Optical security system for the protection of personal identification information.

PubMed

Doh, Yang-Hoi; Yoon, Jong-Soo; Choi, Kyung-Hyun; Alam, Mohammad S

2005-02-10

A new optical security system for the protection of personal identification information is proposed. First, authentication of the encrypted personal information is carried out by primary recognition of a personal identification number (PIN) with the proposed multiplexed minimum average correlation energy phase-encrypted (MMACE_p) filter. The MMACE_p filter, synthesized with phase-encrypted training images, can increase the discrimination capability and prevent the leak of personal identification information. After the PIN is recognized, speedy authentication of personal information can be achieved through one-to-one optical correlation by means of the optical wavelet filter. The possibility of information counterfeiting can be significantly decreased with the double-identification process. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed technique.

A solar cycle dependence of nonlinearity in magnetospheric activity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Johnson, Jay R.; Wing, Simon

2005-04-01

The nonlinear dependencies inherent to the historical Kp data stream (1932-2003) are examined using mutual information and cumulant-based cost as discriminating statistics. The discriminating statistics are compared with surrogate data streams that are constructed using the corrected amplitude adjustment Fourier transform (CAAFT) method and capture the linear properties of the original Kp data. Differences are regularly seen in the discriminating statistics a few years prior to solar minima, while no differences are apparent at the time of solar maxima. These results suggest that the dynamics of the magnetosphere tend to be more linear at solar maximum than at solar minimum. The strong nonlinear dependencies tend to peak on a timescale around 40-50 hours and are statistically significant up to 1 week. Because the solar wind driver variables, VBs, and dynamical pressure exhibit a much shorter decorrelation time for nonlinearities, the results seem to indicate that the nonlinearity is related to internal magnetospheric dynamics. Moreover, the timescales for the nonlinearity seem to be on the same order as that for storm/ring current relaxation. We suggest that the strong solar wind driving that occurs around solar maximum dominates the magnetospheric dynamics, suppressing the internal magnetospheric nonlinearity. On the other hand, in the descending phase of the solar cycle just prior to solar minimum, when magnetospheric activity is weaker, the dynamics exhibit a significant nonlinear internal magnetospheric response that may be related to increased solar wind speed.

Synthesis of correlation filters: a generalized space-domain approach for improved filter characteristics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sudharsanan, Subramania I.; Mahalanobis, Abhijit; Sundareshan, Malur K.

1990-12-01

Discrete frequency domain design of Minimum Average Correlation Energy filters for optical pattern recognition introduces an implementational limitation of circular correlation. An alternative methodology which uses space domain computations to overcome this problem is presented. The technique is generalized to construct an improved synthetic discriminant function which satisfies the conflicting requirements of reduced noise variance and sharp correlation peaks to facilitate ease of detection. A quantitative evaluation of the performance characteristics of the new filter is conducted and is shown to compare favorably with the well known Minimum Variance Synthetic Discriminant Function and the space domain Minimum Average Correlation Energy filter, which are special cases of the present design.

Predictive Compensator Optimization for Head Tracking Lag in Virtual Environments

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Adelstein, Barnard D.; Jung, Jae Y.; Ellis, Stephen R.

2001-01-01

We examined the perceptual impact of plant noise parameterization for Kalman Filter predictive compensation of time delays intrinsic to head tracked virtual environments (VEs). Subjects were tested in their ability to discriminate between the VE system's minimum latency and conditions in which artificially added latency was then predictively compensated back to the system minimum. Two head tracking predictors were parameterized off-line according to cost functions that minimized prediction errors in (1) rotation, and (2) rotation projected into translational displacement with emphasis on higher frequency human operator noise. These predictors were compared with a parameterization obtained from the VE literature for cost function (1). Results from 12 subjects showed that both parameterization type and amount of compensated latency affected discrimination. Analysis of the head motion used in the parameterizations and the subsequent discriminability results suggest that higher frequency predictor artifacts are contributory cues for discriminating the presence of predictive compensation.

Threshold dose for discrimination of nicotine via cigarette smoking.

PubMed

Perkins, Kenneth A; Kunkle, Nicole; Karelitz, Joshua L; Michael, Valerie C; Donny, Eric C

2016-06-01

The lowest nicotine threshold "dose" in cigarettes discriminated from a cigarette containing virtually no nicotine may help inform the minimum dose maintaining dependence. Spectrum research cigarettes (from NIDA) differing in nicotine content were used to evaluate a procedure to determine discrimination thresholds. Dependent smokers (n = 18; 13 M, 5 F) were tested on ability to discriminate cigarettes with nicotine contents of 11, 5, 2.4, and 1.3 mg/g, one per session, from the "ultralow" cigarette with 0.4 mg/g, after having discriminated 16 mg/g from 0.4 mg/g (all had 9-10 mg "tar"). Exposure to each was limited to 4 puffs/trial. All subjects were abstinent from smoking overnight prior to each session, and the number of sessions was determined by the participant's success in discrimination behavior on >80 % of trials. Subjective perceptions and behavioral choice between cigarettes were also assessed and related to discrimination behavior. The median threshold was 11 mg/g, but the range was 2.4 to 16 mg/g, suggesting wide variability in discrimination threshold. Compared to the ultralow, puff choice was greater for the subject's threshold dose but only marginal for the subthreshold (next lowest nicotine) cigarette. Threshold and subthreshold also differed on subjective perceptions but not withdrawal relief. Under these testing conditions, threshold content for discriminating nicotine via cigarettes may be 11 mg/g or greater for most smokers, but some can discriminate nicotine contents one-half or one-quarter this amount. Further study with other procedures and cigarette exposure amounts may identify systematic differences in nicotine discrimination thresholds.

A Solar Cycle Dependence of Nonlinearity in Magnetospheric Activity

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

Johnson, Jay R; Wing, Simon

2005-03-08

The nonlinear dependencies inherent to the historical K(sub)p data stream (1932-2003) are examined using mutual information and cumulant based cost as discriminating statistics. The discriminating statistics are compared with surrogate data streams that are constructed using the corrected amplitude adjustment Fourier transform (CAAFT) method and capture the linear properties of the original K(sub)p data. Differences are regularly seen in the discriminating statistics a few years prior to solar minima, while no differences are apparent at the time of solar maximum. These results suggest that the dynamics of the magnetosphere tend to be more linear at solar maximum than at solarmore » minimum. The strong nonlinear dependencies tend to peak on a timescale around 40-50 hours and are statistically significant up to one week. Because the solar wind driver variables, VB(sub)s and dynamical pressure exhibit a much shorter decorrelation time for nonlinearities, the results seem to indicate that the nonlinearity is related to internal magnetospheric dynamics. Moreover, the timescales for the nonlinearity seem to be on the same order as that for storm/ring current relaxation. We suggest that the strong solar wind driving that occurs around solar maximum dominates the magnetospheric dynamics suppressing the internal magnetospheric nonlinearity. On the other hand, in the descending phase of the solar cycle just prior to solar minimum, when magnetospheric activity is weaker, the dynamics exhibit a significant nonlinear internal magnetospheric response that may be related to increased solar wind speed.« less

Minimum Bayes risk image correlation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Minter, T. C., Jr.

1980-01-01

In this paper, the problem of designing a matched filter for image correlation will be treated as a statistical pattern recognition problem. It is shown that, by minimizing a suitable criterion, a matched filter can be estimated which approximates the optimum Bayes discriminant function in a least-squares sense. It is well known that the use of the Bayes discriminant function in target classification minimizes the Bayes risk, which in turn directly minimizes the probability of a false fix. A fast Fourier implementation of the minimum Bayes risk correlation procedure is described.

An Extended Spectral-Spatial Classification Approach for Hyperspectral Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Akbari, D.

2017-11-01

In this paper an extended classification approach for hyperspectral imagery based on both spectral and spatial information is proposed. The spatial information is obtained by an enhanced marker-based minimum spanning forest (MSF) algorithm. Three different methods of dimension reduction are first used to obtain the subspace of hyperspectral data: (1) unsupervised feature extraction methods including principal component analysis (PCA), independent component analysis (ICA), and minimum noise fraction (MNF); (2) supervised feature extraction including decision boundary feature extraction (DBFE), discriminate analysis feature extraction (DAFE), and nonparametric weighted feature extraction (NWFE); (3) genetic algorithm (GA). The spectral features obtained are then fed into the enhanced marker-based MSF classification algorithm. In the enhanced MSF algorithm, the markers are extracted from the classification maps obtained by both SVM and watershed segmentation algorithm. To evaluate the proposed approach, the Pavia University hyperspectral data is tested. Experimental results show that the proposed approach using GA achieves an approximately 8 % overall accuracy higher than the original MSF-based algorithm.

State Labor Legislation Enacted in 1973

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Levy, David A.

1974-01-01

The primary areas considered by State legislatures in 1973 included higher minimum wage rates and broader coverage of minimum wage laws, improved occupational safety, collective bargaining procedures for public employees, elimination of discrimination in employment, and updating of child labor standards. (Author)

An information-theoretical perspective on weighted ensemble forecasts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Weijs, Steven V.; van de Giesen, Nick

2013-08-01

This paper presents an information-theoretical method for weighting ensemble forecasts with new information. Weighted ensemble forecasts can be used to adjust the distribution that an existing ensemble of time series represents, without modifying the values in the ensemble itself. The weighting can, for example, add new seasonal forecast information in an existing ensemble of historically measured time series that represents climatic uncertainty. A recent article in this journal compared several methods to determine the weights for the ensemble members and introduced the pdf-ratio method. In this article, a new method, the minimum relative entropy update (MRE-update), is presented. Based on the principle of minimum discrimination information, an extension of the principle of maximum entropy (POME), the method ensures that no more information is added to the ensemble than is present in the forecast. This is achieved by minimizing relative entropy, with the forecast information imposed as constraints. From this same perspective, an information-theoretical view on the various weighting methods is presented. The MRE-update is compared with the existing methods and the parallels with the pdf-ratio method are analysed. The paper provides a new, information-theoretical justification for one version of the pdf-ratio method that turns out to be equivalent to the MRE-update. All other methods result in sets of ensemble weights that, seen from the information-theoretical perspective, add either too little or too much (i.e. fictitious) information to the ensemble.

Comment on "Inference with minimal Gibbs free energy in information field theory".

PubMed

Iatsenko, D; Stefanovska, A; McClintock, P V E

2012-03-01

Enßlin and Weig [Phys. Rev. E 82, 051112 (2010)] have introduced a "minimum Gibbs free energy" (MGFE) approach for estimation of the mean signal and signal uncertainty in Bayesian inference problems: it aims to combine the maximum a posteriori (MAP) and maximum entropy (ME) principles. We point out, however, that there are some important questions to be clarified before the new approach can be considered fully justified, and therefore able to be used with confidence. In particular, after obtaining a Gaussian approximation to the posterior in terms of the MGFE at some temperature T, this approximation should always be raised to the power of T to yield a reliable estimate. In addition, we show explicitly that MGFE indeed incorporates the MAP principle, as well as the MDI (minimum discrimination information) approach, but not the well-known ME principle of Jaynes [E.T. Jaynes, Phys. Rev. 106, 620 (1957)]. We also illuminate some related issues and resolve apparent discrepancies. Finally, we investigate the performance of MGFE estimation for different values of T, and we discuss the advantages and shortcomings of the approach.

Effective Diagnosis of Alzheimer's Disease by Means of Association Rules

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chaves, R.; Ramírez, J.; Górriz, J. M.; López, M.; Salas-Gonzalez, D.; Illán, I.; Segovia, F.; Padilla, P.

In this paper we present a novel classification method of SPECT images for the early diagnosis of the Alzheimer's disease (AD). The proposed method is based on Association Rules (ARs) aiming to discover interesting associations between attributes contained in the database. The system uses firstly voxel-as-features (VAF) and Activation Estimation (AE) to find tridimensional activated brain regions of interest (ROIs) for each patient. These ROIs act as inputs to secondly mining ARs between activated blocks for controls, with a specified minimum support and minimum confidence. ARs are mined in supervised mode, using information previously extracted from the most discriminant rules for centering interest in the relevant brain areas, reducing the computational requirement of the system. Finally classification process is performed depending on the number of previously mined rules verified by each subject, yielding an up to 95.87% classification accuracy, thus outperforming recent developed methods for AD diagnosis.

Normalization to specific gravity prior to analysis improves information recovery from high resolution mass spectrometry metabolomic profiles of human urine.

PubMed

Edmands, William M B; Ferrari, Pietro; Scalbert, Augustin

2014-11-04

Extraction of meaningful biological information from urinary metabolomic profiles obtained by liquid-chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (MS) necessitates the control of unwanted sources of variability associated with large differences in urine sample concentrations. Different methods of normalization either before analysis (preacquisition normalization) through dilution of urine samples to the lowest specific gravity measured by refractometry, or after analysis (postacquisition normalization) to urine volume, specific gravity and median fold change are compared for their capacity to recover lead metabolites for a potential future use as dietary biomarkers. Twenty-four urine samples of 19 subjects from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and nutrition (EPIC) cohort were selected based on their high and low/nonconsumption of six polyphenol-rich foods as assessed with a 24 h dietary recall. MS features selected on the basis of minimum discriminant selection criteria were related to each dietary item by means of orthogonal partial least-squares discriminant analysis models. Normalization methods ranked in the following decreasing order when comparing the number of total discriminant MS features recovered to that obtained in the absence of normalization: preacquisition normalization to specific gravity (4.2-fold), postacquisition normalization to specific gravity (2.3-fold), postacquisition median fold change normalization (1.8-fold increase), postacquisition normalization to urinary volume (0.79-fold). A preventative preacquisition normalization based on urine specific gravity was found to be superior to all curative postacquisition normalization methods tested for discovery of MS features discriminant of dietary intake in these urinary metabolomic datasets.

Discriminating two nonorthogonal states against a noise channel by feed-forward control

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guo, Li-Sha; Xu, Bao-Ming; Zou, Jian; Wang, Chao-Quan; Li, Hai; Li, Jun-Gang; Shao, Bin

2015-02-01

We propose a scheme by using the feed-forward control (FFC) to realize a better effect of discrimination of two nonorthogonal states after passing a noise channel based on the minimum-error (ME) discrimination. We show that the application of our scheme can highly improve the effect of discrimination compared with the ME discrimination without the FFC for any pair of nonorthogonal states and any degree of amplitude damping. Especially, the effect of our optimal discrimination can reach that of the two initial nonorthogonal pure states in the presence of the noise channel in a deterministic way for equal a priori probabilities or even be better than that in a probabilistic way for unequal a priori probabilities.

Minimum error discrimination between similarity-transformed quantum states

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jafarizadeh, M. A.; Sufiani, R.; Mazhari Khiavi, Y.

2011-07-01

Using the well-known necessary and sufficient conditions for minimum error discrimination (MED), we extract an equivalent form for the MED conditions. In fact, by replacing the inequalities corresponding to the MED conditions with an equivalent but more suitable and convenient identity, the problem of mixed state discrimination with optimal success probability is solved. Moreover, we show that the mentioned optimality conditions can be viewed as a Helstrom family of ensembles under some circumstances. Using the given identity, MED between N similarity transformed equiprobable quantum states is investigated. In the case that the unitary operators are generating a set of irreducible representation, the optimal set of measurements and corresponding maximum success probability of discrimination can be determined precisely. In particular, it is shown that for equiprobable pure states, the optimal measurement strategy is the square-root measurement (SRM), whereas for the mixed states, SRM is not optimal. In the case that the unitary operators are reducible, there is no closed-form formula in the general case, but the procedure can be applied in each case in accordance to that case. Finally, we give the maximum success probability of optimal discrimination for some important examples of mixed quantum states, such as generalized Bloch sphere m-qubit states, spin-j states, particular nonsymmetric qudit states, etc.

Minimum error discrimination between similarity-transformed quantum states

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

Jafarizadeh, M. A.; Institute for Studies in Theoretical Physics and Mathematics, Tehran 19395-1795; Research Institute for Fundamental Sciences, Tabriz 51664

2011-07-15

Using the well-known necessary and sufficient conditions for minimum error discrimination (MED), we extract an equivalent form for the MED conditions. In fact, by replacing the inequalities corresponding to the MED conditions with an equivalent but more suitable and convenient identity, the problem of mixed state discrimination with optimal success probability is solved. Moreover, we show that the mentioned optimality conditions can be viewed as a Helstrom family of ensembles under some circumstances. Using the given identity, MED between N similarity transformed equiprobable quantum states is investigated. In the case that the unitary operators are generating a set of irreduciblemore » representation, the optimal set of measurements and corresponding maximum success probability of discrimination can be determined precisely. In particular, it is shown that for equiprobable pure states, the optimal measurement strategy is the square-root measurement (SRM), whereas for the mixed states, SRM is not optimal. In the case that the unitary operators are reducible, there is no closed-form formula in the general case, but the procedure can be applied in each case in accordance to that case. Finally, we give the maximum success probability of optimal discrimination for some important examples of mixed quantum states, such as generalized Bloch sphere m-qubit states, spin-j states, particular nonsymmetric qudit states, etc.« less

Searching for discrimination rules in protease proteolytic cleavage activity using genetic programming with a min-max scoring function.

PubMed

Yang, Zheng Rong; Thomson, Rebecca; Hodgman, T Charles; Dry, Jonathan; Doyle, Austin K; Narayanan, Ajit; Wu, XiKun

2003-11-01

This paper presents an algorithm which is able to extract discriminant rules from oligopeptides for protease proteolytic cleavage activity prediction. The algorithm is developed using genetic programming. Three important components in the algorithm are a min-max scoring function, the reverse Polish notation (RPN) and the use of minimum description length. The min-max scoring function is developed using amino acid similarity matrices for measuring the similarity between an oligopeptide and a rule, which is a complex algebraic equation of amino acids rather than a simple pattern sequence. The Fisher ratio is then calculated on the scoring values using the class label associated with the oligopeptides. The discriminant ability of each rule can therefore be evaluated. The use of RPN makes the evolutionary operations simpler and therefore reduces the computational cost. To prevent overfitting, the concept of minimum description length is used to penalize over-complicated rules. A fitness function is therefore composed of the Fisher ratio and the use of minimum description length for an efficient evolutionary process. In the application to four protease datasets (Trypsin, Factor Xa, Hepatitis C Virus and HIV protease cleavage site prediction), our algorithm is superior to C5, a conventional method for deriving decision trees.

Development of a homogeneous pulse shape discriminating flow-cell radiation detection system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hastie, K. H.; DeVol, T. A.; Fjeld, R. A.

1999-02-01

A homogeneous flow-cell radiation detection system which utilizes coincidence counting and pulse shape discrimination circuitry was assembled and tested with five commercially available liquid scintillation cocktails. Two of the cocktails, Ultima Flo (Packard) and Mono Flow 5 (National Diagnostics) have low viscosities and are intended for flow applications; and three of the cocktails, Optiphase HiSafe 3 (Wallac), Ultima Gold AB (Packard), and Ready Safe (Beckman), have higher viscosities and are intended for static applications. The low viscosity cocktails were modified with 1-methylnaphthalene to increase their capability for alpha/beta pulse shape discrimination. The sample loading and pulse shape discriminator setting were optimized to give the lowest minimum detectable concentration for alpha radiation in a 30 s count time. Of the higher viscosity cocktails, Optiphase HiSafe 3 had the lowest minimum detectable activities for alpha and beta radiation, 0.2 and 0.4 Bq/ml for 233U and 90Sr/ 90Y, respectively, for a 30 s count time. The sample loading was 70% and the corresponding alpha/beta spillover was 5.5%. Of the low viscosity cocktails, Mono Flow 5 modified with 2.5% (by volume) 1-methylnaphthalene resulted in the lowest minimum detectable activities for alpha and beta radiation; 0.3 and 0.5 Bq/ml for 233U and 90Sr/ 90Y, respectively, for a 30 s count time. The sample loading was 50%, and the corresponding alpha/beta spillover was 16.6%. HiSafe 3 at a 10% sample loading was used to evaluate the system under simulated flow conditions.

SVM-Based Synthetic Fingerprint Discrimination Algorithm and Quantitative Optimization Strategy

PubMed Central

Chen, Suhang; Chang, Sheng; Huang, Qijun; He, Jin; Wang, Hao; Huang, Qiangui

2014-01-01

Synthetic fingerprints are a potential threat to automatic fingerprint identification systems (AFISs). In this paper, we propose an algorithm to discriminate synthetic fingerprints from real ones. First, four typical characteristic factors—the ridge distance features, global gray features, frequency feature and Harris Corner feature—are extracted. Then, a support vector machine (SVM) is used to distinguish synthetic fingerprints from real fingerprints. The experiments demonstrate that this method can achieve a recognition accuracy rate of over 98% for two discrete synthetic fingerprint databases as well as a mixed database. Furthermore, a performance factor that can evaluate the SVM's accuracy and efficiency is presented, and a quantitative optimization strategy is established for the first time. After the optimization of our synthetic fingerprint discrimination task, the polynomial kernel with a training sample proportion of 5% is the optimized value when the minimum accuracy requirement is 95%. The radial basis function (RBF) kernel with a training sample proportion of 15% is a more suitable choice when the minimum accuracy requirement is 98%. PMID:25347063

Optimal single-shot strategies for discrimination of quantum measurements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sedlák, Michal; Ziman, Mário

2014-11-01

We study discrimination of m quantum measurements in the scenario when the unknown measurement with n outcomes can be used only once. We show that ancilla-assisted discrimination procedures provide a nontrivial advantage over simple (ancilla-free) schemes for perfect distinguishability and we prove that inevitably m ≤n . We derive necessary and sufficient conditions of perfect distinguishability of general binary measurements. We show that the optimization of the discrimination of projective qubit measurements and their mixtures with white noise is equivalent to the discrimination of specific quantum states. In particular, the optimal protocol for discrimination of projective qubit measurements with fixed failure rate (exploiting maximally entangled test state) is described. While minimum-error discrimination of two projective qubit measurements can be realized without any need of entanglement, we show that discrimination of three projective qubit measurements requires a bipartite probe state. Moreover, when the measurements are not projective, the non-maximally entangled test states can outperform the maximally entangled ones. Finally, we rephrase the unambiguous discrimination of measurements as quantum key distribution protocol.

Government mandates and employer-sponsored health insurance: who is still not covered?

PubMed

Vanness, David J; Wolfe, Barbara L

2002-06-01

We characterize employer-sponsored health insurance offering strategies in light of benefit non-discrimination and minimum wage regulation when workers have heterogeneous earnings and partially unobservable demand for (and cost of) insurance. We then empirically examine how earnings and expected medical expenses are associated with low wage workers' ability to obtain insurance before and after enactment of federal benefit non-discrimination rules. We find no evidence that the non-discrimination rules helped low wage workers (especially those with high own or children's expected medical expenses) to obtain insurance.

Improvement on Timing Accuracy of LIDAR for Remote Sensing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhou, G.; Huang, W.; Zhou, X.; Huang, Y.; He, C.; Li, X.; Zhang, L.

2018-05-01

The traditional timing discrimination technique for laser rangefinding in remote sensing, which is lower in measurement performance and also has a larger error, has been unable to meet the high precision measurement and high definition lidar image. To solve this problem, an improvement of timing accuracy based on the improved leading-edge timing discrimination (LED) is proposed. Firstly, the method enables the corresponding timing point of the same threshold to move forward with the multiple amplifying of the received signal. Then, timing information is sampled, and fitted the timing points through algorithms in MATLAB software. Finally, the minimum timing error is calculated by the fitting function. Thereby, the timing error of the received signal from the lidar is compressed and the lidar data quality is improved. Experiments show that timing error can be significantly reduced by the multiple amplifying of the received signal and the algorithm of fitting the parameters, and a timing accuracy of 4.63 ps is achieved.

Maximum Relative Entropy of Coherence: An Operational Coherence Measure.

PubMed

Bu, Kaifeng; Singh, Uttam; Fei, Shao-Ming; Pati, Arun Kumar; Wu, Junde

2017-10-13

The operational characterization of quantum coherence is the cornerstone in the development of the resource theory of coherence. We introduce a new coherence quantifier based on maximum relative entropy. We prove that the maximum relative entropy of coherence is directly related to the maximum overlap with maximally coherent states under a particular class of operations, which provides an operational interpretation of the maximum relative entropy of coherence. Moreover, we show that, for any coherent state, there are examples of subchannel discrimination problems such that this coherent state allows for a higher probability of successfully discriminating subchannels than that of all incoherent states. This advantage of coherent states in subchannel discrimination can be exactly characterized by the maximum relative entropy of coherence. By introducing a suitable smooth maximum relative entropy of coherence, we prove that the smooth maximum relative entropy of coherence provides a lower bound of one-shot coherence cost, and the maximum relative entropy of coherence is equivalent to the relative entropy of coherence in the asymptotic limit. Similar to the maximum relative entropy of coherence, the minimum relative entropy of coherence has also been investigated. We show that the minimum relative entropy of coherence provides an upper bound of one-shot coherence distillation, and in the asymptotic limit the minimum relative entropy of coherence is equivalent to the relative entropy of coherence.

Speech perception task with pseudowords.

PubMed

Appezzato, Mariana Martins; Hackerott, Maria Mercedes Saraiva; Avila, Clara Regina Brandão de

2018-01-01

Purpose Prepare a list of pseudowords in Brazilian Portuguese to assess the auditory discrimination ability of schoolchildren and investigate the internal consistency of test items and the effect of school grade on discrimination performance. Methods Study participants were 60 schoolchildren (60% female) enrolled in the 3rd (n=14), 4th (n=24) and 5th (n=22) grades of an elementary school in the city of Sao Paulo, Brazil, aged between eight years and two months and 11 years and eight months (99 to 136 months; mean=120.05; SD=10.26), with average school performance score of 7.21 (minimum 5.0; maximum 10; SD=1.23). Forty-eight minimal pairs of Brazilian Portuguese pseudowords distinguished by a single phoneme were prepared. The participants' responses (whether the elements of the pairs were the same or different) were noted and analyzed. The data were analyzed using the Cronbach's Alpha Coefficient, Spearman's Correlation Coefficient, and Bonferroni Post-hoc Test at significance level of 0.05. Results Internal consistency analysis indicated the deletion of 20 pairs. The 28 items with results showed good internal consistency (α=0.84). The maximum and minimum scores of correct discrimination responses were 34 and 16, respectively (mean=30.79; SD=3.68). No correlation was observed between age, school performance, and discrimination performance, and no difference between school grades was found. Conclusion Most of the items proposed for assessing the auditory discrimination of speech sounds showed good internal consistency in relation to the task. Age and school grade did not improve the auditory discrimination of speech sounds.

[The history of optical signals for traffic regulation].

PubMed

Draeger, J; Harsch, V

2008-04-01

For signal transmission in traffic today, different optical, acoustic, or other physical or technical means are used for information. The different kinds of traffic (water navigation, road and rail, and, later air transport) made traffic regulation necessary early on. This regulation, from its very beginning in ancient times, began by means of optical signals; nowadays, this remains the most important method. From the very start, minimum requirements for the navigator's vision, color discrimination, dark adaptation, and even visual field were needed. For historical reasons, it was in seafaring medicine that these first developed. Besides the development of the different signals, methods for checking the requirements were soon developed. National and international requirements have been very different. Only within the last 50 years has international cooperation led to the acceptance of general standards for the different traffic modes. This article discusses the technical development of optical signals for the different kinds of traffic, from ancient times to the present, and explains the development of minimum requirements for the different visual functions.

Comparison of radiographic joint space width and magnetic resonance imaging for prediction of knee replacement: A longitudinal case-control study from the Osteoarthritis Initiative.

PubMed

Eckstein, Felix; Boudreau, Robert; Wang, Zhijie; Hannon, Michael J; Duryea, Jeff; Wirth, Wolfgang; Cotofana, Sebastian; Guermazi, Ali; Roemer, Frank; Nevitt, Michael; John, Markus R; Ladel, Christoph; Sharma, Leena; Hunter, David J; Kwoh, C Kent

2016-06-01

To evaluate whether change in fixed-location measures of radiographic joint space width (JSW) and cartilage thickness by MRI predict knee replacement. Knees replaced between 36 and 60 months' follow-up in the Osteoarthritis Initiative were each matched with one control by age, sex and radiographic status. Radiographic JSW was determined from fixed flexion radiographs and subregional femorotibial cartilage thickness from 3 T MRI. Changes between the annual visit before replacement (T0) and 2 years before T0 (T-2) were compared using conditional logistic regression. One hundred and nineteen knees from 102 participants (55.5 % women; age 64.2 ± 8.7 [mean ± SD] years) were studied. Fixed-location JSW change at 22.5 % from medial to lateral differed more between replaced and control knees (case-control [cc] OR = 1.57; 95 % CI: 1.23-2.01) than minimum medial JSW change (ccOR = 1.38; 95 % CI: 1.11-1.71). Medial femorotibial cartilage loss displayed discrimination similar to minimum JSW, and central tibial cartilage loss similar to fixed-location JSW. Location-independent thinning and thickening scores were elevated prior to knee replacement. Discrimination of structural progression between knee pre-placement cases versus controls was stronger for fixed-location than minimum radiographic JSW. MRI displayed similar discrimination to radiography and suggested greater simultaneous cartilage thickening and loss prior to knee replacement. • Fixed-location JSW predicts surgical knee replacement more strongly than minimum JSW. • MRI predicts knee replacement with similar accuracy to radiographic JSW. • MRI reveals greater cartilage thinning and thickening prior to knee replacement.

Sex determination from the radius and ulna in a modern South African sample.

PubMed

Barrier, I L O; L'Abbé, E N

2008-07-18

With a large number of unidentified skeletal remains found in South Africa, the development of population specific osteometric standards is imperative. Forensic anthropologists need to have access to a variety of techniques to establish accurate demographic profiles from complete, fragmentary and/or commingled remains. No research has been done on the forearm of African samples, even though these bones have been shown to exhibit sexual dimorphism. The purpose of this paper is to develop discriminant function formulae to determine sex from the radius and ulna in a South African population. The sample consisted of 200 male and 200 female skeletons from the Pretoria Bone (University of Pretoria) and Raymond A. Dart (Witwatersrand University) collections. Sixteen standard anthropometric measurements were taken from the radius (9) and ulna (7) and subjected to stepwise and direct discriminant function analysis. Distal breadth, minimum mid-shaft diameter and maximum head diameter were the best discriminators of sex for the radius, while minimum mid-shaft diameter and olecranon breadth were selected for the ulna. Classification accuracy for the forearm ranged from 76 to 86%. The radius and ulna can be considered moderate discriminators for determining sex in a South African group. However, it is advised that these formulae are used in conjunction with additional methods to determine sex.

Isolating contour information from arbitrary images

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jobson, Daniel J.

