichsan; Hariyati, Rr Tutik Sri; Handayani, Hanny

    2018-02-01

    To investigate factors affecting the development of nursing competency based on a review of the literature. A systematic review was utilized. The articles were taken from the databases of Pro-Quest, ScienceDirect, SpringerLink, and Scopus. They were retrieved using the following keywords: nursing competence, nurse competencies and clinical competence. Twenty-one papers were selected. Competence development is a continuous process of improving knowledge, attitudes and skills, and is influenced by a myriad of factors. Six factors were identified that affected the development of nursing competence in our systematic review: (1) work experience, (2) type of nursing environment, (3) educational level achieved, (4) adherence to professionalism, (5) critical thinking, and (6) personal factors. Work experience and education were shown to significantly influence the development of competency of nurses. Nurse managers need to support staffing competence through ongoing education, mentoring-preceptorship training, and case-reflection-discussion teaching programs. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

  6. Optical character recognition of camera-captured images based on phase features

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Diaz-Escobar, Julia; Kober, Vitaly

    2015-09-01

    Nowadays most of digital information is obtained using mobile devices specially smartphones. In particular, it brings the opportunity for optical character recognition in camera-captured images. For this reason many recognition applications have been recently developed such as recognition of license plates, business cards, receipts and street signal; document classification, augmented reality, language translator and so on. Camera-captured images are usually affected by geometric distortions, nonuniform illumination, shadow, noise, which make difficult the recognition task with existing systems. It is well known that the Fourier phase contains a lot of important information regardless of the Fourier magnitude. So, in this work we propose a phase-based recognition system exploiting phase-congruency features for illumination/scale invariance. The performance of the proposed system is tested in terms of miss classifications and false alarms with the help of computer simulation.

  7. Arginine vasopressin 1a receptor RS3 promoter microsatellites in schizophrenia: a study of the effect of the "risk" allele on clinical symptoms and facial affect recognition.

    PubMed

    Golimbet, Vera; Alfimova, Margarita; Abramova, Lilia; Kaleda, Vasily; Gritsenko, Inga

    2015-02-28

    We studied AVPR1A RS3 polymorphism in schizophrenic patients and controls. AVPR1A RS3 was not associated with schizophrenia. The allele 327bp implicated in autism and social behavior was associated with negative symptoms and tended to be linked to patient facial affect recognition suggesting its impact on schizophrenia social phenotypes. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  8. Factors Affecting Recruitment into Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Training

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Shaw, Jon A.; Lewis, John E.; Katyal, Shalini

    2010-01-01

    Objective: The authors studied the factors affecting the recruitment into child and adolescent psychiatry training in the United States. Methods: Medical students (n = 154) and general and child and adolescent psychiatry residents (n = 111) completed a questionnaire to evaluate career choice in child psychiatry (n = 265). Results: Compared with…

  9. The effects of list-method directed forgetting on recognition memory.

    PubMed

    Benjamin, Aaron S

    2006-10-01

    It is an almost universally accepted claim that the list-method procedure of inducing directed forgetting does not affect recognition. However, previous studies have omitted a critical comparison in reaching this conclusion. This article reports evidence that recognition of material learned after cue presentation is superior for conditions in which the material that preceded cue presentation was designated as to-be-forgotten. Because the absence of an effect of directed-forgetting instructions on recognition is the linchpin of the theoretical claim that retrieval inhibition and not selective rehearsal underlies that effect, the present results call into question the need to postulate a role for inhibition in directed forgetting.

  10. How Psychological Stress Affects Emotional Prosody.

    PubMed

    Paulmann, Silke; Furnes, Desire; Bøkenes, Anne Ming; Cozzolino, Philip J

    2016-01-01

    We explored how experimentally induced psychological stress affects the production and recognition of vocal emotions. In Study 1a, we demonstrate that sentences spoken by stressed speakers are judged by naïve listeners as sounding more stressed than sentences uttered by non-stressed speakers. In Study 1b, negative emotions produced by stressed speakers are generally less well recognized than the same emotions produced by non-stressed speakers. Multiple mediation analyses suggest this poorer recognition of negative stimuli was due to a mismatch between the variation of volume voiced by speakers and the range of volume expected by listeners. Together, this suggests that the stress level of the speaker affects judgments made by the receiver. In Study 2, we demonstrate that participants who were induced with a feeling of stress before carrying out an emotional prosody recognition task performed worse than non-stressed participants. Overall, findings suggest detrimental effects of induced stress on interpersonal sensitivity.

  11. How Psychological Stress Affects Emotional Prosody

    PubMed Central

    Paulmann, Silke; Furnes, Desire; Bøkenes, Anne Ming; Cozzolino, Philip J.

    2016-01-01

    We explored how experimentally induced psychological stress affects the production and recognition of vocal emotions. In Study 1a, we demonstrate that sentences spoken by stressed speakers are judged by naïve listeners as sounding more stressed than sentences uttered by non-stressed speakers. In Study 1b, negative emotions produced by stressed speakers are generally less well recognized than the same emotions produced by non-stressed speakers. Multiple mediation analyses suggest this poorer recognition of negative stimuli was due to a mismatch between the variation of volume voiced by speakers and the range of volume expected by listeners. Together, this suggests that the stress level of the speaker affects judgments made by the receiver. In Study 2, we demonstrate that participants who were induced with a feeling of stress before carrying out an emotional prosody recognition task performed worse than non-stressed participants. Overall, findings suggest detrimental effects of induced stress on interpersonal sensitivity. PMID:27802287

  12. A review of affecting factors on sexual satisfaction in women.

    PubMed

    Shahhosseini, Zohreh; Gardeshi, Zeinab Hamzeh; Pourasghar, Mehdi; Salehi, Fariba

    2014-12-01

    Sex is a complex, important and sensitive issue in human being and interwoven with the whole of human existence. Given the serious changes in attitude, function and behavior in sex, the need to address sexual function, especially sexual satisfaction, is felt completely. Sexual satisfaction has a very important role in creating marital satisfaction and any defect in sexual satisfaction is significantly associated with risky sexual behaviors, serious mental illness, social crimes and ultimately divorce. The aim of this study was to explore affecting factors on sexual satisfaction in women based on an overview in scientific database. In this narrative review the researchers searched MEDLINE database, Google Scholar and Science Direct as well as Persian database like Scientific Information Database with search terms of sexual satisfaction and sexual function, restricted to English/ Persian language, during the 20 years ago. Then those articles written by renowned experts were selected. In this regard, 57 articles have been reviewed, which 30 articles related to this research have been extracted. The findings were divided in to four categories including: Demographic factors, Pathophysiological factors, Psychological factors and Sociocultural factors. Sexuality, especially sexual intimacy is sophisticated and yet elegant affair that the other persons has different definitions and different functions. Discrepancies in the results of the studies show that analysis of factors affecting sexual satisfaction regardless of the women's' sociocultural context, religious beliefs, and personal attitudes is undoubtedly inefficient, unscientific and irrational.

  13. Factors affecting yearly and monthly visits to Taipei Zoo

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Su, Ai-Tsen; Lin, Yann-Jou

    2018-02-01

    This study investigated factors affecting yearly and monthly numbers of visits to Taipei Zoo. Both linear and nonlinear regression models were used to estimate yearly visits. The results of both models showed that the "opening effect" and "animal star effect" had a significantly positive effect on yearly visits, while a SARS outbreak had a negative effect. The number of years had a significant influence on yearly visits. Results showed that the nonlinear model had better explanatory power and fitted the variations of visits better. Results of monthly model showed that monthly visits were significantly influenced by time fluctuations, weather conditions, and the animal star effect. Chinese New Year, summer vacation, numbers of holidays, and animal star exhibitions increased the number of monthly visits, while the number of days with temperatures at or below 15 °C, the number of days with temperatures at or above 30 °C, and the number of rainy days had significantly negative effects. Furthermore, the model of monthly visits showed that the animal star effect could last for over two quarters. The results of this study clarify the factors affecting visits to an outdoor recreation site and confirm the importance of meteorological factors to recreation use.

  14. The Memory State Heuristic: A Formal Model Based on Repeated Recognition Judgments

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Castela, Marta; Erdfelder, Edgar

    2017-01-01

    The recognition heuristic (RH) theory predicts that, in comparative judgment tasks, if one object is recognized and the other is not, the recognized one is chosen. The memory-state heuristic (MSH) extends the RH by assuming that choices are not affected by recognition judgments per se, but by the memory states underlying these judgments (i.e.,…

  15. A Qualitative Study of Factors Affecting Morale in Psychiatry Residency Training.

    PubMed

    Caravella, Rachel A; Robinson, Lee A; Wilets, Ilene; Weinberg, Michael; Cabaniss, Deborah L; Cutler, Janis L; Kymissis, Carisa; Arbuckle, Melissa R

    2016-10-01

    Resident morale is an important yet poorly understood aspect of the residency training experience. Despite implications for program quality, resident satisfaction, patient care, and recruitment, little is known about the variables influencing this complex phenomenon. This study sought to identify important factors affecting morale in psychiatry residency training. The authors conducted four semi-structured focus groups at a moderately sized, urban, psychiatry residency program during the 2013-2014 academic year. They used qualitative data analysis techniques, including grounded theory and content analysis, to identify key themes affecting resident morale across training levels. Twenty-seven residents participated in the focus groups with equal distribution across post-graduate years (PGY) 1-4. Five major conceptual categories affecting resident morale emerged: Sense of Community, Individual Motivators, Clinical Work, Feeling Cared For, and Trust in the Administration. Morale is an important topic in residency education. The qualitative results suggest that factors related to a Sense of Community and Individual Motivators generally enhanced resident morale whereas factors related to a lack of Feeling Cared For and Trust in the Administration tended to contribute to lower morale. The authors describe the possible interventions to promote stronger program morale suggested by these findings.

  16. Factors affecting the overcrowding in outpatient healthcare

    PubMed Central

    Bahadori, Mohammadkarim; Teymourzadeh, Ehsan; Ravangard, Ramin; Raadabadi, Mehdi

    2017-01-01

    Background: The expansion of outpatient services and the desire to provide more outpatient care than inpatient care create some problems such as the overcrowding in the outpatient clinics. Given the importance of overcrowding in the outpatient clinics, this qualitative study aimed to determine the factors influencing the overcrowding in the specialty and subspecialty clinic of a teaching hospital. Materials and Methods: This was a qualitative study conducted in the specialty and subspecialty clinic of a hospital using content analysis method in the period of January to March 2014. The study population was all managers and heads of the outpatient wards. The studied sample consisted of 22 managers of the clinic wards who were selected using the purposive sampling method. The required data was collected using semi-structured interviews. The collected data was analyzed using conventional content analysis and the MAXQDA 10.0 software. Results: Three themes were identified as the main factors affecting the overcrowding including the internal positive factors, internal negative factors, and external factors. Conclusions: Despite the efforts made to eliminate overcrowding, and reduce waiting times and increase access to the services for patients, the problem of overcrowding still has remained unresolved. In addition, the use of some strategies such as clarifying the working processes of the clinic for staff and patients and the relationships between the clinic and other wards especially emergency department, as well as using a simple triage system on the patients’ arrival at the clinic are recommended. PMID:28546986

  17. Recruitment and retention: factors that affect pericyte migration

    PubMed Central

    Aguilera, Kristina Y.

    2013-01-01

    Pericytes are critical for vascular morphogenesis and contribute to several pathologies, including cancer development and progression. The mechanisms governing pericyte migration and differentiation are complex and have not been fully established. Current literature suggests that platelet-derived growth factor/platelet-derived growth factor receptor-β, sphingosine 1-phosphate/endothelial differentiation gene-1, angiopoietin-1/tyrosine kinase with immunoglobulin-like and EGF-like domains 2, angiopoietin-2/tyros-ine kinase with immunoglobulin-like and EGF-like domains 2, transforming growth factor β/activin receptor-like kinase 1, transforming growth factor β/activin receptor-like kinase 5, Semaphorin-3A/Neuropilin, and matrix metalloproteinase activity regulate the recruitment of pericytes to nascent vessels. Interestingly, many of these pathways are directly affected by secreted protein acidic and rich in cysteine (SPARC). Here, we summarize the function of these factors in pericyte migration and discuss if and how SPARC might infuence these activities and thus provide an additional layer of control for the recruitment of vascular support cells. Additionally, the consequences of targeted inhibition of pericytes in tumors and the current understanding of pericyte recruitment in pathological environments are discussed. PMID:23912898

  18. Quality based approach for adaptive face recognition

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Abboud, Ali J.; Sellahewa, Harin; Jassim, Sabah A.

    2009-05-01

    Recent advances in biometric technology have pushed towards more robust and reliable systems. We aim to build systems that have low recognition errors and are less affected by variation in recording conditions. Recognition errors are often attributed to the usage of low quality biometric samples. Hence, there is a need to develop new intelligent techniques and strategies to automatically measure/quantify the quality of biometric image samples and if necessary restore image quality according to the need of the intended application. In this paper, we present no-reference image quality measures in the spatial domain that have impact on face recognition. The first is called symmetrical adaptive local quality index (SALQI) and the second is called middle halve (MH). Also, an adaptive strategy has been developed to select the best way to restore the image quality, called symmetrical adaptive histogram equalization (SAHE). The main benefits of using quality measures for adaptive strategy are: (1) avoidance of excessive unnecessary enhancement procedures that may cause undesired artifacts, and (2) reduced computational complexity which is essential for real time applications. We test the success of the proposed measures and adaptive approach for a wavelet-based face recognition system that uses the nearest neighborhood classifier. We shall demonstrate noticeable improvements in the performance of adaptive face recognition system over the corresponding non-adaptive scheme.

  19. Association of enhanced limbic response to threat with decreased cortical facial recognition memory response in schizophrenia.

    PubMed

    Satterthwaite, Theodore D; Wolf, Daniel H; Loughead, James; Ruparel, Kosha; Valdez, Jeffrey N; Siegel, Steven J; Kohler, Christian G; Gur, Raquel E; Gur, Ruben C

    2010-04-01

    Recognition memory of faces is impaired in patients with schizophrenia, as is the neural processing of threat-related signals, but how these deficits interact to produce symptoms is unclear. The authors used an affective face recognition paradigm to examine possible interactions between cognitive and affective neural systems in schizophrenia. Blood-oxygen-level-dependent response was examined by means of functional magnetic resonance imaging (3 Tesla) in healthy comparison subjects (N=21) and in patients with schizophrenia (N=12) or schizoaffective disorder, depressed type (N=4), during a two-choice recognition task that used images of human faces. Each target face, previously displayed with a threatening or nonthreatening affect, was displayed with neutral affect. Responses to successful recognition and responses to the effect of previously threatening versus nonthreatening affect were evaluated, and correlations with symptom severity (total Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale score) were examined. Functional connectivity analyses examined the relationship between activation in the amygdala and cortical regions involved in recognition memory. Patients performed the task more slowly than healthy comparison subjects. Comparison subjects recruited the expected cortical regions to a greater degree than patients, and patients with more severe symptoms demonstrated proportionally less recruitment. Increased symptoms were also correlated with augmented amygdala and orbitofrontal cortex response to threatening faces. Comparison subjects exhibited a negative correlation between activity in the amygdala and cortical regions involved in cognition, while patients showed weakening of this relationship. Increased symptoms were related to an enhanced threat response in limbic regions and a diminished recognition memory response in cortical regions, supporting a link between these two brain systems that are often examined in isolation. This finding suggests that abnormal processing of

  20. Factors Affecting Role Stress and Burnout among School Counselors

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Willingham, Wendy Elizabeth

    2009-01-01

    The purpose of this study is to determine factors affecting role stress and burnout among practicing school counselors as measured by the Maslach Burnout Inventory-Educators Survey (MBI-ES) and the Role Conflict and Ambiguity Scale. The MBI-ES utilizes three subscales to measure burnout: emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal…

  1. Factors affecting species distribution predictions: A simulation modeling experiment

    Treesearch

    Gordon C. Reese; Kenneth R. Wilson; Jennifer A. Hoeting; Curtis H. Flather

    2005-01-01

    Geospatial species sample data (e.g., records with location information from natural history museums or annual surveys) are rarely collected optimally, yet are increasingly used for decisions concerning our biological heritage. Using computer simulations, we examined factors that could affect the performance of autologistic regression (ALR) models that predict species...

  2. Motivational Factors Affecting Online Learning by Japanese MBA Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kikuchi, Hisayo

    2006-01-01

    In Japan, Internet based learning is still at an early stage. However, adult learners in Japanese society expect the development of flexible e-learning programs. This case study examines motivational factors affecting online learning in a Japanese and Australian MBA program, using observations, interviews and a questionnaire survey. The data were…

  3. Prosody recognition and audiovisual emotion matching in schizophrenia: the contribution of cognition and psychopathology.

    PubMed

    Castagna, Filomena; Montemagni, Cristiana; Maria Milani, Anna; Rocca, Giuseppe; Rocca, Paola; Casacchia, Massimo; Bogetto, Filippo

    2013-02-28

    This study aimed to evaluate the ability to decode emotion in the auditory and audiovisual modality in a group of patients with schizophrenia, and to explore the role of cognition and psychopathology in affecting these emotion recognition abilities. Ninety-four outpatients in a stable phase and 51 healthy subjects were recruited. Patients were assessed through a psychiatric evaluation and a wide neuropsychological battery. All subjects completed the comprehensive affect testing system (CATS), a group of computerized tests designed to evaluate emotion perception abilities. With respect to the controls, patients were not impaired in the CATS tasks involving discrimination of nonemotional prosody, naming of emotional stimuli expressed by voice and judging the emotional content of a sentence, whereas they showed a specific impairment in decoding emotion in a conflicting auditory condition and in the multichannel modality. Prosody impairment was affected by executive functions, attention and negative symptoms, while deficit in multisensory emotion recognition was affected by executive functions and negative symptoms. These emotion recognition deficits, rather than being associated purely with emotion perception disturbances in schizophrenia, are affected by core symptoms of the illness. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  4. Face-Recognition Memory: Implications for Children's Eyewitness Testimony.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chance, June E.; Goldstein, Alvin G.