1989-01-01

Aspects of natural vision (physiological and perceptual) serve as a basis for attempting the development of a general processing scheme for contour extraction. Contour information is assumed to be central to visual recognition skills. While the scheme must be regarded as highly preliminary, initial results do compare favorably with the visual perception of structure. The scheme pays special attention to the construction of a smallest scale circular difference-of-Gaussian (DOG) convolution, calibration of multiscale edge detection thresholds with the visual perception of grayscale boundaries, and contour/texture discrimination methods derived from fundamental assumptions of connectivity and the characteristics of printed text. Contour information is required to fall between a minimum connectivity limit and maximum regional spatial density limit at each scale. Results support the idea that contour information, in images possessing good image quality, is (centered at about 10 cyc/deg and 30 cyc/deg). Further, lower spatial frequency channels appear to play a major role only in contour extraction from images with serious global image defects.

Multicopy programmable discrimination of general qubit states

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

Sentis, G.; Bagan, E.; Calsamiglia, J.

2010-10-15

Quantum state discrimination is a fundamental primitive in quantum statistics where one has to correctly identify the state of a system that is in one of two possible known states. A programmable discrimination machine performs this task when the pair of possible states is not a priori known but instead the two possible states are provided through two respective program ports. We study optimal programmable discrimination machines for general qubit states when several copies of states are available in the data or program ports. Two scenarios are considered: One in which the purity of the possible states is a priorimore » known, and the fully universal one where the machine operates over generic mixed states of unknown purity. We find analytical results for both the unambiguous and minimum error discrimination strategies. This allows us to calculate the asymptotic performance of programmable discrimination machines when a large number of copies are provided and to recover the standard state discrimination and state comparison values as different limiting cases.« less

Tomography of a displacement photon counter for discrimination of single-rail optical qubits

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Izumi, Shuro; Neergaard-Nielsen, Jonas S.; Andersen, Ulrik L.

2018-04-01

We investigate the performance of a detection strategy composed of a displacement operation and a photon counter, which is known as a beneficial tool in optical coherent communications, to the quantum state discrimination of the two superpositions of vacuum and single photon states corresponding to the {\\hat{σ }}x eigenstates in the single-rail encoding of photonic qubits. We experimentally characterize the detection strategy in vacuum-single photon two-dimensional space using quantum detector tomography and evaluate the achievable discrimination error probability from the reconstructed measurement operators. We furthermore derive the minimum error rate obtainable with Gaussian transformations and homodyne detection. Our proof-of-principle experiment shows that the proposed scheme can achieve a discrimination error surpassing homodyne detection.

Optimal sequential measurements for bipartite state discrimination

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Croke, Sarah; Barnett, Stephen M.; Weir, Graeme

2017-05-01

State discrimination is a useful test problem with which to clarify the power and limitations of different classes of measurement. We consider the problem of discriminating between given states of a bipartite quantum system via sequential measurement of the subsystems, with classical feed-forward of measurement results. Our aim is to understand when sequential measurements, which are relatively easy to implement experimentally, perform as well, or almost as well, as optimal joint measurements, which are in general more technologically challenging. We construct conditions that the optimal sequential measurement must satisfy, analogous to the well-known Helstrom conditions for minimum error discrimination in the unrestricted case. We give several examples and compare the optimal probability of correctly identifying the state via global versus sequential measurement strategies.

Dynamic Positron Emission Tomography [PET] in Man Using Small Bismuth Germanate Crystals

DOE R&D Accomplishments Database

Derenzo, S. E.; Budinger, T. F.; Huesman, R. H.; Cahoon, J. L.

1982-04-01

Primary considerations for the design of positron emission tomographs for medical studies in humans are the need for high imaging sensitivity, whole organ coverage, good spatial resolution, high maximum data rates, adequate spatial sampling with minimum mechanical motion, shielding against out of plane activity, pulse height discrimination against scattered photons, and timing discrimination against accidental coincidences. We discuss the choice of detectors, sampling motion, shielding, and electronics to meet these objectives.

Validation of self-directed learning instrument and establishment of normative data for nursing students in taiwan: using polytomous item response theory.

PubMed

Cheng, Su-Fen; Lee-Hsieh, Jane; Turton, Michael A; Lin, Kuan-Chia

2014-06-01

Little research has investigated the establishment of norms for nursing students' self-directed learning (SDL) ability, recognized as an important capability for professional nurses. An item response theory (IRT) approach was used to establish norms for SDL abilities valid for the different nursing programs in Taiwan. The purposes of this study were (a) to use IRT with a graded response model to reexamine the SDL instrument, or the SDLI, originally developed by this research team using confirmatory factor analysis and (b) to establish SDL ability norms for the four different nursing education programs in Taiwan. Stratified random sampling with probability proportional to size was used. A minimum of 15% of students from the four different nursing education degree programs across Taiwan was selected. A total of 7,879 nursing students from 13 schools were recruited. The research instrument was the 20-item SDLI developed by Cheng, Kuo, Lin, and Lee-Hsieh (2010). IRT with the graded response model was used with a two-parameter logistic model (discrimination and difficulty) for the data analysis, calculated using MULTILOG. Norms were established using percentile rank. Analysis of item information and test information functions revealed that 18 items exhibited very high discrimination and two items had high discrimination. The test information function was higher in this range of scores, indicating greater precision in the estimate of nursing student SDL. Reliability fell between .80 and .94 for each domain and the SDLI as a whole. The total information function shows that the SDLI is appropriate for all nursing students, except for the top 2.5%. SDL ability norms were established for each nursing education program and for the nation as a whole. IRT is shown to be a potent and useful methodology for scale evaluation. The norms for SDL established in this research will provide practical standards for nursing educators and students in Taiwan.

76 FR 1449 - Notice of Submission of Proposed Information Collection to OMB; Housing Discrimination...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-01-10

... Proposed Information Collection to OMB; Housing Discrimination Information Form AGENCY: Office of the Chief... Discrimination Information Form (HUD-903.1) is necessary for the collection of pertinent information from persons or entities who wish to file housing discrimination complaints with HUD under the Fair Housing Act of...

77 FR 29747 - Notice of Request for Information Collection Approval

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-05-18

... employment discrimination complaint form when processing Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) discrimination.... SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Form Title: Individual Complaint of Employment Discrimination. OMB Control Number... information necessary to process EEO discrimination complaints filed by [[Page 29748

Comparison of three-dimensional optical coherence tomography and combining a rotating Scheimpflug camera with a Placido topography system for forme fruste keratoconus diagnosis.

PubMed

Fukuda, Shinichi; Beheregaray, Simone; Hoshi, Sujin; Yamanari, Masahiro; Lim, Yiheng; Hiraoka, Takahiro; Yasuno, Yoshiaki; Oshika, Tetsuro

2013-12-01

To evaluate the ability of parameters measured by three-dimensional (3D) corneal and anterior segment optical coherence tomography (CAS-OCT) and a rotating Scheimpflug camera combined with a Placido topography system (Scheimpflug camera with topography) to discriminate between normal eyes and forme fruste keratoconus. Forty-eight eyes of 48 patients with keratoconus, 25 eyes of 25 patients with forme fruste keratoconus and 128 eyes of 128 normal subjects were evaluated. Anterior and posterior keratometric parameters (steep K, flat K, average K), elevation, topographic parameters, regular and irregular astigmatism (spherical, asymmetry, regular and higher-order astigmatism) and five pachymetric parameters (minimum, minimum-median, inferior-superior, inferotemporal-superonasal, vertical thinnest location of the cornea) were measured using 3D CAS-OCT and a Scheimpflug camera with topography. The area under the receiver operating curve (AUROC) was calculated to assess the discrimination ability. Compatibility and repeatability of both devices were evaluated. Posterior surface elevation showed higher AUROC values in discrimination analysis of forme fruste keratoconus using both devices. Both instruments showed significant linear correlations (p<0.05, Pearson's correlation coefficient) and good repeatability (ICCs: 0.885-0.999) for normal and forme fruste keratoconus. Posterior elevation was the best discrimination parameter for forme fruste keratoconus. Both instruments presented good correlation and repeatability for this condition.

Quantitative nuclear histomorphometry predicts oncotype DX risk categories for early stage ER+ breast cancer.

PubMed

Whitney, Jon; Corredor, German; Janowczyk, Andrew; Ganesan, Shridar; Doyle, Scott; Tomaszewski, John; Feldman, Michael; Gilmore, Hannah; Madabhushi, Anant

2018-05-30

Gene-expression companion diagnostic tests, such as the Oncotype DX test, assess the risk of early stage Estrogen receptor (ER) positive (+) breast cancers, and guide clinicians in the decision of whether or not to use chemotherapy. However, these tests are typically expensive, time consuming, and tissue-destructive. In this paper, we evaluate the ability of computer-extracted nuclear morphology features from routine hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) stained images of 178 early stage ER+ breast cancer patients to predict corresponding risk categories derived using the Oncotype DX test. A total of 216 features corresponding to the nuclear shape and architecture categories from each of the pathologic images were extracted and four feature selection schemes: Ranksum, Principal Component Analysis with Variable Importance on Projection (PCA-VIP), Maximum-Relevance, Minimum Redundancy Mutual Information Difference (MRMR MID), and Maximum-Relevance, Minimum Redundancy - Mutual Information Quotient (MRMR MIQ), were employed to identify the most discriminating features. These features were employed to train 4 machine learning classifiers: Random Forest, Neural Network, Support Vector Machine, and Linear Discriminant Analysis, via 3-fold cross validation. The four sets of risk categories, and the top Area Under the receiver operating characteristic Curve (AUC) machine classifier performances were: 1) Low ODx and Low mBR grade vs. High ODx and High mBR grade (Low-Low vs. High-High) (AUC = 0.83), 2) Low ODx vs. High ODx (AUC = 0.72), 3) Low ODx vs. Intermediate and High ODx (AUC = 0.58), and 4) Low and Intermediate ODx vs. High ODx (AUC = 0.65). Trained models were tested independent validation set of 53 cases which comprised of Low and High ODx risk, and demonstrated per-patient accuracies ranging from 75 to 86%. Our results suggest that computerized image analysis of digitized H&E pathology images of early stage ER+ breast cancer might be able predict the corresponding Oncotype DX risk categories.

76 FR 20821 - Proposed Information Collection (Civil Rights Discrimination Complaint); Comment Request

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-04-13

... Rights Discrimination Complaint); Comment Request AGENCY: Veterans Health Administration, Department of... solicits comments on information needed to process a claimant's civil rights discrimination complaint... techniques or the use of other forms of information technology. Title: Civil Rights Discrimination Complaint...

On the use of the (V,W) Burn-Sensitive Vegetation Index System to monitor the spatiotemporal distribution of burned areas in Portugal

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

DaCamara, Carlos; Libonati, Renata; Calado, Teresa; Ermida, Sofia; Nunes, Sílvia

2017-04-01

The use of remotely sensed information for burned area detection is well established and there is a general consensus about its usefulness from global down to regional levels. In this particular, the combined use of near and middle infrared (NIR and MIR) channels has shown to be particularly suitable to discriminate burned areas in a variety of ecosystems. The so-called (V,W) system [1,2] is a burn-sensitive vegetation index system defined in a transformed NIR-MIR space that has proven to be capable of discriminating burned pixels in the Brazilian biomes. A procedure based on the (V,W) system is here presented that allows discriminating burned areas and dating burning events. The procedure is tested over Portugal using NIR and MIR data from the Terra/Aqua MODIS Level 1B 1 km V5 product (MOD021/MYD021) together with active fire data from the MODIS V5 product Thermal Anomalies/Fire 5-Min L2 Swath 1km (MOD14/ MYD14). First monthly minimum composites of W are computed for July and August 2015. Burned pixels are then identified as the ones that are located close to hot spots (detected during August) and that present low values of composited minimum of W in August (characteristic of a burning event) together with a sharp decrease of composited minimum of W from July to August (that is expected to occur after a burning event). Burned pixels are then successively identified by a seeded region-growing algorithm. The day of burning of each pixel classified as burned is finally identified as the one that maximizes an index of temporal separability computed along the respective time series of available values of W in August. Results obtained are validated using as reference burned scars and dates as identified by the Rapid Damage Assessment (RDA) module developed by the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS); the EFFIS mapping process consists of an unsupervised procedure that uses MODIS bands at 250 m resolution combined with information from the CORINE Land Cover, followed by a seeded region-growing algorithm [3]. Almost half (49%) of the burned pixels are correctly identified, less than one fifth (18%) are false alarms and the total burned area is overestimated by 18%. On the other hand more than three fourths (76%) of estimated days of burning presented deviations from reference data between -1 and 4 days. Performance of the proposed algorithm is to be viewed as highly satisfactory taking into account the coarser resolution of the procedure being validated (1 km) compared to the reference data (250 m). Research was performed in the framework of FAPESP/FCT BrFLAS Project and of LSA SAF. [1] Libonati et al. (2011), Remote Sensing of Environment, 115(6), 1464-1477. [2] DaCamara et al. (2016), IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters 13(12), 1822-1826. [3] Salvador Civil & San-Miguel-Ayanz (2002), International Journal of Remote Sensing, 23(6), 1197-1205.

Spectral discrimination of giant reed (Arundo donax L.): A seasonal study in riparian areas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fernandes, Maria Rosário; Aguiar, Francisca C.; Silva, João M. N.; Ferreira, Maria Teresa; Pereira, José M. C.

2013-06-01

The giant reed (Arundo donax L.) is amongst the one hundred worst invasive alien species of the world, and it is responsible for biodiversity loss and failure of ecosystem functions in riparian habitats. In this work, field spectroradiometry was used to assess the spectral separability of the giant reed from the adjacent vegetation and from the common reed, a native similar species. The study was conducted at different phenological periods and also for the giant reed stands regenerated after mechanical cutting (giant reed_RAC). A hierarchical procedure using Kruskal-Wallis test followed by Classification and Regression Trees (CART) was used to select the minimum number of optimal bands that discriminate the giant reed from the adjacent vegetation. A new approach was used to identify sets of wavelengths - wavezones - that maximize the spectral separability beyond the minimum number of optimal bands. Jeffries Matusita and Bhattacharya distance were used to evaluate the spectral separability using the minimum optimal bands and in three simulated satellite images, namely Landsat, IKONOS and SPOT. Giant reed was spectrally separable from the adjacent vegetation, both at the vegetative and the senescent period, exception made to the common reed at the vegetative period. The red edge region was repeatedly selected, although the visible region was also important to separate the giant reed from the herbaceous vegetation and the mid infrared region to the discrimination from the woody vegetation. The highest separability was obtained for the giant reed_RAC stands, due to its highly homogeneous, dense and dark-green stands. Results are discussed by relating the phenological, morphological and structural features of the giant reed stands and the adjacent vegetation with their optical traits. Weaknesses and strengths of the giant reed spectral discrimination are highlighted and implications of imagery selection for mapping purposes are argued based on present results.

Color Discrimination Is Affected by Modulation of Luminance Noise in Pseudoisochromatic Stimuli

PubMed Central

Cormenzana Méndez, Iñaki; Martín, Andrés; Charmichael, Teaire L.; Jacob, Mellina M.; Lacerda, Eliza M. C. B.; Gomes, Bruno D.; Fitzgerald, Malinda E. C.; Ventura, Dora F.; Silveira, Luiz C. L.; O'Donell, Beatriz M.; Souza, Givago S.

2016-01-01

Pseudoisochromatic stimuli have been widely used to evaluate color discrimination and to identify color vision deficits. Luminance noise is one of the stimulus parameters used to ensure that subject's response is due to their ability to discriminate target stimulus from the background based solely on the hue between the colors that compose such stimuli. We studied the influence of contrast modulation of the stimulus luminance noise on threshold and reaction time color discrimination. We evaluated color discrimination thresholds using the Cambridge Color Test (CCT) at six different stimulus mean luminances. Each mean luminance condition was tested using two protocols: constant absolute difference between maximum and minimum luminance of the luminance noise (constant delta protocol, CDP), and constant contrast modulation of the luminance noise (constant contrast protocol, CCP). MacAdam ellipses were fitted to the color discrimination thresholds in the CIE 1976 color space to quantify the color discrimination ellipses at threshold level. The same CDP and CCP protocols were applied in the experiment measuring RTs at three levels of stimulus mean luminance. The color threshold measurements show that for the CDP, ellipse areas decreased as a function of the mean luminance and they were significantly larger at the two lowest mean luminances, 10 cd/m2 and 13 cd/m2, compared to the highest one, 25 cd/m2. For the CCP, the ellipses areas also decreased as a function of the mean luminance, but there was no significant difference between ellipses areas estimated at six stimulus mean luminances. The exponent of the decrease of ellipse areas as a function of stimulus mean luminance was steeper in the CDP than CCP. Further, reaction time increased linearly with the reciprocal of the length of the chromatic vectors varying along the four chromatic half-axes. It decreased as a function of stimulus mean luminance in the CDP but not in the CCP. The findings indicated that visual performance using pseudoisochromatic stimuli was dependent on the Weber's contrast of the luminance noise. Low Weber's contrast in the luminance noise is suggested to have a reduced effect on chromatic information and, hence, facilitate desegregation of the hue-defined target from the background. PMID:27458404

Aging and curvature discrimination from static and dynamic touch.

PubMed

Norman, J Farley; Kappers, Astrid M L; Cheeseman, Jacob R; Ronning, Cecilia; Thomason, Kelsey E; Baxter, Michael W; Calloway, Autum B; Lamirande, Davora N

2013-01-01

Two experiments evaluated the ability of 30 older and younger adults to discriminate the curvature of simple object surfaces from static and dynamic touch. The ages of the older adults ranged from 66 to 85 years, while those of the younger adults ranged from 20 to 29 years. For each participant in both experiments, the minimum curvature magnitude needed to reliably discriminate between convex and concave surfaces was determined. In Experiment 1, participants used static touch to make their judgments of curvature, while dynamic touch was used in Experiment 2. When static touch was used to discriminate curvature, a large effect of age occurred (the thresholds were 0.67 & 1.11/m for the younger and older participants, respectively). However, when participants used dynamic touch, there was no significant difference between the ability of younger and older participants to discriminate curvature (the thresholds were 0.58 & 0.59/m for the younger and older participants, respectively). The results of the current study demonstrate that while older adults can accurately discriminate surface curvature from dynamic touch, they possess significant impairments for static touch.

Aging and Curvature Discrimination from Static and Dynamic Touch

PubMed Central

Norman, J. Farley; Kappers, Astrid M. L.; Cheeseman, Jacob R.; Ronning, Cecilia; Thomason, Kelsey E.; Baxter, Michael W.; Calloway, Autum B.; Lamirande, Davora N.

2013-01-01

Two experiments evaluated the ability of 30 older and younger adults to discriminate the curvature of simple object surfaces from static and dynamic touch. The ages of the older adults ranged from 66 to 85 years, while those of the younger adults ranged from 20 to 29 years. For each participant in both experiments, the minimum curvature magnitude needed to reliably discriminate between convex and concave surfaces was determined. In Experiment 1, participants used static touch to make their judgments of curvature, while dynamic touch was used in Experiment 2. When static touch was used to discriminate curvature, a large effect of age occurred (the thresholds were 0.67 & 1.11/m for the younger and older participants, respectively). However, when participants used dynamic touch, there was no significant difference between the ability of younger and older participants to discriminate curvature (the thresholds were 0.58 & 0.59/m for the younger and older participants, respectively). The results of the current study demonstrate that while older adults can accurately discriminate surface curvature from dynamic touch, they possess significant impairments for static touch. PMID:23844224

DBSCAN-based ROI extracted from SAR images and the discrimination of multi-feature ROI

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

He, Xin Yi; Zhao, Bo; Tan, Shu Run; Zhou, Xiao Yang; Jiang, Zhong Jin; Cui, Tie Jun

2009-10-01

The purpose of the paper is to extract the region of interest (ROI) from the coarse detected synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images and discriminate if the ROI contains a target or not, so as to eliminate the false alarm, and prepare for the target recognition. The automatic target clustering is one of the most difficult tasks in the SAR-image automatic target recognition system. The density-based spatial clustering of applications with noise (DBSCAN) relies on a density-based notion of clusters which is designed to discover clusters of arbitrary shape. DBSCAN was first used in the SAR image processing, which has many excellent features: only two insensitivity parameters (radius of neighborhood and minimum number of points) are needed; clusters of arbitrary shapes which fit in with the coarse detected SAR images can be discovered; and the calculation time and memory can be reduced. In the multi-feature ROI discrimination scheme, we extract several target features which contain the geometry features such as the area discriminator and Radon-transform based target profile discriminator, the distribution characteristics such as the EFF discriminator, and the EM scattering property such as the PPR discriminator. The synthesized judgment effectively eliminates the false alarms.

Machine-Learning Classifier for Patients with Major Depressive Disorder: Multifeature Approach Based on a High-Order Minimum Spanning Tree Functional Brain Network.

PubMed

Guo, Hao; Qin, Mengna; Chen, Junjie; Xu, Yong; Xiang, Jie

2017-01-01

High-order functional connectivity networks are rich in time information that can reflect dynamic changes in functional connectivity between brain regions. Accordingly, such networks are widely used to classify brain diseases. However, traditional methods for processing high-order functional connectivity networks generally include the clustering method, which reduces data dimensionality. As a result, such networks cannot be effectively interpreted in the context of neurology. Additionally, due to the large scale of high-order functional connectivity networks, it can be computationally very expensive to use complex network or graph theory to calculate certain topological properties. Here, we propose a novel method of generating a high-order minimum spanning tree functional connectivity network. This method increases the neurological significance of the high-order functional connectivity network, reduces network computing consumption, and produces a network scale that is conducive to subsequent network analysis. To ensure the quality of the topological information in the network structure, we used frequent subgraph mining technology to capture the discriminative subnetworks as features and combined this with quantifiable local network features. Then we applied a multikernel learning technique to the corresponding selected features to obtain the final classification results. We evaluated our proposed method using a data set containing 38 patients with major depressive disorder and 28 healthy controls. The experimental results showed a classification accuracy of up to 97.54%.

Machine-Learning Classifier for Patients with Major Depressive Disorder: Multifeature Approach Based on a High-Order Minimum Spanning Tree Functional Brain Network

PubMed Central

Qin, Mengna; Chen, Junjie; Xu, Yong; Xiang, Jie

2017-01-01

High-order functional connectivity networks are rich in time information that can reflect dynamic changes in functional connectivity between brain regions. Accordingly, such networks are widely used to classify brain diseases. However, traditional methods for processing high-order functional connectivity networks generally include the clustering method, which reduces data dimensionality. As a result, such networks cannot be effectively interpreted in the context of neurology. Additionally, due to the large scale of high-order functional connectivity networks, it can be computationally very expensive to use complex network or graph theory to calculate certain topological properties. Here, we propose a novel method of generating a high-order minimum spanning tree functional connectivity network. This method increases the neurological significance of the high-order functional connectivity network, reduces network computing consumption, and produces a network scale that is conducive to subsequent network analysis. To ensure the quality of the topological information in the network structure, we used frequent subgraph mining technology to capture the discriminative subnetworks as features and combined this with quantifiable local network features. Then we applied a multikernel learning technique to the corresponding selected features to obtain the final classification results. We evaluated our proposed method using a data set containing 38 patients with major depressive disorder and 28 healthy controls. The experimental results showed a classification accuracy of up to 97.54%. PMID:29387141

Minimum information about a single amplified genome (MISAG) and a metagenome-assembled genome (MIMAG) of bacteria and archaea

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

Bowers, Robert M.; Kyrpides, Nikos C.; Stepanauskas, Ramunas

We present two standards developed by the Genomic Standards Consortium (GSC) for reporting bacterial and archaeal genome sequences. Both are extensions of the Minimum Information about Any (x) Sequence (MIxS). The standards are the Minimum Information about a Single Amplified Genome (MISAG) and the Minimum Information about a Metagenome-Assembled Genome (MIMAG), including, but not limited to, assembly quality, and estimates of genome completeness and contamination. These standards can be used in combination with other GSC checklists, including the Minimum Information about a Genome Sequence (MIGS), Minimum Information about a Metagenomic Sequence (MIMS), and Minimum Information about a Marker Gene Sequencemore » (MIMARKS). Community-wide adoption of MISAG and MIMAG will facilitate more robust comparative genomic analyses of bacterial and archaeal diversity.« less

Minimum information about a single amplified genome (MISAG) and a metagenome-assembled genome (MIMAG) of bacteria and archaea

DOE PAGES

Bowers, Robert M.; Kyrpides, Nikos C.; Stepanauskas, Ramunas; ...

2017-08-08

Here, we present two standards developed by the Genomic Standards Consortium (GSC) for reporting bacterial and archaeal genome sequences. Both are extensions of the Minimum Information about Any (x) Sequence (MIxS). The standards are the Minimum Information about a Single Amplified Genome (MISAG) and the Minimum Information about a MetagenomeAssembled Genome (MIMAG), including, but not limited to, assembly quality, and estimates of genome completeness and contamination. These standards can be used in combination with other GSC checklists, including the Minimum Information about a Genome Sequence (MIGS), Minimum Information about a Metagenomic Sequence (MIMS), and Minimum Information about a Marker Genemore » Sequence (MIMARKS). Community-wide adoption of MISAG and MIMAG will facilitate more robust comparative genomic analyses of bacterial and archaeal diversity.« less

Minimum information about a single amplified genome (MISAG) and a metagenome-assembled genome (MIMAG) of bacteria and archaea

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

Bowers, Robert M.; Kyrpides, Nikos C.; Stepanauskas, Ramunas

Here, we present two standards developed by the Genomic Standards Consortium (GSC) for reporting bacterial and archaeal genome sequences. Both are extensions of the Minimum Information about Any (x) Sequence (MIxS). The standards are the Minimum Information about a Single Amplified Genome (MISAG) and the Minimum Information about a MetagenomeAssembled Genome (MIMAG), including, but not limited to, assembly quality, and estimates of genome completeness and contamination. These standards can be used in combination with other GSC checklists, including the Minimum Information about a Genome Sequence (MIGS), Minimum Information about a Metagenomic Sequence (MIMS), and Minimum Information about a Marker Genemore » Sequence (MIMARKS). Community-wide adoption of MISAG and MIMAG will facilitate more robust comparative genomic analyses of bacterial and archaeal diversity.« less

A Discriminative Approach to EEG Seizure Detection

PubMed Central

Johnson, Ashley N.; Sow, Daby; Biem, Alain

2011-01-01

Seizures are abnormal sudden discharges in the brain with signatures represented in electroencephalograms (EEG). The efficacy of the application of speech processing techniques to discriminate between seizure and non-seizure states in EEGs is reported. The approach accounts for the challenges of unbalanced datasets (seizure and non-seizure), while also showing a system capable of real-time seizure detection. The Minimum Classification Error (MCE) algorithm, which is a discriminative learning algorithm with wide-use in speech processing, is applied and compared with conventional classification techniques that have already been applied to the discrimination between seizure and non-seizure states in the literature. The system is evaluated on 22 pediatric patients multi-channel EEG recordings. Experimental results show that the application of speech processing techniques and MCE compare favorably with conventional classification techniques in terms of classification performance, while requiring less computational overhead. The results strongly suggests the possibility of deploying the designed system at the bedside. PMID:22195192

Ligand Shaping in Induced Fit Docking of MraY Inhibitors. Polynomial Discriminant and Laplacian Operator as Biological Activity Descriptors.

PubMed

Lungu, Claudiu N; Diudea, Mircea V; Putz, Mihai V

2017-06-27

Docking-i.e., interaction of a small molecule (ligand) with a proteic structure (receptor)-represents the ground of drug action mechanism of the vast majority of bioactive chemicals. Ligand and receptor accommodate their geometry and energy, within this interaction, in the benefit of receptor-ligand complex. In an induced fit docking, the structure of ligand is most susceptible to changes in topology and energy, comparative to the receptor. These changes can be described by manifold hypersurfaces, in terms of polynomial discriminant and Laplacian operator. Such topological surfaces were represented for each MraY (phospho-MurNAc-pentapeptide translocase) inhibitor, studied before and after docking with MraY. Binding affinities of all ligands were calculated by this procedure. For each ligand, Laplacian and polynomial discriminant were correlated with the ligand minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) retrieved from literature. It was observed that MIC is correlated with Laplacian and polynomial discriminant.

Appliance Efficiency Standards and Price Discrimination

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

Spurlock, Cecily Anna

2013-05-08

I explore the effects of two simultaneous changes in minimum energy efficiency and ENERGY STAR standards for clothes washers. Adapting the Mussa and Rosen (1978) and Ronnen (1991) second-degree price discrimination model, I demonstrate that clothes washer prices and menus adjusted to the new standards in patterns consistent with a market in which firms had been price discriminating. In particular, I show evidence of discontinuous price drops at the time the standards were imposed, driven largely by mid-low efficiency segments of the market. The price discrimination model predicts this result. On the other hand, in a perfectly competition market, pricesmore » should increase for these market segments. Additionally, new models proliferated in the highest efficiency market segment following the standard changes. Finally, I show that firms appeared to use different adaptation strategies at the two instances of the standards changing.« less

Ethnicity- and sex-based discrimination and the maintenance of self-esteem.

PubMed

Lönnqvist, Jan-Erik; Hennig-Schmidt, Heike; Walkowitz, Gari

2015-01-01

The psychological underpinnings of labor market discrimination were investigated by having participants from Israel, the West Bank and Germany (N = 205) act as employers in a stylized employment task in which they ranked, set wages, and imposed a minimum effort level on applicants. State self-esteem was measured before and after the employment task, in which applicant ethnicity and sex were salient. The applicants were real people and all behavior was monetarily incentivized. Supporting the full self-esteem hypothesis of the social identity approach, low self-esteem in women was associated with assigning higher wages to women than to men, and such behavior was related to the maintenance of self-esteem. The narrower hypothesis that successful intergroup discrimination serves to protect self-esteem received broader support. Across all participants, both ethnicity- and sex-based discrimination of out-groups were associated with the maintenance of self-esteem, with the former showing a stronger association than the latter.

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

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Herzog, Ulrike; Bergou, János A.

2006-04-01

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

Weather types and the regime of wildfires in Portugal

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pereira, M. G.; Trigo, R. M.; Dacamara, C. C.

2009-04-01

An objective classification scheme, as developed by Trigo and DaCamara (2000), was applied to classify the daily atmospheric circulation affecting Portugal between 1980 and 2007 into a set of 10 basic weather types (WTs). The classification scheme relies on a set of atmospheric circulation indices, namely southerly flow (SF), westerly flow (WF), total flow (F), southerly shear vorticity (ZS), westerly shear vorticity (ZW) and total vorticity (Z). The weather-typing approach, together with surfacemeteorological variables (e.g. intensity and direction of geostrophic wind, maximum and minimum temperature and precipitation) were then associated to wildfire events as recorded in the official Portuguese fire database consisting of information on each fire occurred in the 18 districts of Continental Portugal within the same period (>450.000 events). The objective of this study is to explore the dependence of wildfire activity on weather and climate and then evaluate the potential of WTs to discriminate among recorded wildfires on what respects to their occurrence and development. Results show that days characterised by surface flow with an eastern component (i.e. NE, E and SE) account for a high percentage of daily burnt area, as opposed to surface westerly flow (NW, W and SW), which represents about a quarter of the total number of days but only accounts for a very low percentage of active fires and of burnt area. Meteorological variables such as minimum and maximum temperatures, that are closely associated to surface wind intensity and direction, also present a good ability to discriminate between the different types of fire events.. Trigo R.M., DaCamara C. (2000) "Circulation Weather Types and their impact on the precipitation regime in Portugal". Int J of Climatology, 20, 1559-1581.

Research and development on performance models of thermal imaging systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Ji-hui; Jin, Wei-qi; Wang, Xia; Cheng, Yi-nan

2009-07-01

Traditional ACQUIRE models perform the discrimination tasks of detection (target orientation, recognition and identification) for military target based upon minimum resolvable temperature difference (MRTD) and Johnson criteria for thermal imaging systems (TIS). Johnson criteria is generally pessimistic for performance predict of sampled imager with the development of focal plane array (FPA) detectors and digital image process technology. Triangle orientation discrimination threshold (TOD) model, minimum temperature difference perceived (MTDP)/ thermal range model (TRM3) Model and target task performance (TTP) metric have been developed to predict the performance of sampled imager, especially TTP metric can provides better accuracy than the Johnson criteria. In this paper, the performance models above are described; channel width metrics have been presented to describe the synthesis performance including modulate translate function (MTF) channel width for high signal noise to ration (SNR) optoelectronic imaging systems and MRTD channel width for low SNR TIS; the under resolvable questions for performance assessment of TIS are indicated; last, the development direction of performance models for TIS are discussed.

Robust linear discriminant models to solve financial crisis in banking sectors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lim, Yai-Fung; Yahaya, Sharipah Soaad Syed; Idris, Faoziah; Ali, Hazlina; Omar, Zurni

2014-12-01

Linear discriminant analysis (LDA) is a widely-used technique in patterns classification via an equation which will minimize the probability of misclassifying cases into their respective categories. However, the performance of classical estimators in LDA highly depends on the assumptions of normality and homoscedasticity. Several robust estimators in LDA such as Minimum Covariance Determinant (MCD), S-estimators and Minimum Volume Ellipsoid (MVE) are addressed by many authors to alleviate the problem of non-robustness of the classical estimates. In this paper, we investigate on the financial crisis of the Malaysian banking institutions using robust LDA and classical LDA methods. Our objective is to distinguish the "distress" and "non-distress" banks in Malaysia by using the LDA models. Hit ratio is used to validate the accuracy predictive of LDA models. The performance of LDA is evaluated by estimating the misclassification rate via apparent error rate. The results and comparisons show that the robust estimators provide a better performance than the classical estimators for LDA.

General principles in motion vision: color blindness of object motion depends on pattern velocity in honeybee and goldfish.

PubMed

Stojcev, Maja; Radtke, Nils; D'Amaro, Daniele; Dyer, Adrian G; Neumeyer, Christa

2011-07-01

Visual systems can undergo striking adaptations to specific visual environments during evolution, but they can also be very "conservative." This seems to be the case in motion vision, which is surprisingly similar in species as distant as honeybee and goldfish. In both visual systems, motion vision measured with the optomotor response is color blind and mediated by one photoreceptor type only. Here, we ask whether this is also the case if the moving stimulus is restricted to a small part of the visual field, and test what influence velocity may have on chromatic motion perception. Honeybees were trained to discriminate between clockwise- and counterclockwise-rotating sector disks. Six types of disk stimuli differing in green receptor contrast were tested using three different rotational velocities. When green receptor contrast was at a minimum, bees were able to discriminate rotation directions with all colored disks at slow velocities of 6 and 12 Hz contrast frequency but not with a relatively high velocity of 24 Hz. In the goldfish experiment, the animals were trained to detect a moving red or blue disk presented in a green surround. Discrimination ability between this stimulus and a homogenous green background was poor when the M-cone type was not or only slightly modulated considering high stimulus velocity (7 cm/s). However, discrimination was improved with slower stimulus velocities (4 and 2 cm/s). These behavioral results indicate that there is potentially an object motion system in both honeybee and goldfish, which is able to incorporate color information at relatively low velocities but is color blind with higher speed. We thus propose that both honeybees and goldfish have multiple subsystems of object motion, which include achromatic as well as chromatic processing.

Matching forensic sketches to mug shot photos.

PubMed

Klare, Brendan F; Li, Zhifeng; Jain, Anil K

2011-03-01

The problem of matching a forensic sketch to a gallery of mug shot images is addressed in this paper. Previous research in sketch matching only offered solutions to matching highly accurate sketches that were drawn while looking at the subject (viewed sketches). Forensic sketches differ from viewed sketches in that they are drawn by a police sketch artist using the description of the subject provided by an eyewitness. To identify forensic sketches, we present a framework called local feature-based discriminant analysis (LFDA). In LFDA, we individually represent both sketches and photos using SIFT feature descriptors and multiscale local binary patterns (MLBP). Multiple discriminant projections are then used on partitioned vectors of the feature-based representation for minimum distance matching. We apply this method to match a data set of 159 forensic sketches against a mug shot gallery containing 10,159 images. Compared to a leading commercial face recognition system, LFDA offers substantial improvements in matching forensic sketches to the corresponding face images. We were able to further improve the matching performance using race and gender information to reduce the target gallery size. Additional experiments demonstrate that the proposed framework leads to state-of-the-art accuracys when matching viewed sketches.

Computer-aided diagnosis of prostate cancer in the peripheral zone using multiparametric MRI

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Niaf, Emilie; Rouvière, Olivier; Mège-Lechevallier, Florence; Bratan, Flavie; Lartizien, Carole

2012-06-01

This study evaluated a computer-assisted diagnosis (CADx) system for determining a likelihood measure of prostate cancer presence in the peripheral zone (PZ) based on multiparametric magnetic resonance (MR) imaging, including T2-weighted, diffusion-weighted and dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI at 1.5 T. Based on a feature set derived from grey-level images, including first-order statistics, Haralick features, gradient features, semi-quantitative and quantitative (pharmacokinetic modelling) dynamic parameters, four kinds of classifiers were trained and compared : nonlinear support vector machine (SVM), linear discriminant analysis, k-nearest neighbours and naïve Bayes classifiers. A set of feature selection methods based on t-test, mutual information and minimum-redundancy-maximum-relevancy criteria were also compared. The aim was to discriminate between the relevant features as well as to create an efficient classifier using these features. The diagnostic performances of these different CADx schemes were evaluated based on a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. The evaluation database consisted of 30 sets of multiparametric MR images acquired from radical prostatectomy patients. Using histologic sections as the gold standard, both cancer and nonmalignant (but suspicious) tissues were annotated in consensus on all MR images by two radiologists, a histopathologist and a researcher. Benign tissue regions of interest (ROIs) were also delineated in the remaining prostate PZ. This resulted in a series of 42 cancer ROIs, 49 benign but suspicious ROIs and 124 nonsuspicious benign ROIs. From the outputs of all evaluated feature selection methods on the test bench, a restrictive set of about 15 highly informative features coming from all MR sequences was discriminated, thus confirming the validity of the multiparametric approach. Quantitative evaluation of the diagnostic performance yielded a maximal area under the ROC curve (AUC) of 0.89 (0.81-0.94) for the discrimination of the malignant versus nonmalignant tissues and 0.82 (0.73-0.90) for the discrimination of the malignant versus suspicious tissues when combining the t-test feature selection approach with a SVM classifier. A preliminary comparison showed that the optimal CADx scheme mimicked, in terms of AUC, the human experts in differentiating malignant from suspicious tissues, thus demonstrating its potential for assisting cancer identification in the PZ.

12 CFR 1207.2 - Policy, purpose, and scope.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... INCLUSION General § 1207.2 Policy, purpose, and scope. (a) General policy. FHFA's policy is to promote non-discrimination, diversity and, at a minimum, the inclusion of women, minorities, and individuals with... balance with financially safe and sound business practices, the inclusion and utilization of minorities...

12 CFR 1207.2 - Policy, purpose, and scope.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... INCLUSION General § 1207.2 Policy, purpose, and scope. (a) General policy. FHFA's policy is to promote non-discrimination, diversity and, at a minimum, the inclusion of women, minorities, and individuals with... balance with financially safe and sound business practices, the inclusion and utilization of minorities...

12 CFR 1207.2 - Policy, purpose, and scope.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... INCLUSION General § 1207.2 Policy, purpose, and scope. (a) General policy. FHFA's policy is to promote non-discrimination, diversity and, at a minimum, the inclusion of women, minorities, and individuals with... balance with financially safe and sound business practices, the inclusion and utilization of minorities...

Development and Implementation of Minimum Hiring Specifications

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Herbstritt, Michael R.

1978-01-01

Specifications were developed to avoid possible discrimination and confusion in the hiring practices at a large southeastern university. They were developed through job analysis and a systematic file search designed to find the education and prior related work experience possessed by each incumbent. The specifications were validated as…

Predicting depression based on dynamic regional connectivity: a windowed Granger causality analysis of MEG recordings.

PubMed

Lu, Qing; Bi, Kun; Liu, Chu; Luo, Guoping; Tang, Hao; Yao, Zhijian

2013-10-16

Abnormal inter-regional causalities can be mapped for the objective diagnosis of various diseases. These inter-regional connectivities are usually calculated over an entire scan and used to characterize the stationary strength of the connections. However, the connectivity within networks may undergo substantial changes during a scan. In this study, we developed an objective depression recognition approach using the dynamic regional interactions that occur in response to sad facial stimuli. The whole time-period magnetoencephalography (MEG) signals from the visual cortex, amygdala, anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) were separated into sequential time intervals. The Granger causality mapping method was used to identify the pairwise interaction pattern within each time interval. Feature selection was then undertaken within a minimum redundancy-maximum relevance (mRMR) framework. Typical classifiers were utilized to predict those patients who had depression. The overall performances of these classifiers were similar, and the highest classification accuracy rate was 87.5%. The best discriminative performance was obtained when the number of features was within a robust range. The discriminative network pattern obtained through support vector machine (SVM) analyses displayed abnormal causal connectivities that involved the amygdala during the early and late stages. These early and late connections in the amygdala appear to reveal a negative bias to coarse expression information processing and abnormal negative modulation in patients with depression, which may critically affect depression discrimination. © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Assessing the Utility of Uav-Borne Hyperspectral Image and Photogrammetry Derived 3d Data for Wetland Species Distribution Quick Mapping

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Q. S.; Wong, F. K. K.; Fung, T.

2017-08-01

Lightweight unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) loaded with novel sensors offers a low cost and minimum risk solution for data acquisition in complex environment. This study assessed the performance of UAV-based hyperspectral image and digital surface model (DSM) derived from photogrammetric point clouds for 13 species classification in wetland area of Hong Kong. Multiple feature reduction methods and different classifiers were compared. The best result was obtained when transformed components from minimum noise fraction (MNF) and DSM were combined in support vector machine (SVM) classifier. Wavelength regions at chlorophyll absorption green peak, red, red edge and Oxygen absorption at near infrared were identified for better species discrimination. In addition, input of DSM data reduces overestimation of low plant species and misclassification due to the shadow effect and inter-species morphological variation. This study establishes a framework for quick survey and update on wetland environment using UAV system. The findings indicate that the utility of UAV-borne hyperspectral and derived tree height information provides a solid foundation for further researches such as biological invasion monitoring and bio-parameters modelling in wetland.

Gas chimney detection based on improving the performance of combined multilayer perceptron and support vector classifier

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hashemi, H.; Tax, D. M. J.; Duin, R. P. W.; Javaherian, A.; de Groot, P.

2008-11-01

Seismic object detection is a relatively new field in which 3-D bodies are visualized and spatial relationships between objects of different origins are studied in order to extract geologic information. In this paper, we propose a method for finding an optimal classifier with the help of a statistical feature ranking technique and combining different classifiers. The method, which has general applicability, is demonstrated here on a gas chimney detection problem. First, we evaluate a set of input seismic attributes extracted at locations labeled by a human expert using regularized discriminant analysis (RDA). In order to find the RDA score for each seismic attribute, forward and backward search strategies are used. Subsequently, two non-linear classifiers: multilayer perceptron (MLP) and support vector classifier (SVC) are run on the ranked seismic attributes. Finally, to capitalize on the intrinsic differences between both classifiers, the MLP and SVC results are combined using logical rules of maximum, minimum and mean. The proposed method optimizes the ranked feature space size and yields the lowest classification error in the final combined result. We will show that the logical minimum reveals gas chimneys that exhibit both the softness of MLP and the resolution of SVC classifiers.

Evaluation of Infrared Target Discrimination Algorithms.

DTIC Science & Technology

1983-04-01

application of this work is embodied in a computer program called PALANTIR , which Ref. 2 also describes in some detail. From a given set of narrow band spectral...chan- nels PALANTIR chooses a prescribed number of channels, picking those that will provide the least error when used in connection with a minimum

12 CFR 1207.2 - Policy, purpose, and scope.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... INCLUSION (Eff. Jan. 27, 2011) General § 1207.2 Policy, purpose, and scope. (a) General policy. FHFA's policy is to promote non-discrimination, diversity and, at a minimum, the inclusion of women, minorities... maximum extent possible in balance with financially safe and sound business practices, the inclusion and...

Job Inequities Persist for Women.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smith, Barbara Ellen

1987-01-01

Women earn only 64 cents for every dollar earned by men. Five and a half million women number among the "working poor." The following are suggested for change: (1) raise the minimum wage; (2) institute gender- and race-blind pay scales; (3) establish child care centers; and (4) enforce anti-discrimination laws. (PS)

Human detection and discrimination of tactile repeatability, mechanical backlash, and temporal delay in a combined tactile-kinesthetic haptic display system.

PubMed

Doxon, Andrew J; Johnson, David E; Tan, Hong Z; Provancher, William R

2013-01-01

Many of the devices used in haptics research are over-engineered for the task and are designed with capabilities that go far beyond human perception levels. Designing devices that more closely match the limits of human perception will make them smaller, less expensive, and more useful. However, many device-centric perception thresholds have yet to be evaluated. To this end, three experiments were conducted, using one degree-of-freedom contact location feedback device in combination with a kinesthetic display, to provide a more explicit set of specifications for similar tactile-kinesthetic haptic devices. The first of these experiments evaluated the ability of humans to repeatedly localize tactile cues across the fingerpad. Subjects could localize cues to within 1.3 mm and showed bias toward the center of the fingerpad. The second experiment evaluated the minimum perceptible difference of backlash at the tactile element. Subjects were able to discriminate device backlash in excess of 0.46 mm on low-curvature models and 0.93 mm on high-curvature models. The last experiment evaluated the minimum perceptible difference of system delay between user action and device reaction. Subjects were able to discriminate delays in excess of 61 ms. The results from these studies can serve as the maximum (i.e., most demanding) device specifications for most tactile-kinesthetic haptic systems.

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

Ford, S R; Walter, W R

The behavior of aftershock sequences around the Nevada Test Site in the southern Great Basin is characterized as a potential discriminant between explosions and earthquakes. The aftershock model designed by Reasenberg and Jones (1989, 1994) allows for a probabilistic statement of earthquake-like aftershock behavior at any time after the mainshock. We use this model to define two types of aftershock discriminants. The first defines M{sub X}, or the minimum magnitude of an aftershock expected within a given duration after the mainshock with probability X. Of the 67 earthquakes with M > 4 in the study region, 63 of them producemore » an aftershock greater than M{sub 99} within the first seven days after a mainshock. This is contrasted with only six of 93 explosions with M > 4 that produce an aftershock greater than M{sub 99} for the same period. If the aftershock magnitude threshold is lowered and the M{sub 90} criteria is used, then no explosions produce an aftershock greater than M{sub 90} for durations that end more than 17 days after the mainshock. The other discriminant defines N{sub X}, or the minimum cumulative number of aftershocks expected for given time after the mainshock with probability X. Similar to the aftershock magnitude discriminant, five earthquakes do not produce more aftershocks than N{sub 99} within 7 days after the mainshock. However, within the same period all but one explosion produce less aftershocks then N{sub 99}. One explosion is added if the duration is shortened to two days after than mainshock. The cumulative number aftershock discriminant is more reliable, especially at short durations, but requires a low magnitude of completeness for the given earthquake catalog. These results at NTS are quite promising and should be evaluated at other nuclear test sites to understand the effects of differences in the geologic setting and nuclear testing practices on its performance.« less

Ethnicity- and Sex-Based Discrimination and the Maintenance of Self-Esteem

PubMed Central

2015-01-01

The psychological underpinnings of labor market discrimination were investigated by having participants from Israel, the West Bank and Germany (N = 205) act as employers in a stylized employment task in which they ranked, set wages, and imposed a minimum effort level on applicants. State self-esteem was measured before and after the employment task, in which applicant ethnicity and sex were salient. The applicants were real people and all behavior was monetarily incentivized. Supporting the full self-esteem hypothesis of the social identity approach, low self-esteem in women was associated with assigning higher wages to women than to men, and such behavior was related to the maintenance of self-esteem. The narrower hypothesis that successful intergroup discrimination serves to protect self-esteem received broader support. Across all participants, both ethnicity- and sex-based discrimination of out-groups were associated with the maintenance of self-esteem, with the former showing a stronger association than the latter. PMID:25978646

Ligand Shaping in Induced Fit Docking of MraY Inhibitors. Polynomial Discriminant and Laplacian Operator as Biological Activity Descriptors

PubMed Central

Diudea, Mircea V.; Putz, Mihai V.

2017-01-01

Docking—i.e., interaction of a small molecule (ligand) with a proteic structure (receptor)—represents the ground of drug action mechanism of the vast majority of bioactive chemicals. Ligand and receptor accommodate their geometry and energy, within this interaction, in the benefit of receptor–ligand complex. In an induced fit docking, the structure of ligand is most susceptible to changes in topology and energy, comparative to the receptor. These changes can be described by manifold hypersurfaces, in terms of polynomial discriminant and Laplacian operator. Such topological surfaces were represented for each MraY (phospho-MurNAc-pentapeptide translocase) inhibitor, studied before and after docking with MraY. Binding affinities of all ligands were calculated by this procedure. For each ligand, Laplacian and polynomial discriminant were correlated with the ligand minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) retrieved from literature. It was observed that MIC is correlated with Laplacian and polynomial discriminant. PMID:28653980

A recoil-proton spectrometer based on a p-i-n diode implementing pulse-shape discrimination.

PubMed

Agosteo, S; D'Angelo, G; Fazzi, A; Foglio Para, A; Pola, A; Ventura, L; Zotto, P

2004-01-01

A recoil-proton spectrometer was created by coupling a p-i-n diode with a polyethylene converter. The maximum detectable energy, imposed by the thickness of the totally depleted layer, is approximately 6 MeV. The minimum detectable energy is limited by the contribution of secondary electrons generated by photons in the detector assembly. This limit is approximately 1.5 MeV at full-depletion voltage and was decreased using pulse-shape discrimination. The diode was set up in the 'reverse-injection' configuration (i.e. with the N+ layer adjacent to the converter). This configuration provides longer collection times for the electron-hole pairs generated by the recoil-protons. The pulse-shape discrimination was based on the zero-crossing time of bipolar signals from a (CR)2-(RC)2 filter. The detector was characterised using monoenergetic neutrons generated in the Van De Graaff CN accelerator at the INFN-Laboratori Nazionali di Legnaro. The energy limit for discrimination proved to be approximately 900 keV.

Discrimination and Mental Health–Related Service Use in a National Study of Asian Americans

PubMed Central

Chen, Juan; Gee, Gilbert C.; Fabian, Cathryn G.; Takeuchi, David T.

2010-01-01

Objectives. We examined the association between perceived discrimination and use of mental health services among a national sample of Asian Americans. Methods. Our data came from the National Latino and Asian American Study, the first national survey of Asian Americans. Our sample included 600 Chinese, 508 Filipinos, 520 Vietnamese, and 467 other Asians (n=2095). We used logistic regression to examine the association between discrimination and formal and informal service use and the interactive effect of discrimination and English language proficiency. Results. Perceived discrimination was associated with more use of informal services, but not with less use of formal services. Additionally, higher levels of perceived discrimination combined with lower English proficiency were associated with more use of informal services. Conclusions. The effect of perceived discrimination and language proficiency on service use indicates a need for more bilingual services and more collaborations between formal service systems and community resources. PMID:20299649

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.

Forest/non-forest stratification in Georgia with Landsat Thematic Mapper data

Treesearch

William H. Cooke

2000-01-01

Geographically accurate Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) data may be useful for training, classification, and accuracy assessment of Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) data. Minimum expectation for maps derived from Landsat data is accurate discrimination of several land cover classes. Landsat TM costs have decreased dramatically, but acquiring cloud-free scenes at...

Education Act Extends Sex Discrimination and Minimum Wage Provisions. Legislative Series 2.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Employment Standards Administration (DOL), Washington, DC. Women's Bureau.

This brief presents highlights from the recently enacted Education Amendments which include comprehensive higher education provisions, authorization for greatly increased funding, and limitations on court-ordered busing. The act also establishes within HEW a National Institute of Education, whose prime purpose is to find ways to make educational…

A simulation-based approach for designing effective field-sampling programs to evaluate contamination risk of groundwater supplies

USGS Publications Warehouse

Nordqvist, R.; Voss, C.I.

1996-01-01

An approach to model discrimination and network design for evaluation of groundwater contamination risk is proposed and demonstrated by application to a site in a glaciofluvial aquifer in Sweden. The approach consists of first hypothesizing alternative conceptual models of hydrogeology at the site on the basis of both quantitative data and qualitative information. The conceptual models are then expressed as two-dimensional numerical models of groundwater flow and solute transport, and model attributes controlling risk to the water supply are determined by simulation. Model predictions of response to a specific field test are made with each model that affects risk. Regions for effective measurement networks are then identified. Effective networks are those that capture sufficient information to determine which of the hypothesized models best describes the system with a minimum of measurement points. For the example site in Sweden, the network is designed such that important system parameters may be accurately estimated at the same time as model discrimination is carried out. The site in Vansbro, Sweden, consists of a water-supply well in an esker separated (by 300m) from a wood preservation and treatment area on the esker flank by only a narrow inlet of a bordering stream. Application of the above-described risk analysis shows that, of all the hydrologic controls and parameters in the groundwater system, the only factor that controls the potential migration of wood-treatment contaminants to the well is whether the inlet's bed is pervious, creating a hydraulic barrier to lateral contaminant transport. Furthermore, the analysis localizes an area near the end of the inlet wherein the most effective measurements of drawdown would be made to discriminate between a permeable and impermeable bed. The location of this optimal area is not obvious prior to application of the above methodology.

Effects of perceived weight discrimination on willingness to adopt unhealthy behaviours: influence of genomic information.

PubMed

Beekman, Janine B; Ferrer, Rebecca A; Klein, William M P; Persky, Susan

2016-01-01

Weight-based discrimination negatively influences health, potentially via increased willingness to engage in unhealthful behaviours. This study examines whether the provision of genomic obesity information in a clinical context can lead to less willingness to engage in unhealthy eating and alcohol consumption through a mediated process including reduced perceptions of blame and discrimination. A total of 201 overweight or obese women aged 20-50 interacted with a virtual physician in a simulated clinical primary care environment, which included physician-delivered information that emphasised either genomic or behavioural underpinnings of weight and weight loss. Perceived blame and weight discrimination from the doctor, and willingness to eat unhealthy foods and consume alcohol. Controlling for BMI and race, participants who received genomic information perceived less blame from the doctor than participants who received behavioural information. In a serial multiple mediation model, reduced perceived blame was associated with less perceived discrimination, and in turn, lower willingness to eat unhealthy foods and drink alcohol. Providing patients with genomic information about weight and weight loss may positively influence interpersonal dynamics between patients and providers by reducing perceived blame and perceived discrimination. These improved dynamics, in turn, positively influence health cognitions.

Information about the US racial demographic shift triggers concerns about anti-White discrimination among the prospective White “minority”

PubMed Central

Richeson, Jennifer A.

2017-01-01

The United States is undergoing a demographic shift in which White Americans are predicted to comprise less than 50% of the US population by mid-century. The present research examines how exposure to information about this racial shift affects perceptions of the extent to which different racial groups face discrimination. In four experiments, making the growing national racial diversity salient led White Americans to predict that Whites will face increasing discrimination in the future, compared with control information. Conversely, regardless of experimental condition, Whites estimated that discrimination against various racial minority groups will decline. Explorations of several psychological mechanisms potentially underlying the effect of the racial shift information on perceived anti-White discrimination suggested a mediating role of concerns about American culture fundamentally changing. Taken together, these findings suggest that reports about the changing national demographics enhance concerns among Whites that they will be the victims of racial discrimination in the future. PMID:28953971

Information about the US racial demographic shift triggers concerns about anti-White discrimination among the prospective White "minority".

PubMed

Craig, Maureen A; Richeson, Jennifer A

2017-01-01

The United States is undergoing a demographic shift in which White Americans are predicted to comprise less than 50% of the US population by mid-century. The present research examines how exposure to information about this racial shift affects perceptions of the extent to which different racial groups face discrimination. In four experiments, making the growing national racial diversity salient led White Americans to predict that Whites will face increasing discrimination in the future, compared with control information. Conversely, regardless of experimental condition, Whites estimated that discrimination against various racial minority groups will decline. Explorations of several psychological mechanisms potentially underlying the effect of the racial shift information on perceived anti-White discrimination suggested a mediating role of concerns about American culture fundamentally changing. Taken together, these findings suggest that reports about the changing national demographics enhance concerns among Whites that they will be the victims of racial discrimination in the future.

Prostate Cancer Patients-Negative Biopsy Controls Discrimination by Untargeted Metabolomics Analysis of Urine by LC-QTOF: Upstream Information on Other Omics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fernández-Peralbo, M. A.; Gómez-Gómez, E.; Calderón-Santiago, M.; Carrasco-Valiente, J.; Ruiz-García, J.; Requena-Tapia, M. J.; Luque de Castro, M. D.; Priego-Capote, F.

2016-12-01

The existing clinical biomarkers for prostate cancer (PCa) diagnosis are far from ideal (e.g., the prostate specific antigen (PSA) serum level suffers from lack of specificity, providing frequent false positives leading to over-diagnosis). A key step in the search for minimum invasive tests to complement or replace PSA should be supported on the changes experienced by the biochemical pathways in PCa patients as compared to negative biopsy control individuals. In this research a comprehensive global analysis by LC-QTOF was applied to urine from 62 patients with a clinically significant PCa and 42 healthy individuals, both groups confirmed by biopsy. An unpaired t-test (p-value < 0.05) provided 28 significant metabolites tentatively identified in urine, used to develop a partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) model characterized by 88.4 and 92.9% of sensitivity and specificity, respectively. Among the 28 significant metabolites 27 were present at lower concentrations in PCa patients than in control individuals, while only one reported higher concentrations in PCa patients. The connection among the biochemical pathways in which they are involved (DNA methylation, epigenetic marks on histones and RNA cap methylation) could explain the concentration changes with PCa and supports, once again, the role of metabolomics in upstream processes.

Learning Short Binary Codes for Large-scale Image Retrieval.

PubMed

Liu, Li; Yu, Mengyang; Shao, Ling

2017-03-01

Large-scale visual information retrieval has become an active research area in this big data era. Recently, hashing/binary coding algorithms prove to be effective for scalable retrieval applications. Most existing hashing methods require relatively long binary codes (i.e., over hundreds of bits, sometimes even thousands of bits) to achieve reasonable retrieval accuracies. However, for some realistic and unique applications, such as on wearable or mobile devices, only short binary codes can be used for efficient image retrieval due to the limitation of computational resources or bandwidth on these devices. In this paper, we propose a novel unsupervised hashing approach called min-cost ranking (MCR) specifically for learning powerful short binary codes (i.e., usually the code length shorter than 100 b) for scalable image retrieval tasks. By exploring the discriminative ability of each dimension of data, MCR can generate one bit binary code for each dimension and simultaneously rank the discriminative separability of each bit according to the proposed cost function. Only top-ranked bits with minimum cost-values are then selected and grouped together to compose the final salient binary codes. Extensive experimental results on large-scale retrieval demonstrate that MCR can achieve comparative performance as the state-of-the-art hashing algorithms but with significantly shorter codes, leading to much faster large-scale retrieval.

Experimentally Derived δ13C and δ15N Discrimination Factors for Gray Wolves and the Impact of Prior Information in Bayesian Mixing Models

PubMed Central

Bucci, Melanie E.; Callahan, Peggy; Koprowski, John L.; Polfus, Jean L.; Krausman, Paul R.

2015-01-01

Stable isotope analysis of diet has become a common tool in conservation research. However, the multiple sources of uncertainty inherent in this analysis framework involve consequences that have not been thoroughly addressed. Uncertainty arises from the choice of trophic discrimination factors, and for Bayesian stable isotope mixing models (SIMMs), the specification of prior information; the combined effect of these aspects has not been explicitly tested. We used a captive feeding study of gray wolves (Canis lupus) to determine the first experimentally-derived trophic discrimination factors of C and N for this large carnivore of broad conservation interest. Using the estimated diet in our controlled system and data from a published study on wild wolves and their prey in Montana, USA, we then investigated the simultaneous effect of discrimination factors and prior information on diet reconstruction with Bayesian SIMMs. Discrimination factors for gray wolves and their prey were 1.97‰ for δ13C and 3.04‰ for δ15N. Specifying wolf discrimination factors, as opposed to the commonly used red fox (Vulpes vulpes) factors, made little practical difference to estimates of wolf diet, but prior information had a strong effect on bias, precision, and accuracy of posterior estimates. Without specifying prior information in our Bayesian SIMM, it was not possible to produce SIMM posteriors statistically similar to the estimated diet in our controlled study or the diet of wild wolves. Our study demonstrates the critical effect of prior information on estimates of animal diets using Bayesian SIMMs, and suggests species-specific trophic discrimination factors are of secondary importance. When using stable isotope analysis to inform conservation decisions researchers should understand the limits of their data. It may be difficult to obtain useful information from SIMMs if informative priors are omitted and species-specific discrimination factors are unavailable. PMID:25803664

Experimentally derived δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N discrimination factors for gray wolves and the impact of prior information in Bayesian mixing models.