    1984-01-01

    Reviews studies of face-recognition memory and considers implications for assessing the dependability of children's performances as eyewitnesses. Considers personal factors (age, intellectual differences, and gender) and situational factors (familiarity of face, retention interval, and others). Also identifies developmental questions for future…

  5. Emotion recognition and social adjustment in school-aged girls and boys.

    PubMed

    Leppänen, J M; Hietanen, J K

    2001-12-01

    The present study investigated emotion recognition accuracy and its relation to social adjustment in 7-10 year-old children. The ability to recognize basic emotions from facial and vocal expressions was measured and compared to peer popularity and to teacher-rated social competence. The results showed that emotion recognition was related to these measures of social adjustment, but the gender of a child and emotion category affected this relationship. Emotion recognition accuracy was significantly related to social adjustment for the girls, but not for the boys. For the girls, especially the recognition of surprise was related to social adjustment. Together, these results suggest that the ability to recognize others' emotional states from nonverbal cues is an important socio-cognitive ability for school-aged girls.

  6. A model of traffic signs recognition with convolutional neural network

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hu, Haihe; Li, Yujian; Zhang, Ting; Huo, Yi; Kuang, Wenqing

    2016-10-01

    In real traffic scenes, the quality of captured images are generally low due to some factors such as lighting conditions, and occlusion on. All of these factors are challengeable for automated recognition algorithms of traffic signs. Deep learning has provided a new way to solve this kind of problems recently. The deep network can automatically learn features from a large number of data samples and obtain an excellent recognition performance. We therefore approach this task of recognition of traffic signs as a general vision problem, with few assumptions related to road signs. We propose a model of Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) and apply the model to the task of traffic signs recognition. The proposed model adopts deep CNN as the supervised learning model, directly takes the collected traffic signs image as the input, alternates the convolutional layer and subsampling layer, and automatically extracts the features for the recognition of the traffic signs images. The proposed model includes an input layer, three convolutional layers, three subsampling layers, a fully-connected layer, and an output layer. To validate the proposed model, the experiments are implemented using the public dataset of China competition of fuzzy image processing. Experimental results show that the proposed model produces a recognition accuracy of 99.01 % on the training dataset, and yield a record of 92% on the preliminary contest within the fourth best.

  7. Analysis of extrinsic and intrinsic factors affecting event related desynchronization production.

    PubMed

    Takata, Yohei; Kondo, Toshiyuki; Saeki, Midori; Izawa, Jun; Takeda, Kotaro; Otaka, Yohei; It, Koji

    2012-01-01

    Recently there has been an increase in the number of stroke patients with motor paralysis. Appropriate re-afferent sensory feedback synchronized with a voluntary motor intention would be effective for promoting neural plasticity in the stroke rehabilitation. Therefore, BCI technology is considered to be a promising approach in the neuro-rehabilitation. To estimate human motor intention, an event-related desynchronization (ERD), a feature of electroencephalogram (EEG) evoked by motor execution or motor imagery is usually used. However, there exists various factors that affect ERD production, and its neural mechanism is still an open question. As a preliminary stage, we evaluate mutual effects of intrinsic (voluntary motor imagery) and extrinsic (visual and somatosensory stimuli) factors on the ERD production. Experimental results indicate that these three factors are not always additively interacting with each other and affecting the ERD production.

  8. New strategies in the assessment of psychological factors affecting medical conditions.

    PubMed

    Sirri, Laura; Fabbri, Stefania; Fava, Giovanni A; Sonino, Nicoletta

    2007-12-01

    In this article, we examine research that may lead to a better assessment of psychological factors affecting medical conditions. We performed a review of the psychosomatic literature using both Medline and manual searches. We selected papers that were judged to be relevant to new strategies of assessment, with particular reference to the use of the Diagnostic Criteria for Psychosomatic Research. We assessed 8 areas concerned with the assessment of psychological factors in the setting of medical disease: hypochondriasis, disease phobia, persistent somatization, conversion symptoms, illness denial, demoralization, irritable mood, and Type A behavior. A new subclassification of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th ed. [DSM-V]; not yet published) category of psychological factors affecting physical conditions appears to be feasible and may provide the clinician with better tools for identifying psychological distress.

  9. Face recognition performance of individuals with Asperger syndrome on the Cambridge Face Memory Test.

    PubMed

    Hedley, Darren; Brewer, Neil; Young, Robyn

    2011-12-01

    Although face recognition deficits in individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), including Asperger syndrome (AS), are widely acknowledged, the empirical evidence is mixed. This in part reflects the failure to use standardized and psychometrically sound tests. We contrasted standardized face recognition scores on the Cambridge Face Memory Test (CFMT) for 34 individuals with AS with those for 42, IQ-matched non-ASD individuals, and age-standardized scores from a large Australian cohort. We also examined the influence of IQ, autistic traits, and negative affect on face recognition performance. Overall, participants with AS performed significantly worse on the CFMT than the non-ASD participants and when evaluated against standardized test norms. However, while 24% of participants with AS presented with severe face recognition impairment (>2 SDs below the mean), many individuals performed at or above the typical level for their age: 53% scored within +/- 1 SD of the mean and 9% demonstrated superior performance (>1 SD above the mean). Regression analysis provided no evidence that IQ, autistic traits, or negative affect significantly influenced face recognition: diagnostic group membership was the only significant predictor of face recognition performance. In sum, face recognition performance in ASD is on a continuum, but with average levels significantly below non-ASD levels of performance. Copyright © 2011, International Society for Autism Research, Wiley-Liss, Inc.

  10. Deafblindness, ontological security, and social recognition.

    PubMed

    Danermark, Berth D; Möller, Kerstin

    2008-11-01

    Trust, ontological security, and social recognition are discussed in relation to self-identity among people with acquired deafblindness. To date the phenomenon has not been elaborated in the context of deafblindness. When a person with deafblindness interacts with the social and material environment, the reliability, constancy, and predictability of his or her relations is crucial for maintaining or achieving ontological security or a general and fairly persistent feeling of well-being. When these relations fundamentally change, the impact on ontological security will be very negative. The construction of social recognition through the interaction between the self and others is embodied across three dimensions: at the individual level, at the legal systems level, and at the normative or value level. The relationship between trust and ontological security on the one hand and social recognition on the other hand is discussed. It is argued that these basic processes affecting personality development have to be identified and acknowledged in the interactions people with deafblindness experience. Some implications for the rehabilitation of people with acquired deafblindness are presented and illustrated.

  11. Multifactorial analysis of factors affecting recurrence of stroke in Japan.

    PubMed

    Omori, Toyonori; Kawagoe, Masahiro; Moriyama, Michiko; Yasuda, Takeshi; Ito, Yasuhiro; Hyakuta, Takeshi; Nagatsuka, Kazuyuki; Matsumoto, Masayasu

    2015-03-01

    Data on factors affecting stroke recurrence are relatively limited. The authors examined potential factors affecting stroke recurrence, retrospectively. The study participants were 1087 patients who were admitted to stroke centers suffering from first-ever ischemic stroke and returned questionnaires with usable information after discharge. The authors analyzed the association between clinical parameters of the patients and their prognosis. Recurrence rate of during an average of 2 years after discharge was 21.3%, and there were differences among stroke subtypes. It was found that the disability level of the patients after discharge correlated well with the level at discharge (r s = 0.66). Multivariate logistic regression analysis of the data shows that modified Rankin Scale score, National Institute of Health Stroke Scale score, gender, age, and family history had statistically significant impacts on stroke recurrence, and the impact was different depending on subtypes. These findings suggest that aggressive and persistent health education for poststroke patients and management of risk factors are essential to reduce stroke recurrence. © 2012 APJPH.

  12. Intracerebroventricular oxytocin administration in rats enhances object recognition and increases expression of neurotrophins, microtubule-associated protein 2, and synapsin I.

    PubMed

    Havranek, Tomas; Zatkova, Martina; Lestanova, Zuzana; Bacova, Zuzana; Mravec, Boris; Hodosy, Julius; Strbak, Vladimir; Bakos, Jan

    2015-06-01

    Brain oxytocin regulates a variety of social and affiliative behaviors and affects also learning and memory. However, mechanisms of its action at the level of neuronal circuits are not fully understood. The present study tests the hypothesis that molecular factors required for memory formation and synaptic plasticity, including brain-derived neurotrophic factor, neural growth factor, nestin, microtubule-associated protein 2 (MAP2), and synapsin I, are enhanced by central administration of oxytocin. We also investigated whether oxytocin enhances object recognition and acts as anxiolytic agent. Therefore, male Wistar rats were infused continuously with oxytocin (20 ng/µl) via an osmotic minipump into the lateral cerebral ventricle for 7 days; controls were infused with vehicle. The object recognition test, open field test, and elevated plus maze test were performed on the sixth, seventh, and eighth days from starting the infusion. No significant effects of oxytocin on anxious-like behavior were observed. The object recognition test showed that oxytocin-treated rats significantly preferred unknown objects. Oxytocin treatment significantly increased gene expression and protein levels of neurotrophins, MAP2, and synapsin I in the hippocampus. No changes were observed in nestin expression. Our results provide the first direct evidence implicating oxytocin as a regulator of brain plasticity at the level of changes of neuronal growth factors, cytoskeletal proteins, and behavior. The data support assumption that oxytocin is important for short-term hippocampus-dependent memory. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  13. Syllables and bigrams: orthographic redundancy and syllabic units affect visual word recognition at different processing levels.

    PubMed

    Conrad, Markus; Carreiras, Manuel; Tamm, Sascha; Jacobs, Arthur M

    2009-04-01

    Over the last decade, there has been increasing evidence for syllabic processing during visual word recognition. If syllabic effects prove to be independent from orthographic redundancy, this would seriously challenge the ability of current computational models to account for the processing of polysyllabic words. Three experiments are presented to disentangle effects of the frequency of syllabic units and orthographic segments in lexical decision. In Experiment 1 the authors obtained an inhibitory syllable frequency effect that was unaffected by the presence or absence of a bigram trough at the syllable boundary. In Experiments 2 and 3 an inhibitory effect of initial syllable frequency but a facilitative effect of initial bigram frequency emerged when manipulating 1 of the 2 measures and controlling for the other in Spanish words starting with consonant-vowel syllables. The authors conclude that effects of syllable frequency and letter-cluster frequency are independent and arise at different processing levels of visual word recognition. Results are discussed within the framework of an interactive activation model of visual word recognition. (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved.

  14. Food brand recognition and BMI in preschoolers.

    PubMed

    Harrison, Kristen; Moorman, Jessica; Peralta, Mericarmen; Fayhee, Kally

    2017-07-01

    Children's food brand recognition predicts health-related outcomes such as preference for obesogenic foods and increased risk for overweight. However, it is uncertain to what degree food brand recognition acts as a proxy for other factors such as parental education and income, child vocabulary, child age, child race/ethnicity, parent healthy eating guidance, child commercial TV viewing, and child dietary intake, all of which may influence or be influenced by food brand recognition. U.S. preschoolers (N = 247, average age 56 months) were measured for BMI and completed the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test plus recognition and recall measures for a selection of U.S. food brands. Parents completed measures of healthy eating guidance, child dietary intake, child commercial TV viewing, parent education, household income, parent BMI, and child age and race/ethnicity. Controlling these variables, child food brand recognition predicted higher child BMI percentile. Further, qualitative examination of children's incorrect answers to recall items demonstrated perceptual confusion between brand mascots and other fantasy characters to which children are exposed during the preschool years, extending theory on child consumer development. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  15. Mathematics Performance and the Role Played by Affective and Background Factors

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Grootenboer, Peter; Hemmings, Brian

    2007-01-01

    In this article, we report on a study examining those factors which contribute to the mathematics performance of a sample of children aged between 8 and 13 years. The study was designed specifically to consider the potency of a number of mathematical affective factors, as well as background characteristics (viz., gender, ethnicity, and…

  16. Factors Affecting Career Decision Making of Mexican and Mexican-American Students.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Newlon, Betty J.; Borboa, Roman

    The purpose of this research was to identify the self-reported factors affecting the career decision making of Mexican and Mexican-American students. It was hypothesized that the factor clusters would differ between the two sample populations, Mexican and Mexican-American. It was also hypothesized that these clusters would differ from six clusters…

  17. Can Schools Support HIV/AIDS-Affected Children? Exploring the 'Ethic of Care' amongst Rural Zimbabwean Teachers.

    PubMed

    Campbell, Catherine; Andersen, Louise; Mutsikiwa, Alice; Madanhire, Claudius; Nyamukapa, Constance; Gregson, Simon

    2016-01-01

    How realistic is the international policy emphasis on schools 'substituting for families' of HIV/AIDS-affected children? We explore the ethic of care in Zimbabwean schools to highlight the poor fit between the western caring schools literature and daily realities of schools in different material and cultural contexts. Interviews and focus groups were conducted with 44 teachers and 55 community members, analysed in light of a companion study of HIV/AIDS-affected pupils' own accounts of their care-related experiences. We conceptualise schools as spaces of engagement between groups with diverse needs and interests (teachers, pupils and surrounding community members), with attention to the pathways through which extreme adversity impacts on those institutional contexts and social identifications central to giving and receiving care. Whilst teachers were aware of how they might support children, they seldom put these ideas into action. Multiple factors undermined caring teacher-pupil relationships in wider contexts of poverty and political uncertainty: loss of morale from low salaries and falling professional status; the inability of teachers to solve HIV/AIDS-related problems in their own lives; the role of stigma in deterring HIV/AIDS-affected children from disclosing their situations to teachers; authoritarian teacher-learner relations and harsh punishments fuelling pupil fear of teachers; and lack of trust in the wider community. These factors undermined: teacher confidence in their skills and capacity to support affected pupils and motivation to help children with complex problems; solidarity and common purpose amongst teachers, and between teachers and affected children; and effective bridging alliances between schools and their surrounding communities-all hallmarks of HIV-competent communities. We caution against ambitious policy expansions of teachers' roles without recognition of the personal and social costs of emotional labour, and the need for significant

  18. Industry Training: The Factors that Affect Demand. Discussion Paper.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Smith, A.; Roberts, P.; Noble, C.; Hayton, G.; Thorne, E.

    A study was conducted in Australia, to determine the factors that affect demand for job training. The study consisted of 30 detailed industry case studies, an industry analysis, and a literature review. Each case study examined current training practices, training decision making in the business, and the determinants of training for the…

  19. An Analysis of Factors Affecting Community College Students' Expectations on E-Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kilic-Cakmak, Ebru; Karatas, Sercin; Ocak, Mehmet Akif

    2009-01-01

    There are many factors that affect the e-learning process. Instructor, assessment and evaluation, communication, and technical support are among the leading factors. It is obvious that these factors influence the effectiveness of e-learning and may be related to different expectations of e-learners. Therefore, this study focuses on examining the…

  20. Lengths of Orthologous Prokaryotic Proteins Are Affected by Evolutionary Factors

    PubMed Central

    Tatarinova, Tatiana; Dien Bard, Jennifer; Cohen, Irit

    2015-01-01

    Proteins of the same functional family (for example, kinases) may have significantly different lengths. It is an open question whether such variation in length is random or it appears as a response to some unknown evolutionary driving factors. The main purpose of this paper is to demonstrate existence of factors affecting prokaryotic gene lengths. We believe that the ranking of genomes according to lengths of their genes, followed by the calculation of coefficients of association between genome rank and genome property, is a reasonable approach in revealing such evolutionary driving factors. As we demonstrated earlier, our chosen approach, Bubble-sort, combines stability, accuracy, and computational efficiency as compared to other ranking methods. Application of Bubble Sort to the set of 1390 prokaryotic genomes confirmed that genes of Archaeal species are generally shorter than Bacterial ones. We observed that gene lengths are affected by various factors: within each domain, different phyla have preferences for short or long genes; thermophiles tend to have shorter genes than the soil-dwellers; halophiles tend to have longer genes. We also found that species with overrepresentation of cytosines and guanines in the third position of the codon (GC3 content) tend to have longer genes than species with low GC3 content. PMID:26114113

  1. Lengths of Orthologous Prokaryotic Proteins Are Affected by Evolutionary Factors.

    PubMed

    Tatarinova, Tatiana; Salih, Bilal; Dien Bard, Jennifer; Cohen, Irit; Bolshoy, Alexander

    2015-01-01

    Proteins of the same functional family (for example, kinases) may have significantly different lengths. It is an open question whether such variation in length is random or it appears as a response to some unknown evolutionary driving factors. The main purpose of this paper is to demonstrate existence of factors affecting prokaryotic gene lengths. We believe that the ranking of genomes according to lengths of their genes, followed by the calculation of coefficients of association between genome rank and genome property, is a reasonable approach in revealing such evolutionary driving factors. As we demonstrated earlier, our chosen approach, Bubble-sort, combines stability, accuracy, and computational efficiency as compared to other ranking methods. Application of Bubble Sort to the set of 1390 prokaryotic genomes confirmed that genes of Archaeal species are generally shorter than Bacterial ones. We observed that gene lengths are affected by various factors: within each domain, different phyla have preferences for short or long genes; thermophiles tend to have shorter genes than the soil-dwellers; halophiles tend to have longer genes. We also found that species with overrepresentation of cytosines and guanines in the third position of the codon (GC3 content) tend to have longer genes than species with low GC3 content.

  2. Biased recognition of facial affect in patients with major depressive disorder reflects clinical state.

    PubMed

    Münkler, Paula; Rothkirch, Marcus; Dalati, Yasmin; Schmack, Katharina; Sterzer, Philipp

    2015-01-01

    Cognitive theories of depression posit that perception is negatively biased in depressive disorder. Previous studies have provided empirical evidence for this notion, but left open the question whether the negative perceptual bias reflects a stable trait or the current depressive state. Here we investigated the stability of negatively biased perception over time. Emotion perception was examined in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) and healthy control participants in two experiments. In the first experiment subjective biases in the recognition of facial emotional expressions were assessed. Participants were presented with faces that were morphed between sad and neutral and happy expressions and had to decide whether the face was sad or happy. The second experiment assessed automatic emotion processing by measuring the potency of emotional faces to gain access to awareness using interocular suppression. A follow-up investigation using the same tests was performed three months later. In the emotion recognition task, patients with major depression showed a shift in the criterion for the differentiation between sad and happy faces: In comparison to healthy controls, patients with MDD required a greater intensity of the happy expression to recognize a face as happy. After three months, this negative perceptual bias was reduced in comparison to the control group. The reduction in negative perceptual bias correlated with the reduction of depressive symptoms. In contrast to previous work, we found no evidence for preferential access to awareness of sad vs. happy faces. Taken together, our results indicate that MDD-related perceptual biases in emotion recognition reflect the current clinical state rather than a stable depressive trait.