PubMed

Derbridge, Jonathan J; Merkle, Jerod A; Bucci, Melanie E; Callahan, Peggy; Koprowski, John L; Polfus, Jean L; Krausman, Paul R

2015-01-01

Stable isotope analysis of diet has become a common tool in conservation research. However, the multiple sources of uncertainty inherent in this analysis framework involve consequences that have not been thoroughly addressed. Uncertainty arises from the choice of trophic discrimination factors, and for Bayesian stable isotope mixing models (SIMMs), the specification of prior information; the combined effect of these aspects has not been explicitly tested. We used a captive feeding study of gray wolves (Canis lupus) to determine the first experimentally-derived trophic discrimination factors of C and N for this large carnivore of broad conservation interest. Using the estimated diet in our controlled system and data from a published study on wild wolves and their prey in Montana, USA, we then investigated the simultaneous effect of discrimination factors and prior information on diet reconstruction with Bayesian SIMMs. Discrimination factors for gray wolves and their prey were 1.97‰ for δ13C and 3.04‰ for δ15N. Specifying wolf discrimination factors, as opposed to the commonly used red fox (Vulpes vulpes) factors, made little practical difference to estimates of wolf diet, but prior information had a strong effect on bias, precision, and accuracy of posterior estimates. Without specifying prior information in our Bayesian SIMM, it was not possible to produce SIMM posteriors statistically similar to the estimated diet in our controlled study or the diet of wild wolves. Our study demonstrates the critical effect of prior information on estimates of animal diets using Bayesian SIMMs, and suggests species-specific trophic discrimination factors are of secondary importance. When using stable isotope analysis to inform conservation decisions researchers should understand the limits of their data. It may be difficult to obtain useful information from SIMMs if informative priors are omitted and species-specific discrimination factors are unavailable.

76 FR 35949 - Agency Information Collection (Civil Rights Discrimination Complaint) Activity Under OMB Review

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-06-20

... Rights Discrimination Complaint) Activity Under OMB Review AGENCY: Veterans Health Administration... refer to ``OMB Control No. 2900-0662.'' SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Title: Civil Rights Discrimination... collection. Abstract: Veterans and other VHA customers who believe that their civil rights were violated by...

75 FR 37825 - Notice of Proposed Information Collection: Comment Request; Minimum Property Standards for...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-06-30

... Information Collection: Comment Request; Minimum Property Standards for Multifamily and Care-Type Facilities...: Minimum Property Standards for Multifamily and Care-type facilities. OMB Control Number, if applicable... Housing and Urban Development (HUD) developed the Minimum Property Standards (MPS) program in order to...

Automated identification and tracking of polar-cap plasma patches at solar minimum

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Burston, R.; Hodges, K.; Astin, I.; Jayachandran, P. T.

2014-03-01

A method of automatically identifying and tracking polar-cap plasma patches, utilising data inversion and feature-tracking methods, is presented. A well-established and widely used 4-D ionospheric imaging algorithm, the Multi-Instrument Data Assimilation System (MIDAS), inverts slant total electron content (TEC) data from ground-based Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receivers to produce images of the free electron distribution in the polar-cap ionosphere. These are integrated to form vertical TEC maps. A flexible feature-tracking algorithm, TRACK, previously used extensively in meteorological storm-tracking studies is used to identify and track maxima in the resulting 2-D data fields. Various criteria are used to discriminate between genuine patches and "false-positive" maxima such as the continuously moving day-side maximum, which results from the Earth's rotation rather than plasma motion. Results for a 12-month period at solar minimum, when extensive validation data are available, are presented. The method identifies 71 separate structures consistent with patch motion during this time. The limitations of solar minimum and the consequent small number of patches make climatological inferences difficult, but the feasibility of the method for patches larger than approximately 500 km in scale is demonstrated and a larger study incorporating other parts of the solar cycle is warranted. Possible further optimisation of discrimination criteria, particularly regarding the definition of a patch in terms of its plasma concentration enhancement over the surrounding background, may improve results.

A Predictive Model to Identify Patients With Fecal Incontinence Based on High-Definition Anorectal Manometry.

PubMed

Zifan, Ali; Ledgerwood-Lee, Melissa; Mittal, Ravinder K

2016-12-01

Three-dimensional high-definition anorectal manometry (3D-HDAM) is used to assess anal sphincter function; it determines profiles of regional pressure distribution along the length and circumference of the anal canal. There is no consensus, however, on the best way to analyze data from 3D-HDAM to distinguish healthy individuals from persons with sphincter dysfunction. We developed a computer analysis system to analyze 3D-HDAM data and to aid in the diagnosis and assessment of patients with fecal incontinence (FI). In a prospective study, we performed 3D-HDAM analysis of 24 asymptomatic healthy subjects (control subjects; all women; mean age, 39 ± 10 years) and 24 patients with symptoms of FI (all women; mean age, 58 ± 13 years). Patients completed a standardized questionnaire (FI severity index) to score the severity of FI symptoms. We developed and evaluated a robust prediction model to distinguish patients with FI from control subjects using linear discriminant, quadratic discriminant, and logistic regression analyses. In addition to collecting pressure information from the HDAM data, we assessed regional features based on shape characteristics and the anal sphincter pressure symmetry index. The combination of pressure values, anal sphincter area, and reflective symmetry values was identified in patients with FI versus control subjects with an area under the curve value of 1.0. In logistic regression analyses using different predictors, the model identified patients with FI with an area under the curve value of 0.96 (interquartile range, 0.22). In discriminant analysis, results were classified with a minimum error of 0.02, calculated using 10-fold cross-validation; different combinations of predictors produced median classification errors of 0.16 in linear discriminant analysis (interquartile range, 0.25) and 0.08 in quadratic discriminant analysis (interquartile range, 0.25). We developed and validated a novel prediction model to analyze 3D-HDAM data. This system can accurately distinguish patients with FI from control subjects. Copyright © 2016 AGA Institute. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

76 FR 67208 - Agency Information Collection Activities Under Review; Title II of the Americans With...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-10-31

... Discrimination Complaint Form ACTION: 60-Day Notice of Information Collection Under Review. The Department of.../Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 Discrimination Complaint Form. (3) The agency form number... to respond, as well as a brief abstract: Primary: Individuals alleging discrimination by public...

Preliminary Study of Information Extraction of LANDSAT TM Data for a Suburban/regional Test Site

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Toll, D. L.

1985-01-01

A substantial amount of spectral information is available from TM (as compared to MSS) data for a 14.25 square km area between Beltsville and Laurel, Maryland. Large buildings and street patterns were resolved in the TM imagery. While there was added information content in TM data for discriminating surburban/regional land cover, characteristics of MSS can improve land cover discrimination over TM when conventional classification procedures are used on digital data. The improved qualitization of TM is likely valuable in situations where there are spectral similarities between classes. The spatial resolution in TM decreased land cover discrimination as a result of increased within class variability. For many general digital evaluations, inclusion of four bands representing the four spectral regions can provide much useful land cover discrimination. Inclusion of TM 6 indicates an improvement in spectral class discrimination. Of primary spectral importance is the discrimination between water, vegetative surfaces, and impervious surfaces due to differences in thermal properties. Results from the principle component transformed data clearly indicates additional information content in TM over MSS.

Robust linear discriminant analysis with distance based estimators

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lim, Yai-Fung; Yahaya, Sharipah Soaad Syed; Ali, Hazlina

2017-11-01

Linear discriminant analysis (LDA) is one of the supervised classification techniques concerning relationship between a categorical variable and a set of continuous variables. The main objective of LDA is to create a function to distinguish between populations and allocating future observations to previously defined populations. Under the assumptions of normality and homoscedasticity, the LDA yields optimal linear discriminant rule (LDR) between two or more groups. However, the optimality of LDA highly relies on the sample mean and pooled sample covariance matrix which are known to be sensitive to outliers. To alleviate these conflicts, a new robust LDA using distance based estimators known as minimum variance vector (MVV) has been proposed in this study. The MVV estimators were used to substitute the classical sample mean and classical sample covariance to form a robust linear discriminant rule (RLDR). Simulation and real data study were conducted to examine on the performance of the proposed RLDR measured in terms of misclassification error rates. The computational result showed that the proposed RLDR is better than the classical LDR and was comparable with the existing robust LDR.

Mock-juror evaluations of traditional and ratings-based eyewitness identification evidence.

PubMed

Sauer, James D; Palmer, Matthew A; Brewer, Neil

2017-08-01

Compared to categorical identifications, culprit likelihood ratings (having the witness rate, for each lineup member, the likelihood that the individual is the culprit) provide a promising alternative for assessing a suspect's likely guilt. Four experiments addressed 2 broad questions about the use of culprit likelihood ratings evidence by mock-jurors. First, are mock-jurors receptive to noncategorical forms of identification evidence? Second, does the additional information provided by ratings (relating to discrimination) affect jurors' evaluations of the identification evidence? Experiments 1 and 1A manipulated confidence (90% vs. 50%) and discrimination (good, poor, no information) between participants. Evaluations were influenced by confidence, but not discrimination. However, a within-participant manipulation of discrimination (Experiment 2) demonstrated that evidence of good discrimination enhanced the persuasiveness of moderate levels of confidence, while poor discrimination reduced the persuasiveness of high levels of confidence. Thus, participants can interpret ratings-based evidence, but may not intuit the discrimination information when evaluating ratings for a single identification procedure. Providing detailed instructions about interpreting ratings produced clear discrimination effects when evaluating a single identification procedure (Experiment 3). Across 4 experiments, we found no evidence that mock-jurors perceived noncategorical identification evidence to be less informative than categorical evidence. However, jurors will likely benefit from instruction when interpreting ratings provided by a single witness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Exploring the Role of Online ‘Ojek’ In Public Transport Trips: Case of Jakarta Metropolitan Area Rail Users

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Saffan, A. F.; Rizki, M.

2018-05-01

The invention of information technology shapes people’s lives in the city, including the recent invention of online motorcycle taxi service. Known as ‘ojek’, it offers a reliable means of tactical commuting in dealing with traffic congestion in Greater Jakarta. Moreover, recent development in the online system improves the punctuality and reliability of ojek services. The emergence disrupts the transport landscape, resulting in commuters’ dependency to this transport mode. However, academic sources are insufficient to answer the policy debate among planners and policy maker regarding this issue. This paper probes the role of online ojek in Jakarta Metropolitan Area Rail users’ trip from their perspective, especially for the first mile and the last mile of their trip. The intensive commuter survey is currently being done at selected stations to gain information of their first mile and last mile trip diary. Discriminant analysis will be exercised to explain that to some extent online ojek is able to work to fill the gap produced due to minimum proper pedestrian facilities and a lack of public transport connection.

75 FR 68814 - Notice of Submission of Proposed Information Collection to OMB Minimum Property Standards for...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-11-09

... Proposed Information Collection to OMB Minimum Property Standards for Multifamily and Care-Type Occupancy... Lists the Following Information Title of Proposal: Minimum Property Standards for Multifamily and Care-Type Occupancy Housing. OMB Approval Number: 2502-0321. Form Numbers: None. Description of the Need for...

Minimum information about a single amplified genome (MISAG) and a metagenome-assembled genome (MIMAG) of bacteria and archaea

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

We present two standards developed by the Genomic Standards Consortium (GSC) for reporting bacterial and archaeal genome sequences. Both are extensions of the minimum information about any (x) sequence (MIxS). The standards are the minimum information about a single amplified genome (MISAG) and the ...

Measurement of the lowest dosage of phenobarbital that can produce drug discrimination in rats

PubMed Central

Overton, Donald A.; Stanwood, Gregg D.; Patel, Bhavesh N.; Pragada, Sreenivasa R.; Gordon, M. Kathleen

2009-01-01

Rationale Accurate measurement of the threshold dosage of phenobarbital that can produce drug discrimination (DD) may improve our understanding of the mechanisms and properties of such discrimination. Objectives Compare three methods for determining the threshold dosage for phenobarbital (D) versus no drug (N) DD. Methods Rats learned a D versus N DD in 2-lever operant training chambers. A titration scheme was employed to increase or decrease dosage at the end of each 18-day block of sessions depending on whether the rat had achieved criterion accuracy during the sessions just completed. Three criterion rules were employed, all based on average percent drug lever responses during initial links of the last 6 D and 6 N sessions of a block. The criteria were: D%>66 and N%<33; D%>50 and N%<50; (D%-N%)>33. Two squads of rats were trained, one immediately after the other. Results All rats discriminated drug versus no drug. In most rats, dosage decreased to low levels and then oscillated near the minimum level required to maintain criterion performance. The lowest discriminated dosage significantly differed under the three criterion rules. The squad that was trained 2nd may have benefited by partially duplicating the lever choices of the previous squad. Conclusions The lowest discriminated dosage is influenced by the criterion of discriminative control that is employed, and is higher than the absolute threshold at which discrimination entirely disappears. Threshold estimations closer to absolute threshold can be obtained when criteria are employed that are permissive, and that allow rats to maintain lever preferences. PMID:19082992

MR PROSTATE SEGMENTATION VIA DISTRIBUTED DISCRIMINATIVE DICTIONARY (DDD) LEARNING.

PubMed

Guo, Yanrong; Zhan, Yiqiang; Gao, Yaozong; Jiang, Jianguo; Shen, Dinggang

2013-01-01

Segmenting prostate from MR images is important yet challenging. Due to non-Gaussian distribution of prostate appearances in MR images, the popular active appearance model (AAM) has its limited performance. Although the newly developed sparse dictionary learning method[1, 2] can model the image appearance in a non-parametric fashion, the learned dictionaries still lack the discriminative power between prostate and non-prostate tissues, which is critical for accurate prostate segmentation. In this paper, we propose to integrate deformable model with a novel learning scheme, namely the Distributed Discriminative Dictionary ( DDD ) learning, which can capture image appearance in a non-parametric and discriminative fashion. In particular, three strategies are designed to boost the tissue discriminative power of DDD. First , minimum Redundancy Maximum Relevance (mRMR) feature selection is performed to constrain the dictionary learning in a discriminative feature space. Second , linear discriminant analysis (LDA) is employed to assemble residuals from different dictionaries for optimal separation between prostate and non-prostate tissues. Third , instead of learning the global dictionaries, we learn a set of local dictionaries for the local regions (each with small appearance variations) along prostate boundary, thus achieving better tissue differentiation locally. In the application stage, DDDs will provide the appearance cues to robustly drive the deformable model onto the prostate boundary. Experiments on 50 MR prostate images show that our method can yield a Dice Ratio of 88% compared to the manual segmentations, and have 7% improvement over the conventional AAM.

Alzheimer Classification Using a Minimum Spanning Tree of High-Order Functional Network on fMRI Dataset

PubMed Central

Guo, Hao; Liu, Lei; Chen, Junjie; Xu, Yong; Jie, Xiang

2017-01-01

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is one of the most useful methods to generate functional connectivity networks of the brain. However, conventional network generation methods ignore dynamic changes of functional connectivity between brain regions. Previous studies proposed constructing high-order functional connectivity networks that consider the time-varying characteristics of functional connectivity, and a clustering method was performed to decrease computational cost. However, random selection of the initial clustering centers and the number of clusters negatively affected classification accuracy, and the network lost neurological interpretability. Here we propose a novel method that introduces the minimum spanning tree method to high-order functional connectivity networks. As an unbiased method, the minimum spanning tree simplifies high-order network structure while preserving its core framework. The dynamic characteristics of time series are not lost with this approach, and the neurological interpretation of the network is guaranteed. Simultaneously, we propose a multi-parameter optimization framework that involves extracting discriminative features from the minimum spanning tree high-order functional connectivity networks. Compared with the conventional methods, our resting-state fMRI classification method based on minimum spanning tree high-order functional connectivity networks greatly improved the diagnostic accuracy for Alzheimer's disease. PMID:29249926

Promoting coherent minimum reporting guidelines for biological and biomedical investigations: the MIBBI project

PubMed Central

Taylor, Chris F; Field, Dawn; Sansone, Susanna-Assunta; Aerts, Jan; Apweiler, Rolf; Ashburner, Michael; Ball, Catherine A; Binz, Pierre-Alain; Bogue, Molly; Booth, Tim; Brazma, Alvis; Brinkman, Ryan R; Clark, Adam Michael; Deutsch, Eric W; Fiehn, Oliver; Fostel, Jennifer; Ghazal, Peter; Gibson, Frank; Gray, Tanya; Grimes, Graeme; Hancock, John M; Hardy, Nigel W; Hermjakob, Henning; Julian, Randall K; Kane, Matthew; Kettner, Carsten; Kinsinger, Christopher; Kolker, Eugene; Kuiper, Martin; Le Novère, Nicolas; Leebens-Mack, Jim; Lewis, Suzanna E; Lord, Phillip; Mallon, Ann-Marie; Marthandan, Nishanth; Masuya, Hiroshi; McNally, Ruth; Mehrle, Alexander; Morrison, Norman; Orchard, Sandra; Quackenbush, John; Reecy, James M; Robertson, Donald G; Rocca-Serra, Philippe; Rodriguez, Henry; Rosenfelder, Heiko; Santoyo-Lopez, Javier; Scheuermann, Richard H; Schober, Daniel; Smith, Barry; Snape, Jason; Stoeckert, Christian J; Tipton, Keith; Sterk, Peter; Untergasser, Andreas; Vandesompele, Jo; Wiemann, Stefan

2009-01-01

The Minimum Information for Biological and Biomedical Investigations (MIBBI) project provides a resource for those exploring the range of extant minimum information checklists and fosters coordinated development of such checklists. PMID:18688244

The Caledonian face test: A new test of face discrimination.

PubMed

Logan, Andrew J; Wilkinson, Frances; Wilson, Hugh R; Gordon, Gael E; Loffler, Gunter

2016-02-01

This study aimed to develop a clinical test of face perception which is applicable to a wide range of patients and can capture normal variability. The Caledonian face test utilises synthetic faces which combine simplicity with sufficient realism to permit individual identification. Face discrimination thresholds (i.e. minimum difference between faces required for accurate discrimination) were determined in an "odd-one-out" task. The difference between faces was controlled by an adaptive QUEST procedure. A broad range of face discrimination sensitivity was determined from a group (N=52) of young adults (mean 5.75%; SD 1.18; range 3.33-8.84%). The test is fast (3-4 min), repeatable (test-re-test r(2)=0.795) and demonstrates a significant inversion effect. The potential to identify impairments of face discrimination was evaluated by testing LM who reported a lifelong difficulty with face perception. While LM's impairment for two established face tests was close to the criterion for significance (Z-scores of -2.20 and -2.27) for the Caledonian face test, her Z-score was -7.26, implying a more than threefold higher sensitivity. The new face test provides a quantifiable and repeatable assessment of face discrimination ability. The enhanced sensitivity suggests that the Caledonian face test may be capable of detecting more subtle impairments of face perception than available tests. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Guyana dolphins (Sotalia guianensis) from Costa Rica emit whistles that vary with surface behaviors.

PubMed

May-Collado, Laura J

2013-10-01

Guyana dolphins show remarkable intraspecific whistle variation. This variation has been largely explained in terms of distance among populations; however, other factors such as behavior may also be important. A broadband recording system recorded the whistles of Guyana dolphins under three behavioral states. A discriminant analysis found that during social and travel events, dolphins emit whistles with high delta and minimum frequency, respectively. Whistle duration was also important in discriminating behaviors. This study indicates that behavior is an important factor contributing to whistle variation of Guyana dolphins. Understanding how dolphin whistles vary with behavioral context will advance our understanding of dolphin communication and enable appropriate comparative studies.

Functional MRI Representational Similarity Analysis Reveals a Dissociation between Discriminative and Relative Location Information in the Human Visual System.

PubMed

Roth, Zvi N

2016-01-01

Neural responses in visual cortex are governed by a topographic mapping from retinal locations to cortical responses. Moreover, at the voxel population level early visual cortex (EVC) activity enables accurate decoding of stimuli locations. However, in many cases information enabling one to discriminate between locations (i.e., discriminative information) may be less relevant than information regarding the relative location of two objects (i.e., relative information). For example, when planning to grab a cup, determining whether the cup is located at the same retinal location as the hand is hardly relevant, whereas the location of the cup relative to the hand is crucial for performing the action. We have previously used multivariate pattern analysis techniques to measure discriminative location information, and found the highest levels in EVC, in line with other studies. Here we show, using representational similarity analysis, that availability of discriminative information in fMRI activation patterns does not entail availability of relative information. Specifically, we find that relative location information can be reliably extracted from activity patterns in posterior intraparietal sulcus (pIPS), but not from EVC, where we find the spatial representation to be warped. We further show that this variability in relative information levels between regions can be explained by a computational model based on an array of receptive fields. Moreover, when the model's receptive fields are extended to include inhibitory surround regions, the model can account for the spatial warping in EVC. These results demonstrate how size and shape properties of receptive fields in human visual cortex contribute to the transformation of discriminative spatial representations into relative spatial representations along the visual stream.

Functional MRI Representational Similarity Analysis Reveals a Dissociation between Discriminative and Relative Location Information in the Human Visual System

PubMed Central

Roth, Zvi N.

2016-01-01

Neural responses in visual cortex are governed by a topographic mapping from retinal locations to cortical responses. Moreover, at the voxel population level early visual cortex (EVC) activity enables accurate decoding of stimuli locations. However, in many cases information enabling one to discriminate between locations (i.e., discriminative information) may be less relevant than information regarding the relative location of two objects (i.e., relative information). For example, when planning to grab a cup, determining whether the cup is located at the same retinal location as the hand is hardly relevant, whereas the location of the cup relative to the hand is crucial for performing the action. We have previously used multivariate pattern analysis techniques to measure discriminative location information, and found the highest levels in EVC, in line with other studies. Here we show, using representational similarity analysis, that availability of discriminative information in fMRI activation patterns does not entail availability of relative information. Specifically, we find that relative location information can be reliably extracted from activity patterns in posterior intraparietal sulcus (pIPS), but not from EVC, where we find the spatial representation to be warped. We further show that this variability in relative information levels between regions can be explained by a computational model based on an array of receptive fields. Moreover, when the model's receptive fields are extended to include inhibitory surround regions, the model can account for the spatial warping in EVC. These results demonstrate how size and shape properties of receptive fields in human visual cortex contribute to the transformation of discriminative spatial representations into relative spatial representations along the visual stream. PMID:27242455

Training haptic stiffness discrimination: time course of learning with or without visual information and knowledge of results.

PubMed

Teodorescu, Kinneret; Bouchigny, Sylvain; Korman, Maria

2013-08-01

In this study, we explored the time course of haptic stiffness discrimination learning and how it was affected by two experimental factors, the addition of visual information and/or knowledge of results (KR) during training. Stiffness perception may integrate both haptic and visual modalities. However, in many tasks, the visual field is typically occluded, forcing stiffness perception to be dependent exclusively on haptic information. No studies to date addressed the time course of haptic stiffness perceptual learning. Using a virtual environment (VE) haptic interface and a two-alternative forced-choice discrimination task, the haptic stiffness discrimination ability of 48 participants was tested across 2 days. Each day included two haptic test blocks separated by a training block Additional visual information and/or KR were manipulated between participants during training blocks. Practice repetitions alone induced significant improvement in haptic stiffness discrimination. Between days, accuracy was slightly improved, but decision time performance was deteriorated. The addition of visual information and/or KR had only temporary effects on decision time, without affecting the time course of haptic discrimination learning. Learning in haptic stiffness discrimination appears to evolve through at least two distinctive phases: A single training session resulted in both immediate and latent learning. This learning was not affected by the training manipulations inspected. Training skills in VE in spaced sessions can be beneficial for tasks in which haptic perception is critical, such as surgery procedures, when the visual field is occluded. However, training protocols for such tasks should account for low impact of multisensory information and KR.

Genetic Testing for ALS

MedlinePlus

... with employment discrimination or insurance discrimination? The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 (also called GINA) is a federal law that protects people from genetic discrimination in health ...

A model for discriminating reinforcers in time and space.

PubMed

Cowie, Sarah; Davison, Michael; Elliffe, Douglas

2016-06-01

Both the response-reinforcer and stimulus-reinforcer relation are important in discrimination learning; differential responding requires a minimum of two discriminably-different stimuli and two discriminably-different associated contingencies of reinforcement. When elapsed time is a discriminative stimulus for the likely availability of a reinforcer, choice over time may be modeled by an extension of the Davison and Nevin (1999) model that assumes that local choice strictly matches the effective local reinforcer ratio. The effective local reinforcer ratio may differ from the obtained local reinforcer ratio for two reasons: Because the animal inaccurately estimates times associated with obtained reinforcers, and thus incorrectly discriminates the stimulus-reinforcer relation across time; and because of error in discriminating the response-reinforcer relation. In choice-based timing tasks, the two responses are usually highly discriminable, and so the larger contributor to differences between the effective and obtained reinforcer ratio is error in discriminating the stimulus-reinforcer relation. Such error may be modeled either by redistributing the numbers of reinforcers obtained at each time across surrounding times, or by redistributing the ratio of reinforcers obtained at each time in the same way. We assessed the extent to which these two approaches to modeling discrimination of the stimulus-reinforcer relation could account for choice in a range of temporal-discrimination procedures. The version of the model that redistributed numbers of reinforcers accounted for more variance in the data. Further, this version provides an explanation for shifts in the point of subjective equality that occur as a result of changes in the local reinforcer rate. The inclusion of a parameter reflecting error in discriminating the response-reinforcer relation enhanced the ability of each version of the model to describe data. The ability of this class of model to account for a range of data suggests that timing, like other conditional discriminations, is choice under the joint discriminative control of elapsed time and differential reinforcement. Understanding the role of differential reinforcement is therefore critical to understanding control by elapsed time. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Children's perceptions of gender discrimination.

PubMed

Spears Brown, Christia; Bigler, Rebecca S

2004-09-01

Children (N = 76; ages 5-10 years) participated in a study designed to examine perceptions of gender discrimination. Children were read scenarios in which a teacher determined outcomes for 2 students (1 boy and 1 girl). Contextual information (i.e., teacher's past behavior), the gender of the target of discrimination (i.e., student), and the gender of the perpetrator (i.e., teacher) were manipulated. Results indicated that older children were more likely than younger children to make attributions to discrimination when contextual information suggested that it was likely. Girls (but not boys) were more likely to view girls than boys as victims of discrimination, and children with egalitarian gender attitudes were more likely to perceive discrimination than were their peers. Copyright 2004 American Psychological Association

Minimum Information about a Cardiac Electrophysiology Experiment (MICEE): Standardised Reporting for Model Reproducibility, Interoperability, and Data Sharing

PubMed Central

Quinn, TA; Granite, S; Allessie, MA; Antzelevitch, C; Bollensdorff, C; Bub, G; Burton, RAB; Cerbai, E; Chen, PS; Delmar, M; DiFrancesco, D; Earm, YE; Efimov, IR; Egger, M; Entcheva, E; Fink, M; Fischmeister, R; Franz, MR; Garny, A; Giles, WR; Hannes, T; Harding, SE; Hunter, PJ; Iribe, G; Jalife, J; Johnson, CR; Kass, RS; Kodama, I; Koren, G; Lord, P; Markhasin, VS; Matsuoka, S; McCulloch, AD; Mirams, GR; Morley, GE; Nattel, S; Noble, D; Olesen, SP; Panfilov, AV; Trayanova, NA; Ravens, U; Richard, S; Rosenbaum, DS; Rudy, Y; Sachs, F; Sachse, FB; Saint, DA; Schotten, U; Solovyova, O; Taggart, P; Tung, L; Varró, A; Volders, PG; Wang, K; Weiss, JN; Wettwer, E; White, E; Wilders, R; Winslow, RL; Kohl, P

2011-01-01

Cardiac experimental electrophysiology is in need of a well-defined Minimum Information Standard for recording, annotating, and reporting experimental data. As a step toward establishing this, we present a draft standard, called Minimum Information about a Cardiac Electrophysiology Experiment (MICEE). The ultimate goal is to develop a useful tool for cardiac electrophysiologists which facilitates and improves dissemination of the minimum information necessary for reproduction of cardiac electrophysiology research, allowing for easier comparison and utilisation of findings by others. It is hoped that this will enhance the integration of individual results into experimental, computational, and conceptual models. In its present form, this draft is intended for assessment and development by the research community. We invite the reader to join this effort, and, if deemed productive, implement the Minimum Information about a Cardiac Electrophysiology Experiment standard in their own work. PMID:21745496

Invariance of the bit error rate in the ancilla-assisted homodyne detection

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

Yoshida, Yuhsuke; Takeoka, Masahiro; Sasaki, Masahide

2010-11-15

We investigate the minimum achievable bit error rate of the discrimination of binary coherent states with the help of arbitrary ancillary states. We adopt homodyne measurement with a common phase of the local oscillator and classical feedforward control. After one ancillary state is measured, its outcome is referred to the preparation of the next ancillary state and the tuning of the next mixing with the signal. It is shown that the minimum bit error rate of the system is invariant under the following operations: feedforward control, deformations, and introduction of any ancillary state. We also discuss the possible generalization ofmore » the homodyne detection scheme.« less

Multiple Kernel Sparse Representation based Orthogonal Discriminative Projection and Its Cost-Sensitive Extension.

PubMed

Zhang, Guoqing; Sun, Huaijiang; Xia, Guiyu; Sun, Quansen

2016-07-07

Sparse representation based classification (SRC) has been developed and shown great potential for real-world application. Based on SRC, Yang et al. [10] devised a SRC steered discriminative projection (SRC-DP) method. However, as a linear algorithm, SRC-DP cannot handle the data with highly nonlinear distribution. Kernel sparse representation-based classifier (KSRC) is a non-linear extension of SRC and can remedy the drawback of SRC. KSRC requires the use of a predetermined kernel function and selection of the kernel function and its parameters is difficult. Recently, multiple kernel learning for SRC (MKL-SRC) [22] has been proposed to learn a kernel from a set of base kernels. However, MKL-SRC only considers the within-class reconstruction residual while ignoring the between-class relationship, when learning the kernel weights. In this paper, we propose a novel multiple kernel sparse representation-based classifier (MKSRC), and then we use it as a criterion to design a multiple kernel sparse representation based orthogonal discriminative projection method (MK-SR-ODP). The proposed algorithm aims at learning a projection matrix and a corresponding kernel from the given base kernels such that in the low dimension subspace the between-class reconstruction residual is maximized and the within-class reconstruction residual is minimized. Furthermore, to achieve a minimum overall loss by performing recognition in the learned low-dimensional subspace, we introduce cost information into the dimensionality reduction method. The solutions for the proposed method can be efficiently found based on trace ratio optimization method [33]. Extensive experimental results demonstrate the superiority of the proposed algorithm when compared with the state-of-the-art methods.