  3. Annotation: Development of facial expression recognition from childhood to adolescence: behavioural and neurological perspectives.

    PubMed

    Herba, Catherine; Phillips, Mary

    2004-10-01

    Intact emotion processing is critical for normal emotional development. Recent advances in neuroimaging have facilitated the examination of brain development, and have allowed for the exploration of the relationships between the development of emotion processing abilities, and that of associated neural systems. A literature review was performed of published studies examining the development of emotion expression recognition in normal children and psychiatric populations, and of the development of neural systems important for emotion processing. Few studies have explored the development of emotion expression recognition throughout childhood and adolescence. Behavioural studies suggest continued development throughout childhood and adolescence (reflected by accuracy scores and speed of processing), which varies according to the category of emotion displayed. Factors such as sex, socio-economic status, and verbal ability may also affect this development. Functional neuroimaging studies in adults highlight the role of the amygdala in emotion processing. Results of the few neuroimaging studies in children have focused on the role of the amygdala in the recognition of fearful expressions. Although results are inconsistent, they provide evidence throughout childhood and adolescence for the continued development of and sex differences in amygdalar function in response to fearful expressions. Studies exploring emotion expression recognition in psychiatric populations of children and adolescents suggest deficits that are specific to the type of disorder and to the emotion displayed. Results from behavioural and neuroimaging studies indicate continued development of emotion expression recognition and neural regions important for this process throughout childhood and adolescence. Methodological inconsistencies and disparate findings make any conclusion difficult, however. Further studies are required examining the relationship between the development of emotion expression

  4. A Study of the Technological, Instructional, and Motivational Factors Affecting PHR Certification Exam Outcomes

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bonner, David M.

    2012-01-01

    Although previous studies have considered the factors affecting other certification exam outcomes, they have not examined those that are related to performance on the Professional in Human Resources (PHR) exam. In response to that need, this study specifically investigates technology and training factors that affect self-efficacy and self-set…

  5. Optical Pattern Recognition

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yu, Francis T. S.; Jutamulia, Suganda

    2008-10-01

    Contributors; Preface; 1. Pattern recognition with optics Francis T. S. Yu and Don A. Gregory; 2. Hybrid neural networks for nonlinear pattern recognition Taiwei Lu; 3. Wavelets, optics, and pattern recognition Yao Li and Yunglong Sheng; 4. Applications of the fractional Fourier transform to optical pattern recognition David Mendlovic, Zeev Zalesky and Haldum M. Oxaktas; 5. Optical implementation of mathematical morphology Tien-Hsin Chao; 6. Nonlinear optical correlators with improved discrimination capability for object location and recognition Leonid P. Yaroslavsky; 7. Distortion-invariant quadratic filters Gregory Gheen; 8. Composite filter synthesis as applied to pattern recognition Shizhou Yin and Guowen Lu; 9. Iterative procedures in electro-optical pattern recognition Joseph Shamir; 10. Optoelectronic hybrid system for three-dimensional object pattern recognition Guoguang Mu, Mingzhe Lu and Ying Sun; 11. Applications of photrefractive devices in optical pattern recognition Ziangyang Yang; 12. Optical pattern recognition with microlasers Eung-Gi Paek; 13. Optical properties and applications of bacteriorhodopsin Q. Wang Song and Yu-He Zhang; 14. Liquid-crystal spatial light modulators Aris Tanone and Suganda Jutamulia; 15. Representations of fully complex functions on real-time spatial light modulators Robert W. Cohn and Laurence G. Hassbrook; Index.

  6. [Factors affecting residual stones after percutaneous nephrolithotomy in patients with renal calculus].

    PubMed

    Qiao, Mingzhou; Zhang, Haifang; Zhou, Chenlong

    2015-11-24

    To explore the factors affecting the residual stones after percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL) in patients with renal calculus. A retrospective analysis was performed for 1 200 patients who were affected by renal calculus and treated with PCNL between Jan 2008 and May 2014 in People's Hospital of Anyang City. Among those patients, 16 were diagnosed as bilateral renal stone and had two successive operations. The size, location and number of stones, previous history of surgery, the degree of hydronephrosis, urinary infection were included in the univariate analysis. Significant factors in univariate analysis were included in the multivariate analysis to determine factors affecting stone residual. A total of 385 cases developed stone residual after surgery. The overall residual rate was 31.7%. In univariate analysis, renal pelvis combined with caliceal calculus (P=0.006), stone size larger than 4 cm (P=0.005), stone number more than 4 (P=0.002), the amount of bleeding more than 200 ml (P=0.025), operation time longer than 120 minutes (P=0.028) were associated with an increased rate of stone residual. When subjected to the Cox multivariate analysis, the independent risk factors for residual stones were renal pelvis combined with caliceal calculus (P=0.049), stone size larger than 4 cm (P=0.038) and stone number more than 4 (P=0.018). Factors affecting the incidence of residual stones after PCNL are the size, location and number of stones. Larger size stone and the presence of renal pelvis combined with caliceal calculus are significantly associated with residual stones. Nevertheless, stone number less than 4 indicates an increased stone clearance rate.

  7. Cataract influence on iris recognition performance

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Trokielewicz, Mateusz; Czajka, Adam; Maciejewicz, Piotr

    2014-11-01

    This paper presents the experimental study revealing weaker performance of the automatic iris recognition methods for cataract-affected eyes when compared to healthy eyes. There is little research on the topic, mostly incorporating scarce databases that are often deficient in images representing more than one illness. We built our own database, acquiring 1288 eye images of 37 patients of the Medical University of Warsaw. Those images represent several common ocular diseases, such as cataract, along with less ordinary conditions, such as iris pattern alterations derived from illness or eye trauma. Images were captured in near-infrared light (used in biometrics) and for selected cases also in visible light (used in ophthalmological diagnosis). Since cataract is a disorder that is most populated by samples in the database, in this paper we focus solely on this illness. To assess the extent of the performance deterioration we use three iris recognition methodologies (commercial and academic solutions) to calculate genuine match scores for healthy eyes and those influenced by cataract. Results show a significant degradation in iris recognition reliability manifesting by worsening the genuine scores in all three matchers used in this study (12% of genuine score increase for an academic matcher, up to 175% of genuine score increase obtained for an example commercial matcher). This increase in genuine scores affected the final false non-match rate in two matchers. To our best knowledge this is the only study of such kind that employs more than one iris matcher, and analyzes the iris image segmentation as a potential source of decreased reliability

  8. A new selective developmental deficit: Impaired object recognition with normal face recognition.

    PubMed

    Germine, Laura; Cashdollar, Nathan; Düzel, Emrah; Duchaine, Bradley

    2011-05-01

    Studies of developmental deficits in face recognition, or developmental prosopagnosia, have shown that individuals who have not suffered brain damage can show face recognition impairments coupled with normal object recognition (Duchaine and Nakayama, 2005; Duchaine et al., 2006; Nunn et al., 2001). However, no developmental cases with the opposite dissociation - normal face recognition with impaired object recognition - have been reported. The existence of a case of non-face developmental visual agnosia would indicate that the development of normal face recognition mechanisms does not rely on the development of normal object recognition mechanisms. To see whether a developmental variant of non-face visual object agnosia exists, we conducted a series of web-based object and face recognition tests to screen for individuals showing object recognition memory impairments but not face recognition impairments. Through this screening process, we identified AW, an otherwise normal 19-year-old female, who was then tested in the lab on face and object recognition tests. AW's performance was impaired in within-class visual recognition memory across six different visual categories (guns, horses, scenes, tools, doors, and cars). In contrast, she scored normally on seven tests of face recognition, tests of memory for two other object categories (houses and glasses), and tests of recall memory for visual shapes. Testing confirmed that her impairment was not related to a general deficit in lower-level perception, object perception, basic-level recognition, or memory. AW's results provide the first neuropsychological evidence that recognition memory for non-face visual object categories can be selectively impaired in individuals without brain damage or other memory impairment. These results indicate that the development of recognition memory for faces does not depend on intact object recognition memory and provide further evidence for category-specific dissociations in visual

  9. Factors affecting decision-making of patients choosing acupuncture in a public hospital.

    PubMed

    Sayampanathan, Andrew Arjun; Koh, Thean Howe Bryan; Kong, Keng He; Low, Yin Peng

    2015-11-01

    With increasing evidence to support its practice, acupuncture has been integrated within many hospitals around the world. The purpose of this study is to understand the factors affecting decision making of patients as they select acupuncture treatment for their medical conditions and symptoms within a public hospital. A qualitative study consisting of in depth interviews with 14 patients was conducted. All patients attended an acupuncture clinic within a public hospital. Data collected was analysed via thematic analysis. Four main factor groups affecting decision making of patients were identified- factors affecting the level and value of patient-centric care, the confidence and trust patients place within the acupuncture service, the presence of collaborative efforts between acupuncturists and Western medicine practitioners, and the knowledge, culture and belief society has regarding the role of acupuncture and Western medicine. All participants interviewed had more than one factor group present as enablers toward their eventual selection of acupuncture for ailment management. It was also noted that although the majority of participants had sufficient knowledge regarding acupuncture, there were a select few who had misperceptions or no knowledge regarding certain aspects of acupuncture. There may be certain patterns in the way patients choose to utilise acupuncture services in public hospitals. Further studies should also be carried out in other public hospitals to analyse the factor groups identified further.

  10. Factors that Affect Poverty Areas in North Sumatera Using Discriminant Analysis

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Nasution, D. H.; Bangun, P.; Sitepu, H. R.

    2018-04-01

    In Indonesia, especially North Sumatera, the problem of poverty is one of the fundamental problems that become the focus of government both central and local government. Although the poverty rate decreased but the fact is there are many people who are poor. Poverty happens covers several aspects such as education, health, demographics, and also structural and cultural. This research will discuss about several factors such as population density, Unemployment Rate, GDP per capita ADHK, ADHB GDP per capita, economic growth and life expectancy that affect poverty in Indonesia. To determine the factors that most influence and differentiate the level of poverty of the Regency/City North Sumatra used discriminant analysis method. Discriminant analysis is one multivariate analysis technique are used to classify the data into a group based on the dependent variable and independent variable. Using discriminant analysis, it is evident that the factor affecting poverty is Unemployment Rate.

  11. The level of cognitive function and recognition of emotions in older adults

    PubMed Central

    Singh-Manoux, Archana; Batty, G. David; Ebmeier, Klaus P.; Jokela, Markus; Harmer, Catherine J.; Kivimäki, Mika

    2017-01-01

    Background The association between cognitive decline and the ability to recognise emotions in interpersonal communication is not well understood. We aimed to investigate the association between cognitive function and the ability to recognise emotions in other people’s facial expressions across the full continuum of cognitive capacity. Methods Cross-sectional analysis of 4039 participants (3016 men, 1023 women aged 59 to 82 years) in the Whitehall II study. Cognitive function was assessed using a 30-item Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), further classified into 8 groups: 30, 29, 28, 27, 26, 25, 24, and <24 (possible dementia) MMSE points. The Facial Expression Recognition Task (FERT) was used to examine recognition of anger, fear, disgust, sadness, and happiness. Results The multivariable adjusted difference in the percentage of accurate recognition between the highest and lowest MMSE group was 14.9 (95%CI, 11.1–18.7) for anger, 15.5 (11.9–19.2) for fear, 18.5 (15.2–21.8) for disgust, 11.6 (7.3–16.0) for sadness, and 6.3 (3.1–9.4) for happiness. However, recognition of several emotions was reduced already after 1 to 2-point reduction in MMSE and with further points down in MMSE, the recognition worsened at an accelerated rate. Conclusions The ability to recognize emotion in facial expressions is affected at an early stage of cognitive impairment and might decline at an accelerated rate with the deterioration of cognitive function. Accurate recognition of happiness seems to be less affected by a severe decline in cognitive performance than recognition of negatively valued emotions. PMID:28977015

  12. Factors Other than GFR Affecting Serum Cystatin C Levels

    PubMed Central

    Stevens, Lesley A; Schmid, Christopher H.; Greene, Tom; Li, Liang; Beck, Gerald J; Joffe, Marshall; Froissart, Marc; Kusek, John; Zhang, Yaping (Lucy); Coresh, Josef; Levey, Andrew S

    2015-01-01

    Cystatin C is gaining acceptance as an endogenous filtration marker. Factors other than glomerular filtration rate (GFR) that affect the serum level have not been carefully studied. In a cross-sectional analysis of a pooled dataset of participants from clinical trials and a clinical population with chronic kidney disease (N=3418), we related serum levels of cystatin C and creatinine to clinical and biochemical variables after adjustment for GFR using errors-in-variables models to account for GFR measurement error. GFR was measured as urinary clearance of 125I-iothalamate and 15Cr-EDTA. Cystatin C was assayed at a single laboratory and creatinine was standardized to reference methods. Mean (SD) creatinine and cystatin C were 2.1 (1.1) mg/dL and 1.8 (0.8) mg/L, respectively. After adjustment for GFR, cystatin C was 4.3% lower for every 20 years of age, 9.2% lower for female sex but only 1.9% lower in blacks. Diabetes was associated with 8.5% higher levels of cystatin C and 3.9% lower levels of creatinine. Higher C-reactive protein and white blood cell count and lower serum albumin were associated with higher levels of cystatin C and lower levels of creatinine. Adjustment for age, sex and race had a greater effect on association of factors with creatinine than cystatin C. In conclusion, cystatin C is affected by factors other than GFR. Clinicians should consider these factors when interpreting the serum levels or GFR estimates from cystatin C. PMID:19119287

  13. [Impact of facial emotional recognition alterations in Dementia of the Alzheimer type].

    PubMed

    Rubinstein, Wanda; Cossini, Florencia; Politis, Daniel

    2016-07-01

    Face recognition of basic emotions is independent of other deficits in dementia of the Alzheimer type. Among these deficits, there is disagreement about what emotions are more difficult to recognize. Our aim was to study the presence of alterations in the process of facial recognition of basic emotions, and to investigate if there were differences in the recognition of each type of emotion in Alzheimer's disease. With three tests of recognition of basic facial emotions we evaluated 29 patients who had been diagnosed with dementia of the Alzheimer type and 18 control subjects. Significant differences were obtained in tests of recognition of basic facial emotions and between each. Since the amygdala, one of the brain structures responsible for emotional reaction, is affected in the early stages of this disease, our findings become relevant to understand how this alteration of the process of emotional recognition impacts the difficulties these patients have in both interpersonal relations and behavioral disorders.

  14. Validating YouTube Factors Affecting Learning Performance

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Pratama, Yoga; Hartanto, Rudy; Suning Kusumawardani, Sri

    2018-03-01

    YouTube is often used as a companion medium or a learning supplement. One of the educational places that often uses is Jogja Audio School (JAS) which focuses on music production education. Music production is a difficult material to learn, especially at the audio mastering. With tutorial contents from YouTube, students find it easier to learn and understand audio mastering and improved their learning performance. This study aims to validate the role of YouTube as a medium of learning in improving student’s learning performance by looking at the factors that affect student learning performance. The sample involves 100 respondents from JAS at audio mastering level. The results showed that student learning performance increases seen from factors that have a significant influence of motivation, instructional content, and YouTube usefulness. Overall findings suggest that YouTube has a important role to student learning performance in music production education and as an innovative and efficient learning medium.

  15. Beyond Negative Pain-Related Psychological Factors: Resilience Is Related to Lower Pain Affect in Healthy Adults.

    PubMed

    Hemington, Kasey S; Cheng, Joshua C; Bosma, Rachael L; Rogachov, Anton; Kim, Junseok A; Davis, Karen D

    2017-09-01

    Resilience, a characteristic that enhances adaptation in response to stressful events, is a positive psychological factor that can predict and modulate health outcomes. However, resilience is rarely considered in pain research. Conversely, negative psychological factors (eg, anxiety, depression) are known to be related to the affective dimension of pain. It is critical to understand all potential psychological drivers of pain affect, a prominent component of chronic pain. We tested the hypothesis that higher resilience is associated with lower pain affect, above and beyond the predictive value of negative psychological factors. Healthy adults underwent psychophysical testing to acquire ratings of heat pain intensity and unpleasantness and completed the Resilience Scale, the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (trait form), Beck Depression Inventory, Pain Catastrophizing Scale, and the Pain Vigilance and Attention Questionnaire. Multiple regression modeling (n = 68) showed resilience to be a negatively associated with pain affect (unpleasantness). Furthermore, in individuals with higher anxiety scores, resilience was protective against higher pain affect. This highlights the importance of resilience, a positive psychological factor, in the affective dimension of pain. This study is the first to assess a positive psychological factor and experimental pain affect, and has the potential to improve prediction of and treatment strategies for clinical pain. We report that resilience, a positive psychological factor, interacts with anxiety and is associated with heat pain affect (unpleasantness) in healthy individuals. Resilience may provide predictive value of chronic pain affect and treatment outcomes, and could be a target for behavioral therapy. Copyright © 2017 American Pain Society. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  16. Relationship between individual differences in functional connectivity and facial-emotion recognition abilities in adults with traumatic brain injury.

    PubMed

    Rigon, A; Voss, M W; Turkstra, L S; Mutlu, B; Duff, M C

    2017-01-01

    Although several studies have demonstrated that facial-affect recognition impairment is common following moderate-severe traumatic brain injury (TBI), and that there are diffuse alterations in large-scale functional brain networks in TBI populations, little is known about the relationship between the two. Here, in a sample of 26 participants with TBI and 20 healthy comparison participants (HC) we measured facial-affect recognition abilities and resting-state functional connectivity (rs-FC) using fMRI. We then used network-based statistics to examine (A) the presence of rs-FC differences between individuals with TBI and HC within the facial-affect processing network, and (B) the association between inter-individual differences in emotion recognition skills and rs-FC within the facial-affect processing network. We found that participants with TBI showed significantly lower rs-FC in a component comprising homotopic and within-hemisphere, anterior-posterior connections within the facial-affect processing network. In addition, within the TBI group, participants with higher emotion-labeling skills showed stronger rs-FC within a network comprised of intra- and inter-hemispheric bilateral connections. Findings indicate that the ability to successfully recognize facial-affect after TBI is related to rs-FC within components of facial-affective networks, and provide new evidence that further our understanding of the mechanisms underlying emotion recognition impairment in TBI.