Minimum information about a single amplified genome (MISAG) and a metagenome-assembled genome (MIMAG) of bacteria and archaea

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

Bowers, Robert M.; Kyrpides, Nikos C.; Stepanauskas, Ramunas

The number of genomes from uncultivated microbes will soon surpass the number of isolate genomes in public databases (Hugenholtz, Skarshewski, & Parks, 2016). Technological advancements in high-throughput sequencing and assembly, including single-cell genomics and the computational extraction of genomes from metagenomes (GFMs), are largely responsible. Here we propose community standards for reporting the Minimum Information about a Single-Cell Genome (MIxS-SCG) and Minimum Information about Genomes extracted From Metagenomes (MIxS-GFM) specific for Bacteria and Archaea. The standards have been developed in the context of the International Genomics Standards Consortium (GSC) community (Field et al., 2014) and can be viewed as amore » supplement to other GSC checklists including the Minimum Information about a Genome Sequence (MIGS), Minimum information about a Metagenomic Sequence(s) (MIMS) (Field et al., 2008) and Minimum Information about a Marker Gene Sequence (MIMARKS) (P. Yilmaz et al., 2011). Community-wide acceptance of MIxS-SCG and MIxS-GFM for Bacteria and Archaea will enable broad comparative analyses of genomes from the majority of taxa that remain uncultivated, improving our understanding of microbial function, ecology, and evolution.« less

DNA barcode identification of Podocarpaceae--the second largest conifer family.

PubMed

Little, Damon P; Knopf, Patrick; Schulz, Christian

2013-01-01

We have generated matK, rbcL, and nrITS2 DNA barcodes for 320 specimens representing all 18 extant genera of the conifer family Podocarpaceae. The sample includes 145 of the 198 recognized species. Comparative analyses of sequence quality and species discrimination were conducted on the 159 individuals from which all three markers were recovered (representing 15 genera and 97 species). The vast majority of sequences were of high quality (B 30 = 0.596-0.989). Even the lowest quality sequences exceeded the minimum requirements of the BARCODE data standard. In the few instances that low quality sequences were generated, the responsible mechanism could not be discerned. There were no statistically significant differences in the discriminatory power of markers or marker combinations (p = 0.05). The discriminatory power of the barcode markers individually and in combination is low (56.7% of species at maximum). In some instances, species discrimination failed in spite of ostensibly useful variation being present (genotypes were shared among species), but in many cases there was simply an absence of sequence variation. Barcode gaps (maximum intraspecific p-distance > minimum interspecific p-distance) were observed in 50.5% of species when all three markers were considered simultaneously. The presence of a barcode gap was not predictive of discrimination success (p = 0.02) and there was no statistically significant difference in the frequency of barcode gaps among markers (p = 0.05). In addition, there was no correlation between number of individuals sampled per species and the presence of a barcode gap (p = 0.27).

Clinical Use of an Optical Coherence Tomography Linear Discriminant Function for Differentiating Glaucoma From Normal Eyes.

PubMed

Choi, Yun Jeong; Jeoung, Jin Wook; Park, Ki Ho; Kim, Dong Myung

2016-03-01

To determine and validate the diagnostic ability of a linear discriminant function (LDF) based on retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) and ganglion cell-inner plexiform layer (GCIPL) thickness obtained using high-definition optical coherence tomography (Cirrus HD-OCT) for discriminating between healthy controls and early glaucoma subjects. We prospectively selected 214 healthy controls and 152 glaucoma subjects (teaching set) and another independent sample of 86 healthy controls and 71 glaucoma subjects (validating set). Two scans, including 1 macular and 1 peripapillary RNFL scan, were obtained. After calculating the LDF in the teaching set using the binary logistic regression analysis, receiver operating characteristic curves were plotted and compared between the OCT-provided parameters and LDF in the validating set. The proposed LDF was 16.529-(0.132×superior RNFL)-(0.064×inferior RNFL)+(0.039×12 o'clock RNFL)+(0.038×1 o'clock RNFL)+(0.084×superior GCIPL)-(0.144×minimum GCIPL). The highest area under the receiver operating characteristic (AUROC) curve was obtained for LDF in both sets (AUROC=0.95 and 0.96). In the validating set, the LDF showed significantly higher AUROC than the best RNFL (inferior RNFL=0.91) and GCIPL parameter (minimum GCIPL=0.88). The LDF yielded a sensitivity of 93.0% at a fixed specificity of 85.0%. The LDF showed better diagnostic ability for differentiating between healthy and early glaucoma subjects than individual OCT parameters. A classification algorithm based on the LDF can be used in the OCT analysis for glaucoma diagnosis.

DNA Barcode Identification of Podocarpaceae—The Second Largest Conifer Family

PubMed Central

Little, Damon P.; Knopf, Patrick; Schulz, Christian

2013-01-01

We have generated matK, rbcL, and nrITS2 DNA barcodes for 320 specimens representing all 18 extant genera of the conifer family Podocarpaceae. The sample includes 145 of the 198 recognized species. Comparative analyses of sequence quality and species discrimination were conducted on the 159 individuals from which all three markers were recovered (representing 15 genera and 97 species). The vast majority of sequences were of high quality (B 30 = 0.596–0.989). Even the lowest quality sequences exceeded the minimum requirements of the BARCODE data standard. In the few instances that low quality sequences were generated, the responsible mechanism could not be discerned. There were no statistically significant differences in the discriminatory power of markers or marker combinations (p = 0.05). The discriminatory power of the barcode markers individually and in combination is low (56.7% of species at maximum). In some instances, species discrimination failed in spite of ostensibly useful variation being present (genotypes were shared among species), but in many cases there was simply an absence of sequence variation. Barcode gaps (maximum intraspecific p–distance > minimum interspecific p–distance) were observed in 50.5% of species when all three markers were considered simultaneously. The presence of a barcode gap was not predictive of discrimination success (p = 0.02) and there was no statistically significant difference in the frequency of barcode gaps among markers (p = 0.05). In addition, there was no correlation between number of individuals sampled per species and the presence of a barcode gap (p = 0.27). PMID:24312258

45 CFR 148.102 - Scope, applicability, and effective dates.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... against discrimination based on genetic information apply to all issuers of individual health insurance... newborns), and § 148.180 (prohibition of health discrimination based on genetic information) of this part...

45 CFR 148.102 - Scope, applicability, and effective dates.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... against discrimination based on genetic information apply to all issuers of individual health insurance... newborns), and § 148.180 (prohibition of health discrimination based on genetic information) of this part...

Group living enhances individual resources discrimination: the use of public information by cockroaches to assess shelter quality.

PubMed

Canonge, Stéphane; Deneubourg, Jean-Louis; Sempo, Grégory

2011-01-01

In group-living organisms, consensual decision of site selection results from the interplay between individual responses to site characteristics and to group-members. Individuals independently gather personal information by exploring their environment. Through social interaction, the presence of others provides public information that could be used by individuals and modulates the individual probability of joining/leaving a site. The way that individual's information processing and the network of interactions influence the dynamics of public information (depending on population size) that in turn affect discrimination in site quality is a central question. Using binary choice between sheltering sites of different quality, we demonstrate that cockroaches in group dramatically outperform the problem-solving ability of single individual. Such use of public information allows animals to discriminate between alternatives whereas isolated individuals are ineffective (i.e. the personal discrimination efficiency is weak). Our theoretical results, obtained from a mathematical model based on behavioral rules derived from experiments, highlight that the collective discrimination emerges from competing amplification processes relying on the modulation of the individual sheltering time without shelters comparison and communication modulation. Finally, we well demonstrated here the adaptive value of such decision algorithm. Without any behavioral change, the system is able to shift to a more effective strategy when alternatives are present: the modification of the spatio-temporal distributions of individuals leading to the collective selection of the best resource. This collective discrimination implying such parsimonious and widespread mechanism must be shared by many group living-species.

Genetic Discrimination: A Case for a European Legislative Response?

PubMed

de Paor, Aisling

2017-04-01

With rapid scientific and technological advances, a new genetic era is emerging. However, these advances raise ethical and legal issues, particularly genetic discrimination, that may threaten advancing science in the absence of appropriate regulation. There is currently no concrete legislative position in this area at EU level, but rather a patchwork of diverging legislative approaches amongst Member States. Genetic discrimination has been singled out as an area of reform in Europe as evidenced, for example in EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, Article 21.1 prohibiting discrimination based on ‘genetic features.’ The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities also informs this debate and may spur legislative action. From a transatlantic perspective, the United States’ federal legislation (Genetic Information Non Discrimination Act) is noteworthy. Considering scientific and technological developments, the rights at stake and the various regulatory benchmarks, this paper explores the regulation of genetic information in the EU.

25 CFR 543.20 - What are the minimum internal control standards for information technology and information...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... information technology and information technology data? 543.20 Section 543.20 Indians NATIONAL INDIAN GAMING... § 543.20 What are the minimum internal control standards for information technology and information... prevent the concealment of fraud. (4) Information technology agents having access to Class II gaming...

25 CFR 543.20 - What are the minimum internal control standards for information technology and information...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... information technology and information technology data? 543.20 Section 543.20 Indians NATIONAL INDIAN GAMING... § 543.20 What are the minimum internal control standards for information technology and information... prevent the concealment of fraud. (4) Information technology agents having access to Class II gaming...

Recent Studies of the Behavior of the Sun's White-Light Corona Over Time

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

SaintCyr, O. C.; Young, D. E.; Pesnell, W. D.; Lecinski, A.; Eddy, J.

2008-01-01

Predictions of upcoming solar cycles are often related to the nature and dynamics of the Sun's polar magnetic field and its influence on the corona. For the past 30 years we have a more-or-less continuous record of the Sun's white-light corona from groundbased and spacebased coronagraphs. Over that interval, the large scale features of the corona have varied in what we now consider a 'predictable' fashion--complex, showing multiple streamers at all latitudes during solar activity maximum; and a simple dipolar shape aligned with the rotational pole during solar minimum. Over the past three decades the white-light corona appears to be a better indicator of 'true' solar minimum than sunspot number since sunspots disappear for months (even years) at solar minimum. Since almost all predictions of the timing of the next solar maximum depend on the timing of solar minimum, the white-light corona is a potentially important observational discriminator for future predictors. In this contribution we describe recent work quantifying the large-scale appearance of the Sun's corona to correlate it with the sunspot record, especially around solar minimum. These three decades can be expanded with the HAO archive of eclipse photographs which, although sparse compared to the coronagraphic coverage, extends back to 1869. A more extensive understanding of this proxy would give researchers confidence in using the white-light corona as an indicator of solar minimum conditions.

Honeybees can discriminate between Monet and Picasso paintings.

PubMed

Wu, Wen; Moreno, Antonio M; Tangen, Jason M; Reinhard, Judith

2013-01-01

Honeybees (Apis mellifera) have remarkable visual learning and discrimination abilities that extend beyond learning simple colours, shapes or patterns. They can discriminate landscape scenes, types of flowers, and even human faces. This suggests that in spite of their small brain, honeybees have a highly developed capacity for processing complex visual information, comparable in many respects to vertebrates. Here, we investigated whether this capacity extends to complex images that humans distinguish on the basis of artistic style: Impressionist paintings by Monet and Cubist paintings by Picasso. We show that honeybees learned to simultaneously discriminate between five different Monet and Picasso paintings, and that they do not rely on luminance, colour, or spatial frequency information for discrimination. When presented with novel paintings of the same style, the bees even demonstrated some ability to generalize. This suggests that honeybees are able to discriminate Monet paintings from Picasso ones by extracting and learning the characteristic visual information inherent in each painting style. Our study further suggests that discrimination of artistic styles is not a higher cognitive function that is unique to humans, but simply due to the capacity of animals-from insects to humans-to extract and categorize the visual characteristics of complex images.

New criteria for the characterization of traditional East Asian papers.

PubMed

Avataneo, Chiara; Sablier, Michel

2017-01-01

We report a pyrolysis-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (Py-GC/MS) method capable of analyzing traditional East Asian papers. The method proposed is based on rapid and easy single step Py-GC/MS analysis that can be carried out with a minimum amount of matter, in the few microgram range. Three reference papers manufactured from kozo (Broussonetia kazinoki Siebold & Zucc.), mitsumata (Edgeworthia chrysantha Lindl.), and gampi (Wikstroemia sikokiana Franch. & Sav.) with the traditional hand paper making processes were examined. The method allows discrimination between terpenic and steroid compounds, which were revealed as chemical markers of origin of the plant fibers. Each paper investigated was found to have characteristic pyrolysis fingerprints that were unique to the traditional handmade paper, demonstrating the potential for differentiation of these biochemical components of fiber plants on East Asian papers towards identification and conservation of cultural heritage. The investigation on Py-GC/MS was extended to liquid extraction followed by GC/MS analysis to characterize the biochemical components of fiber plants. The main contribution of this study is to provide molecular criteria for discriminating plant species used for traditional East Asian hand papermaking. Py-GC/MS complements efficiently microscope identification especially for adverse cases. A case study of archaeological Chinese paper painting artefacts was thereafter successfully investigated to address informative potential and efficiency of the criteria of identification on ancient and degraded East Asian paperworks.

Procedures for Testing Color Vision,

DTIC Science & Technology

1981-01-01

Chromatic Discriminative Ability, 8 Congenital Sex-Linked Color Vision Defects, 8 Anomalous Trichromats, 9 Dichromats, 10 Autosomal Dominant Tritan Defect...anomalous trichromats (see Chapter 3). AUTOSOMAL DOMINANT TRITAN DEFECT In addition to the X-chromosomal-linked color defects, there are some very rare... hereditary color defects. The tritan defect is one of these rare defects (minimum frequency estimated to be between 1/13,000 and 1/65,000 [Kalmus

Minimum Information Specification For In Situ Hybridization and Immunohistochemistry Experiments (MISFISHIE)

PubMed Central

Deutsch, Eric W; Ball, Catherine A; Berman, Jules J; Bova, G Steven; Brazma, Alvis; Bumgarner, Roger E; Campbell, David; Causton, Helen C; Christiansen, Jeffrey H; Daian, Fabrice; Dauga, Delphine; Davidson, Duncan R; Gimenez, Gregory; Goo, Young Ah; Grimmond, Sean; Henrich, Thorsten; Herrmann, Bernhard G; Johnson, Michael H; Korb, Martin; Mills, Jason C; Oudes, Asa J; Parkinson, Helen E; Pascal, Laura E; Pollet, Nicolas; Quackenbush, John; Ramialison, Mirana; Ringwald, Martin; Salgado, David; Sansone, Susanna-Assunta; Sherlock, Gavin; Stoeckert, Christian J; Swedlow, Jason; Taylor, Ronald C; Walashek, Laura; Warford, Anthony; Wilkinson, David G; Zhou, Yi; Zon, Leonard I; Liu, Alvin Y; True, Lawrence D

2015-01-01

One purpose of the biomedical literature is to report results in sufficient detail so that the methods of data collection and analysis can be independently replicated and verified. Here we present for consideration a minimum information specification for gene expression localization experiments, called the “Minimum Information Specification For In Situ Hybridization and Immunohistochemistry Experiments (MISFISHIE)”. It is modelled after the MIAME (Minimum Information About a Microarray Experiment) specification for microarray experiments. Data specifications like MIAME and MISFISHIE specify the information content without dictating a format for encoding that information. The MISFISHIE specification describes six types of information that should be provided for each experiment: Experimental Design, Biomaterials and Treatments, Reporters, Staining, Imaging Data, and Image Characterizations. This specification has benefited the consortium within which it was initially developed and is expected to benefit the wider research community. We welcome feedback from the scientific community to help improve our proposal. PMID:18327244

Derivation of Human Chromatic Discrimination Ability from an Information-Theoretical Notion of Distance in Color Space.

PubMed

da Fonseca, María; Samengo, Inés

2016-12-01

The accuracy with which humans detect chromatic differences varies throughout color space. For example, we are far more precise when discriminating two similar orange stimuli than two similar green stimuli. In order for two colors to be perceived as different, the neurons representing chromatic information must respond differently, and the difference must be larger than the trial-to-trial variability of the response to each separate color. Photoreceptors constitute the first stage in the processing of color information; many more stages are required before humans can consciously report whether two stimuli are perceived as chromatically distinguishable. Therefore, although photoreceptor absorption curves are expected to influence the accuracy of conscious discriminability, there is no reason to believe that they should suffice to explain it. Here we develop information-theoretical tools based on the Fisher metric that demonstrate that photoreceptor absorption properties explain about 87% of the variance of human color discrimination ability, as tested by previous behavioral experiments. In the context of this theory, the bottleneck in chromatic information processing is determined by photoreceptor absorption characteristics. Subsequent encoding stages modify only marginally the chromatic discriminability at the photoreceptor level.

Genetic Information, Non-Discrimination, and Privacy Protections in Genetic Counseling Practice

PubMed Central

Prince, Anya E.R.; Roche, Myra I.

2014-01-01

The passage of the Genetic Information Non Discrimination Act (GINA) was hailed as a pivotal achievement that was expected to calm the fears of both patients and research participants about the potential misuse of genetic information. However, six years later, patient and provider awareness of legal protections at both the federal and state level remains discouragingly low, thereby, limiting their potential effectiveness. The increasing demand for genetic testing will expand the number of individuals and families who could benefit from obtaining accurate information about the privacy and anti-discriminatory protections that GINA and other laws extend. In this paper we describe legal protections that are applicable to individuals seeking genetic counseling, review the literature on patient and provider fears of genetic discrimination and examine their awareness and understandings of existing laws, and summarize how genetic counselors currently discuss genetic discrimination. We then present three genetic counseling cases to illustrate issues of genetic discrimination and provide relevant information on applicable legal protections. Genetic counselors have an unprecedented opportunity, as well as the professional responsibility, to disseminate accurate knowledge about existing legal protections to their patients. They can strengthen their effectiveness in this role by achieving a greater knowledge of current protections including being able to identify specific steps that can help protect genetic information. PMID:25063358

Genetic information, non-discrimination, and privacy protections in genetic counseling practice.

PubMed

Prince, Anya E R; Roche, Myra I

2014-12-01

The passage of the Genetic Information Non Discrimination Act (GINA) was hailed as a pivotal achievement that was expected to calm the fears of both patients and research participants about the potential misuse of genetic information. However, 6 years later, patient and provider awareness of legal protections at both the federal and state level remains discouragingly low, thereby, limiting their potential effectiveness. The increasing demand for genetic testing will expand the number of individuals and families who could benefit from obtaining accurate information about the privacy and anti-discriminatory protections that GINA and other laws extend. In this paper we describe legal protections that are applicable to individuals seeking genetic counseling, review the literature on patient and provider fears of genetic discrimination and examine their awareness and understandings of existing laws, and summarize how genetic counselors currently discuss genetic discrimination. We then present three genetic counseling cases to illustrate issues of genetic discrimination and provide relevant information on applicable legal protections. Genetic counselors have an unprecedented opportunity, as well as the professional responsibility, to disseminate accurate knowledge about existing legal protections to their patients. They can strengthen their effectiveness in this role by achieving a greater knowledge of current protections including being able to identify specific steps that can help protect genetic information.

Inservice Training Packet: Auditory Discrimination Listening Skills.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Florida Learning Resources System/CROWN, Jacksonville.

Intended to be used as the basis for a brief inservice workshop, the auditory discrimination/listening skills packet provides information on ideas, materials, and resources for remediating auditory discrimination and listening skill deficits. Included are a sample prescription form, tests of auditory discrimination, and a list of auditory…

78 FR 43228 - Agency Information Collection Activities: Submission to OMB for Reinstatement, With Change, of a...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-07-19

... patterns and enforcing anti-discrimination statutes. The information collection will assist NCUA to ensure... assist in identifying possible discriminatory lending patterns and enforcing anti-discrimination statutes...

Characteristic and intermingled neocortical circuits encode different visual object discriminations.

PubMed

Zhang, Guo-Rong; Zhao, Hua; Cook, Nathan; Svestka, Michael; Choi, Eui M; Jan, Mary; Cook, Robert G; Geller, Alfred I

2017-07-28

Synaptic plasticity and neural network theories hypothesize that the essential information for advanced cognitive tasks is encoded in specific circuits and neurons within distributed neocortical networks. However, these circuits are incompletely characterized, and we do not know if a specific discrimination is encoded in characteristic circuits among multiple animals. Here, we determined the spatial distribution of active neurons for a circuit that encodes some of the essential information for a cognitive task. We genetically activated protein kinase C pathways in several hundred spatially-grouped glutamatergic and GABAergic neurons in rat postrhinal cortex, a multimodal associative area that is part of a distributed circuit that encodes visual object discriminations. We previously established that this intervention enhances accuracy for specific discriminations. Moreover, the genetically-modified, local circuit in POR cortex encodes some of the essential information, and this local circuit is preferentially activated during performance, as shown by activity-dependent gene imaging. Here, we mapped the positions of the active neurons, which revealed that two image sets are encoded in characteristic and different circuits. While characteristic circuits are known to process sensory information, in sensory areas, this is the first demonstration that characteristic circuits encode specific discriminations, in a multimodal associative area. Further, the circuits encoding the two image sets are intermingled, and likely overlapping, enabling efficient encoding. Consistent with reconsolidation theories, intermingled and overlapping encoding could facilitate formation of associations between related discriminations, including visually similar discriminations or discriminations learned at the same time or place. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Legal update: living with the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act

PubMed Central

Erwin, Cheryl

2013-01-01

The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 promises to make genetic discrimination illegal in the contexts of employment and health insurance. The promises of the law may be difficult to fully deliver. This article will examine some of the more important provisions that offer protection against genetic discrimination and the major shortcomings of the legislation. It concludes that the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act is an important piece of civil rights legislation, but it is not fully protective of individuals who are worried about genetic discrimination in employment or insurance. PMID:19092438

[Fast discrimination of edible vegetable oil based on Raman spectroscopy].

PubMed

Zhou, Xiu-Jun; Dai, Lian-Kui; Li, Sheng

2012-07-01

A novel method to fast discriminate edible vegetable oils by Raman spectroscopy is presented. The training set is composed of different edible vegetable oils with known classes. Based on their original Raman spectra, baseline correction and normalization were applied to obtain standard spectra. Two characteristic peaks describing the unsaturated degree of vegetable oil were selected as feature vectors; then the centers of all classes were calculated. For an edible vegetable oil with unknown class, the same pretreatment and feature extraction methods were used. The Euclidian distances between the feature vector of the unknown sample and the center of each class were calculated, and the class of the unknown sample was finally determined by the minimum distance. For 43 edible vegetable oil samples from seven different classes, experimental results show that the clustering effect of each class was more obvious and the class distance was much larger with the new feature extraction method compared with PCA. The above classification model can be applied to discriminate unknown edible vegetable oils rapidly and accurately.

40 CFR 161.20 - Overview.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

.... (1) The primary purpose of this part is to specify the types and minimum amounts of data and...)(7). (2) This part also specifies the types and minimum amounts of data and information the Agency...) Finally, this part specifies the types and minimum amounts of data and information that an applicant for...

SXR measurement and W transport survey using GEM tomographic system on WEST

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mazon, D.; Jardin, A.; Malard, P.; Chernyshova, M.; Coston, C.; Malard, P.; O'Mullane, M.; Czarski, T.; Malinowski, K.; Faisse, F.; Ferlay, F.; Verger, J. M.; Bec, A.; Larroque, S.; Kasprowicz, G.; Wojenski, A.; Pozniak, K.

2017-11-01

Measuring Soft X-Ray (SXR) radiation (0.1-20 keV) of fusion plasmas is a standard way of accessing valuable information on particle transport. Since heavy impurities like tungsten (W) could degrade plasma core performances and cause radiative collapses, it is necessary to develop new diagnostics to be able to monitor the impurity distribution in harsh fusion environments like ITER. A gaseous detector with energy discrimination would be a very good candidate for this purpose. The design and implementation of a new SXR diagnostic developed for the WEST project, based on a triple Gas Electron Multiplier (GEM) detector is presented. This detector works in photon counting mode and presents energy discrimination capabilities. The SXR system is composed of two 1D cameras (vertical and horizontal views respectively), located in the same poloidal cross-section to allow for tomographic reconstruction. An array (20 cm × 2 cm) consists of up to 128 detectors in front of a beryllium pinhole (equipped with a 1 mm diameter diaphragm) inserted at about 50 cm depth inside a cooled thimble in order to retrieve a wide plasma view. Acquisition of low energy spectrum is insured by a helium buffer installed between the pinhole and the detector. Complementary cooling systems (water) are used to maintain a constant temperature (25oC) inside the thimble. Finally a real-time automatic extraction system has been developed to protect the diagnostic during baking phases or any overheating unwanted events. Preliminary simulations of plasma emissivity and W distribution have been performed for WEST using a recently developed synthetic diagnostic coupled to a tomographic algorithm based on the minimum Fisher information (MFI) inversion method. First GEM acquisitions are presented as well as estimation of transport effect in presence of ICRH on W density reconstruction capabilities of the GEM.

Effects of Learning about Historical Gender Discrimination on Early Adolescents' Occupational Judgments and Aspirations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pahlke, Erin; Bigler, Rebecca S.; Green, Vanessa A.

2010-01-01

To examine the consequences of learning about gender discrimination, early adolescents (n = 121, aged 10-14) were randomly assigned to receive either (a) standard biographical lessons about historical figures (standard condition) or (b) nearly identical lessons that included information about gender discrimination (discrimination condition).…

29 CFR 1614.103 - Complaints of discrimination covered by this part.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

...), the Equal Pay Act (sex-based wage discrimination), or GINA (discrimination on the basis of genetic information) shall be processed in accordance with this part. Complaints alleging retaliation prohibited by...

Signature neural networks: definition and application to multidimensional sorting problems.

PubMed

Latorre, Roberto; de Borja Rodriguez, Francisco; Varona, Pablo

2011-01-01

In this paper we present a self-organizing neural network paradigm that is able to discriminate information locally using a strategy for information coding and processing inspired in recent findings in living neural systems. The proposed neural network uses: 1) neural signatures to identify each unit in the network; 2) local discrimination of input information during the processing; and 3) a multicoding mechanism for information propagation regarding the who and the what of the information. The local discrimination implies a distinct processing as a function of the neural signature recognition and a local transient memory. In the context of artificial neural networks none of these mechanisms has been analyzed in detail, and our goal is to demonstrate that they can be used to efficiently solve some specific problems. To illustrate the proposed paradigm, we apply it to the problem of multidimensional sorting, which can take advantage of the local information discrimination. In particular, we compare the results of this new approach with traditional methods to solve jigsaw puzzles and we analyze the situations where the new paradigm improves the performance.

Tactual discrimination of softness.

PubMed

Srinivasan, M A; LaMotte, R H

1995-01-01

1. We investigated the ability of humans to tactually discriminate the softness of objects, using novel elastic objects with deformable and rigid surfaces. For objects with deformable surfaces, we cast transparent rubber specimens with variable compliances. For objects with rigid surfaces ("spring cells") we fabricated telescoping hollow cylinders with the inner cylinder supported by several springs. To measure the human discriminability and to isolate the associated information-processing mechanisms, we performed psychophysical experiments under three conditions: 1) active touch with the normal finger, where both tactile and kinesthetic information was available to the subject: 2) active touch with local cutaneous anesthesia, so that only kinesthetic information was available; and 3) passive touch, where a computer-controlled mechanical stimulator brought down the compliant specimens onto the passive fingerpad of the subject, who therefore had only tactile information. 2. We first characterized the mechanical behavior of the human fingerpad and the test objects by determining the relationship between the depth and force of indentation during constant-velocity indentations by a rigid probe. The fingerpad exhibited a pronounced nonlinear behavior in the indentation depth versus force trace such that compliance, as indicated by the local slope of the trace, decreased with increases in indentation depth. The traces for all the rubber specimens were approximately linear, indicating a constant but distinct value of compliance for each specimen. The fingerpad was more compliant than each of the rubber specimens. 3. All the human subjects showed excellent softness discriminability in ranking the rubber specimens by active touch, and the subjective perception of softness correlated one-to-one with the objectively measured compliance. The ability of subjects to discriminate the compliance of spring cells was consistently poorer compared with that of the rubber specimens. 4. For pairwise discrimination of a selected set of rubber specimens, kinesthetic information alone was insufficient. However, tactile information alone was sufficient, even when the velocities and forces of specimen application were randomized. In contrast, for discriminating pairs of spring cells, tactile information alone was insufficient, and both tactile and kinesthetic information were found to be necessary. 5. The differences in the sufficiency of tactile information for the discrimination of the two types of objects can be explained by the mechanics of contact of the fingerpad and its effect on tactile information. For objects with deformable surfaces, the spatial pressure distribution within the contact region depends on both the force applied and the specimen compliance.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Discriminating tests of information and topological indices. Animals and trees.

PubMed

Konstantinova, Elena V; Vidyuk, Maxim V

2003-01-01

In this paper we consider 13 information and topological indices based on the distance in a molecular graph with respect to their discrimination power. The numerical results of discriminating tests on 3490528 trees up to 21 vertices are given. The indices of the highest sensitivity are listed on the set of 1528775 alkane trees. The discrimination powers of indices are also examined on the classes of 849285 hexagonal, 298382 square, and 295365 triangular simply connected animals. The first class of animals corresponds to the structural formulas of planar benzenoid hydrocarbons. The values of all indices were calculated for all classes of animals as well as for the united set of 1443032 animals. The inspection of the data indicates the great sensitivity of four information indices and one topological index.

An effective biometric discretization approach to extract highly discriminative, informative, and privacy-protective binary representation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lim, Meng-Hui; Teoh, Andrew Beng Jin

2011-12-01

Biometric discretization derives a binary string for each user based on an ordered set of biometric features. This representative string ought to be discriminative, informative, and privacy protective when it is employed as a cryptographic key in various security applications upon error correction. However, it is commonly believed that satisfying the first and the second criteria simultaneously is not feasible, and a tradeoff between them is always definite. In this article, we propose an effective fixed bit allocation-based discretization approach which involves discriminative feature extraction, discriminative feature selection, unsupervised quantization (quantization that does not utilize class information), and linearly separable subcode (LSSC)-based encoding to fulfill all the ideal properties of a binary representation extracted for cryptographic applications. In addition, we examine a number of discriminative feature-selection measures for discretization and identify the proper way of setting an important feature-selection parameter. Encouraging experimental results vindicate the feasibility of our approach.

Discrimination of Complex Human Behavior by Pigeons (Columba livia) and Humans

PubMed Central

Qadri, Muhammad A. J.; Sayde, Justin M.; Cook, Robert G.

2014-01-01

The cognitive and neural mechanisms for recognizing and categorizing behavior are not well understood in non-human animals. In the current experiments, pigeons and humans learned to categorize two non-repeating, complex human behaviors (“martial arts” vs. “Indian dance”). Using multiple video exemplars of a digital human model, pigeons discriminated these behaviors in a go/no-go task and humans in a choice task. Experiment 1 found that pigeons already experienced with discriminating the locomotive actions of digital animals acquired the discrimination more rapidly when action information was available than when only pose information was available. Experiments 2 and 3 found this same dynamic superiority effect with naïve pigeons and human participants. Both species used the same combination of immediately available static pose information and more slowly perceived dynamic action cues to discriminate the behavioral categories. Theories based on generalized visual mechanisms, as opposed to embodied, species-specific action networks, offer a parsimonious account of how these different animals recognize behavior across and within species. PMID:25379777

Validation of the Narrowing Beam Walking Test in Lower Limb Prosthesis Users.