  17. A study of the factors affecting the range of airplanes

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Biermann, David

    1937-01-01

    A study was made of the most important factors affecting the range of airplanes. Numerical examples are given showing the effects of different variables on the range of a two-engine airplane. The takeoff problems of long-range airplanes are analyzed.

  18. An Empirically Derived Taxonomy of Factors Affecting Physicians' Willingness to Disclose Medical Errors

    PubMed Central

    Kaldjian, Lauris C; Jones, Elizabeth W; Rosenthal, Gary E; Tripp-Reimer, Toni; Hillis, Stephen L

    2006-01-01

    BACKGROUND Physician disclosure of medical errors to institutions, patients, and colleagues is important for patient safety, patient care, and professional education. However, the variables that may facilitate or impede disclosure are diverse and lack conceptual organization. OBJECTIVE To develop an empirically derived, comprehensive taxonomy of factors that affects voluntary disclosure of errors by physicians. DESIGN A mixed-methods study using qualitative data collection (structured literature search and exploratory focus groups), quantitative data transformation (sorting and hierarchical cluster analysis), and validation procedures (confirmatory focus groups and expert review). RESULTS Full-text review of 316 articles identified 91 impeding or facilitating factors affecting physicians' willingness to disclose errors. Exploratory focus groups identified an additional 27 factors. Sorting and hierarchical cluster analysis organized factors into 8 domains. Confirmatory focus groups and expert review relocated 6 factors, removed 2 factors, and modified 4 domain names. The final taxonomy contained 4 domains of facilitating factors (responsibility to patient, responsibility to self, responsibility to profession, responsibility to community), and 4 domains of impeding factors (attitudinal barriers, uncertainties, helplessness, fears and anxieties). CONCLUSIONS A taxonomy of facilitating and impeding factors provides a conceptual framework for a complex field of variables that affects physicians' willingness to disclose errors to institutions, patients, and colleagues. This taxonomy can be used to guide the design of studies to measure the impact of different factors on disclosure, to assist in the design of error-reporting systems, and to inform educational interventions to promote the disclosure of errors to patients. PMID:16918739

  19. Specific and Modular Binding Code for Cytosine Recognition in Pumilio/FBF (PUF) RNA-binding Domains

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

    Dong, Shuyun; Wang, Yang; Cassidy-Amstutz, Caleb

    2011-10-28

    Pumilio/fem-3 mRNA-binding factor (PUF) proteins possess a recognition code for bases A, U, and G, allowing designed RNA sequence specificity of their modular Pumilio (PUM) repeats. However, recognition side chains in a PUM repeat for cytosine are unknown. Here we report identification of a cytosine-recognition code by screening random amino acid combinations at conserved RNA recognition positions using a yeast three-hybrid system. This C-recognition code is specific and modular as specificity can be transferred to different positions in the RNA recognition sequence. A crystal structure of a modified PUF domain reveals specific contacts between an arginine side chain and themore » cytosine base. We applied the C-recognition code to design PUF domains that recognize targets with multiple cytosines and to generate engineered splicing factors that modulate alternative splicing. Finally, we identified a divergent yeast PUF protein, Nop9p, that may recognize natural target RNAs with cytosine. This work deepens our understanding of natural PUF protein target recognition and expands the ability to engineer PUF domains to recognize any RNA sequence.« less

  20. Molecular basis of recognition between phytophthora pathogens and their hosts.

    PubMed

    Tyler, Brett M

    2002-01-01

    Recognition is the earliest step in any direct plant-microbe interaction. Recognition between Phytophthora pathogens, which are oomycetes, phylogenetically distinct from fungi, has been studied at two levels. Recognition of the host by the pathogen has focused on recognition of chemical, electrical, and physical features of plant roots by zoospores. Both host-specific factors such as isoflavones, and host-nonspecific factors such as amino acids, calcium, and electrical fields, influence zoospore taxis, encystment, cyst germination, and hyphal chemotropism in guiding the pathogen to potential infection sites. Recognition of the pathogen by the host defense machinery has been analyzed using biochemical and genetic approaches. Biochemical approaches have identified chemical elicitors of host defense responses, and in some cases, their cognate receptors from the host. Some elicitors, such as glucans and fatty acids, have broad host ranges, whereas others such as elicitins have narrow host ranges. Most elicitors identified appear to contribute primarily to basic or nonhost resistance. Genetic analysis has identified host resistance (R) genes and pathogen avirulence (Avr) genes that interact in a gene-for-gene manner. One Phytophthora Avr gene, Avr1b from P. sojae, has been cloned and characterized. It encodes a secreted elicitor that triggers a system-wide defense response in soybean plants carrying the cognate R gene, Rps1b.

  1. Factors Affecting Teen Involvement in Pennsylvania 4-H Programming

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gill, Bart E.; Ewing, John C.; Bruce, Jacklyn A.

    2010-01-01

    The study reported here determined the factors that affect teen involvement in 4-H programming. The design of the study was descriptive and correlational in nature. Using a purposive sampling procedure, a survey questionnaire was distributed to all (N=214) 4-H members attending the 4-H State Leadership Conference. The major findings of the study…

  2. [Factors affecting the quality of cardiopulmonary resuscitation in inpatient units: perception of nurses].

    PubMed

    Citolino, Clairton Marcos Filho; Santos, Eduesley Santana; Silva, Rita de Cassia Gengo E; Nogueira, Lilia de Souza

    2015-12-01

    To identify, in the perception of nurses, the factors that affect the quality of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) in adult inpatient units, and investigate the influence of both work shifts and professional experience length of time in the perception of these factors. A descriptive, exploratory study conducted at a hospital specialized in cardiology and pneumology with the application of a questionnaire to 49 nurses working in inpatient units. The majority of nurses reported that the high number of professionals in the scenario (75.5%), the lack of harmony (77.6%) or stress of any member of staff (67.3%), lack of material and/or equipment failure (57.1%), lack of familiarity with the emergency trolleys (98.0%) and presence of family members at the beginning of the cardiopulmonary arrest assistance (57.1%) are factors that adversely affect the quality of care provided during CPR. Professional experience length of time and the shift of nurses did not influence the perception of these factors. The identification of factors that affect the quality of CPR in the perception of nurses serves as parameter to implement improvements and training of the staff working in inpatient units.

  3. Selective attention affects conceptual object priming and recognition: a study with young and older adults.

    PubMed

    Ballesteros, Soledad; Mayas, Julia

    2014-01-01

    In the present study, we investigated the effects of selective attention at encoding on conceptual object priming (Experiment 1) and old-new recognition memory (Experiment 2) tasks in young and older adults. The procedures of both experiments included encoding and memory test phases separated by a short delay. At encoding, the picture outlines of two familiar objects, one in blue and the other in green, were presented to the left and to the right of fixation. In Experiment 1, participants were instructed to attend to the picture outline of a certain color and to classify the object as natural or artificial. After a short delay, participants performed a natural/artificial speeded conceptual classification task with repeated attended, repeated unattended, and new pictures. In Experiment 2, participants at encoding memorized the attended pictures and classify them as natural or artificial. After the encoding phase, they performed an old-new recognition memory task. Consistent with previous findings with perceptual priming tasks, we found that conceptual object priming, like explicit memory, required attention at encoding. Significant priming was obtained in both age groups, but only for those pictures that were attended at encoding. Although older adults were slower than young adults, both groups showed facilitation for attended pictures. In line with previous studies, young adults had better recognition memory than older adults.

  4. Selective attention affects conceptual object priming and recognition: a study with young and older adults

    PubMed Central

    Ballesteros, Soledad; Mayas, Julia

    2015-01-01

    In the present study, we investigated the effects of selective attention at encoding on conceptual object priming (Experiment 1) and old–new recognition memory (Experiment 2) tasks in young and older adults. The procedures of both experiments included encoding and memory test phases separated by a short delay. At encoding, the picture outlines of two familiar objects, one in blue and the other in green, were presented to the left and to the right of fixation. In Experiment 1, participants were instructed to attend to the picture outline of a certain color and to classify the object as natural or artificial. After a short delay, participants performed a natural/artificial speeded conceptual classification task with repeated attended, repeated unattended, and new pictures. In Experiment 2, participants at encoding memorized the attended pictures and classify them as natural or artificial. After the encoding phase, they performed an old–new recognition memory task. Consistent with previous findings with perceptual priming tasks, we found that conceptual object priming, like explicit memory, required attention at encoding. Significant priming was obtained in both age groups, but only for those pictures that were attended at encoding. Although older adults were slower than young adults, both groups showed facilitation for attended pictures. In line with previous studies, young adults had better recognition memory than older adults. PMID:25628588

  5. EEG Responses to Auditory Stimuli for Automatic Affect Recognition

    PubMed Central

    Hettich, Dirk T.; Bolinger, Elaina; Matuz, Tamara; Birbaumer, Niels; Rosenstiel, Wolfgang; Spüler, Martin

    2016-01-01

    Brain state classification for communication and control has been well established in the area of brain-computer interfaces over the last decades. Recently, the passive and automatic extraction of additional information regarding the psychological state of users from neurophysiological signals has gained increased attention in the interdisciplinary field of affective computing. We investigated how well specific emotional reactions, induced by auditory stimuli, can be detected in EEG recordings. We introduce an auditory emotion induction paradigm based on the International Affective Digitized Sounds 2nd Edition (IADS-2) database also suitable for disabled individuals. Stimuli are grouped in three valence categories: unpleasant, neutral, and pleasant. Significant differences in time domain domain event-related potentials are found in the electroencephalogram (EEG) between unpleasant and neutral, as well as pleasant and neutral conditions over midline electrodes. Time domain data were classified in three binary classification problems using a linear support vector machine (SVM) classifier. We discuss three classification performance measures in the context of affective computing and outline some strategies for conducting and reporting affect classification studies. PMID:27375410

  6. Factors Affecting Zebra Mussel Kill by the Bacterium Pseudomonas fluorescens

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

    Daniel P. Molloy

    2004-02-24

    The specific purpose of this research project was to identify factors that affect zebra mussel kill by the bacterium Pseudomonas fluorescens. Test results obtained during this three-year project identified the following key variables as affecting mussel kill: treatment concentration, treatment duration, mussel siphoning activity, dissolved oxygen concentration, water temperature, and naturally suspended particle load. Using this latter information, the project culminated in a series of pipe tests which achieved high mussel kill inside power plants under once-through conditions using service water in artificial pipes.

  7. Psychological Factor Affecting English Speaking Performance for the English Learners in Indonesia

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Haidara, Youssouf

    2016-01-01

    In every learning situation or environment, human psychology plays a significant role. English speaking is a language skill that is highly affected by human psychology. This research aimed at describing the psychological factor that affects negatively the English speaking performance for the English learners in Indonesia. A descriptive qualitative…

  8. The Key Factors Affecting Students' Individual Interest in School Science Lessons

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cheung, Derek

    2018-01-01

    Individual interest in school science lessons can be defined as a relatively stable and enduring personal emotion comprising affective and behavioural reactions to events in the regular science lessons at school. Little research has compared the importance of different factors affecting students' individual interest in school science lessons. The…

  9. Affective changes during the postpartum period: Influences of genetic and experiential factors.

    PubMed

    Agrati, Daniella; Lonstein, Joseph S

    2016-01-01

    This article is part of a Special Issue "Parental Care". The postpartum period involves some truly transformational changes in females' socioemotional behaviors. For most female laboratory rodents and women, these changes include an improvement in their affective state, which has positive consequences for their ability to sensitively care for their offspring. There is heterogeneity among females in the likelihood of this positive affective change, though, and some women experience elevated anxiety or depression (or in rodents anxiety- or depression-related behaviors) after giving birth. We aim to contribute to the understanding of this heterogeneity in maternal affectivity by reviewing selected components of the scientific literatures on laboratory rodents and humans examining how mothers' physical contact with her infants, genetics, history of anxiety and depression and early-life and recent-life experiences contribute to individual differences in postpartum affective states. These studies together indicate that multiple biological and environmental factors beyond female maternal state shape affective responses during the postpartum period, and probably do so in an interactive manner. Furthermore, the similar capacity of some of these factors to modulate anxiety and depression in human and rodent mothers suggests cross-species conservation of mechanisms regulating postpartum affectivity. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  10. Crosslinking transcription factors to their recognition sequences with PtII complexes

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Chu, B. C.; Orgel, L. E.

    1992-01-01

    We have prepared phosphorothioate-containing cyclic oligodeoxynucleotides that fold into 'dumbbells' containing CRE and TRE sequences, the binding sequences for the CREB and JUN proteins, respectively. Six phosphorothioate residues were introduced into each of the recognition sequences. K2PtCl4 crosslinks CRE to CREB and TRE to JUN. The extent of crosslinking is about eight times greater than that observed with standard oligodeoxynucleotides and amounts to 30-50% of the efficiency of non-covalent association as estimated by gel-shift assays. Crosslinking is reversed by incubation with NaCN. The crosslinking reaction is specific--a dumbbell oligonucleotide with six phosphorothioate groups introduced into the Sp1 recognition sequence could not be crosslinked efficiently to CREB or JUN proteins with K2PtCl4. The binding of TRE to CREB is not strong enough for effective detection by gel-shift assays, but the TRE-CREB complex is crosslinked efficiently by K2PtCl4 and can then readily be detected.

  11. Age-Related Differences in Face Recognition: Neural Correlates of Repetition and Semantic Priming in Young and Older Adults

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wiese, Holger; Komes, Jessica; Tüttenberg, Simone; Leidinger, Jana; Schweinberger, Stefan R.

    2017-01-01

    Difficulties in person recognition are among the common complaints associated with cognitive ageing. The present series of experiments therefore investigated face and person recognition in young and older adults. The authors examined how within-domain and cross-domain repetition as well as semantic priming affect familiar face recognition and…

  12. Self-recognition, color signals, and cycles of greenbeard mutualism and altruism

    PubMed Central

    Sinervo, Barry; Chaine, Alexis; Clobert, Jean; Calsbeek, Ryan; Hazard, Lisa; Lancaster, Lesley; McAdam, Andrew G.; Alonzo, Suzanne; Corrigan, Gwynne; Hochberg, Michael E.

    2006-01-01

    Altruism presents a challenge to evolutionary theory because selection should favor selfish over caring strategies. Greenbeard altruism resolves this paradox by allowing cooperators to identify individuals carrying similar alleles producing a form of genic selection. In side-blotched lizards, genetically similar but unrelated blue male morphs settle on adjacent territories and cooperate. Here we show that payoffs of cooperation depend on asymmetric costs of orange neighbors. One blue male experiences low fitness and buffers his unrelated partner from aggressive orange males despite the potential benefits of defection. We show that recognition behavior is highly heritable in nature, and we map genetic factors underlying color and self-recognition behavior of genetic similarity in both sexes. Recognition and cooperation arise from genome-wide factors based on our mapping study of the location of genes responsible for self-recognition behavior, recognition of blue color, and the color locus. Our results provide an example of greenbeard interactions in a vertebrate that are typified by cycles of greenbeard mutualism interspersed with phases of transient true altruism. Such cycles provide a mechanism encouraging the origin and stability of true altruism. PMID:16651531

  13. Factors Affecting Soil Microbial Community Structure in Tomato Cropping Systems

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Soil and rhizosphere microbial communities in agroecosystems may be affected by soil, climate, plant species, and management. We identified some of the most important factors controlling microbial biomass and community structure in an agroecosystem utilizing tomato plants with the following nine tre...

  14. Can Schools Support HIV/AIDS-Affected Children? Exploring the ‘Ethic of Care’ amongst Rural Zimbabwean Teachers

    PubMed Central

    Campbell, Catherine; Andersen, Louise; Mutsikiwa, Alice; Madanhire, Claudius; Nyamukapa, Constance; Gregson, Simon

    2016-01-01

    How realistic is the international policy emphasis on schools ‘substituting for families’ of HIV/AIDS-affected children? We explore the ethic of care in Zimbabwean schools to highlight the poor fit between the western caring schools literature and daily realities of schools in different material and cultural contexts. Interviews and focus groups were conducted with 44 teachers and 55 community members, analysed in light of a companion study of HIV/AIDS-affected pupils’ own accounts of their care-related experiences. We conceptualise schools as spaces of engagement between groups with diverse needs and interests (teachers, pupils and surrounding community members), with attention to the pathways through which extreme adversity impacts on those institutional contexts and social identifications central to giving and receiving care. Whilst teachers were aware of how they might support children, they seldom put these ideas into action. Multiple factors undermined caring teacher-pupil relationships in wider contexts of poverty and political uncertainty: loss of morale from low salaries and falling professional status; the inability of teachers to solve HIV/AIDS-related problems in their own lives; the role of stigma in deterring HIV/AIDS-affected children from disclosing their situations to teachers; authoritarian teacher-learner relations and harsh punishments fuelling pupil fear of teachers; and lack of trust in the wider community. These factors undermined: teacher confidence in their skills and capacity to support affected pupils and motivation to help children with complex problems; solidarity and common purpose amongst teachers, and between teachers and affected children; and effective bridging alliances between schools and their surrounding communities–all hallmarks of HIV-competent communities. We caution against ambitious policy expansions of teachers' roles without recognition of the personal and social costs of emotional labour, and the need for

  15. Factors affecting the reproductive success of dominant male meerkats.

    PubMed

    Spong, Göran F; Hodge, Sarah J; Young, Andrew J; Clutton-Brock, Tim H

    2008-05-01

    Identifying traits that affect the reproductive success of individuals is fundamental for our understanding of evolutionary processes. In cooperative breeders, a dominant male typically restricts mating access to the dominant female for extended periods, resulting in pronounced variation in reproductive success among males. This may result in strong selection for traits that increase the likelihood of dominance acquisition, dominance retention and reproductive rates while dominant. However, despite considerable research on reproductive skew, few studies have explored the factors that influence these three processes among males in cooperative species. Here we use genetic, behavioural and demographic data to investigate the factors affecting reproductive success in dominant male meerkats (Suricata suricatta). Our data show that dominant males sire the majority of all offspring surviving to 1 year. A male's likelihood of becoming dominant is strongly influenced by age, but not by weight. Tenure length and reproductive rate, both important components of dominant male reproductive success, are largely affected by group size and composition, rather than individual traits. Dominant males in large groups have longer tenures, but after this effect is controlled, male tenure length also correlates negatively to the number of adult females in the group. Male reproductive rate also declines as the number of intra- and extra-group competitors increases. As the time spent in the dominant position and reproductive rate while dominant explain > 80% of the total variance in reproductive success, group composition thus has major implications for male reproductive success.

  16. Gender affects body language reading.

    PubMed

    Sokolov, Arseny A; Krüger, Samuel; Enck, Paul; Krägeloh-Mann, Ingeborg; Pavlova, Marina A

    2011-01-01

    Body motion is a rich source of information for social cognition. However, gender effects in body language reading are largely unknown. Here we investigated whether, and, if so, how recognition of emotional expressions revealed by body motion is gender dependent. To this end, females and males were presented with point-light displays portraying knocking at a door performed with different emotional expressions. The findings show that gender affects accuracy rather than speed of body language reading. This effect, however, is modulated by emotional content of actions: males surpass in recognition accuracy of happy actions, whereas females tend to excel in recognition of hostile angry knocking. Advantage of women in recognition accuracy of neutral actions suggests that females are better tuned to the lack of emotional content in body actions. The study provides novel insights into understanding of gender effects in body language reading, and helps to shed light on gender vulnerability to neuropsychiatric and neurodevelopmental impairments in visual social cognition.

  17. Speech recognition training for enhancing written language generation by a traumatic brain injury survivor.

    PubMed

    Manasse, N J; Hux, K; Rankin-Erickson, J L

    2000-11-01

    Impairments in motor functioning, language processing, and cognitive status may impact the written language performance of traumatic brain injury (TBI) survivors. One strategy to minimize the impact of these impairments is to use a speech recognition system. The purpose of this study was to explore the effect of mild dysarthria and mild cognitive-communication deficits secondary to TBI on a 19-year-old survivor's mastery and use of such a system-specifically, Dragon Naturally Speaking. Data included the % of the participant's words accurately perceived by the system over time, the participant's accuracy over time in using commands for navigation and error correction, and quantitative and qualitative changes in the participant's written texts generated with and without the use of the speech recognition system. Results showed that Dragon NaturallySpeaking was approximately 80% accurate in perceiving words spoken by the participant, and the participant quickly and easily mastered all navigation and error correction commands presented. Quantitatively, the participant produced a greater amount of text using traditional word processing and a standard keyboard than using the speech recognition system. Minimal qualitative differences appeared between writing samples. Discussion of factors that may have contributed to the obtained results and that may affect the generalization of the findings to other TBI survivors is provided.

  18. Neuroticism and facial emotion recognition in healthy adults.

    PubMed

    Andric, Sanja; Maric, Nadja P; Knezevic, Goran; Mihaljevic, Marina; Mirjanic, Tijana; Velthorst, Eva; van Os, Jim

    2016-04-01

    The aim of the present study was to examine whether healthy individuals with higher levels of neuroticism, a robust independent predictor of psychopathology, exhibit altered facial emotion recognition performance. Facial emotion recognition accuracy was investigated in 104 healthy adults using the Degraded Facial Affect Recognition Task (DFAR). Participants' degree of neuroticism was estimated using neuroticism scales extracted from the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire and the Revised NEO Personality Inventory. A significant negative correlation between the degree of neuroticism and the percentage of correct answers on DFAR was found only for happy facial expression (significant after applying Bonferroni correction). Altered sensitivity to the emotional context represents a useful and easy way to obtain cognitive phenotype that correlates strongly with inter-individual variations in neuroticism linked to stress vulnerability and subsequent psychopathology. Present findings could have implication in early intervention strategies and staging models in psychiatry. © 2015 Wiley Publishing Asia Pty Ltd.

  19. Dissociation between recognition and detection advantage for facial expressions: a meta-analysis.

    PubMed

    Nummenmaa, Lauri; Calvo, Manuel G

    2015-04-01

    Happy facial expressions are recognized faster and more accurately than other expressions in categorization tasks, whereas detection in visual search tasks is widely believed to be faster for angry than happy faces. We used meta-analytic techniques for resolving this categorization versus detection advantage discrepancy for positive versus negative facial expressions. Effect sizes were computed on the basis of the r statistic for a total of 34 recognition studies with 3,561 participants and 37 visual search studies with 2,455 participants, yielding a total of 41 effect sizes for recognition accuracy, 25 for recognition speed, and 125 for visual search speed. Random effects meta-analysis was conducted to estimate effect sizes at population level. For recognition tasks, an advantage in recognition accuracy and speed for happy expressions was found for all stimulus types. In contrast, for visual search tasks, moderator analysis revealed that a happy face detection advantage was restricted to photographic faces, whereas a clear angry face advantage was found for schematic and "smiley" faces. Robust detection advantage for nonhappy faces was observed even when stimulus emotionality was distorted by inversion or rearrangement of the facial features, suggesting that visual features primarily drive the search. We conclude that the recognition advantage for happy faces is a genuine phenomenon related to processing of facial expression category and affective valence. In contrast, detection advantages toward either happy (photographic stimuli) or nonhappy (schematic) faces is contingent on visual stimulus features rather than facial expression, and may not involve categorical or affective processing. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

  20. Sonority contours in word recognition

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    McLennan, Sean

    2003-04-01

    Contrary to the Generativist distinction between competence and performance which asserts that speech or perception errors are due to random, nonlinguistic factors, it seems likely that errors are principled and possibly governed by some of the same constraints as language. A preliminary investigation of errors modeled after the child's ``Chain Whisper'' game (a degraded stimulus task) suggests that a significant number of recognition errors can be characterized as an improvement in syllable sonority contour towards the linguistically least-marked, voiceless-stop-plus-vowel syllable. An independent study of sonority contours showed that approximately half of the English lexicon can be uniquely identified by their contour alone. Additionally, ``sororities'' (groups of words that share a single sonority contour), surprisingly, show no correlation to familiarity or frequency in either size or membership. Together these results imply that sonority contours may be an important factor in word recognition and in defining word ``neighborhoods.'' Moreover, they suggest that linguistic markedness constraints may be more prevalent in performance-related phenomena than previously accepted.

  1. Improving Negative Emotion Recognition in Young Offenders Reduces Subsequent Crime.

    PubMed

    Hubble, Kelly; Bowen, Katharine L; Moore, Simon C; van Goozen, Stephanie H M

    2015-01-01

    Children with antisocial behaviour show deficits in the perception of emotional expressions in others that may contribute to the development and persistence of antisocial and aggressive behaviour. Current treatments for antisocial youngsters are limited in effectiveness. It has been argued that more attention should be devoted to interventions that target neuropsychological correlates of antisocial behaviour. This study examined the effect of emotion recognition training on criminal behaviour. Emotion recognition and crime levels were studied in 50 juvenile offenders. Whilst all young offenders received their statutory interventions as the study was conducted, a subgroup of twenty-four offenders also took part in a facial affect training aimed at improving emotion recognition. Offenders in the training and control groups were matched for age, SES, IQ and lifetime crime level. All offenders were tested twice for emotion recognition performance, and recent crime data were collected after the testing had been completed. Before the training there were no differences between the groups in emotion recognition, with both groups displaying poor fear, sadness and anger recognition. After the training fear, sadness and anger recognition improved significantly in juvenile offenders in the training group. Although crime rates dropped in all offenders in the 6 months following emotion testing, only the group of offenders who had received the emotion training showed a significant reduction in the severity of the crimes they committed. The study indicates that emotion recognition can be relatively easily improved in youths who engage in serious antisocial and criminal behavior. The results suggest that improved emotion recognition has the potential to reduce the severity of reoffending.

  2. Factors affecting the employability in people with epilepsy.

    PubMed

    Wo, Monica Chen Mun; Lim, Kheng Seang; Choo, Wan Yuen; Tan, Chong Tin

    2016-12-01

    People with epilepsy (PWE) are negatively prejudiced in their ability to work. This study aimed to examine demographic, clinical and psychological factors associated with employability in PWE. This study recruited epilepsy patients from a neurology clinic in Malaysia. Employability was measured using employment ratio, with a ratio ≥90% (ER90) classified as high employability. Basic demographic data such as age, gender, marital status, religion, education level and household income was collected. Clinical measures consisted of age of seizure onset, seizure frequency, type of epilepsy, aura, polytherapy, nocturnal seizures and seizure control. Psychological measures included Work Self-Determination Index (WSDI), Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (SES), and Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS). Of 146 PWE, 64.4% had high employability. The participants were predominantly female (52%), Chinese (50.7%), single (50%), having tertiary education (55.5%) and focal epilepsy (72.6%). Clinically, only type of epilepsy was significantly correlated to employability of PWE. Employability of PWE was associated with ability to work (indicated by education level, work performance affected by seizures, ability to travel independently and ability to cope with stress at work) and family overprotection. The high employability group was found to have lower self-perceived stigma (ESS), higher self-determined motivation (WSDI), self-esteem (SES) and perceived social support (MSPSS), than the low employability group. Logistic regression analysis showed that tertiary education level (AOR 3.42, CI: 1.46-8.00), higher self-determination (WSDI, AOR 1.09, CI: 1.012-1.17), lower family overprotection (AOR 0.76, CI: 0.61-0.95), and generalised epilepsy (AOR 4.17, CI: 1.37-12.70) were significant predictors for higher employability in PWE. Ability to work (education level), clinical factor (type of epilepsy) and psychological factor (self-determined motivation and family

  3. Iris Recognition: The Consequences of Image Compression

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ives, Robert W.; Bishop, Daniel A.; Du, Yingzi; Belcher, Craig

    2010-12-01

    Iris recognition for human identification is one of the most accurate biometrics, and its employment is expanding globally. The use of portable iris systems, particularly in law enforcement applications, is growing. In many of these applications, the portable device may be required to transmit an iris image or template over a narrow-bandwidth communication channel. Typically, a full resolution image (e.g., VGA) is desired to ensure sufficient pixels across the iris to be confident of accurate recognition results. To minimize the time to transmit a large amount of data over a narrow-bandwidth communication channel, image compression can be used to reduce the file size of the iris image. In other applications, such as the Registered Traveler program, an entire iris image is stored on a smart card, but only 4 kB is allowed for the iris image. For this type of application, image compression is also the solution. This paper investigates the effects of image compression on recognition system performance using a commercial version of the Daugman iris2pi algorithm along with JPEG-2000 compression, and links these to image quality. Using the ICE 2005 iris database, we find that even in the face of significant compression, recognition performance is minimally affected.

  4. When the face fits: recognition of celebrities from matching and mismatching faces and voices.

    PubMed

    Stevenage, Sarah V; Neil, Greg J; Hamlin, Iain

    2014-01-01

    The results of two experiments are presented in which participants engaged in a face-recognition or a voice-recognition task. The stimuli were face-voice pairs in which the face and voice were co-presented and were either "matched" (same person), "related" (two highly associated people), or "mismatched" (two unrelated people). Analysis in both experiments confirmed that accuracy and confidence in face recognition was consistently high regardless of the identity of the accompanying voice. However accuracy of voice recognition was increasingly affected as the relationship between voice and accompanying face declined. Moreover, when considering self-reported confidence in voice recognition, confidence remained high for correct responses despite the proportion of these responses declining across conditions. These results converged with existing evidence indicating the vulnerability of voice recognition as a relatively weak signaller of identity, and results are discussed in the context of a person-recognition framework.

  5. Recognition, survival and persistence of Staphylococcus aureus in the model host Tenebrio molitor.

    PubMed

    Dorling, Jack; Moraes, Caroline; Rolff, Jens

    2015-02-01

    The degree of specificity of any given immune response to a parasite is governed by the complexity and variation of interactions between host and pathogen derived molecules. Here, we assess the extent to which recognition and immuno-resistance of cell wall mutants of the pathogen Staphylococcus aureus may contribute to establishment and maintenance of persistent infection in the model insect host, Tenebrio molitor. The cell surface of S. aureus is decorated with various molecules, including glycopolymers such as wall teichoic acid (WTA). WTA is covalently bound to peptidoglycan (PGN) and its absence has been associated with increased recognition of PGN by host receptors (PGRPs). WTA is also further modified by other molecules such as D-alanine (D-alanylation). Both the level of WTA expression and its D-alanylation were found to be important in the mediation of the host-parasite interaction in this model system. Specifically, WTA itself was seen to influence immune recognition, while D-alanylation of WTA was found to increase immuno-resistance and was associated with prolonged persistence of S. aureus in T. molitor. These results implicate WTA and its D-alanylation as important factors in the establishment and maintenance of persistent infection, affecting different critical junctions in the immune response; through potential evasion of recognition by PGRPs and resistance to humoral immune effectors during prolonged exposure to the immune system. This highlights a mechanism by which specificity in this host-parasite interaction may arise. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  6. [Factors associated with the recognition of child maltreatment by mothers rearing children from infancy to primary school age].

    PubMed

    Yokoyama, Yoshie; Okazaki, Ayano; Sugimoto, Masako; Oda, Terumi; Tsukamoto, Satoko; Mizukami, Kenge; Sono, Jun

    2011-01-01

    This research was conducted to determine the prevalence of recognition of child maltreatment among mothers with children aged 12 or under, and to identify associated factors in order to prevent child maltreatment. The subjects of this study were 3,000 women extracted by systematic random sampling of mothers of 6,790 children who had had four-month health check-ups in Nishinomiya city. The response rate was 57.5%. After excluding mothers with children aged 13 years and over, the study sample included 1,471 mothers with children aged 12 or under. A questionnaire survey was conducted by mail. Recognition of child maltreatment by mothers was assessed with a question that asked the mother if she was sometimes aware that she had potentially abused her child, and, if yes, what kind of acts had she performed. There were 333 mothers (22.6%) who answered "yes" to the question "Are you sometimes aware that you have potentially abused your child?" These mothers reported emotional or physical aggression toward their children. Results of logistic regression showed that recognition of child maltreatment was associated with existence of a child whom the mother felt difficulty in cherishing, number of children, maternal poor health, higher scores of STAI trait anxiety and disabled children. Mothers reported difficulties in child-rearing for more than one child as the main reason behind existence of a child whom the mother felt difficulty in cherishing. These findings suggested that mothers with more than one child need more support in order to prevent child maltreatment.

  7. Personal Factors that Affect the Satisfaction of Female Patients Undergoing Esthetic Suture after Typical Thyroidectomy.

    PubMed

    Kim, Hyo Young; Kim, Jung Won; Park, Jin Hyung; Kim, Jung Hun; Han, Yea Sik

    2013-07-01

    In esthetic surgery, understanding the factors that influence patient satisfaction is important for successful practice. We hypothesize that the factors that influence patient satisfaction include not only aesthetic and functional outcomes, but also personal factors such as the level of familiarity with factors affecting wound healing and expectations regarding aesthetic outcome. One hundred patients who underwent esthetic closure after thyroidectomy were included in this study. In order to evaluate the individual characteristics of the patients, a preoperative survey was administered to the patients. We estimated the patient satisfaction six months postoperatively and assessed the aesthetic and functional outcomes using the Patient and Observer Scar Assessment Scale. According to the results of correlation analysis, level of familiarity with wound healing factors had a positive correlation with satisfaction. High expectations, pain, itching, and high observer scale score had negative correlations with satisfaction. The factors that were correlated with satisfaction were included in the multiple regression analysis. Level of familiarity with wound healing factors was found to have a positive relationship with satisfaction, while itching and observer scale were found to have a negative relationship with satisfaction. After excluding 10 patients who had hypertrophic scars, only level of familiarity with wound healing factors and expectations affected satisfaction. The level of familiarity with factors affecting wound healing and expectations were found to independently affect satisfaction. Improving patients' level of familiarity with wound healing factors and reducing their expectations by providing suitable preoperative education has the potential to improve patient satisfaction.

  8. Arsenic in Drinking Water in Bangladesh: Factors Affecting Child Health

    PubMed Central

    Aziz, Sonia N.; Aziz, Khwaja M. S.; Boyle, Kevin J.

    2014-01-01

    The focus of this paper is to present an empirical model of factors affecting child health by observing actions households take to avoid exposure to arsenic in drinking water. Millions of Bangladeshis face multiple health hazards from high levels of arsenic in drinking water. Safe water sources are either expensive or difficult to access, affecting people’s individuals’ time available for work and ultimately affecting the health of household members. Since children are particularly susceptible and live with parents who are primary decision makers for sustenance, parental actions linking child health outcomes is used in the empirical model. Empirical results suggest that child health is significantly affected by the age and gender of the household water procurer. Adults with a high degree of concern for children’s health risk from arsenic contamination, and who actively mitigate their arsenic contaminated water have a positive effect on child health. PMID:24982854

  9. Factors affecting physical therapists’ job satisfaction: questionnaire survey targeting first-year physical therapists

    PubMed Central

    Kota, Munetsugu; Kudo, Hiroyuki; Okita, Kazuhiko

    2018-01-01

    [Purpose] The survey aimed to clarify the factors that affect physiotherapists’ job satisfaction. [Subjects and Methods] To examine factors affecting physical therapists’ job satisfaction using a cross-sectional study with a questionnaire survey. Subjects were 193 first-year physical therapists who participated in a newcomer orientation at Hiroshima Prefectural Physical Therapy Association. The questionnaire comprised items concerning physical therapists’ satisfaction with their work, motives for becoming physical therapists, education in school, internships, the workplace, and comfort in the workplace. [Results] Subjects were divided into two groups according to their satisfaction with their occupation. The “high satisfaction” group included 157 subjects, and the group “low satisfaction” group included 36 subjects. Using logistic regression analysis, items concerning comfort in the workplace, motives for becoming physical therapists, and learning in school were analysed. [Conclusion] Factors affecting physical therapists’ job satisfaction were primarily influenced by previous experience and working conditions. PMID:29706706

  10. Factors affecting physical therapists' job satisfaction: questionnaire survey targeting first-year physical therapists.