PubMed

Sawers, Andrew; Hafner, Brian

2018-04-11

To evaluate the content, construct, and discriminant validity of the Narrowing Beam Walking Test (NBWT), a performance-based balance test for lower limb prosthesis users. Cross-sectional study. Research laboratory and prosthetics clinic. Unilateral transtibial and transfemoral prosthesis users (N=40). Not applicable. Content validity was examined by quantifying the percentage of participants receiving maximum or minimum scores (ie, ceiling and floor effects). Convergent construct validity was examined using correlations between participants' NBWT scores and scores or times on existing clinical balance tests regularly administered to lower limb prosthesis users. Known-groups construct validity was examined by comparing NBWT scores between groups of participants with different fall histories, amputation levels, amputation etiologies, and functional levels. Discriminant validity was evaluated by analyzing the area under each test's receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. No minimum or maximum scores were recorded on the NBWT. NBWT scores demonstrated strong correlations (ρ=.70‒.85) with scores/times on performance-based balance tests (timed Up and Go test, Four Square Step Test, and Berg Balance Scale) and a moderate correlation (ρ=.49) with the self-report Activities-specific Balance Confidence scale. NBWT performance was significantly lower among participants with a history of falls (P=.003), transfemoral amputation (P=.011), and a lower mobility level (P<.001). The NBWT also had the largest area under the ROC curve (.81) and was the only test to exhibit an area that was statistically significantly >.50 (ie, chance). The results provide strong evidence of content, construct, and discriminant validity for the NBWT as a performance-based test of balance ability. The evidence supports its use to assess balance impairments and fall risk in unilateral transtibial and transfemoral prosthesis users. Copyright © 2018 American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

77 FR 64343 - Agency Information Collection Activities: Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-10-19

... Information Collection Request: New collection; Title of Information Collection: Minimum Data Set for Medicaid... National Registry of Evidence-Based Programs. The proposed information collection, the MIPCD Minimum Data Set (MDS), is intended to collect data for program performance monitoring and evaluation. The MDS is a...

Large number discrimination by mosquitofish.

PubMed

Agrillo, Christian; Piffer, Laura; Bisazza, Angelo

2010-12-22

Recent studies have demonstrated that fish display rudimentary numerical abilities similar to those observed in mammals and birds. The mechanisms underlying the discrimination of small quantities (<4) were recently investigated while, to date, no study has examined the discrimination of large numerosities in fish. Subjects were trained to discriminate between two sets of small geometric figures using social reinforcement. In the first experiment mosquitofish were required to discriminate 4 from 8 objects with or without experimental control of the continuous variables that co-vary with number (area, space, density, total luminance). Results showed that fish can use the sole numerical information to compare quantities but that they preferentially use cumulative surface area as a proxy of the number when this information is available. A second experiment investigated the influence of the total number of elements to discriminate large quantities. Fish proved to be able to discriminate up to 100 vs. 200 objects, without showing any significant decrease in accuracy compared with the 4 vs. 8 discrimination. The third experiment investigated the influence of the ratio between the numerosities. Performance was found to decrease when decreasing the numerical distance. Fish were able to discriminate numbers when ratios were 1:2 or 2:3 but not when the ratio was 3:4. The performance of a sample of undergraduate students, tested non-verbally using the same sets of stimuli, largely overlapped that of fish. Fish are able to use pure numerical information when discriminating between quantities larger than 4 units. As observed in human and non-human primates, the numerical system of fish appears to have virtually no upper limit while the numerical ratio has a clear effect on performance. These similarities further reinforce the view of a common origin of non-verbal numerical systems in all vertebrates.

Role of discriminative stimuli in modulating drug action. [Pigeons

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

Laties, V.G.

1975-08-01

Behavior reinforced in the presence of a stimulus comes under the control of the stimulus. A drug can then modify that control and, therefore, modify the behavior itself. Studies over the past 2 decades have shown that the nature of the controlling (or discriminative) stimulus can govern the degree to which drugs change performance. These experiments usually have compared behavior on various schedules of reinforcement with and withoout added discriminative stimuli. For instance, pigeons that had been trained on a fixed-interval schedule showed great changes in response distribution after amphetamine and scopolamine. The same birds, when performing on a fixed-intervalmore » schedule to which time-correlated discriminative stimuli had been added, showed smaller changes in response distribution. Other pigeons were trained to make a minimum number of consecutive responses on one key before a peck on a second key would be reinforced; d-amphetamine and scopolamine led to pronounced increases in premature switching. Adding a discriminative stimulus when the response requirement was fulfilled increased the likelihood that a switch would occur only after the appropriate number of pecks had been emitted. It also attenuated the effects of the drugs. The presence of discriminative stimuli did not make as large a difference in performance in either of these experiments when chlorpromazine and promazine were studied. In general, work with other schedules of reinforcement supports the conclusion that behavior under strong external stimulus controls is less apt to be readily affected by many drugs. Addition of the discriminative stimulus can also ''improve'' the behavior of pigeons that have been given enouth methylmercury to increase greatly the variability of their performance. (auth)« less

Preempting genetic discrimination and assaults on privacy: report of a symposium.

PubMed

Shinaman, Aileen; Bain, Lisa J; Shoulson, Ira

2003-08-01

At a symposium in June, 2002, biomedical researchers, clinicians, legal experts, policymakers, and representatives of the insurance industry and the advocacy community gathered to address issues of genetic privacy and discrimination; and to identify research, legal, and policy gaps needing to be filled. They concluded that over the next decade, as more genetic information becomes available and the public becomes more aware of individual risks, concerns about privacy and discrimination will become increasingly important. Documented cases of genetic discrimination are rare and largely anecdotal, yet individuals with genetic conditions harbor significant fears about discrimination. Current laws enacted to protect individuals from workplace and insurance discrimination offer some measure of protection, but leave many unfilled gaps. Moreover, the use of genetic information in potentially discriminatory ways is not limited to employment and insurability. Existing laws do little to protect people seeking life, disability, or long-term care insurance. And the courts have used genetic information in a wide variety of cases including paternity, criminal, and tort (personal injury) cases. Genetic information that might jeopardize an individual's right to privacy may also be obtained in the course of research studies, including through the collection of DNA and tissue samples. The insurance industry, State and Federal agencies, and the advocacy community are all making efforts to address some of these gaps through legislation and education of clinicians, the public, and policy makers. Copyright 2003 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Uncovering gender discrimination cues in a realistic setting.

PubMed

Dupuis-Roy, Nicolas; Fortin, Isabelle; Fiset, Daniel; Gosselin, Frédéric

2009-02-10

Which face cues do we use for gender discrimination? Few studies have tried to answer this question and the few that have tried typically used only a small set of grayscale stimuli, often distorted and presented a large number of times. Here, we reassessed the importance of facial cues for gender discrimination in a more realistic setting. We applied Bubbles-a technique that minimizes bias toward specific facial features and does not necessitate the distortion of stimuli-to a set of 300 color photographs of Caucasian faces, each presented only once to 30 participants. Results show that the region of the eyes and the eyebrows-probably in the light-dark channel-is the most important facial cue for accurate gender discrimination; and that the mouth region is driving fast correct responses (but not fast incorrect responses)-the gender discrimination information in the mouth region is concentrated in the red-green color channel. Together, these results suggest that, when color is informative in the mouth region, humans use it and respond rapidly; and, when it's not informative, they have to rely on the more robust but more sluggish luminance information in the eye-eyebrow region.

Effects of Learning about Gender Discrimination on Adolescent Girls' Attitudes toward and Interest in Science

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Weisgram, Erica S.; Bigler, Rebecca S.

2007-01-01

Gender discrimination has contributed to the gender imbalance in scientific fields. However, research on the effects of informing adolescent girls about gender discrimination in these fields is rare and controversial. To examine the consequences of learning about gender-based occupational discrimination, adolescent girls (n= 158, ages 11 to 14)…

Differential effects of visual context on pattern discrimination by pigeons (Columba livia) and humans (Homo sapiens).

PubMed

Kelly, Debbie M; Cook, Robert G

2003-06-01

Three experiment examined the role of contextual information during line orientation and line position discriminations by pigeons (Columba livia) and humans (Homo sapiens). Experiment 1 tested pigeons' performance with these stimuli in a target localization task using texture displays. Experiments 2 and 3 tested pigeons and humans, respectively, with small and large variations of these stimuli in a same-different task. Humans showed a configural superiority effect when tested with displays constructed from large elements but not when tested with the smaller, more densely packed texture displays. The pigeons, in contrast, exhibited a configural inferiority effect when required to discriminate line orientation, regardless of stimulus size. These contrasting results suggest a species difference in the perceptionand use of features and contextual information in the discrimination of line information.

Image segmentation using hidden Markov Gauss mixture models.

PubMed

Pyun, Kyungsuk; Lim, Johan; Won, Chee Sun; Gray, Robert M

2007-07-01

Image segmentation is an important tool in image processing and can serve as an efficient front end to sophisticated algorithms and thereby simplify subsequent processing. We develop a multiclass image segmentation method using hidden Markov Gauss mixture models (HMGMMs) and provide examples of segmentation of aerial images and textures. HMGMMs incorporate supervised learning, fitting the observation probability distribution given each class by a Gauss mixture estimated using vector quantization with a minimum discrimination information (MDI) distortion. We formulate the image segmentation problem using a maximum a posteriori criteria and find the hidden states that maximize the posterior density given the observation. We estimate both the hidden Markov parameter and hidden states using a stochastic expectation-maximization algorithm. Our results demonstrate that HMGMM provides better classification in terms of Bayes risk and spatial homogeneity of the classified objects than do several popular methods, including classification and regression trees, learning vector quantization, causal hidden Markov models (HMMs), and multiresolution HMMs. The computational load of HMGMM is similar to that of the causal HMM.

25 CFR 543.16 - What are the minimum internal controls for information technology?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... controls for information technology? (a) Physical security measures restricting access to agents, including... longer required. (2) In the event of remote access, the information technology employees must prepare a... 25 Indians 2 2012-04-01 2012-04-01 false What are the minimum internal controls for information...

25 CFR 543.16 - What are the minimum internal controls for information technology?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... controls for information technology? (a) Physical security measures restricting access to agents, including... longer required. (2) In the event of remote access, the information technology employees must prepare a... 25 Indians 2 2011-04-01 2011-04-01 false What are the minimum internal controls for information...

29 CFR 1635.4 - Prohibited practices-in general.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... Labor Regulations Relating to Labor (Continued) EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION GENETIC... employer to discriminate against an individual on the basis of the genetic information of the individual in... discriminate against any individual because of genetic information of the individual. (c) It is unlawful for a...

29 CFR 1635.4 - Prohibited practices-in general.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... Labor Regulations Relating to Labor (Continued) EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION GENETIC... employer to discriminate against an individual on the basis of the genetic information of the individual in... discriminate against any individual because of genetic information of the individual. (c) It is unlawful for a...

29 CFR 1635.4 - Prohibited practices-in general.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... Labor Regulations Relating to Labor (Continued) EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION GENETIC... employer to discriminate against an individual on the basis of the genetic information of the individual in... discriminate against any individual because of genetic information of the individual. (c) It is unlawful for a...

29 CFR 1635.4 - Prohibited practices-in general.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... Labor Regulations Relating to Labor (Continued) EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION GENETIC... employer to discriminate against an individual on the basis of the genetic information of the individual in... discriminate against any individual because of genetic information of the individual. (c) It is unlawful for a...

Contextual and Serial Discriminations: A New Learning Paradigm to Assess Simultaneously the Effects of Acute Stress on Retrieval of Flexible or Stable Information in Mice

PubMed Central

Célérier, Aurélie; Piérard, Christophe; Rachbauer, Dagmar; Sarrieau, Alain; Béracochéa, Daniel

2004-01-01

The present study was aimed at simultaneously determining on the same subject, the effects of stress on retrieval of flexible (contextual or temporal) or stable (spatial) information. Three behavioral paradigms carried out in a four-hole board were designed as follows: (1) Simple Discrimination (SD), in which mice learned a single discrimination; (2) Contextual and Serial Discriminations (CSD), in which mice learned two successive discriminations on two different internal contexts; (3) Spatial Serial Discriminations (SSD), in which mice learned two successive discriminations on an identical internal context. The stressor (three inescapable electric footshocks) was delivered 5 min before retention, occurring 5 min or 24 h after acquisition. Results showed that this stressor increased plasmatic corticosterone levels and fear reactivity in an elevated-plus-maze, as compared with nonstressed mice. The stressor reversed the normal pattern of retrieval observed in nonstressed controls in the CSD task, this effect being context dependent, as it was not observed in the SSD task. Overall, our study shows that stress affected the retrieval of flexible and old information, but spared the retrieval of stable or recent ones. Therefore, these behavioral paradigms allow us to study simultaneously, on the same animal, the effects of stress on distinct forms of memory retrieval. PMID:15054135

No oral-cavity-only discrimination of purely olfactory odorants.

PubMed

Stephenson, Dejaimenay; Halpern, Bruce P

2009-02-01

The purely olfactory odorants coumarin, octanoic acid, phenylethyl alcohol, and vanillin had been found to be consistently identified when presented retronasally but could not be identified when presented oral-cavity only (OCO). However, OCO discrimination of these odorants was not tested. Consequently, it remained possible that the oral cavity trigeminal system might provide sufficient information to differentiate these purely olfactory odorants. To evaluate this, 20 participants attempted to discriminate vapor-phase coumarin, octanoic acid, phenylethyl alcohol, and vanillin and, as a control, the trigeminal stimulus peppermint extract, from their glycerin solvent, all presented OCO. None of the purely olfactory odorants could be discriminated OCO, but, as expected, peppermint extract was consistently discriminated. This inability to discriminate clarifies and expands the previous report of lack of OCO identification of purely olfactory odorants. Taken together with prior data, these results suggest that the oral cavity trigeminal system is fully unresponsive to these odorants in vapor phase and that coumarin, octanoic acid, phenylethyl alcohol, and vanillin are indeed purely olfactory stimuli. The OCO discrimination of peppermint extract demonstrated that the absence of discrimination for the purely olfactory odorants was odorant dependent and confirmed that the oral cavity trigeminal system will provide differential response information to some vapor-phase stimuli.

Experiences and Impact of Stigma and Discrimination among People on Antiretroviral Therapy in Dar es Salaam: A Qualitative Perspective.

PubMed

Mhode, Maisara; Nyamhanga, Tumaini

2016-01-01

Background. The impact of stigma on adherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART) has been less studied in Tanzania. Recent studies indicate that people on ART still experience stigma. Qualitative information on the subject matter is especially insufficient. Objective. This paper reports on the dimensions of stigma and discrimination and their impact on adherence to ART as experienced by people living with HIV (PLHIV). Design. A phenomenological approach was used to gather information on the lived experiences of stigma and discrimination. The sample size was determined according to the saturation principle. Results. Respondents experienced different forms of HIV-related stigma such as verbal, social, and perceived stigma. Various forms of discrimination were experienced, including relational discrimination, mistreatment by health care workers, blame and rejection by spouses, and workplace discrimination. HIV-related stigma and discrimination compromised ART adherence by reinforcing concealment of HIV status and undermining social suppport. Conclusion. After nearly a decade of increasing the provision of ART in Tanzania, PLHIV still experience stigma and discrimination; these experiences still appear to have a negative impact on treatment adherence. Efforts to reduce stigma and discrimination remain relevant in the ART period and should be given more impetus in order to maximize positive treatment outcomes.

Discrimination against Muslim American Adolescents

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Aroian, Karen J.

2012-01-01

Although there is ample evidence of discrimination toward Muslim Americans in general, there is limited information specific to Muslim American adolescents. The few existing studies specific to this age group suggest that Muslim American adolescents encounter much discrimination from teachers, school administrators, and classmates. This…

Coding of auditory temporal and pitch information by hippocampal individual cells and cell assemblies in the rat.

PubMed

Sakurai, Y

2002-01-01

This study reports how hippocampal individual cells and cell assemblies cooperate for neural coding of pitch and temporal information in memory processes for auditory stimuli. Each rat performed two tasks, one requiring discrimination of auditory pitch (high or low) and the other requiring discrimination of their duration (long or short). Some CA1 and CA3 complex-spike neurons showed task-related differential activity between the high and low tones in only the pitch-discrimination task. However, without exception, neurons which showed task-related differential activity between the long and short tones in the duration-discrimination task were always task-related neurons in the pitch-discrimination task. These results suggest that temporal information (long or short), in contrast to pitch information (high or low), cannot be coded independently by specific neurons. The results also indicate that the two different behavioral tasks cannot be fully differentiated by the task-related single neurons alone and suggest a model of cell-assembly coding of the tasks. Cross-correlation analysis among activities of simultaneously recorded multiple neurons supported the suggested cell-assembly model.Considering those results, this study concludes that dual coding by hippocampal single neurons and cell assemblies is working in memory processing of pitch and temporal information of auditory stimuli. The single neurons encode both auditory pitches and their temporal lengths and the cell assemblies encode types of tasks (contexts or situations) in which the pitch and the temporal information are processed.

The big sell: Managing stigma and workplace discrimination following moderate to severe brain injury.

PubMed

Stergiou-Kita, Mary; Grigorovich, Alisa; Damianakis, Thecla; Le Dorze, Guylaine; David, Christine; Lemsky, Carolyn; Hebert, Debbie

2017-01-01

Misperceptions regarding persons with brain injuries (PWBI) can lead to stigmatization, workplace discrimination and, in turn, influence PWBIs full vocational integration. In this study we explored how stigma may influence return-to-work processes, experiences of stigma and discrimination at the workplace for persons with (moderate to severe) brain injuries, and strategies that can be employed to manage disclosure. Exploratory qualitative study; used in-depth interviews and an inductive thematic analytical approach in data analysis. Ten PWBI and five employment service providers participated. PWBI discussed their work experiences, relationships with supervisors and co-workers and experiences of stigma and/or discrimination at work. Employment service providers discussed their perceptions regarding PWBI's rights and abilities to work, reported incidents of workplace discrimination, and how issues related to stigma, discrimination and disclosure are managed. Three themes were identified: i) public, employer and provider knowledge about brain injury and beliefs about PWBI; ii) incidents of workplace discrimination; iii) disclosure. Misperceptions regarding PWBI persist amongst the public and employers. Incidents of workplace discrimination included social exclusion at the workplace, hiring discrimination, denial of promotion/demotion, harassment, and failure to provide reasonable accommodations. Disclosure decisions required careful consideration of PWBI needs, the type of information that should be shared, and the context in which that information is shared. Public understanding about PWBI remains limited. PWBI require further assistance to manage disclosure and incidents of workplace discrimination.

Mapping Discrimination Experienced by Indonesian Trans* FtM Persons.

PubMed

Gordon, Danny; Pratama, Mario Prajna

2017-01-01

This work sought to document how Indonesian trans* FtM persons experienced discrimination across the interlinked domains of social networks, religious and educational institutions, employment and the workplace, and health care institutions. Objectives were (1) to map the discrimination experienced by trans* FtM individuals in Indonesia, and (2) to establish the specific priorities of the Indonesian trans* FtM community. In-depth interviews, focus groups, and participant observation was used involving 14 respondents. Findings revealed that respondents experienced othering through rejection, misidentification, harassment, "correction," and bureaucratic discrimination across the five preestablished domains. Health care and a lack of information emerged as areas of particular concern for respondents. This work calls for health care that is sensitive to the needs of trans* FtM people coupled with high-quality information to alleviate the cycles through which discrimination is sustained.

Decision-theoretic saliency: computational principles, biological plausibility, and implications for neurophysiology and psychophysics.

PubMed

Gao, Dashan; Vasconcelos, Nuno

2009-01-01

A decision-theoretic formulation of visual saliency, first proposed for top-down processing (object recognition) (Gao & Vasconcelos, 2005a), is extended to the problem of bottom-up saliency. Under this formulation, optimality is defined in the minimum probability of error sense, under a constraint of computational parsimony. The saliency of the visual features at a given location of the visual field is defined as the power of those features to discriminate between the stimulus at the location and a null hypothesis. For bottom-up saliency, this is the set of visual features that surround the location under consideration. Discrimination is defined in an information-theoretic sense and the optimal saliency detector derived for a class of stimuli that complies with known statistical properties of natural images. It is shown that under the assumption that saliency is driven by linear filtering, the optimal detector consists of what is usually referred to as the standard architecture of V1: a cascade of linear filtering, divisive normalization, rectification, and spatial pooling. The optimal detector is also shown to replicate the fundamental properties of the psychophysics of saliency: stimulus pop-out, saliency asymmetries for stimulus presence versus absence, disregard of feature conjunctions, and Weber's law. Finally, it is shown that the optimal saliency architecture can be applied to the solution of generic inference problems. In particular, for the class of stimuli studied, it performs the three fundamental operations of statistical inference: assessment of probabilities, implementation of Bayes decision rule, and feature selection.

Rapid and Accurate Sequencing of Enterovirus Genomes Using MinION Nanopore Sequencer.

PubMed

Wang, Ji; Ke, Yue Hua; Zhang, Yong; Huang, Ke Qiang; Wang, Lei; Shen, Xin Xin; Dong, Xiao Ping; Xu, Wen Bo; Ma, Xue Jun

2017-10-01

Knowledge of an enterovirus genome sequence is very important in epidemiological investigation to identify transmission patterns and ascertain the extent of an outbreak. The MinION sequencer is increasingly used to sequence various viral pathogens in many clinical situations because of its long reads, portability, real-time accessibility of sequenced data, and very low initial costs. However, information is lacking on MinION sequencing of enterovirus genomes. In this proof-of-concept study using Enterovirus 71 (EV71) and Coxsackievirus A16 (CA16) strains as examples, we established an amplicon-based whole genome sequencing method using MinION. We explored the accuracy, minimum sequencing time, discrimination and high-throughput sequencing ability of MinION, and compared its performance with Sanger sequencing. Within the first minute (min) of sequencing, the accuracy of MinION was 98.5% for the single EV71 strain and 94.12%-97.33% for 10 genetically-related CA16 strains. In as little as 14 min, 99% identity was reached for the single EV71 strain, and in 17 min (on average), 99% identity was achieved for 10 CA16 strains in a single run. MinION is suitable for whole genome sequencing of enteroviruses with sufficient accuracy and fine discrimination and has the potential as a fast, reliable and convenient method for routine use. Copyright © 2017 The Editorial Board of Biomedical and Environmental Sciences. Published by China CDC. All rights reserved.

Abdominal girth and vertebral column length can adjust spinal anesthesia for lower limb surgery, a prospective, observational study.

PubMed

Zhou, Qing-he; Zhu, Bo; Wei, Chang-na; Yan, Min

2016-03-24

Studies have shown that abdominal girth and vertebral column length have high predictive value for spinal spread after administering a dose of plain bupivacaine. we designed a study to identify the specific correlations between abdominal girth, vertebral column length and a 0.5% dosage of plain bupivacaine, which should provide a minimum upper block level (T12) and a suitable upper block level (T10) for lower limb surgeries. A suitable dose of 0.5% plain bupivacaine was administered intrathecally between the L3 and L4 vertebrae for lower limb surgeries. If the upper cephalad spread of the patient by loss of pinprick discrimination was T12 or T10, the patient was enrolled in this study. Five patient variables and intrathecal plain bupivacaine dose were recorded. Linear regression and multiple regression analyses were performed. Totals of 111 patients and 121 patients who lost pinprick discrimination at T12 and T10, respectively, were analyzed in this study. Linear regression analysis showed that only abdominal girth and plain bupivacaine dose were strongly correlated (r =-0.827 for T12, r = -0.806 for T10; both p < 0.0001). Multiple linear regression analysis showed that both abdominal girth and vertebral column length were the key determinants of plain bupivacaine dose (both p < 0.0001). R(2) was 0.874 and 0.860 for the loss of pinprick discrimination at T12 and T10, respectively. Our data indicated that vertebral column length and abdominal girth were strongly correlated with the dosage of intrathecal plain bupivacaine for the loss of pinprick discrimination at T12 and T10. The two regression equations were YT12 = 3.547 + 0.045X1-0.044X2 and YT10 = 3.848 + 0.047X1- 0.046X2 (Y, 0.5% plain bupivacaine volume; X1, vertebral column length;and X 2, abdominal girth), which can accurately predict the minimum and suitable intrathecal bupivacaine dose for lower limb surgery to a great extent, separately.

The effects of reasons given for ineligibility on perceived gender discrimination and feelings of injustice.

PubMed

Kappen, D M; Branscombe, N R

2001-06-01

We examine whether the reason given for a negative outcome influences the likelihood of making gender discrimination attributions. Men and women were given one of four reasons for their ineligibility to attend an event: an explicit gender reason, a reason based on an attribute correlated with gender, that same gender-related reason with explanatory information attached, or they were given no reason. Providing participants with a reason based on a gender-related attribute deflected them from making attributions to gender discrimination, indicating that discrimination attributions can easily be averted. Adding explanatory information to the gender-related reason decreased feelings of injustice, illegitimacy and anger while increasing acceptance of the outcome.

Discriminative Multi-View Interactive Image Re-Ranking.

PubMed

Li, Jun; Xu, Chang; Yang, Wankou; Sun, Changyin; Tao, Dacheng

2017-07-01

Given an unreliable visual patterns and insufficient query information, content-based image retrieval is often suboptimal and requires image re-ranking using auxiliary information. In this paper, we propose a discriminative multi-view interactive image re-ranking (DMINTIR), which integrates user relevance feedback capturing users' intentions and multiple features that sufficiently describe the images. In DMINTIR, heterogeneous property features are incorporated in the multi-view learning scheme to exploit their complementarities. In addition, a discriminatively learned weight vector is obtained to reassign updated scores and target images for re-ranking. Compared with other multi-view learning techniques, our scheme not only generates a compact representation in the latent space from the redundant multi-view features but also maximally preserves the discriminative information in feature encoding by the large-margin principle. Furthermore, the generalization error bound of the proposed algorithm is theoretically analyzed and shown to be improved by the interactions between the latent space and discriminant function learning. Experimental results on two benchmark data sets demonstrate that our approach boosts baseline retrieval quality and is competitive with the other state-of-the-art re-ranking strategies.

Synthesis and analysis of discriminators under influence of broadband non-Gaussian noise

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Artyushenko, V. M.; Volovach, V. I.

2018-01-01

We considered the problems of the synthesis and analysis of discriminators, when the useful signal is exposed to non-Gaussian additive broadband noise. It is shown that in this case, the discriminator of the tracking meter should contain the nonlinear transformation unit, the characteristics of which are determined by the Fisher information relative to the probability density function of the mixture of non-Gaussian broadband noise and mismatch errors. The parameters of the discriminatory and phase characteristics of the discriminators working under the above conditions are obtained. It is shown that the efficiency of non-linear processing depends on the ratio of power of FM noise to the power of Gaussian noise. The analysis of the information loss of signal transformation caused by the linear section of discriminatory characteristics of the unit of nonlinear transformations of the discriminator is carried out. It is shown that the average slope of the nonlinear transformation characteristic is determined by the Fisher information relative to the probability density function of the mixture of non-Gaussian noise and mismatch errors.

Integrated all-optical logic discriminators based on plasmonic bandgap engineering

PubMed Central

Lu, Cuicui; Hu, Xiaoyong; Yang, Hong; Gong, Qihuang

2013-01-01

Optical computing uses photons as information carriers, opening up the possibility for ultrahigh-speed and ultrawide-band information processing. Integrated all-optical logic devices are indispensible core components of optical computing systems. However, up to now, little experimental progress has been made in nanoscale all-optical logic discriminators, which have the function of discriminating and encoding incident light signals according to wavelength. Here, we report a strategy to realize a nanoscale all-optical logic discriminator based on plasmonic bandgap engineering in a planar plasmonic microstructure. Light signals falling within different operating wavelength ranges are differentiated and endowed with different logic state encodings. Compared with values previously reported, the operating bandwidth is enlarged by one order of magnitude. Also the SPP light source is integrated with the logic device while retaining its ultracompact size. This opens up a way to construct on-chip all-optical information processors and artificial intelligence systems. PMID:24071647

Orthogonal sparse linear discriminant analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Zhonghua; Liu, Gang; Pu, Jiexin; Wang, Xiaohong; Wang, Haijun

2018-03-01

Linear discriminant analysis (LDA) is a linear feature extraction approach, and it has received much attention. On the basis of LDA, researchers have done a lot of research work on it, and many variant versions of LDA were proposed. However, the inherent problem of LDA cannot be solved very well by the variant methods. The major disadvantages of the classical LDA are as follows. First, it is sensitive to outliers and noises. Second, only the global discriminant structure is preserved, while the local discriminant information is ignored. In this paper, we present a new orthogonal sparse linear discriminant analysis (OSLDA) algorithm. The k nearest neighbour graph is first constructed to preserve the locality discriminant information of sample points. Then, L2,1-norm constraint on the projection matrix is used to act as loss function, which can make the proposed method robust to outliers in data points. Extensive experiments have been performed on several standard public image databases, and the experiment results demonstrate the performance of the proposed OSLDA algorithm.

The discrimination of colored acrylic, cotton, and wool textile fibers using micro-Raman spectroscopy. Part 1: in situ detection and characterization of dyes.

PubMed

Buzzini, Patrick; Massonnet, Genevieve

2013-11-01

Raman spectroscopy has been applied to characterize fiber dyes and determine the discriminating ability of the method. Black, blue, and red acrylic, cotton, and wool samples were analyzed. Four excitation sources were used to obtain complementary responses in the case of fluorescent samples. Fibers that did not provide informative spectra using a given laser were usually detected using another wavelength. For any colored acrylic, the 633-nm laser did not provide Raman information. The 514-nm laser provided the highest discrimination for blue and black cotton, but half of the blue cottons produced noninformative spectra. The 830-nm laser exhibited the highest discrimination for red cotton. Both visible lasers provided the highest discrimination for black and blue wool, and NIR lasers produced remarkable separation for red and black wool. This study shows that the discriminating ability of Raman spectroscopy depends on the fiber type, color, and the laser wavelength. © 2013 American Academy of Forensic Sciences.

Sequential Ideal-Observer Analysis of Visual Discriminations.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Geisler, Wilson S.

1989-01-01

A new analysis, based on the concept of the ideal observer in signal detection theory, is described. It allows: tracing of the flow of discrimination information through the initial physiological stages of visual processing for arbitrary spatio-chromatic stimuli, and measurement of the information content of said visual stimuli. (TJH)

76 FR 13977 - Proposed Information Collection; Comment Request; Complaint of Discrimination Against the U.S...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-03-15

... DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE Office of the Secretary Proposed Information Collection; Comment Request; Complaint of Discrimination Against the U.S. Department of Commerce AGENCY: Office of the Secretary, Office of Civil Rights. ACTION: Notice. SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce, as part of its continuing...