    PubMed

    Kota, Munetsugu; Kudo, Hiroyuki; Okita, Kazuhiko

    2018-04-01

    [Purpose] The survey aimed to clarify the factors that affect physiotherapists' job satisfaction. [Subjects and Methods] To examine factors affecting physical therapists' job satisfaction using a cross-sectional study with a questionnaire survey. Subjects were 193 first-year physical therapists who participated in a newcomer orientation at Hiroshima Prefectural Physical Therapy Association. The questionnaire comprised items concerning physical therapists' satisfaction with their work, motives for becoming physical therapists, education in school, internships, the workplace, and comfort in the workplace. [Results] Subjects were divided into two groups according to their satisfaction with their occupation. The "high satisfaction" group included 157 subjects, and the group "low satisfaction" group included 36 subjects. Using logistic regression analysis, items concerning comfort in the workplace, motives for becoming physical therapists, and learning in school were analysed. [Conclusion] Factors affecting physical therapists' job satisfaction were primarily influenced by previous experience and working conditions.

  11. Semantic relations differentially impact associative recognition memory: electrophysiological evidence.

    PubMed

    Kriukova, Olga; Bridger, Emma; Mecklinger, Axel

    2013-10-01

    Though associative recognition memory is thought to rely primarily on recollection, recent research indicates that familiarity might also make a substantial contribution when to-be-learned items are integrated into a coherent structure by means of an existing semantic relation. It remains unclear how different types of semantic relations, such as categorical (e.g., dancer-singer) and thematic (e.g., dancer-stage) relations might affect associative recognition, however. Using event-related potentials (ERPs), we addressed this question by manipulating the type of semantic link between paired words in an associative recognition memory experiment. An early midfrontal old/new effect, typically linked to familiarity, was observed across the relation types. In contrast, a robust left parietal old/new effect was found in the categorical condition only, suggesting a clear contribution of recollection to associative recognition for this kind of pairs. One interpretation of this pattern is that familiarity was sufficiently diagnostic for associative recognition of thematic relations, which could result from the integrative nature of the thematic relatedness compared to the similarity-based nature of categorical pairs. The present study suggests that the extent to which recollection and familiarity are involved in associative recognition is at least in part determined by the properties of semantic relations between the paired associates. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  12. Factors affecting wood energy consumption by U.S. households

    Treesearch

    Nianfu Song; Francisco X. Aguilar; Stephen R. Shifley; Michael E. Goerndt

    2012-01-01

    About 23% of energy derived from woody sources in the U.S. was consumed by households, of which 70% was used by households in rural areas in 2005. We investigated factors affecting household-level wood energy consumption in the four continental U.S. regions using data from the U.S. Residential Energy Consumption Survey. To account for a large number of zero...

  13. The main factor affecting the competitiveness of Contractor Company

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Nurisra; Malahayati, Nurul; Mahmuddin

    2018-05-01

    Contractor companies must have the competitive advantage to compete in maintaining the survival of the company. Problems arise because quite a lot of advantages can be used and these advantages must be used appropriately to produce competitiveness for the company to continue to compete and to win the competition. This study aims to determine the main factors affecting the competitiveness of medium-class contractors in Banda Aceh. Data collection was obtained through questionnaires distributed to 31 middle-class contractors in Banda Aceh. Data processing and analysis is done by using descriptive analysis. Based on the result of descriptive analysis, it can be concluded that the most important competitiveness factor with a mean score value 4.52 is the relationship, and the factor that has the highest mean score value is the relationship with the government of 4.97, while the result of the ranking analysis is obtained 25 factor that is critical to the competitiveness of medium-class contractors in Banda Aceh.

  14. Obligatory and facultative brain regions for voice-identity recognition

    PubMed Central

    Roswandowitz, Claudia; Kappes, Claudia; Obrig, Hellmuth; von Kriegstein, Katharina

    2018-01-01

    Abstract Recognizing the identity of others by their voice is an important skill for social interactions. To date, it remains controversial which parts of the brain are critical structures for this skill. Based on neuroimaging findings, standard models of person-identity recognition suggest that the right temporal lobe is the hub for voice-identity recognition. Neuropsychological case studies, however, reported selective deficits of voice-identity recognition in patients predominantly with right inferior parietal lobe lesions. Here, our aim was to work towards resolving the discrepancy between neuroimaging studies and neuropsychological case studies to find out which brain structures are critical for voice-identity recognition in humans. We performed a voxel-based lesion-behaviour mapping study in a cohort of patients (n = 58) with unilateral focal brain lesions. The study included a comprehensive behavioural test battery on voice-identity recognition of newly learned (voice-name, voice-face association learning) and familiar voices (famous voice recognition) as well as visual (face-identity recognition) and acoustic control tests (vocal-pitch and vocal-timbre discrimination). The study also comprised clinically established tests (neuropsychological assessment, audiometry) and high-resolution structural brain images. The three key findings were: (i) a strong association between voice-identity recognition performance and right posterior/mid temporal and right inferior parietal lobe lesions; (ii) a selective association between right posterior/mid temporal lobe lesions and voice-identity recognition performance when face-identity recognition performance was factored out; and (iii) an association of right inferior parietal lobe lesions with tasks requiring the association between voices and faces but not voices and names. The results imply that the right posterior/mid temporal lobe is an obligatory structure for voice-identity recognition, while the inferior parietal

  15. Qualitative analysis of factors affecting adherence to the phenylketonuria diet in adolescents.

    PubMed

    Sharman, Rachael; Mulgrew, Kate; Katsikitis, Mary

    2013-01-01

    Phenylketonuria (PKU) is an inborn error of metabolism that is primarily treated with a severely restricted, low-protein diet to prevent permanent neurological damage. Despite the recognition of the importance of strict dietary adherence in the prevention of intellectual impairment in individuals with PKU, apathy and attrition from diet, especially during adolescence, remain a threat to normal development in this population. This study's aim was to examine adolescents' perception of factors that encourage or inhibit their dietary adherence. This was a qualitative study, with the authors using thematic analysis to interpret the findings. The study was conducted as part of a Metabolic Disorders Association conference. Eight adolescents with PKU were recruited through convenience sampling. A focus group was conducted with the adolescents to gather information about factors that encourage and discourage dietary adherence. Thematic analysis revealed that the adolescents encountered problems explaining the nature and food requirements of their condition to other people. Friends, family, and wanting to maintain "normal" cognitive abilities were identified as factors that encouraged dietary adherence. Adolescents with PKU appear to share several barriers and incentives for maintaining the strict dietary regimen. Considering such perceptions may aid future interventions aiming to reduce diet attrition rates among adolescents.

  16. Is emotion recognition the only problem in ADHD? effects of pharmacotherapy on face and emotion recognition in children with ADHD.

    PubMed

    Demirci, Esra; Erdogan, Ayten

    2016-12-01

    The objectives of this study were to evaluate both face and emotion recognition, to detect differences among attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) subgroups, to identify effects of the gender and to assess the effects of methylphenidate and atomoxetine treatment on both face and emotion recognition in patients with ADHD. The study sample consisted of 41 male, 29 female patients, 8-15 years of age, who were diagnosed as having combined type ADHD (N = 26), hyperactive/impulsive type ADHD (N = 21) or inattentive type ADHD (N = 23) but had not previously used any medication for ADHD and 35 male, 25 female healthy individuals. Long-acting methylphenidate (OROS-MPH) was prescribed to 38 patients, whereas atomoxetine was prescribed to 32 patients. The reading the mind in the eyes test (RMET) and Benton face recognition test (BFRT) were applied to all participants before and after treatment. The patients with ADHD had a significantly lower number of correct answers in child and adolescent RMET and in BFRT than the healthy controls. Among the ADHD subtypes, the hyperactive/impulsive subtype had a lower number of correct answers in the RMET than the inattentive subtypes, and the hyperactive/impulsive subtype had a lower number of correct answers in short and long form of BFRT than the combined and inattentive subtypes. Male and female patients with ADHD did not differ significantly with respect to the number of correct answers on the RMET and BFRT. The patients showed significant improvement in RMET and BFRT after treatment with OROS-MPH or atomoxetine. Patients with ADHD have difficulties in face recognition as well as emotion recognition. Both OROS-MPH and atomoxetine affect emotion recognition. However, further studies on the face and emotion recognition are needed in ADHD.

  17. Factors Affecting the Formation of Food Preferences in Preschool Children.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Alles-White, Monica L.; Welch, Patricia

    1985-01-01

    Identifies and discusses factors that affect the development of food preferences in preschool children, including familiarity, age, parents, peers, teachers, and programs designed to influence food habits. Makes recommendations to preschool and day care programs for creating an atmosphere conducive to trying new foods. (Author/DST)

  18. Risk factors for injuries in landslide- and flood-affected populations in Uganda.

    PubMed

    Agrawal, Shreya; Gopalakrishnan, Tisha; Gorokhovich, Yuri; Doocy, Shannon

    2013-08-01

    The frequency of occurrence of natural disasters has increased over the past several decades, which necessitates a better understanding of human vulnerability, particularly in low-resource settings. This paper assesses risk factors for injury in the March 2010 floods and landslides in Eastern Uganda, and compares the effects of location, injury type, and severity. A stratified cluster survey of the disaster-affected populations was conducted five months after onset of the disasters. Probability proportional to size sampling was used to sample 800 households, including 400 affected by floods in Butaleja District and 400 affected by landslides in Bududa District. Flood- and landslide-affected populations were surveyed in July 2010 using a stratified cluster design. The odds of injury were 65% higher in the flood-affected groups than the landslide-affected groups in a logistic regression (OR = 0.35; 95% CI, 0.24-0.52; P < .001). The injury rate was greater in individuals under 42 years of age, and location of injury was a contributing factor. More people were injured in the flood-affected population as compared with the landslide-affected population, and injuries were more severe. This study illustrates differences between populations injured by flood and landslide disasters that occurred simultaneously in Eastern Uganda in 2010. In areas where landslides are prone to occur due to massive rainfalls or floods, preventative measures, such as early warning systems and evacuation, are more likely to increase the likelihood of people surviving, while for areas with massive floods, immediate and effective medical attention can save lives and improve injury outcomes.

  19. Retrieval Failure Contributes to Gist-Based False Recognition

    PubMed Central

    Guerin, Scott A.; Robbins, Clifford A.; Gilmore, Adrian W.; Schacter, Daniel L.

    2011-01-01

    People often falsely recognize items that are similar to previously encountered items. This robust memory error is referred to as gist-based false recognition. A widely held view is that this error occurs because the details fade rapidly from our memory. Contrary to this view, an initial experiment revealed that, following the same encoding conditions that produce high rates of gist-based false recognition, participants overwhelmingly chose the correct target rather than its related foil when given the option to do so. A second experiment showed that this result is due to increased access to stored details provided by reinstatement of the originally encoded photograph, rather than to increased attention to the details. Collectively, these results suggest that details needed for accurate recognition are, to a large extent, still stored in memory and that a critical factor determining whether false recognition will occur is whether these details can be accessed during retrieval. PMID:22125357

  20. Public domain optical character recognition

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Garris, Michael D.; Blue, James L.; Candela, Gerald T.; Dimmick, Darrin L.; Geist, Jon C.; Grother, Patrick J.; Janet, Stanley A.; Wilson, Charles L.

    1995-03-01

    A public domain document processing system has been developed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The system is a standard reference form-based handprint recognition system for evaluating optical character recognition (OCR), and it is intended to provide a baseline of performance on an open application. The system's source code, training data, performance assessment tools, and type of forms processed are all publicly available. The system recognizes the handprint entered on handwriting sample forms like the ones distributed with NIST Special Database 1. From these forms, the system reads hand-printed numeric fields, upper and lowercase alphabetic fields, and unconstrained text paragraphs comprised of words from a limited-size dictionary. The modular design of the system makes it useful for component evaluation and comparison, training and testing set validation, and multiple system voting schemes. The system contains a number of significant contributions to OCR technology, including an optimized probabilistic neural network (PNN) classifier that operates a factor of 20 times faster than traditional software implementations of the algorithm. The source code for the recognition system is written in C and is organized into 11 libraries. In all, there are approximately 19,000 lines of code supporting more than 550 subroutines. Source code is provided for form registration, form removal, field isolation, field segmentation, character normalization, feature extraction, character classification, and dictionary-based postprocessing. The recognition system has been successfully compiled and tested on a host of UNIX workstations. This paper gives an overview of the recognition system's software architecture, including descriptions of the various system components along with timing and accuracy statistics.

  1. Geometric distortions affect face recognition in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and monkeys (Macaca mulatta).

    PubMed

    Taubert, Jessica; Parr, Lisa A

    2011-01-01

    All primates can recognize faces and do so by analyzing the subtle variation that exists between faces. Through a series of three experiments, we attempted to clarify the nature of second-order information processing in nonhuman primates. Experiment one showed that both chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) tolerate geometric distortions along the vertical axis, suggesting that information about absolute position of features does not contribute to accurate face recognition. Chimpanzees differed from monkeys, however, in that they were more sensitive to distortions along the horizontal axis, suggesting that when building a global representation of facial identity, horizontal relations between features are more diagnostic of identity than vertical relations. Two further experiments were performed to determine whether the monkeys were simply less sensitive to horizontal relations compared to chimpanzees or were instead relying on local features. The results of these experiments confirm that monkeys can utilize a holistic strategy when discriminating between faces regardless of familiarity. In contrast, our data show that chimpanzees, like humans, use a combination of holistic and local features when the faces are unfamiliar, but primarily holistic information when the faces become familiar. We argue that our comparative approach to the study of face recognition reveals the impact that individual experience and social organization has on visual cognition.

  2. Factors affecting smoking in schizophrenia.

    PubMed

    Beratis, S; Katrivanou, A; Gourzis, P

    2001-01-01

    There is an increased frequency of smoking among patients with schizophrenia. However, it is unknown whether the smoking behavior of the patients is similar in all schizophrenia subtypes, as well as which is the relationship between smoking initiation and disease onset. Four hundred six patients with DSM-IV schizophrenia were interviewed to determine the smoking status in relationship to gender and schizophrenic subtype, and to other factors that could affect or be affected by smoking. The frequency of smoking among patients (58%) was significantly greater than in subjects from the general population (42%) (P =.000005). Male patients smoked significantly more frequently (70%) than the corresponding control subjects (50%) (P =.000006), whereas the difference failed to reach significance between female patients (41%) and control subjects (32%). Among male patients, the number of smokers was significantly greater than in the controls in the paranoid (77%), undifferentiated (72%), and residual (78%) subtypes, whereas there was no significant difference in the disorganized (44%) and catatonic (22%) subtypes. The findings show that the frequency of smoking in schizophrenia patients increases with increasing positive symptoms and decreases with increasing negative symptoms. Male and female smoking patients consumed approximately 10 cigarettes per day more than the corresponding control subjects (P <.000001). In 86% of the patients, smoking initiation occurred before the disease onset. Among patients who smoked, smoking initiation and disease onset occurred at age 18.7 +/- 4.4 and 24.1 +/- 6.1 years, respectively (P <.000001). It appears that smoking in schizophrenia is influenced by gender and subtype. However, the nature of this association remains uncertain because in the vast majority of the patients smoking initiation occurs earlier than the disease onset. Copyright 2001 by W.B. Saunders Company

  3. Companion of choice at birth: factors affecting implementation.

    PubMed

    Kabakian-Khasholian, Tamar; Portela, Anayda

    2017-08-31

    Two recent recommendations made by the World Health Organization confirm the benefits of companion of choice at birth on labour outcomes; however institutional practices and policies do not always support its implementation in different settings around the world. We conducted a review to determine factors that affect implementation of this intervention considering the perspectives and experiences of different stakeholders and other institutional, systemic barriers and facilitators. Forty one published studies were included in this review. Thirty one publications were identified from a 2013 Cochrane review on the effectiveness of companion of choice at birth. We also reviewed 10 qualitative studies conducted alongside the trials or other interventions on labour and birth companionship identified through electronic searches. The SURE (Supporting the Use of Research Evidence) framework was used to guide the thematic analysis of implementation factors. Women and their families expressed appreciation for the continuous presence of a person to provide support during childbirth. Health care providers were concerned about the role of the companion and possible interference with activities in the labour ward. Allocation of resources, organization of care, facility-related constraints and cultural inclinations were identified as implementation barriers. Prior to introducing companion of choice at birth, understanding providers' attitudes and sensitizing them to the evidence is necessary. The commitment of the management of health care facilities is also required to change policies, including allocation of appropriate physical space that respects women's privacy. Implementation research to develop models for different contexts which could be scaled up would be useful, including documentation of factors that affected implementation and how they were addressed. Future research should also focus on documenting the costs related to implementation, and on measuring the impact of

  4. Computer-Assisted Face Processing Instruction Improves Emotion Recognition, Mentalizing, and Social Skills in Students with ASD.

    PubMed

    Rice, Linda Marie; Wall, Carla Anne; Fogel, Adam; Shic, Frederick

    2015-07-01

    This study examined the extent to which a computer-based social skills intervention called FaceSay was associated with improvements in affect recognition, mentalizing, and social skills of school-aged children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). FaceSay offers students simulated practice with eye gaze, joint attention, and facial recognition skills. This randomized control trial included school-aged children meeting educational criteria for autism (N = 31). Results demonstrated that participants who received the intervention improved their affect recognition and mentalizing skills, as well as their social skills. These findings suggest that, by targeting face-processing skills, computer-based interventions may produce changes in broader cognitive and social-skills domains in a cost- and time-efficient manner.

  5. Visual encoding impairment in patients with schizophrenia: contribution of reduced working memory span, decreased processing speed, and affective symptoms.

    PubMed

    Brébion, Gildas; Stephan-Otto, Christian; Huerta-Ramos, Elena; Ochoa, Susana; Usall, Judith; Abellán-Vega, Helena; Roca, Mercedes; Haro, Josep Maria

    2015-01-01

    Previous research has revealed the contribution of decreased processing speed and reduced working memory span in verbal and visual memory impairment in patients with schizophrenia. The role of affective symptoms in verbal memory has also emerged in a few studies. The authors designed a picture recognition task to investigate the impact of these factors on visual encoding. Two types of pictures (black and white vs. colored) were presented under 2 different conditions of context encoding (either displayed at a specific location or in association with another visual stimulus). It was assumed that the process of encoding associated pictures was more effortful than that of encoding pictures that were presented alone. Working memory span and processing speed were assessed. In the patient group, working memory span was significantly associated with the recognition of the associated pictures but not significantly with that of the other pictures. Controlling for processing speed eliminated the patients' deficit in the recognition of the colored pictures and greatly reduced their deficit in the recognition of the black-and-white pictures. The recognition of the black-and-white pictures was inversely related to anxiety in men and to depression in women. Working memory span constrains the effortful visual encoding processes in patients, whereas processing speed decrement accounts for most of their visual encoding deficit. Affective symptoms also have an impact on visual encoding, albeit differently in men and women. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved.

  6. Gaze Estimation for Off-Angle Iris Recognition Based on the Biometric Eye Model

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

    Karakaya, Mahmut; Barstow, Del R; Santos-Villalobos, Hector J

    Iris recognition is among the highest accuracy biometrics. However, its accuracy relies on controlled high quality capture data and is negatively affected by several factors such as angle, occlusion, and dilation. Non-ideal iris recognition is a new research focus in biometrics. In this paper, we present a gaze estimation method designed for use in an off-angle iris recognition framework based on the ANONYMIZED biometric eye model. Gaze estimation is an important prerequisite step to correct an off-angle iris images. To achieve the accurate frontal reconstruction of an off-angle iris image, we first need to estimate the eye gaze direction frommore » elliptical features of an iris image. Typically additional information such as well-controlled light sources, head mounted equipment, and multiple cameras are not available. Our approach utilizes only the iris and pupil boundary segmentation allowing it to be applicable to all iris capture hardware. We compare the boundaries with a look-up-table generated by using our biologically inspired biometric eye model and find the closest feature point in the look-up-table to estimate the gaze. Based on the results from real images, the proposed method shows effectiveness in gaze estimation accuracy for our biometric eye model with an average error of approximately 3.5 degrees over a 50 degree range.« less

  7. Mutations of RNA splicing factors in hematological malignancies.

    PubMed

    Shukla, Girish C; Singh, Jagjit

    2017-11-28

    Systematic large-scale cancer genomic studies have produced numerous significant findings. These studies have not only revealed new cancer-promoting genes, but they also have identified cancer-promoting functions of previously known "housekeeping" genes. These studies have identified numerous mutations in genes which play a fundamental role in nuclear precursor mRNA splicing. Somatic mutations and copy number variation in many of the splicing factors which participate in the formation of multiple spliceosomal complexes appear to play a role in many cancers and in particular in myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS). Mutated proteins seem to interfere with the recognition of the authentic splice sites (SS) leading to utilization of suboptimal alternative splicing sites generating aberrantly spliced mRNA isoforms. This short review is focusing on the function of the splice factors involved in the formation of splicing complexes and potential mechanisms which affect usage of the authentic splice site recognition. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  8. Emotional dampening in persons with elevated blood pressure: affect dysregulation and risk for hypertension.

    PubMed

    McCubbin, James A; Loveless, James P; Graham, Jack G; Hall, Gabrielle A; Bart, Ryan M; Moore, DeWayne D; Merritt, Marcellus M; Lane, Richard D; Thayer, Julian F

    2014-02-01

    Persons with higher blood pressure have emotional dampening in some contexts. This may reflect interactive changes in central nervous system control of affect and autonomic function in the early stages of hypertension development. The purpose of this study is to determine the independence of cardiovascular emotional dampening from alexithymia to better understand the role of affect dysregulation in blood pressure elevations. Ninety-six normotensives were assessed for resting systolic and diastolic (DBP) blood pressure, recognition of emotions in faces and sentences using the Perception of Affect Task (PAT), alexithymia, anxiety, and defensiveness. Resting DBP significantly predicted PAT emotion recognition accuracy in men after adjustment for age, self-reported affect, and alexithymia. Cardiovascular emotional dampening is independent of alexithymia and affect in men. Dampened emotion recognition could potentially influence interpersonal communication and psychosocial distress, thereby further contributing to BP dysregulation and increased cardiovascular risk.

  9. Relative Effects of Juvenile and Adult Environmental Factors on Mate Attraction and Recognition in the Cricket, Allonemobius socius

    PubMed Central

    Olvido, Alexander E.; Fernandes, Pearl R.; Mousseau, Timothy A.

    2010-01-01

    Finding a mate is a fundamental aspect of sexual reproduction. To this end, specific-mate recognition systems (SMRS) have evolved that facilitate copulation between producers of the mating signal and their opposite-sex responders. Environmental variation, however, may compromise the efficiency with which SMRS operate. In this study, the degree to which seasonal climate experienced during juvenile and adult life-cycle stages affects the SMRS of a cricket, Allonemobius socius (Scudder) (Orthoptera: Gryllidae) was assessed. Results from two-choice behavioral trials suggest that adult ambient temperature, along with population and family origins, mediate variation in male mating call, and to a lesser extent directional response of females for those calls. Restricted maximum-likelihood estimates of heritability for male mating call components and for female response to mating call appeared statistically nonsignificant. However, appreciable “maternal genetic effects” suggest that maternal egg provisioning and other indirect maternal determinants of the embryonic environment significantly contributed to variation in male mating call and female response to mating calls. Thus, environmental factors can generate substantial variation in A. socius mating call, and, more importantly, their marginal effect on female responses to either fast-chirp or long-chirp mating calls suggest negative fitness consequences to males producing alternative types of calls. Future studies of sexual selection and SMRS evolution, particularly those focused on hybrid zone dynamics, should take explicit account of the loose concordance between signal producers and responders suggested by the current findings. PMID:20673114

  10. Body schema and corporeal self-recognition in the alien hand syndrome.

    PubMed

    Olgiati, Elena; Maravita, Angelo; Spandri, Viviana; Casati, Roberta; Ferraro, Francesco; Tedesco, Lucia; Agostoni, Elio Clemente; Bolognini, Nadia

    2017-07-01

    The alien hand syndrome (AHS) is a rare neuropsychological disorder characterized by involuntary, yet purposeful, hand movements. Patients with the AHS typically complain about a loss of agency associated with a feeling of estrangement for actions performed by the affected limb. The present study explores the integrity of the body representation in AHS, focusing on 2 main processes: multisensory integration and visual self-recognition of body parts. Three patients affected by AHS following a right-hemisphere stroke, with clinical symptoms akin to the posterior variant of AHS, were tested and their performance was compared with that of 18 age-matched healthy controls. AHS patients and controls underwent 2 experimental tasks: a same-different visual matching task for body postures, which assessed the ability of using your own body schema for encoding others' body postural changes (Experiment 1), and an explicit self-hand recognition task, which assessed the ability to visually recognize your own hands (Experiment 2). As compared to controls, all AHS patients were unable to access a reliable multisensory representation of their alien hand and use it for decoding others' postural changes; however, they could rely on an efficient multisensory representation of their intact (ipsilesional) hand. Two AHS patients also presented with a specific impairment in the visual self-recognition of their alien hand, but normal recognition of their intact hand. This evidence suggests that the AHS following a right-hemisphere stroke may involve a disruption of the multisensory representation of the alien limb; instead, self-hand recognition mechanisms may be spared. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

  11. Emotion recognition in preschool children: associations with maternal depression and early parenting.

    PubMed

    Kujawa, Autumn; Dougherty, Lea; Durbin, C Emily; Laptook, Rebecca; Torpey, Dana; Klein, Daniel N

    2014-02-01

    Emotion knowledge in childhood has been shown to predict social functioning and psychological well-being, but relatively little is known about parental factors that influence its development in early childhood. There is some evidence that both parenting behavior and maternal depression are associated with emotion recognition, but previous research has only examined these factors independently. The current study assessed auditory and visual emotion recognition ability among a large sample of preschool children to examine typical emotion recognition skills in children of this age, as well as the independent and interactive effects of maternal and paternal depression and negative parenting (i.e., hostility and intrusiveness). Results indicated that children were most accurate at identifying happy emotional expressions. The lowest accuracy was observed for neutral expressions. A significant interaction was found between maternal depression and negative parenting behavior: children with a maternal history of depression were particularly sensitive to the negative effects of maladaptive parenting behavior on emotion recognition ability. No significant effects were found for paternal depression. These results highlight the importance of examining the effects of multiple interacting factors on children's emotional development and provide suggestions for identifying children for targeted preventive interventions.

  12. Facial recognition using multisensor images based on localized kernel eigen spaces.

    PubMed

    Gundimada, Satyanadh; Asari, Vijayan K

    2009-06-01

    A feature selection technique along with an information fusion procedure for improving the recognition accuracy of a visual and thermal image-based facial recognition system is presented in this paper. A novel modular kernel eigenspaces approach is developed and implemented on the phase congruency feature maps extracted from the visual and thermal images individually. Smaller sub-regions from a predefined neighborhood within the phase congruency images of the training samples are merged to obtain a large set of features. These features are then projected into higher dimensional spaces using kernel methods. The proposed localized nonlinear feature selection procedure helps to overcome the bottlenecks of illumination variations, partial occlusions, expression variations and variations due to temperature changes that affect the visual and thermal face recognition techniques. AR and Equinox databases are used for experimentation and evaluation of the proposed technique. The proposed feature selection procedure has greatly improved the recognition accuracy for both the visual and thermal images when compared to conventional techniques. Also, a decision level fusion methodology is presented which along with the feature selection procedure has outperformed various other face recognition techniques in terms of recognition accuracy.

  13. DORSAL HIPPOCAMPAL PROGESTERONE INFUSIONS ENHANCE OBJECT RECOGNITION IN YOUNG FEMALE MICE

    PubMed Central

    Orr, Patrick T.; Lewis, Michael C.; Frick, Karyn M.

    2009-01-01

    The effects of progesterone on memory are not nearly as well studied as the effects of estrogens. Although progesterone can reportedly enhance spatial and/or object recognition in female rodents when given immediately after training, previous studies have injected progesterone systemically, and therefore, the brain regions mediating this enhancement are not clear. As such, this study was designed to determine the role of the dorsal hippocampus in mediating the beneficial effect of progesterone on object recognition. Young ovariectomized C57BL/6 mice were trained in a hippocampal-dependent object recognition task utilizing two identical objects, and then immediately or 2 hrs afterwards, received bilateral dorsal hippocampal infusions of vehicle or 0.01, 0.1, or 1.0 μg/μl water-soluble progesterone. Forty-eight hours later, object recognition memory was tested using a previously explored object and a novel object. Relative to the vehicle group, memory for the familiar object was enhanced in all groups receiving immediate infusions of progesterone. Progesterone infusion delayed 2 hrs after training did not affect object recognition. These data suggest that the dorsal hippocampus may play a critical role in progesterone-induced enhancement of object recognition. PMID:19477194

  14. Exogenous temporal cues enhance recognition memory in an object-based manner.

    PubMed

    Ohyama, Junji; Watanabe, Katsumi

    2010-11-01

    Exogenous attention enhances the perception of attended items in both a space-based and an object-based manner. Exogenous attention also improves recognition memory for attended items in the space-based mode. However, it has not been examined whether object-based exogenous attention enhances recognition memory. To address this issue, we examined whether a sudden visual change in a task-irrelevant stimulus (an exogenous cue) would affect participants' recognition memory for items that were serially presented around a cued time. The results showed that recognition accuracy for an item was strongly enhanced when the visual cue occurred at the same location and time as the item (Experiments 1 and 2). The memory enhancement effect occurred when the exogenous visual cue and an item belonged to the same object (Experiments 3 and 4) and even when the cue was counterpredictive of the timing of an item to be asked about (Experiment 5). The present study suggests that an exogenous temporal cue automatically enhances the recognition accuracy for an item that is presented at close temporal proximity to the cue and that recognition memory enhancement occurs in an object-based manner.

  15. Are there differential deficits in facial emotion recognition between paranoid and non-paranoid schizophrenia? A signal detection analysis.

    PubMed

    Huang, Charles Lung-Cheng; Hsiao, Sigmund; Hwu, Hai-Gwo; Howng, Shen-Long

    2013-10-30

    This study assessed facial emotion recognition abilities in subjects with paranoid and non-paranoid schizophrenia (NPS) using signal detection theory. We explore the differential deficits in facial emotion recognition in 44 paranoid patients with schizophrenia (PS) and 30 non-paranoid patients with schizophrenia (NPS), compared to 80 healthy controls. We used morphed faces with different intensities of emotion and computed the sensitivity index (d') of each emotion. The results showed that performance differed between the schizophrenia and healthy controls groups in the recognition of both negative and positive affects. The PS group performed worse than the healthy controls group but better than the NPS group in overall performance. Performance differed between the NPS and healthy controls groups in the recognition of all basic emotions and neutral faces; between the PS and healthy controls groups in the recognition of angry faces; and between the PS and NPS groups in the recognition of happiness, anger, sadness, disgust, and neutral affects. The facial emotion recognition impairment in schizophrenia may reflect a generalized deficit rather than a negative-emotion specific deficit. The PS group performed worse than the control group, but better than the NPS group in facial expression recognition, with differential deficits between PS and NPS patients. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  16. Implementation study of wearable sensors for activity recognition systems.

    PubMed

    Rezaie, Hamed; Ghassemian, Mona

    2015-08-01

    This Letter investigates and reports on a number of activity recognition methods for a wearable sensor system. The authors apply three methods for data transmission, namely 'stream-based', 'feature-based' and 'threshold-based' scenarios to study the accuracy against energy efficiency of transmission and processing power that affects the mote's battery lifetime. They also report on the impact of variation of sampling frequency and data transmission rate on energy consumption of motes for each method. This study leads us to propose a cross-layer optimisation of an activity recognition system for provisioning acceptable levels of accuracy and energy efficiency.

  17. The Synergistic Effect of Affective Factors on Student Learning Outcomes

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Jack, Brady Michael; Lin, Huann-shyang; Yore, Larry D.

    2014-01-01

    This study investigates how affective and self-related factors impact participation in science learning and environmental awareness and responsibility. Using PISA 2006 datasets from Taiwan and Canada having similar level of science competency, the model for this study verifies and expands an earlier model by examining the relationships among…

  18. Factors Affecting Educational Innovation with in Class Electronic Response Systems

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Freeman, Mark; Bell, Amani; Comerton-Forde, Carole; Pickering, Joanne; Blayney, Paul

    2007-01-01

    This paper reports the use of Rogers' diffusion of innovation perspective to understand the factors affecting educational innovation decisions, specifically in regard to in class electronic response systems. Despite decreasing costs and four decades of research showing strong student support, academic adoption is limited. Using data collected from…

  19. Scrutinizing the Factors Affecting Fluency of English among Arab Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Al Ghazali, Fawzi

    2017-01-01

    This research study investigates the cognitive, psychological and personal factors affecting the accuracy and fluency of English language usage among Arab learners. Early research led by Chomsky (1965) and Krashen (1981) suggested that an individual's Language Acquisition Device once triggered at the appropriate time and supported with adequate…

  20. Factors Affecting the Acceptability of Microforms as a Reading Medium.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Spencer, Herbert; Reynolds, Linda

    Based on visits to representative microform users and an extensive survey of relevant literature, a study was undertaken to assess the relative importance of factors affecting the acceptability of microforms as reading mediums. The following variables were considered: (1) microform characteristics; (2) equipment design; (3) work station design;…

  1. Environmental factors affecting understory diversity in second-growth deciduous forests

    Treesearch

    Cynthia D. Huebner; J.C. Randolph; G.R. Parker

    1995-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to determine the most important nonanthropogenic factors affecting understory (herbs, shrubs and low-growing vines) diversity in forested landscapes of southern Indiana. Fourteen environmental variables were measured for 46 sites. Multiple regression analysis showed significant positive correlation between understory diversity and tree...

  2. Factors Affecting School Choice: What Do Malaysian Chinese Parents Want?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Siah, Poh Chua; Christina Ong, Sook Beng; Tan, Swee Mee; Sim, Chzia Poaw; Xian Thoo, Raphael Yi

    2018-01-01

    Aiming to explore factors affecting Malaysian Chinese parents in sending their children to either national secondary schools or Chinese independent schools, 494 parents were surveyed using a questionnaire. Results showed that parents who sent their children to Chinese independent schools have different priorities compared to those who sent theirs…

  3. Risk factors affecting human traumatic tympanic membrane perforation regeneration therapy using fibroblast growth factor-2.

    PubMed

    Lou, Zhengcai; Yang, Jian; Tang, Yongmei; Xiao, Jian

    2015-01-01

    The use of growth factors to achieve closure of human traumatic tympanic membrane perforations (TMPs) has recently been demonstrated. However, pretreatment factors affecting healing outcomes have seldom been discussed. The objective of this study was to evaluate pretreatment factors contributing to the success or failure of healing of TMPs using fibroblast growth factor-2 (FGF-2). A retrospective cohort study of 99 patients (43 males, 56 females) with traumatic TMPs who were observed for at least 6 months after FGF-2 treatment between March 2011 and December 2012. Eleven factors considered likely to affect the outcome of perforation closure were evaluated statistically using univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis. Each traumatic TMP was treated by direct application of FGF-2. Complete closure versus failure to close. In total, 99 patients were analyzed. The total closure rate was 92/99 (92.9%) at 6 months; the mean closure time was 10.59 ±  6.81 days. The closure rate did not significantly differ between perforations with or without inverted edges (100.0% vs. 91.4%, p = 0.087), among different size groups (p = 0.768), or among different periods of exposure to injury (p = 0.051). However, the closure rate was significantly different between the high- and low-dose FGF-2 groups (85.0% vs. 98.3%, p = 0.010) and between perforations where the umbo or malleus was or was not involved in perforation (85.4% vs. 98.3%, p = 0.012). Additionally, univariate logistic regression analysis tests showed that it was difficult to achieve healing of these perforations with a history of chronic otitis media or residual TM calcification (p = 0.006), the umbo or malleus was involved in perforation (p = 0.038), and with a high dose of FGF-2 (p = 0.035) compared with control groups. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that only a history of chronic otitis media and residual TM calcification and perforation close to the

  4. Factors affecting alkali jarosite precipitation

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Dutrizac, J. E.