76 FR 15939 - Proposed Information Collection; Comment Request; Complaint of Discrimination Based on Sexual...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-03-22

... DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE Office of the Secretary Proposed Information Collection; Comment Request; Complaint of Discrimination Based on Sexual Orientation Against the U.S. Department of Commerce AGENCY... discriminatory treatment based on sexual orientation by the Department of Commerce or one of its subagencies...

Structural and Discriminant Validity of the Career Factors Inventory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dickinson, Josephine; Tokar, David M.

2004-01-01

Using a sample of 350 college students, this study examined the structural and discriminant validity of the Career Factors Inventory (CFI; Chartrand, Robbins, Morrill, & Boggs, 1990), a multidimensional measure of career indecision intended to be scored for two informational indecision components (Need for Career Information and Need for…

Lithological mapping of Kanjamalai hill using hyperspectral remote sensing tools in Salem district, Tamil Nadu, India

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Arulbalaji, Palanisamy; Balasubramanian, Gurugnanam

2017-07-01

This study uses advanced spaceborne thermal emission and reflection radiometer (ASTER) hyperspectral remote sensing techniques to discriminate rock types composing Kanjamalai hill located in the Salem district of Tamil Nadu, India. Kanjamalai hill is of particular interest because it contains economically viable iron ore deposits. ASTER hyperspectral data were subjected to principal component analysis (PCA), independent component analysis (ICA), and minimum noise fraction (MNF) to improve identification of lithologies remotely and to compare these digital data results with published geologic maps. Hyperspectral remote sensing analysis indicates that PCA (R∶G∶B=2∶1∶3), MNF (R∶G∶B=3∶2∶1), and ICA (R∶G∶B=1∶3∶2) provide the best band combination for effective discrimination of lithological rock types composing Kanjamalai hill. The remote sensing-derived lithological map compares favorably with a published geological map from Geological Survey of India and has been verified with ground truth field investigations. Therefore, ASTER data-based lithological mapping provides fast, cost-effective, and accurate geologic data useful for lithological discrimination and identification of ore deposits.

Development of an Asian American parental racial-ethnic socialization scale.

PubMed

Juang, Linda P; Shen, Yishan; Kim, Su Yeong; Wang, Yijie

2016-07-01

To develop a measure of parental racial-ethnic socialization that is appropriate for Asian American families. To test the reliability and validity of this new measure, we surveyed 575 Asian American emerging adults (49% female, 79% U.S. born). Using exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, the results show 7 reliable subscales: maintenance of heritage culture, becoming American, awareness of discrimination, avoidance of other groups, minimization of race, promotion of equality, and cultural pluralism. Tests of factorial invariance show that overall, the subscales demonstrate, at minimum, partial metric invariance across gender, age, nativity, educational attainment, parent educational attainment, geographic region of residence, and Asian-heritage region. Thus, the relations among the subscales with other variables can be compared across these different subgroups. The subscales also correlated with ethnic identity, ethnic centrality, perceptions of discrimination, and pluralistic orientation, demonstrating construct validity. In an increasingly complex and diverse social world, our scale will be useful for gaining a better understanding of how Asian American parents socialize their children regarding issues of race, discrimination, culture, and diversity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Pre-attentive auditory discrimination skill in Indian classical vocal musicians and non-musicians.

PubMed

Sanju, Himanshu Kumar; Kumar, Prawin

2016-09-01

To test for pre-attentive auditory discrimination skills in Indian classical vocal musicians and non-musicians. Mismatch negativity (MMN) was recorded to test for pre-attentive auditory discrimination skills with a pair of stimuli of /1000 Hz/ and /1100 Hz/, with /1000 Hz/ as the frequent stimulus and /1100 Hz/ as the infrequent stimulus. Onset, offset and peak latencies were the considered latency parameters, whereas peak amplitude and area under the curve were considered for amplitude analysis. Exactly 50 participants, out of which the experimental group had 25 adult Indian classical vocal musicians and 25 age-matched non-musicians served as the control group, were included in the study. Experimental group participants had a minimum professional music experience in Indian classic vocal music of 10 years. However, control group participants did not have any formal training in music. Descriptive statistics showed better waveform morphology in the experimental group as compared to the control. MANOVA showed significantly better onset latency, peak amplitude and area under the curve in the experimental group but no significant difference in the offset and peak latencies between the two groups. The present study probably points towards the enhancement of pre-attentive auditory discrimination skills in Indian classical vocal musicians compared to non-musicians. It indicates that Indian classical musical training enhances pre-attentive auditory discrimination skills in musicians, leading to higher peak amplitude and a greater area under the curve compared to non-musicians.

28 CFR 42.406 - Data and information collection.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... OPPORTUNITY; POLICIES AND PROCEDURES Coordination of Enforcement of Non-discrimination in Federally Assisted... such services on the basis of prohibited discrimination; (2) The population eligible to be served by... discrimination; (5) The present or proposed membership, by race, color and national origin, in any planning or...

28 CFR 42.406 - Data and information collection.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... OPPORTUNITY; POLICIES AND PROCEDURES Coordination of Enforcement of Non-discrimination in Federally Assisted... such services on the basis of prohibited discrimination; (2) The population eligible to be served by... discrimination; (5) The present or proposed membership, by race, color and national origin, in any planning or...

28 CFR 42.406 - Data and information collection.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... OPPORTUNITY; POLICIES AND PROCEDURES Coordination of Enforcement of Non-discrimination in Federally Assisted... such services on the basis of prohibited discrimination; (2) The population eligible to be served by... discrimination; (5) The present or proposed membership, by race, color and national origin, in any planning or...

28 CFR 42.406 - Data and information collection.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... OPPORTUNITY; POLICIES AND PROCEDURES Coordination of Enforcement of Non-discrimination in Federally Assisted... such services on the basis of prohibited discrimination; (2) The population eligible to be served by... discrimination; (5) The present or proposed membership, by race, color and national origin, in any planning or...

Information dynamics in living systems: prokaryotes, eukaryotes, and cancer.

PubMed

Frieden, B Roy; Gatenby, Robert A

2011-01-01

Living systems use information and energy to maintain stable entropy while far from thermodynamic equilibrium. The underlying first principles have not been established. We propose that stable entropy in living systems, in the absence of thermodynamic equilibrium, requires an information extremum (maximum or minimum), which is invariant to first order perturbations. Proliferation and death represent key feedback mechanisms that promote stability even in a non-equilibrium state. A system moves to low or high information depending on its energy status, as the benefit of information in maintaining and increasing order is balanced against its energy cost. Prokaryotes, which lack specialized energy-producing organelles (mitochondria), are energy-limited and constrained to an information minimum. Acquisition of mitochondria is viewed as a critical evolutionary step that, by allowing eukaryotes to achieve a sufficiently high energy state, permitted a phase transition to an information maximum. This state, in contrast to the prokaryote minima, allowed evolution of complex, multicellular organisms. A special case is a malignant cell, which is modeled as a phase transition from a maximum to minimum information state. The minimum leads to a predicted power-law governing the in situ growth that is confirmed by studies measuring growth of small breast cancers. We find living systems achieve a stable entropic state by maintaining an extreme level of information. The evolutionary divergence of prokaryotes and eukaryotes resulted from acquisition of specialized energy organelles that allowed transition from information minima to maxima, respectively. Carcinogenesis represents a reverse transition: of an information maximum to minimum. The progressive information loss is evident in accumulating mutations, disordered morphology, and functional decline characteristics of human cancers. The findings suggest energy restriction is a critical first step that triggers the genetic mutations that drive somatic evolution of the malignant phenotype.

Real-time detection and discrimination of visual perception using electrocorticographic signals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kapeller, C.; Ogawa, H.; Schalk, G.; Kunii, N.; Coon, W. G.; Scharinger, J.; Guger, C.; Kamada, K.

2018-06-01

Objective. Several neuroimaging studies have demonstrated that the ventral temporal cortex contains specialized regions that process visual stimuli. This study investigated the spatial and temporal dynamics of electrocorticographic (ECoG) responses to different types and colors of visual stimulation that were presented to four human participants, and demonstrated a real-time decoder that detects and discriminates responses to untrained natural images. Approach. ECoG signals from the participants were recorded while they were shown colored and greyscale versions of seven types of visual stimuli (images of faces, objects, bodies, line drawings, digits, and kanji and hiragana characters), resulting in 14 classes for discrimination (experiment I). Additionally, a real-time system asynchronously classified ECoG responses to faces, kanji and black screens presented via a monitor (experiment II), or to natural scenes (i.e. the face of an experimenter, natural images of faces and kanji, and a mirror) (experiment III). Outcome measures in all experiments included the discrimination performance across types based on broadband γ activity. Main results. Experiment I demonstrated an offline classification accuracy of 72.9% when discriminating among the seven types (without color separation). Further discrimination of grey versus colored images reached an accuracy of 67.1%. Discriminating all colors and types (14 classes) yielded an accuracy of 52.1%. In experiment II and III, the real-time decoder correctly detected 73.7% responses to face, kanji and black computer stimuli and 74.8% responses to presented natural scenes. Significance. Seven different types and their color information (either grey or color) could be detected and discriminated using broadband γ activity. Discrimination performance maximized for combined spatial-temporal information. The discrimination of stimulus color information provided the first ECoG-based evidence for color-related population-level cortical broadband γ responses in humans. Stimulus categories can be detected by their ECoG responses in real time within 500 ms with respect to stimulus onset.

Minimum information about a marker gene sequence (MIMARKS) and minimum information about any (x) sequence (MIxS) specifications

PubMed Central

Yilmaz, Pelin; Kottmann, Renzo; Field, Dawn; Knight, Rob; Cole, James R; Amaral-Zettler, Linda; Gilbert, Jack A; Karsch-Mizrachi, Ilene; Johnston, Anjanette; Cochrane, Guy; Vaughan, Robert; Hunter, Christopher; Park, Joonhong; Morrison, Norman; Rocca-Serra, Philippe; Sterk, Peter; Arumugam, Manimozhiyan; Bailey, Mark; Baumgartner, Laura; Birren, Bruce W; Blaser, Martin J; Bonazzi, Vivien; Booth, Tim; Bork, Peer; Bushman, Frederic D; Buttigieg, Pier Luigi; Chain, Patrick S G; Charlson, Emily; Costello, Elizabeth K; Huot-Creasy, Heather; Dawyndt, Peter; DeSantis, Todd; Fierer, Noah; Fuhrman, Jed A; Gallery, Rachel E; Gevers, Dirk; Gibbs, Richard A; Gil, Inigo San; Gonzalez, Antonio; Gordon, Jeffrey I; Guralnick, Robert; Hankeln, Wolfgang; Highlander, Sarah; Hugenholtz, Philip; Jansson, Janet; Kau, Andrew L; Kelley, Scott T; Kennedy, Jerry; Knights, Dan; Koren, Omry; Kuczynski, Justin; Kyrpides, Nikos; Larsen, Robert; Lauber, Christian L; Legg, Teresa; Ley, Ruth E; Lozupone, Catherine A; Ludwig, Wolfgang; Lyons, Donna; Maguire, Eamonn; Methé, Barbara A; Meyer, Folker; Muegge, Brian; Nakielny, Sara; Nelson, Karen E; Nemergut, Diana; Neufeld, Josh D; Newbold, Lindsay K; Oliver, Anna E; Pace, Norman R; Palanisamy, Giriprakash; Peplies, Jörg; Petrosino, Joseph; Proctor, Lita; Pruesse, Elmar; Quast, Christian; Raes, Jeroen; Ratnasingham, Sujeevan; Ravel, Jacques; Relman, David A; Assunta-Sansone, Susanna; Schloss, Patrick D; Schriml, Lynn; Sinha, Rohini; Smith, Michelle I; Sodergren, Erica; Spor, Aymé; Stombaugh, Jesse; Tiedje, James M; Ward, Doyle V; Weinstock, George M; Wendel, Doug; White, Owen; Whiteley, Andrew; Wilke, Andreas; Wortman, Jennifer R; Yatsunenko, Tanya; Glöckner, Frank Oliver

2012-01-01

Here we present a standard developed by the Genomic Standards Consortium (GSC) for reporting marker gene sequences—the minimum information about a marker gene sequence (MIMARKS). We also introduce a system for describing the environment from which a biological sample originates. The ‘environmental packages’ apply to any genome sequence of known origin and can be used in combination with MIMARKS and other GSC checklists. Finally, to establish a unified standard for describing sequence data and to provide a single point of entry for the scientific community to access and learn about GSC checklists, we present the minimum information about any (x) sequence (MIxS). Adoption of MIxS will enhance our ability to analyze natural genetic diversity documented by massive DNA sequencing efforts from myriad ecosystems in our ever-changing biosphere. PMID:21552244

Geologic information from satellite images

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lee, K.; Knepper, D. H.; Sawatzky, D. L.

1974-01-01

Extracting geologic information from ERTS and Skylab/EREP images is best done by a geologist trained in photo-interpretation. The information is at a regional scale, and three basic types are available: rock and soil, geologic structures, and landforms. Discrimination between alluvium and sedimentary or crystalline bedrock, and between units in thick sedimentary sequences is best, primarily because of topographic expression and vegetation differences. Discrimination between crystalline rock types is poor. Folds and fractures are the best displayed geologic features. They are recognizable by topographic expression, drainage patterns, and rock or vegetation tonal patterns. Landforms are easily discriminated by their familiar shapes and patterns. Several examples demonstrate the applicability of satellite images to tectonic analysis and petroleum and mineral exploration.

Novel Strategy for Discrimination of Transcription Factor Binding Motifs Employing Mathematical Neural Network

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sugimoto, Asuka; Sumi, Takuya; Kang, Jiyoung; Tateno, Masaru

2017-07-01

Recognition in biological macromolecular systems, such as DNA-protein recognition, is one of the most crucial problems to solve toward understanding the fundamental mechanisms of various biological processes. Since specific base sequences of genome DNA are discriminated by proteins, such as transcription factors (TFs), finding TF binding motifs (TFBMs) in whole genome DNA sequences is currently a central issue in interdisciplinary biophysical and information sciences. In the present study, a novel strategy to create a discriminant function for discrimination of TFBMs by constituting mathematical neural networks (NNs) is proposed, together with a method to determine the boundary of signals (TFBMs) and noise in the NN-score (output) space. This analysis also leads to the mathematical limitation of discrimination in the recognition of features representing TFBMs, in an information geometrical manifold. Thus, the present strategy enables the identification of the whole space of TFBMs, right up to the noise boundary.

Energy-Discriminative Performance of a Spectral Micro-CT System

PubMed Central

He, Peng; Yu, Hengyong; Bennett, James; Ronaldson, Paul; Zainon, Rafidah; Butler, Anthony; Butler, Phil; Wei, Biao; Wang, Ge

2013-01-01

Experiments were performed to evaluate the energy-discriminative performance of a spectral (multi-energy) micro-CT system. The system, designed by MARS (Medipix All Resolution System) Bio-Imaging Ltd. (Christchurch, New Zealand), employs a photon-counting energy-discriminative detector technology developed by CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research). We used the K-edge attenuation characteristic of some known materials to calibrate the detector’s photon energy discrimination. For tomographic analysis, we used the compressed sensing (CS) based ordered-subset simultaneous algebraic reconstruction techniques (OS-SART) to reconstruct sample images, which is effective to reduce noise and suppress artifacts. Unlike conventional CT, the principal component analysis (PCA) method can be applied to extract and quantify additional attenuation information from a spectral CT dataset. Our results show that the spectral CT has a good energy-discriminative performance and provides more attenuation information than the conventional CT. PMID:24004864

An Information-Theoretical Approach to Image Resolution Applied to Neutron Imaging Detectors Based Upon Individual Discriminator Signals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Clergeau, Jean-François; Ferraton, Matthieu; Guérard, Bruno; Khaplanov, Anton; Piscitelli, Francesco; Platz, Martin; Rigal, Jean-Marie; Van Esch, Patrick; Daullé, Thibault

2017-01-01

1D or 2D neutron position sensitive detectors with individual wire or strip readout using discriminators have the advantage of being able to treat several neutron impacts partially overlapping in time, hence reducing global dead time. A single neutron impact usually gives rise to several discriminator signals. In this paper, we introduce an information-theoretical definition of image resolution. Two point-like spots of neutron impacts with a given distance between them act as a source of information (each neutron hit belongs to one spot or the other), and the detector plus signal treatment is regarded as an imperfect communication channel that transmits this information. The maximal mutual information obtained from this channel as a function of the distance between the spots allows to define a calibration-independent measure of position resolution. We then apply this measure to quantify the power of position resolution of different algorithms treating these individual discriminator signals which can be implemented in firmware. The method is then applied to different detectors existing at the ILL. Center-of-gravity methods usually improve the position resolution over best-wire algorithms which are the standard way of treating these signals.

Upper bounds on the error probabilities and asymptotic error exponents in quantum multiple state discrimination

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

Audenaert, Koenraad M. R., E-mail: koenraad.audenaert@rhul.ac.uk; Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Ghent, S9, Krijgslaan 281, B-9000 Ghent; Mosonyi, Milán, E-mail: milan.mosonyi@gmail.com

2014-10-01

We consider the multiple hypothesis testing problem for symmetric quantum state discrimination between r given states σ₁, …, σ{sub r}. By splitting up the overall test into multiple binary tests in various ways we obtain a number of upper bounds on the optimal error probability in terms of the binary error probabilities. These upper bounds allow us to deduce various bounds on the asymptotic error rate, for which it has been hypothesized that it is given by the multi-hypothesis quantum Chernoff bound (or Chernoff divergence) C(σ₁, …, σ{sub r}), as recently introduced by Nussbaum and Szkoła in analogy with Salikhov'smore » classical multi-hypothesis Chernoff bound. This quantity is defined as the minimum of the pairwise binary Chernoff divergences min{sub j« less

14 CFR 23.1523 - Minimum flight crew.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... 14 Aeronautics and Space 1 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Minimum flight crew. 23.1523 Section 23... Information § 23.1523 Minimum flight crew. The minimum flight crew must be established so that it is... commuter category airplanes, each crewmember workload determination must consider the following: (1) Flight...

14 CFR 23.1523 - Minimum flight crew.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... 14 Aeronautics and Space 1 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Minimum flight crew. 23.1523 Section 23... Information § 23.1523 Minimum flight crew. The minimum flight crew must be established so that it is... commuter category airplanes, each crewmember workload determination must consider the following: (1) Flight...

14 CFR 23.1523 - Minimum flight crew.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 14 Aeronautics and Space 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Minimum flight crew. 23.1523 Section 23... Information § 23.1523 Minimum flight crew. The minimum flight crew must be established so that it is... commuter category airplanes, each crewmember workload determination must consider the following: (1) Flight...

14 CFR 23.1513 - Minimum control speed.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 14 Aeronautics and Space 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Minimum control speed. 23.1513 Section 23.1513 Aeronautics and Space FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION AIRCRAFT... Information § 23.1513 Minimum control speed. The minimum control speed V MC, determined under § 23.149, must...

14 CFR 23.1513 - Minimum control speed.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... 14 Aeronautics and Space 1 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Minimum control speed. 23.1513 Section 23.1513 Aeronautics and Space FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION AIRCRAFT... Information § 23.1513 Minimum control speed. The minimum control speed V MC, determined under § 23.149, must...

76 FR 40874 - Information Collection; Equal Opportunity Compliance Review Record

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-07-12

... of the Education Amendments Act of 1972. The Age Discrimination Act of 1975, as amended. Section 504... monitoring will take place to ensure the public is being served without any barriers or discrimination... receives services without discrimination or barriers to access, and that recipients' employees understand...

No Room at the Top: Sex Discrimination in Higher Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sorgman, Margo

Data are presented on women in higher education, along with information on federal legislation to eliminate sex discrimination, issues concerning redressing employment discrimination, specific problems with legislative procedures and enforcement of legislation, and case studies that highlight some of the processes involved. Evidence is cited that…

29 CFR 1635.6 - Causing a covered entity to discriminate.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... 29 Labor 4 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false Causing a covered entity to discriminate. 1635.6 Section 1635.6 Labor Regulations Relating to Labor (Continued) EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION GENETIC INFORMATION NONDISCRIMINATION ACT OF 2008 § 1635.6 Causing a covered entity to discriminate. A covered entity...

29 CFR 1635.6 - Causing a covered entity to discriminate.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... 29 Labor 4 2013-07-01 2013-07-01 false Causing a covered entity to discriminate. 1635.6 Section 1635.6 Labor Regulations Relating to Labor (Continued) EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION GENETIC INFORMATION NONDISCRIMINATION ACT OF 2008 § 1635.6 Causing a covered entity to discriminate. A covered entity...

29 CFR 1635.6 - Causing a covered entity to discriminate.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... 29 Labor 4 2012-07-01 2012-07-01 false Causing a covered entity to discriminate. 1635.6 Section 1635.6 Labor Regulations Relating to Labor (Continued) EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION GENETIC INFORMATION NONDISCRIMINATION ACT OF 2008 § 1635.6 Causing a covered entity to discriminate. A covered entity...

29 CFR 1635.6 - Causing a covered entity to discriminate.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 29 Labor 4 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Causing a covered entity to discriminate. 1635.6 Section 1635.6 Labor Regulations Relating to Labor (Continued) EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION GENETIC INFORMATION NONDISCRIMINATION ACT OF 2008 § 1635.6 Causing a covered entity to discriminate. A covered entity...

The Discriminating Power of Items that Measure More than One Dimension.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Reckase, Mark D.

The work presented in this paper defined conceptually the concepts of multidimensional discrimination and information, derived mathematical expressions for the concepts for a particular multidimensional item response theory (IRT) model, and applied the concepts to actual test data. Multidimensional discrimination was defined as a function of the…

75 FR 27815 - Civil Rights Division; Disability Rights Section: Agency Information Collection Activities Under...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-05-18

... Act of 1973 Discrimination Complaint Form. The Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division... Americans with Disabilities Act/Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 Discrimination Complaint Form... discrimination by public entities based on disability. Under title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act, an...

75 FR 9434 - Civil Rights Division, Disability Rights Section; Agency Information Collection Activities Under...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-03-02

... Act of 1973 Discrimination Complaint Form. The Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division... Act of 1973 Discrimination Complaint Form. (3) The agency form number and applicable component of the...: Individuals alleging discrimination by public entities based on disability. Under title II of the Americans...

Discrimination-Aware Classifiers for Student Performance Prediction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Luo, Ling; Koprinska, Irena; Liu, Wei

2015-01-01

In this paper we consider discrimination-aware classification of educational data. Mining and using rules that distinguish groups of students based on sensitive attributes such as gender and nationality may lead to discrimination. It is desirable to keep the sensitive attributes during the training of a classifier to avoid information loss but…

Detection and direction discrimination of single vortex rings by harbour seals (Phoca vitulina).

PubMed

Krüger, Yvonne; Hanke, Wolf; Miersch, Lars; Dehnhardt, Guido

2018-04-25

Harbour seals possess highly sensitive vibrissae that enable them to track hydrodynamic trails left behind by a swimming fish. Most of these trails contain vortex rings as a main hydrodynamic component. They may reveal information about their generator as the trails differ depending on the fish species, the fish's body shape, size and swimming style. In addition, fish generate single vortex rings in diverse natural situations. In this study, the ability of blindfolded stationary harbour seals to detect and analyse single vortex rings regarding directional information has been investigated. In three different behavioural experiments, the animals were trained to respond to single artificially generated vortex rings. The results show that harbour seals are able to respond to a variety of different vortex rings upon vibrissal stimulation. The investigation of the minimum hydrodynamically perceivable angle revealed that it is at least as small as 5.7 deg, which was the smallest adjustable angle. Moreover, harbour seals are capable of analysing the travel direction of a vortex ring perceived by the mystacial vibrissae irrespective of whether the vibrissae were stimulated ipsilaterally or contralaterally. In situations in which no complex hydrodynamic trail is available, it is advantageous for a hunting seal to be able to extract information from a single vortex ring. © 2018. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd.

Word Importance Discrimination using Context Information

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-11-01

Word importance discrimination using context information Danil Nemirovskya,b and Vladimir Dobryninb aINRIA Sophia Antipolis, France bSt. Petersburg...information 5a. CONTRACT NUMBER 5b. GRANT NUMBER 5c. PROGRAM ELEMENT NUMBER 6. AUTHOR(S) 5d. PROJECT NUMBER 5e. TASK NUMBER 5f. WORK UNIT NUMBER 7...PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) INRIA,Sophia Antipolis, France , 8. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION REPORT NUMBER 9. SPONSORING/MONITORING

[Concordance between a head circumference growth function and intellectual disability in relation with the cause of microcephaly].

PubMed

Coronado, R; Macaya Ruíz, A; Giraldo Arjonilla, J; Roig-Quilis, M

2015-08-01

Our aim was to investigate the correlations between patterns of head growth and intellectual disability among distinct aetiological presentations of microcephaly. 3,269 head circumference (HC) charts of patients from a tertiary neuropediatric unit were reviewed and 136 microcephalic participants selected. Using the Z-scores of registered HC measurements we defined the variables: HC Minimum, HC Drop and HC Catch-up. We classified patients according to the presence or absence of intellectual disability (IQ below 71) and according to the cause of microcephaly (idiopathic, familial, syndromic, symptomatic and mixed). Using Discriminant Analysis a C-function was defined as C=HC Minimum + HC Drop with a cut-off level of C=-4.32 Z-score. In our sample 95% of patients scoring below this level, severe microcephaly, were classified in the disabled group while the overall concordance was 66%. In the symptomatic-mixed group the concordance between HC function and outcome reached 82% in contrast to only 54% in the idiopathic-syndromic group (P-value=0.0002). We defined a HC growth function which discriminates intellectual disability of microcephalic patients better than isolated HC measurements, especially for those with secondary and mixed aetiologies. Copyright © 2014 Asociación Española de Pediatría. Published by Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

Cortical activity patterns predict robust speech discrimination ability in noise

PubMed Central

Shetake, Jai A.; Wolf, Jordan T.; Cheung, Ryan J.; Engineer, Crystal T.; Ram, Satyananda K.; Kilgard, Michael P.

2012-01-01

The neural mechanisms that support speech discrimination in noisy conditions are poorly understood. In quiet conditions, spike timing information appears to be used in the discrimination of speech sounds. In this study, we evaluated the hypothesis that spike timing is also used to distinguish between speech sounds in noisy conditions that significantly degrade neural responses to speech sounds. We tested speech sound discrimination in rats and recorded primary auditory cortex (A1) responses to speech sounds in background noise of different intensities and spectral compositions. Our behavioral results indicate that rats, like humans, are able to accurately discriminate consonant sounds even in the presence of background noise that is as loud as the speech signal. Our neural recordings confirm that speech sounds evoke degraded but detectable responses in noise. Finally, we developed a novel neural classifier that mimics behavioral discrimination. The classifier discriminates between speech sounds by comparing the A1 spatiotemporal activity patterns evoked on single trials with the average spatiotemporal patterns evoked by known sounds. Unlike classifiers in most previous studies, this classifier is not provided with the stimulus onset time. Neural activity analyzed with the use of relative spike timing was well correlated with behavioral speech discrimination in quiet and in noise. Spike timing information integrated over longer intervals was required to accurately predict rat behavioral speech discrimination in noisy conditions. The similarity of neural and behavioral discrimination of speech in noise suggests that humans and rats may employ similar brain mechanisms to solve this problem. PMID:22098331

Item Information and Discrimination Functions for Trinary PCM Items.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Akkermans, Wies; Muraki, Eiji

1997-01-01

For trinary partial credit items, the shape of the item information and item discrimination functions is examined in relation to the item parameters. Conditions under which these functions are unimodal and bimodal are discussed, and the locations and values of maxima are derived. Practical relevance of the results is discussed. (SLD)

Discrimination and Good Practice Activities in Education: Trends and Developments in the 27 EU Member States

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pollak, Alexander

2008-01-01

The European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights collects, through its network of observation points, information on discrimination and good practice in the areas of legislation, employment, housing, racist violence, and education. Data on education includes information on: access to education for vulnerable groups, discriminatory practices,…

Information Processing Limitations as Revealed by Temporal Discrimination

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lavoie, Philippe; Grondin, Simon

2004-01-01

Information processing limit is a fundamental issue in cognitive psychology. One particular way of studying it is to adopt a temporal span perspective. In this experiment, Weber fractions based on thresholds for duration discrimination are used for adopting this perspective. The results showed that, contrary to the constant predicted by Weber's…

How much information is in a jet?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Datta, Kaustuv; Larkoski, Andrew

2017-06-01

Machine learning techniques are increasingly being applied toward data analyses at the Large Hadron Collider, especially with applications for discrimination of jets with different originating particles. Previous studies of the power of machine learning to jet physics have typically employed image recognition, natural language processing, or other algorithms that have been extensively developed in computer science. While these studies have demonstrated impressive discrimination power, often exceeding that of widely-used observables, they have been formulated in a non-constructive manner and it is not clear what additional information the machines are learning. In this paper, we study machine learning for jet physics constructively, expressing all of the information in a jet onto sets of observables that completely and minimally span N-body phase space. For concreteness, we study the application of machine learning for discrimination of boosted, hadronic decays of Z bosons from jets initiated by QCD processes. Our results demonstrate that the information in a jet that is useful for discrimination power of QCD jets from Z bosons is saturated by only considering observables that are sensitive to 4-body (8 dimensional) phase space.

Experiences of Discrimination Among Youth with HIV/AIDS in Ibadan, Nigeria.

PubMed

Sangowawa, Adesola O; Owoaje, Eme T

2012-03-07

Nigerian youth currently bear a disproportionate burden of the HIV epidemic. This paper presents findings on the occurrence of HIV-related discrimination among youth with HIV accessing care in Ibadan, Nigeria. A cross-sectional study was conducted and information on history of discrimination experienced by 170 youth with HIV was obtained. About 80% of respondents had disclosed their HIV status. The majority had informed their spouses (66.3%), mothers (47.1%), fathers (39.1%) and siblings (37.7%). Sixteen (11.5%) respondents [15 (93.8%) females and one (6.2%) male] had suffered discrimination since disclosure of their status. Of these, 25.0% respondents were sent out of their matrimonial homes by their husbands, 25.0% were abandoned by their spouses and 12.5% indicated their fiancé broke up their relationship. A higher proportion of females (12.9%) than males (4.3%) had suffered discrimination. In addition, a significant proportion of respondents who were separated/divorced (73.3%) had been victims of discrimination compared with those who were widowed (10.5%) or single (5.9%) (P<0.05). The study confirmed that young people living with HIV/AIDS, especially women experience extreme forms of discrimination. More efforts aimed at addressing HIV/AIDS-related discrimination are required especially as it is a known barrier to HIV prevention and treatment efforts.