    1983-12-01

    Several factors affecting the precipitation of the alkali jarosites (sodium jarosite, potassium jarosite, rubidium jarosite, and ammonium jarosite) have been studied systematically using sodium jarosite as the model. The pH of the reacting solution exercises a major influence on the amount of jarosite formed, but has little effect on the composition of the washed product. Higher temperatures significantly increase the yield and slightly raise the alkali content of the jarosites. The yield and alkali content both increase greatly with the alkali concentration to about twice the stoichiometric requirement but, thereafter, remain nearly constant. At 97 °C, the amount of product increases with longer retention times to about 15 hours, but more prolonged reaction times are without significant effect on the amount or composition of the jarosite. Factors such as the presence of seed or ionic strength have little effect on the yield or jarosite composition. The amount of precipitate augments directly as the iron concentration of the solution increases, but the product composition is nearly independent of this variable. A significant degree of agitation is necessary to suspend the product and to prevent the jarosite from coating the apparatus with correspondingly small yields. Once the product is adequately suspended, however, further agitation is without significant effect. The partitioning of alkali ions during jarosite precipitation was ascertained for K:Na, Na:NH4, K:NH4, and K:Rb. Potassium jarosite is the most stable of the alkali jarosites and the stability falls systematically for lighter or heavier congeners; ammonium jarosite is slightly more stable than the sodium analogue. Complete solid solubility among the various alkali jarosite-type compounds was established.

  5. [Phosphorus availability in cropland soils of China and related affecting factors].

    PubMed

    Wang, Yong-Zhuang; Chen, Xin; Shi, Yi

    2013-01-01

    Soil phosphorus (P) availability directly determines cropland productivity. Based on the long-term fertilization experiments in different climatic zones of China, this paper summarized the P content, its availability, and the factors affecting the P transformation in China cropland soils. The total and available P contents in different types of China cropland soils were 0.31-1.72 g x kg(-1) and 0.1-228.8 mg x kg(-1), respectively. Soil parent material, soil physical and chemical prosperities, and fertilization practices were the main factors affecting the soil P availability. It was suggested that more attentions should be paid on the mixed application of organic manure and chemical fertilizers to improve the P availability of cropland soils and on the potential environmental impacts of this fertilization.

  6. What factors influence ward nurses' recognition of and response to patient deterioration? An integrative review of the literature.

    PubMed

    Massey, Debbie; Chaboyer, Wendy; Anderson, Vinah

    2017-01-01

    In this integrative review, we aimed to: first, identify and summarize published studies relating to ward nurses' recognition of and response to patient deterioration; second, to critically evaluate studies that described or appraised the practice of ward nurses in recognizing and responding to patient deterioration; and third, identify gaps in the literature for further research. An integrative review. The Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) Ovid Medline, Informit and Google Scholar databases were accessed for the years 1990-2014. Data were extracted and summarized in tables and then appraised using the Mixed Method Appraisal Tool. Data were grouped into two domains; recognizing and responding to deterioration and then thematic analysis was used to identify the emerging themes. Seventeen studies were reviewed and appraised. Recognizing patient deterioration was encapsulated in four themes: (1) assessing the patient; (2) knowing the patient; (3) education and (4) environmental factors. Responding to patient deterioration was encapsulated in three themes; (1) non-technical skills; (2) access to support and (3) negative emotional responses. Issues involved in timely recognition of and response to clinical deterioration remain complex, yet patient safety relies on nurses' timely assessments and actions.

  7. Running Improves Pattern Separation during Novel Object Recognition.

    PubMed

    Bolz, Leoni; Heigele, Stefanie; Bischofberger, Josef

    2015-10-09

    Running increases adult neurogenesis and improves pattern separation in various memory tasks including context fear conditioning or touch-screen based spatial learning. However, it is unknown whether pattern separation is improved in spontaneous behavior, not emotionally biased by positive or negative reinforcement. Here we investigated the effect of voluntary running on pattern separation during novel object recognition in mice using relatively similar or substantially different objects.We show that running increases hippocampal neurogenesis but does not affect object recognition memory with 1.5 h delay after sample phase. By contrast, at 24 h delay, running significantly improves recognition memory for similar objects, whereas highly different objects can be distinguished by both, running and sedentary mice. These data show that physical exercise improves pattern separation, independent of negative or positive reinforcement. In sedentary mice there is a pronounced temporal gradient for remembering object details. In running mice, however, increased neurogenesis improves hippocampal coding and temporally preserves distinction of novel objects from familiar ones.

  8. Factors affecting workplace bullying and lateral violence among clinical nurses in Korea: descriptive study.

    PubMed

    Oh, Hyunjin; Uhm, Dong Choon; Yoon, Young Joo

    2016-04-01

    Workplace bullying and lateral violence are serious issues affecting the work life of hospital nurses. The purpose of this study was to identify the selected individual and institutional characteristics for workplace bullying and lateral violence using a conceptual framework. A descriptive survey design was used. A convenience sample of 255 nurses in tertiary hospitals, who had a minimum of 6 months clinical experience, completed the survey. Regression analysis was used to determine factors significantly associated with workplace bullying and lateral violence. The Negative Acts Questionnaire-Revised and the Lateral Violence scale were used to measure workplace bullying and lateral violence. A negative affect, individualism and working in hospital specialty units predicted workplace bullying. Individualism, a negative affect, affiliated hospital and working hours predicted verbal abuse whereas the place of employment was significantly associated with lateral violence. The results of this study identified factors that are associated with bullying and violence but did not fully support the conceptual framework. The individual characteristic negative affect was significantly associated with most types of workplace bullying and lateral violence bully whereas the place of employment was an important factor in lateral violence. Nurse managers need to be aware that both individual and institutional factors may impact levels of workplace bullying and lateral violence in their hospitals and need to prepare specific strategies to address these multiple factors. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  9. Factors affecting length of stay in teaching hospitals of a middle-income country

    PubMed Central

    Khosravizadeh, Omid; Vatankhah, Soudabeh; Bastani, Peivand; Kalhor, Rohollah; Alirezaei, Samira; Doosty, Farzane

    2016-01-01

    Introduction The length of stay (LOS) in hospitals is a widely used and important criteria for evaluating hospital performance. The aim of this study was to determine factors affecting LOS in teaching hospitals of Qazvin Providence. Methods In this cross-sectional study, patients’ health records were randomly selected from archives in teaching hospitals of Qazvin in 2013. Data were collected through a data entry form and were analyzed using Kolmogorov–Smirnov, Kruskal–Wallis, and Mann–Whitney U tests at the significant level of 0.05. Results The mean of hospital LOS was 5.45 ± 6.14 days. Age, employment, marital status, history of previous admission, patient condition at discharge, method of payment, and type of treatment had an impact on LOS (p<0.05). Other factors, including gender, place of residence, and type of admission, did not affect LOS. Conclusion Because hospitals consume a perceptible part of resources in a health system, controlled and optimized use of its resources help to save a lot. Therefore, this study showed many clinical and nonclinical factors affect LOS in evaluating these factors, which may reduce inappropriate hospital stays and decrease costs. PMID:27957301

  10. Analysis of usability factors affecting purchase intention in online e-commerce sites

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Perdana, R. A.; Suzianti, A.

    2017-03-01

    The growing number of internet users plays a significant role in the emergence of a variety of online e-commerce sites to meet the needs of Indonesians. However, there are still some problems faced by the users in using e-commerce sites. Therefore, a research related to user experience on their purchase intention to foster e-commerce sites is required. This study is conducted to find out the relationship between usability factors on e-commerce users’ purchase intention using a case study by using SEM to analyse the usability of the website. The result of this study shows that credibility, readability and telepresence are usability factors that directly affect purchase intention, while simplicity, consistency and interactivity are usability factors that indirectly affect purchase intention. Therefore, we can conclude that Indonesian consumers are on the Early Majority phase in adopting Company A.

  11. Improving Negative Emotion Recognition in Young Offenders Reduces Subsequent Crime

    PubMed Central

    Hubble, Kelly; Bowen, Katharine L.; Moore, Simon C.; van Goozen, Stephanie H. M.

    2015-01-01

    Background Children with antisocial behaviour show deficits in the perception of emotional expressions in others that may contribute to the development and persistence of antisocial and aggressive behaviour. Current treatments for antisocial youngsters are limited in effectiveness. It has been argued that more attention should be devoted to interventions that target neuropsychological correlates of antisocial behaviour. This study examined the effect of emotion recognition training on criminal behaviour. Methods Emotion recognition and crime levels were studied in 50 juvenile offenders. Whilst all young offenders received their statutory interventions as the study was conducted, a subgroup of twenty-four offenders also took part in a facial affect training aimed at improving emotion recognition. Offenders in the training and control groups were matched for age, SES, IQ and lifetime crime level. All offenders were tested twice for emotion recognition performance, and recent crime data were collected after the testing had been completed. Results Before the training there were no differences between the groups in emotion recognition, with both groups displaying poor fear, sadness and anger recognition. After the training fear, sadness and anger recognition improved significantly in juvenile offenders in the training group. Although crime rates dropped in all offenders in the 6 months following emotion testing, only the group of offenders who had received the emotion training showed a significant reduction in the severity of the crimes they committed. Conclusions The study indicates that emotion recognition can be relatively easily improved in youths who engage in serious antisocial and criminal behavior. The results suggest that improved emotion recognition has the potential to reduce the severity of reoffending. PMID:26121148

  12. The Internal Structure of Positive and Negative Affect: A Confirmatory Factor Analysis of the PANAS

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Tuccitto, Daniel E.; Giacobbi, Peter R., Jr.; Leite, Walter L.

    2010-01-01

    This study tested five confirmatory factor analytic (CFA) models of the Positive Affect Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) to provide validity evidence based on its internal structure. A sample of 223 club sport athletes indicated their emotions during the past week. Results revealed that an orthogonal two-factor CFA model, specifying error…

  13. Factors affecting midwives' confidence in intrapartum care: a phenomenological study.

    PubMed

    Bedwell, Carol; McGowan, Linda; Lavender, Tina

    2015-01-01

    midwives are frequently the lead providers of care for women throughout labour and birth. In order to perform their role effectively and provide women with the choices they require midwives need to be confident in their practice. This study explores factors which may affect midwives' confidence in their practice. hermeneutic phenomenology formed the theoretical basis for the study. Prospective longitudinal data collection was completed using diaries and semi-structured interviews. Twelve midwives providing intrapartum care in a variety of settings were recruited to ensure a variety of experiences in different contexts were captured. the principal factor affecting workplace confidence, both positively and negatively, was the influence of colleagues. Perceived autonomy and a sense of familiarity could also enhance confidence. However, conflict in the workplace was a critical factor in reducing midwives' confidence. Confidence was an important, but fragile, phenomenon to midwives and they used a variety of coping strategies, emotional intelligence and presentation management to maintain it. this is the first study to highlight both the factors influencing midwives' workplace confidence and the strategies midwives employed to maintain their confidence. Confidence is important in maintaining well-being and workplace culture may play a role in explaining the current low morale within the midwifery workforce. This may have implications for women's choices and care. Support, effective leadership and education may help midwives develop and sustain a positive sense of confidence. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  14. Specifying the non-specific factors underlying opioid analgesia: Expectancy, attention, and affect

    PubMed Central

    Atlas, Lauren Y.; Wielgosz, Joseph; Whittington, Robert A.; Wager, Tor D.

    2013-01-01

    Rationale Psychological processes such as expectancy, attention, and affect directly influence clinical outcomes. These factors are grouped together as “nonspecific” factors, or placebo effects, in the medical literature, and their individual contributions are rarely considered. The pain-reducing effects of analgesic treatments may reflect changes in these psychological factors, rather than pure drug effects on pain. Furthermore, drug effects may not be isolated by drug vs. placebo comparisons if drugs interact with relevant psychological processes. Objectives To determine whether the analgesic effects of opioid and placebo treatment are mediated by changes in attention, expectancy, or affect. Methods We crossed intravenous administration of a potent opioid analgesic, remifentanil, with information about drug delivery (treatment expectancy, or placebo) using a balanced placebo design. We measured drug and treatment expectancy effects on pain, attention, and responses to emotional images. We also examined interactions with cue-based expectations about noxious stimulation, or stimulus expectancy. Results Pain was additively influenced by treatment expectancy, stimulus expectancy, and drug concentration. Attention performance showed a small but significant interaction between drug and treatment expectancy. Finally, remifentanil enhanced responses to both positive and negative emotional images. Conclusions The pain-relieving effects of opioid drugs are unlikely to be mediated by changes in threat or affective processing. Standard open-label opioid administration influences multiple clinically relevant cognitive and emotional processes. Psychological factors can combine with drug effects to influence multiple outcomes in distinct ways. The influence of specific psychological factors should be considered when developing and testing pharmacological treatments. PMID:24096537

  15. Using eye movements as an index of implicit face recognition in autism spectrum disorder.

    PubMed

    Hedley, Darren; Young, Robyn; Brewer, Neil

    2012-10-01

    Individuals with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) typically show impairment on face recognition tasks. Performance has usually been assessed using overt, explicit recognition tasks. Here, a complementary method involving eye tracking was used to examine implicit face recognition in participants with ASD and in an intelligence quotient-matched non-ASD control group. Differences in eye movement indices between target and foil faces were used as an indicator of implicit face recognition. Explicit face recognition was assessed using old-new discrimination and reaction time measures. Stimuli were faces of studied (target) or unfamiliar (foil) persons. Target images at test were either identical to the images presented at study or altered by changing the lighting, pose, or by masking with visual noise. Participants with ASD performed worse than controls on the explicit recognition task. Eye movement-based measures, however, indicated that implicit recognition may not be affected to the same degree as explicit recognition. Autism Res 2012, 5: 363-379. © 2012 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2012 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  16. The effect of letter string length and report condition on letter recognition accuracy.

    PubMed

    Raghunandan, Avesh; Karmazinaite, Berta; Rossow, Andrea S

    Letter sequence recognition accuracy has been postulated to be limited primarily by low-level visual factors. The influence of high level factors such as visual memory (load and decay) has been largely overlooked. This study provides insight into the role of these factors by investigating the interaction between letter sequence recognition accuracy, letter string length and report condition. Letter sequence recognition accuracy for trigrams and pentagrams were measured in 10 adult subjects for two report conditions. In the complete report condition subjects reported all 3 or all 5 letters comprising trigrams and pentagrams, respectively. In the partial report condition, subjects reported only a single letter in the trigram or pentagram. Letters were presented for 100ms and rendered in high contrast, using black lowercase Courier font that subtended 0.4° at the fixation distance of 0.57m. Letter sequence recognition accuracy was consistently higher for trigrams compared to pentagrams especially for letter positions away from fixation. While partial report increased recognition accuracy in both string length conditions, the effect was larger for pentagrams, and most evident for the final letter positions within trigrams and pentagrams. The effect of partial report on recognition accuracy for the final letter positions increased as eccentricity increased away from fixation, and was independent of the inner/outer position of a letter. Higher-level visual memory functions (memory load and decay) play a role in letter sequence recognition accuracy. There is also suggestion of additional delays imposed on memory encoding by crowded letter elements. Copyright © 2016 Spanish General Council of Optometry. Published by Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

  17. Deep and shallow encoding effects on face recognition: an ERP study.

    PubMed

    Marzi, Tessa; Viggiano, Maria Pia

    2010-12-01

    Event related potentials (ERPs) were employed to investigate whether and when brain activity related to face recognition varies according to the processing level undertaken at encoding. Recognition was assessed when preceded by a "shallow" (orientation judgement) or by a "deep" study task (occupation judgement). Moreover, we included a further manipulation by presenting at encoding faces either in the upright or inverted orientation. As expected, deeply encoded faces were recognized more accurately and more quickly with respect to shallowly encoded faces. The ERP showed three main findings: i) as witnessed by more positive-going potentials for deeply encoded faces, at early and later processing stage, face recognition was influenced by the processing strategy adopted during encoding; ii) structural encoding, indexed by the N170, turned out to be "cognitively penetrable" showing repetition priming effects for deeply encoded faces; iii) face inversion, by disrupting configural processing during encoding, influenced memory related processes for deeply encoded faces and impaired the recognition of faces shallowly processed. The present study adds weight to the concept that the depth of processing during memory encoding affects retrieval. We found that successful retrieval following deep encoding involved both familiarity- and recollection-related processes showing from 500 ms a fronto-parietal distribution, whereas shallow encoding affected only earlier processing stages reflecting perceptual priming. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  18. Study on the factors affecting the quality of public bus transportation service in Bali Province using factor analysis

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Susilawati, M.; Nilakusmawati, D. P. E.

    2017-06-01

    The volume of mobility flows are increasing day by day and the condition of the number of people using private transport modes contribute to traffic congestion. With the limited capacity of the road, one of the alternatives solution to reduce congestion is to optimize the use of public transport. The purposes of this study are to determine the factors that influence user’s satisfaction on the quality of public bus transportation service and determine variables that became identifier on the dominant factor affecting user’s satisfaction. The study was conducted for the public bus transportation between districts in the province of Bali, which is among the eight regencies and one municipality, using a questionnaire as a data collection instrument. Service variables determinant of user’s satisfaction in this study, described in 25 questions, which were analyzed using factor analysis. The results showed there were six factors that explain the satisfaction of users of public transport in Bali, with a total diversity of data that can be parsed by 61.436%. These factors are: Safety and comfort, Responsiveness, Capacity, Tangible, Safety, Reliability. The dominant factor affecting public transport user satisfaction is the safety and comfort, with the most influential variable is feeling concerned about the personal safety of users when on the bus.

  19. A study of factors affecting the adoption of server virtualization technology

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lu, Hsin-Ke; Lin, Peng-Chun; Chiang, Chang-Heng; Cho, Chien-An

    2018-04-01

    It has become a trend that worldwide enterprises and organizations apply new technologies to improve their operations; besides, it has higher cost and less flexibility to construct and manage traditional servers, therefore the current mainstream is to use server virtualization technology. However, from these new technology organizations will not necessarily get the expected benefits because each one has its own level of organizational complexity and abilities to accept changes. The researcher investigated key factors affecting the adoption of virtualization technology through two phases. In phase I, the researcher reviewed literature and then applied the dimensions of "Information Systems Success Model" (ISSM) to generalize the factors affecting the adoption of virtualization technology to be the preliminary theoretical framework and develop a questionnaire; in phase II, a three-round Delphi Method was used to integrate the opinions of experts from related fields which were then gradually converged in order to obtain a stable and objective questionnaire of key factors so that these results were expected to provide references for organizations' adoption of server virtualization technology and future studies.

  20. Factors Affecting Environmental Knowledge and Attitudes among Lebanese College Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Oweini, Ahmad; Houri, Ahmad

    2006-01-01

    This exploratory study aimed at assessing the variables that would positively affect the knowledge and attitude of a group of Lebanese college students regarding the environment, namely such factors as gender, age, previous hiking experience and living abroad. A purposeful sample of students attending the Lebanese American University, was asked to…