The effect of spatial orientation on detecting motion trajectories in noise.

PubMed

Pavan, Andrea; Casco, Clara; Mather, George; Bellacosa, Rosilari M; Cuturi, Luigi F; Campana, Gianluca

2011-09-15

A series of experiments investigated the extent to which the spatial orientation of a signal line affects discrimination of its trajectory from the random trajectories of background noise lines. The orientation of the signal line was either parallel (iso-) or orthogonal (ortho-) to its motion direction and it was identical in all respects to the noise (orientation, length and speed) except for its motion direction, rendering the signal line indistinguishable from the noise on a frame-to-frame basis. We found that discrimination of ortho-trajectories was generally better than iso-trajectories. Discrimination of ortho-trajectories was largely immune to the effects of spatial jitter in the trajectory, and to variations in step size and line-length. Discrimination of iso-trajectories was reliable provided that step-size was not too short and did not exceed line length, and that the trajectory was straight. The new result that trajectory discrimination in moving line elements is modulated by line orientation suggests that ortho- and iso-trajectory discrimination rely upon two distinct mechanisms: iso-motion discrimination involves a 'motion-streak' process that combines motion information with information about orientation parallel to the motion trajectory, while ortho-motion discrimination involves extended trajectory facilitation in a network of receptive fields with orthogonal orientation tuning. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Sub-pattern based multi-manifold discriminant analysis for face recognition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dai, Jiangyan; Guo, Changlu; Zhou, Wei; Shi, Yanjiao; Cong, Lin; Yi, Yugen

2018-04-01

In this paper, we present a Sub-pattern based Multi-manifold Discriminant Analysis (SpMMDA) algorithm for face recognition. Unlike existing Multi-manifold Discriminant Analysis (MMDA) approach which is based on holistic information of face image for recognition, SpMMDA operates on sub-images partitioned from the original face image and then extracts the discriminative local feature from the sub-images separately. Moreover, the structure information of different sub-images from the same face image is considered in the proposed method with the aim of further improve the recognition performance. Extensive experiments on three standard face databases (Extended YaleB, CMU PIE and AR) demonstrate that the proposed method is effective and outperforms some other sub-pattern based face recognition methods.

Cooperative synchronized assemblies enhance orientation discrimination.

PubMed

Samonds, Jason M; Allison, John D; Brown, Heather A; Bonds, A B

2004-04-27

There is no clear link between the broad tuning of single neurons and the fine behavioral capabilities of orientation discrimination. We recorded from populations of cells in the cat visual cortex (area 17) to examine whether the joint activity of cells can support finer discrimination than found in individual responses. Analysis of joint firing yields a substantial advantage (i.e., cooperation) in fine-angle discrimination. This cooperation increases to more considerable levels as the population of an assembly is increased. The cooperation in a population of six cells provides encoding of orientation with an information advantage that is at least 2-fold in terms of requiring either fewer cells or less time than independent coding. This cooperation suggests that correlated or synchronized activity can increase information.

Minimum and Maximum Entropy Distributions for Binary Systems with Known Means and Pairwise Correlations

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-08-21

distributions, and we discuss some applications for engineered and biological information transmission systems. Keywords: information theory; minimum...of its interpretation as a measure of the amount of information communicable by a neural system to groups of downstream neurons. Previous authors...of the maximum entropy approach. Our results also have relevance for engineered information transmission systems. We show that empirically measured

Automatic tissue characterization from ultrasound imagery

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kadah, Yasser M.; Farag, Aly A.; Youssef, Abou-Bakr M.; Badawi, Ahmed M.

1993-08-01

In this work, feature extraction algorithms are proposed to extract the tissue characterization parameters from liver images. Then the resulting parameter set is further processed to obtain the minimum number of parameters representing the most discriminating pattern space for classification. This preprocessing step was applied to over 120 pathology-investigated cases to obtain the learning data for designing the classifier. The extracted features are divided into independent training and test sets and are used to construct both statistical and neural classifiers. The optimal criteria for these classifiers are set to have minimum error, ease of implementation and learning, and the flexibility for future modifications. Various algorithms for implementing various classification techniques are presented and tested on the data. The best performance was obtained using a single layer tensor model functional link network. Also, the voting k-nearest neighbor classifier provided comparably good diagnostic rates.

29 CFR 2590.701-1 - Basis and scope.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... creditable coverage. (4) Special enrollment periods. (5) Prohibition against discrimination on the basis of health factors. (6) Additional requirements prohibiting discrimination based on genetic information. (7...

26 CFR 54.9801-1 - Basis and scope.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... enrollment periods. (5) Prohibition against discrimination on the basis of health factors. (6) Additional requirements prohibiting discrimination based on genetic information. (c) Similar requirements under the...

26 CFR 54.9801-1 - Basis and scope.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... enrollment periods. (5) Prohibition against discrimination on the basis of health factors. (6) Additional requirements prohibiting discrimination based on genetic information. (c) Similar requirements under the...

Minimum Covers of Fixed Cardinality in Weighted Graphs.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

White, Lee J.

Reported is the result of research on combinatorial and algorithmic techniques for information processing. A method is discussed for obtaining minimum covers of specified cardinality from a given weighted graph. By the indicated method, it is shown that the family of minimum covers of varying cardinality is related to the minimum spanning tree of…

Identification and discrimination of bilingual talkers across languages1

PubMed Central

Winters, Stephen J.; Levi, Susannah V.; Pisoni, David B.

2008-01-01

This study investigated the extent to which language familiarity affects the perception of the indexical properties of speech by testing listeners’ identification and discrimination of bilingual talkers across two different languages. In one experiment, listeners were trained to identify bilingual talkers speaking in only one language and were then tested on their ability to identify the same talkers speaking in another language. In the second experiment, listeners discriminated between bilingual talkers across languages in an AX discrimination paradigm. The results of these experiments indicate that there is sufficient language-independent indexical information in speech for listeners to generalize knowledge of talkers’ voices across languages and to successfully discriminate between bilingual talkers regardless of the language they are speaking. However, the results of these studies also revealed that listeners do not solely rely on language-independent information when performing these tasks. Listeners use language-dependent indexical cues to identify talkers who are speaking a familiar language. Moreover, the tendency to perceive two talkers as the “same” or “different” depends on whether the talkers are speaking in the same language. The combined results of these experiments thus suggest that indexical processing relies on both language-dependent and language-independent information in the speech signal. PMID:18537401

Olfactory discrimination: when vision matters?

PubMed

Demattè, M Luisa; Sanabria, Daniel; Spence, Charles

2009-02-01

Many previous studies have attempted to investigate the effect of visual cues on olfactory perception in humans. The majority of this research has only looked at the modulatory effect of color, which has typically been explained in terms of multisensory perceptual interactions. However, such crossmodal effects may equally well relate to interactions taking place at a higher level of information processing as well. In fact, it is well-known that semantic knowledge can have a substantial effect on people's olfactory perception. In the present study, we therefore investigated the influence of visual cues, consisting of color patches and/or shapes, on people's olfactory discrimination performance. Participants had to make speeded odor discrimination responses (lemon vs. strawberry) while viewing a red or yellow color patch, an outline drawing of a strawberry or lemon, or a combination of these color and shape cues. Even though participants were instructed to ignore the visual stimuli, our results demonstrate that the accuracy of their odor discrimination responses was influenced by visual distractors. This result shows that both color and shape information are taken into account during speeded olfactory discrimination, even when such information is completely task irrelevant, hinting at the automaticity of such higher level visual-olfactory crossmodal interactions.

The Role of Intonation in Language Discrimination by Infants and Adults

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vicenik, Chad Joseph

2011-01-01

It has been widely shown that infants and adults are capable of using only prosodic information to discriminate between languages. However, it remains unclear which aspects of prosody, either rhythm or intonation, listeners attend to for language discrimination. Previous researchers have suggested that rhythm, the duration and timing of speech…

75 FR 52342 - Agency Information Collection Activities: Submission for OMB Review; Final Comment Request

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-08-25

... requirements under 29 CFR 1625.22, Waivers of rights and claims under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act... waiver agreements under the OWBPA. Abstract: The EEOC enforces the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) which prohibits discrimination against employees and applicants for employment who are age 40 or...

Children's Perceptions of Gender Discrimination

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brown, Christia Spears; Bigler, Rebecca S.

2004-01-01

Children (N = 76; ages 5-10 years) participated in a study designed to examine perceptions of gender discrimination. Children were read scenarios in which a teacher determined outcomes for 2 students (1 boy and 1 girl). Contextual information (i.e., teacher's past behavior), the gender of the target of discrimination (i.e., student), and the…

Phonetic, Phonemic, and Phonological Factors in Cross-Language Discrimination of Phonotactic Contrasts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Davidson, Lisa

2011-01-01

Previous research indicates that multiple levels of linguistic information play a role in the perception and discrimination of non-native phonemes. This study examines the interaction of phonetic, phonemic and phonological factors in the discrimination of non-native phonotactic contrasts. Listeners of Catalan, English, and Russian are presented…

The Impact of Racial Discrimination and Coping Strategies on Internalizing Symptoms in African American Youth

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gaylord-Harden, Noni K.; Cunningham, Jamila A.

2009-01-01

The current study examined the impact of racial discrimination stress on internalizing symptoms and coping strategies in a sample of 268 African American early adolescents (mean age = 12.90; 56% female) from low-income communities. Information about discrimination stress, coping, and internalizing symptoms was obtained via adolescents'…

Fractal dimension and the navigational information provided by natural scenes.

PubMed

Shamsyeh Zahedi, Moosarreza; Zeil, Jochen

2018-01-01

Recent work on virtual reality navigation in humans has suggested that navigational success is inversely correlated with the fractal dimension (FD) of artificial scenes. Here we investigate the generality of this claim by analysing the relationship between the fractal dimension of natural insect navigation environments and a quantitative measure of the navigational information content of natural scenes. We show that the fractal dimension of natural scenes is in general inversely proportional to the information they provide to navigating agents on heading direction as measured by the rotational image difference function (rotIDF). The rotIDF determines the precision and accuracy with which the orientation of a reference image can be recovered or maintained and the range over which a gradient descent in image differences will find the minimum of the rotIDF, that is the reference orientation. However, scenes with similar fractal dimension can differ significantly in the depth of the rotIDF, because FD does not discriminate between the orientations of edges, while the rotIDF is mainly affected by edge orientation parallel to the axis of rotation. We present a new equation for the rotIDF relating navigational information to quantifiable image properties such as contrast to show (1) that for any given scene the maximum value of the rotIDF (its depth) is proportional to pixel variance and (2) that FD is inversely proportional to pixel variance. This contrast dependence, together with scene differences in orientation statistics, explains why there is no strict relationship between FD and navigational information. Our experimental data and their numerical analysis corroborate these results.

Minimum information specification for in situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry experiments (MISFISHIE).

PubMed

Deutsch, Eric W; Ball, Catherine A; Berman, Jules J; Bova, G Steven; Brazma, Alvis; Bumgarner, Roger E; Campbell, David; Causton, Helen C; Christiansen, Jeffrey H; Daian, Fabrice; Dauga, Delphine; Davidson, Duncan R; Gimenez, Gregory; Goo, Young Ah; Grimmond, Sean; Henrich, Thorsten; Herrmann, Bernhard G; Johnson, Michael H; Korb, Martin; Mills, Jason C; Oudes, Asa J; Parkinson, Helen E; Pascal, Laura E; Pollet, Nicolas; Quackenbush, John; Ramialison, Mirana; Ringwald, Martin; Salgado, David; Sansone, Susanna-Assunta; Sherlock, Gavin; Stoeckert, Christian J; Swedlow, Jason; Taylor, Ronald C; Walashek, Laura; Warford, Anthony; Wilkinson, David G; Zhou, Yi; Zon, Leonard I; Liu, Alvin Y; True, Lawrence D

2008-03-01

One purpose of the biomedical literature is to report results in sufficient detail that the methods of data collection and analysis can be independently replicated and verified. Here we present reporting guidelines for gene expression localization experiments: the minimum information specification for in situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry experiments (MISFISHIE). MISFISHIE is modeled after the Minimum Information About a Microarray Experiment (MIAME) specification for microarray experiments. Both guidelines define what information should be reported without dictating a format for encoding that information. MISFISHIE describes six types of information to be provided for each experiment: experimental design, biomaterials and treatments, reporters, staining, imaging data and image characterizations. This specification has benefited the consortium within which it was developed and is expected to benefit the wider research community. We welcome feedback from the scientific community to help improve our proposal.

Informed consent for genetic research.

PubMed

Hamvas, Aaron; Madden, Katherine K; Nogee, Lawrence M; Trusgnich, Michelle A; Wegner, Daniel J; Heins, Hillary B; Cole, F Sessions

2004-06-01

Rapid technological advances in genetic research and public concern about genetic discrimination have led to anticipatory safeguards in the informed consent process in the absence of legal examples of proven discrimination. Despite federal and state regulations to restrict access to personal health information, including genetic information, institutional review boards have required the addition of language to informed consent documents that warns about the risks of discrimination with participation in genetic research. To determine the reasons that families refused consent for their infant's participation in a study evaluating a genetic cause of respiratory distress syndrome. Survey conducted between February 1, 2002, and March 31, 2003. Academic, tertiary free-standing children's hospital. A convenience sample of 465 families were approached for consent. The 135 families who refused consent were surveyed. Reasons for refusal. Of the nonconsenting families, 79% spontaneously and specifically identified institutionally required language in our consent form concerning the risk of denial of access to health insurance and employment as the primary reason for refusal; 97% indicated that their fears resulted directly from language in our consent form. Only 20% of families who refused consent cited inadequate time to consider the study. The institutionally required description of risk of genetic discrimination due solely to participation in genetic research was the primary reason for refusal to consent in this cohort. Information about federally and institutionally mandated protections for confidentiality of participants in genetic research should be included in the informed consent document to balance the description of hypothetical risks and more accurately inform subjects.

The surprisingly high human efficiency at learning to recognize faces

PubMed Central

Peterson, Matthew F.; Abbey, Craig K.; Eckstein, Miguel P.

2009-01-01

We investigated the ability of humans to optimize face recognition performance through rapid learning of individual relevant features. We created artificial faces with discriminating visual information heavily concentrated in single features (nose, eyes, chin or mouth). In each of 2500 learning blocks a feature was randomly selected and retained over the course of four trials, during which observers identified randomly sampled, noisy face images. Observers learned the discriminating feature through indirect feedback, leading to large performance gains. Performance was compared to a learning Bayesian ideal observer, resulting in unexpectedly high learning compared to previous studies with simpler stimuli. We explore various explanations and conclude that the higher learning measured with faces cannot be driven by adaptive eye movement strategies but can be mostly accounted for by suboptimalities in human face discrimination when observers are uncertain about the discriminating feature. We show that an initial bias of humans to use specific features to perform the task even though they are informed that each of four features is equally likely to be the discriminatory feature would lead to seemingly supra-optimal learning. We also examine the possibility of inefficient human integration of visual information across the spatially distributed facial features. Together, the results suggest that humans can show large performance improvement effects in discriminating faces as they learn to identify the feature containing the discriminatory information. PMID:19000918

A Discriminant Distance Based Composite Vector Selection Method for Odor Classification

PubMed Central

Choi, Sang-Il; Jeong, Gu-Min

2014-01-01

We present a composite vector selection method for an effective electronic nose system that performs well even in noisy environments. Each composite vector generated from a electronic nose data sample is evaluated by computing the discriminant distance. By quantitatively measuring the amount of discriminative information in each composite vector, composite vectors containing informative variables can be distinguished and the final composite features for odor classification are extracted using the selected composite vectors. Using the only informative composite vectors can be also helpful to extract better composite features instead of using all the generated composite vectors. Experimental results with different volatile organic compound data show that the proposed system has good classification performance even in a noisy environment compared to other methods. PMID:24747735

Blood perfusion construction for infrared face recognition based on bio-heat transfer.

PubMed

Xie, Zhihua; Liu, Guodong

2014-01-01

To improve the performance of infrared face recognition for time-lapse data, a new construction of blood perfusion is proposed based on bio-heat transfer. Firstly, by quantifying the blood perfusion based on Pennes equation, the thermal information is converted into blood perfusion rate, which is stable facial biological feature of face image. Then, the separability discriminant criterion in Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) domain is applied to extract the discriminative features of blood perfusion information. Experimental results demonstrate that the features of blood perfusion are more concentrative and discriminative for recognition than those of thermal information. The infrared face recognition based on the proposed blood perfusion is robust and can achieve better recognition performance compared with other state-of-the-art approaches.

Sex differences in audiovisual discrimination learning by Bengalese finches (Lonchura striata var. domestica).

PubMed

Seki, Yoshimasa; Okanoya, Kazuo

2008-02-01

Both visual and auditory information are important for songbirds, especially in developmental and sexual contexts. To investigate bimodal cognition in songbirds, the authors conducted audiovisual discrimination training in Bengalese finches. The authors used two types of stimulus: an "artificial stimulus," which is a combination of simple figures and sound, and a "biological stimulus," consisting of video images of singing males along with their songs. The authors found that while both sexes predominantly used visual cues in the discrimination tasks, males tended to be more dependent on auditory information for the biological stimulus. Female responses were always dependent on the visual stimulus for both stimulus types. Only males changed their discrimination strategy according to stimulus type. Although males used both visual and auditory cues for the biological stimulus, they responded to the artificial stimulus depending only on visual information, as the females did. These findings suggest a sex difference in innate auditory sensitivity. (c) 2008 APA.

Laypersons' perceptual discrimination of pigmented skin lesions.

PubMed

Bränström, Richard; Hedblad, Mari-Anne; Krakau, Ingvar; Ullén, Henrik

2002-05-01

Most cutaneous malignant melanomas of the skin are visible and should, at least in theory, be possible to detect with the naked eye. This study was conducted to learn more about laypersons' ability to discriminate between benign pigmented lesions and malignant ones. Four groups of laypersons (n = 120) were asked to evaluate pictures of different types of pigmented skin lesions, before and after they received information about the ABCD (asymmetry, border irregularity, color variegation, and diameter greater than 6 mm) criteria, with respect to the necessity of action. The respondents made adequate assessments of melanomas but overestimated the danger of benign pigmented skin lesions. Information about the ABCD criteria enhanced their ability to make adequate assessments. People seem to make adequate decisions concerning how to act if they have a melanoma. On the other hand, common moles and dysplastic nevi were harder to discriminate. Providing information to the public about the features of melanomas, in accordance with the ABCD criteria, might help laypersons in their perceptual discrimination of skin lesions.

25 CFR 547.15 - What are the minimum technical standards for electronic data communications between system...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... WITH THE PLAY OF CLASS II GAMES § 547.15 What are the minimum technical standards for electronic data...) Player tracking information; (8) Download Packages; and (9) Any information that affects game outcome. (b...

25 CFR 547.15 - What are the minimum technical standards for electronic data communications between system...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... WITH THE PLAY OF CLASS II GAMES § 547.15 What are the minimum technical standards for electronic data...) Player tracking information; (8) Download Packages; and (9) Any information that affects game outcome. (b...

25 CFR 547.15 - What are the minimum technical standards for electronic data communications between system...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... WITH THE PLAY OF CLASS II GAMES § 547.15 What are the minimum technical standards for electronic data...) Player tracking information; (8) Download Packages; and (9) Any information that affects game outcome. (b...

Nontargeted metabolomics approach for the differentiation of cultivation ages of mountain cultivated ginseng leaves using UHPLC/QTOF-MS.

PubMed

Chang, Xiangwei; Zhang, Juanjuan; Li, Dekun; Zhou, Dazheng; Zhang, Yuling; Wang, Jincheng; Hu, Bing; Ju, Aichun; Ye, Zhengliang

2017-07-15

The adulteration or falsification of the cultivation age of mountain cultivated ginseng (MCG) has been a serious problem in the commercial MCG market. To develop an efficient discrimination tool for the cultivation age and to explore potential age-dependent markers, an optimized ultra high-performance liquid chromatography/quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UHPLC/QTOF-MS)-based metabolomics approach was applied in the global metabolite profiling of 156 MCG leaf (MGL) samples aged from 6 to 18 years. Multivariate statistical methods such as principal component analysis (PCA) and partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) were used to compare the derived patterns between MGL samples of different cultivation ages. The present study demonstrated that 6-18-year-old MGL samples can be successfully discriminated using two simple successive steps, together with four PLS-DA discrimination models. Furthermore, 39 robust age-dependent markers enabling differentiation among the 6-18-year-old MGL samples were discovered. The results were validated by a permutation test and an external test set to verify the predictability and reliability of the established discrimination models. More importantly, without destroying the MCG roots, the proposed approach could also be applied to discriminate MCG root ages indirectly, using a minimum amount of homophyletic MGL samples combined with the established four PLS-DA models and identified markers. Additionally, to the best of our knowledge, this is the first study in which 6-18-year-old MCG root ages have been nondestructively differentiated by analyzing homophyletic MGL samples using UHPLC/QTOF-MS analysis and two simple successive steps together with four PLS-DA models. The method developed in this study can be used as a standard protocol for discriminating and predicting MGL ages directly and homophyletic MCG root ages indirectly. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Subject-based discriminative sparse representation model for detection of concealed information.

PubMed

Akhavan, Amir; Moradi, Mohammad Hassan; Vand, Safa Rafiei

2017-05-01

The use of machine learning approaches in concealed information test (CIT) plays a key role in the progress of this neurophysiological field. In this paper, we presented a new machine learning method for CIT in which each subject is considered independent of the others. The main goal of this study is to adapt the discriminative sparse models to be applicable for subject-based concealed information test. In order to provide sufficient discriminability between guilty and innocent subjects, we introduced a novel discriminative sparse representation model and its appropriate learning methods. For evaluation of the method forty-four subjects participated in a mock crime scenario and their EEG data were recorded. As the model input, in this study the recurrence plot features were extracted from single trial data of different stimuli. Then the extracted feature vectors were reduced using statistical dependency method. The reduced feature vector went through the proposed subject-based sparse model in which the discrimination power of sparse code and reconstruction error were applied simultaneously. Experimental results showed that the proposed approach achieved better performance than other competing discriminative sparse models. The classification accuracy, sensitivity and specificity of the presented sparsity-based method were about 93%, 91% and 95% respectively. Using the EEG data of a single subject in response to different stimuli types and with the aid of the proposed discriminative sparse representation model, one can distinguish guilty subjects from innocent ones. Indeed, this property eliminates the necessity of several subject EEG data in model learning and decision making for a specific subject. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The assessment of biases in the acoustic discrimination of individuals

PubMed Central

Šálek, Martin

2017-01-01

Animal vocalizations contain information about individual identity that could potentially be used for the monitoring of individuals. However, the performance of individual discrimination is subjected to many biases depending on factors such as the amount of identity information, or methods used. These factors need to be taken into account when comparing results of different studies or selecting the most cost-effective solution for a particular species. In this study, we evaluate several biases associated with the discrimination of individuals. On a large sample of little owl male individuals, we assess how discrimination performance changes with methods of call description, an increasing number of individuals, and number of calls per male. Also, we test whether the discrimination performance within the whole population can be reliably estimated from a subsample of individuals in a pre-screening study. Assessment of discrimination performance at the level of the individual and at the level of call led to different conclusions. Hence, studies interested in individual discrimination should optimize methods at the level of individuals. The description of calls by their frequency modulation leads to the best discrimination performance. In agreement with our expectations, discrimination performance decreased with population size. Increasing the number of calls per individual linearly increased the discrimination of individuals (but not the discrimination of calls), likely because it allows distinction between individuals with very similar calls. The available pre-screening index does not allow precise estimation of the population size that could be reliably monitored. Overall, projects applying acoustic monitoring at the individual level in population need to consider limitations regarding the population size that can be reliably monitored and fine-tune their methods according to their needs and limitations. PMID:28486488

PDC-SGB: Prediction of effective drug combinations using a stochastic gradient boosting algorithm.

PubMed

Xu, Qian; Xiong, Yi; Dai, Hao; Kumari, Kotni Meena; Xu, Qin; Ou, Hong-Yu; Wei, Dong-Qing

2017-03-21

Combinatorial therapy is a promising strategy for combating complex diseases by improving the efficacy and reducing the side effects. To facilitate the identification of drug combinations in pharmacology, we proposed a new computational model, termed PDC-SGB, to predict effective drug combinations by integrating biological, chemical and pharmacological information based on a stochastic gradient boosting algorithm. To begin with, a set of 352 golden positive samples were collected from the public drug combination database. Then, a set of 732 dimensional feature vector involving biological, chemical and pharmaceutical information was constructed for each drug combination to describe its properties. To avoid overfitting, the maximum relevance & minimum redundancy (mRMR) method was performed to extract useful ones by removing redundant subsets. Based on the selected features, the three different type of classification algorithms were employed to build the drug combination prediction models. Our results demonstrated that the model based on the stochastic gradient boosting algorithm yield out the best performance. Furthermore, it is indicated that the feature patterns of therapy had powerful ability to discriminate effective drug combinations from non-effective ones. By analyzing various features, it is shown that the enriched features occurred frequently in golden positive samples can help predict novel drug combinations. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Probabilistically Perfect Cloning of Two Pure States: Geometric Approach.

PubMed

Yerokhin, V; Shehu, A; Feldman, E; Bagan, E; Bergou, J A

2016-05-20

We solve the long-standing problem of making n perfect clones from m copies of one of two known pure states with minimum failure probability in the general case where the known states have arbitrary a priori probabilities. The solution emerges from a geometric formulation of the problem. This formulation reveals that cloning converges to state discrimination followed by state preparation as the number of clones goes to infinity. The convergence exhibits a phenomenon analogous to a second-order symmetry-breaking phase transition.

Association between household food security and infant feeding practices in urban informal settlements in Nairobi, Kenya.

PubMed

Macharia, T N; Ochola, S; Mutua, M K; Kimani-Murage, E W

2018-02-01

Studies in urban informal settlements show widespread inappropriate infant and young child feeding (IYCF) practices and high rates of food insecurity. This study assessed the association between household food security and IYCF practices in two urban informal settlements in Nairobi, Kenya. The study adopted a longitudinal design that involved a census sample of 1110 children less than 12 months of age and their mothers aged between 12 and 49 years. A questionnaire was used to collect information on: IYCF practices and household food security. Logistic regression was used to determine the association between food insecurity and IYFC practices. The findings showed high household food insecurity; only 19.5% of the households were food secure based on Household Insecurity Access Score. Infant feeding practices were inappropriate: 76% attained minimum meal frequency; 41% of the children attained a minimum dietary diversity; and 27% attained minimum acceptable diet. With the exception of the minimum meal frequency, infants living in food secure households were significantly more likely to achieve appropriate infant feeding practices than those in food insecure households: minimum meal frequency (adjusted odds ratio (AOR)=1.26, P=0.530); minimum dietary diversity (AOR=1.84, P=0.046) and minimum acceptable diet (AOR=2.35, P=0.008). The study adds to the existing body of knowledge by demonstrating an association between household food security and infant feeding practices in low-income settings. The findings imply that interventions aimed at improving infant feeding practices and ultimately nutritional status need to also focus on improving household food security.

The informativity of sound modulates crossmodal facilitation of visual discrimination: a fMRI study.

PubMed

Li, Qi; Yu, Hongtao; Li, Xiujun; Sun, Hongzan; Yang, Jingjing; Li, Chunlin

2017-01-18

Many studies have investigated behavioral crossmodal facilitation when a visual stimulus is accompanied by a concurrent task-irrelevant sound. Lippert and colleagues reported that a concurrent task-irrelevant sound reduced the uncertainty of the timing of the visual display and improved perceptional responses (informative sound). However, the neural mechanism by which the informativity of sound affected crossmodal facilitation of visual discrimination remained unclear. In this study, we used event-related functional MRI to investigate the neural mechanisms underlying the role of informativity of sound in crossmodal facilitation of visual discrimination. Significantly faster reaction times were observed when there was an informative relationship between auditory and visual stimuli. The functional MRI results showed sound informativity-induced activation enhancement including the left fusiform gyrus and the right lateral occipital complex. Further correlation analysis showed that the right lateral occipital complex was significantly correlated with the behavioral benefit in reaction times. This suggests that this region was modulated by the informative relationship within audiovisual stimuli that was learnt during the experiment, resulting in late-stage multisensory integration and enhanced behavioral responses.

Experiences of Discrimination Among Youth with HIV/AIDS in Ibadan, Nigeria

PubMed Central

Owoaje, Eme T.

2012-01-01

Nigerian youth currently bear a disproportionate burden of the HIV epidemic. This paper presents findings on the occurrence of HIV-related discrimination among youth with HIV accessing care in Ibadan, Nigeria. A cross-sectional study was conducted and information on history of discrimination experienced by 170 youth with HIV was obtained. About 80% of respondents had disclosed their HIV status. The majority had informed their spouses (66.3%), mothers (47.1%), fathers (39.1%) and siblings (37.7%). Sixteen (11.5%) respondents [15 (93.8%) females and one (6.2%) male] had suffered discrimination since disclosure of their status. Of these, 25.0% respondents were sent out of their matrimonial homes by their husbands, 25.0% were abandoned by their spouses and 12.5% indicated their fiancé broke up their relationship. A higher proportion of females (12.9%) than males (4.3%) had suffered discrimination. In addition, a significant proportion of respondents who were separated/divorced (73.3%) had been victims of discrimination compared with those who were widowed (10.5%) or single (5.9%) (P<0.05). The study confirmed that young people living with HIV/AIDS, especially women experience extreme forms of discrimination. More efforts aimed at addressing HIV/AIDS-related discrimination are required especially as it is a known barrier to HIV prevention and treatment efforts. PMID:28299083

Discrimination in Canada: A Survey of Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices Concerned with Discrimination.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Canadian Human Rights Commission, Ottawa (Ontario). Research and Special Studies Branch.

To identify attitudes of the Canadian public toward discrimination, the Canadian Human Rights Commission surveyed a representative sample of 2,000 Canadians. This document describes the survey, presents highlights, and explains how the survey is being used. The specific purpose of the survey was to provide information on public opinion regarding…

Isotopic Discrimination of Some Solutes in Liquid Ammonia

DOE R&D Accomplishments Database

Taube, H.; Viste, A.

1966-01-01

The nitrogen isotopic discrimination of some salts and metals, studies in liquid ammonia solution at -50?C, decreases in magnitude in the order Pb{sup ++}, Ca{sup ++}, Li{sup +}, AG{sup +}, Na{sup +}, Li, K{sup +}, Na, K. The isotopic discrimination appears to provide qualitative information about the strength of the cation-solvent interaction in liquid ammonia.

ISOTOPIC DISCRIMINATION OF SOME SOLUTES IN LIQUID AMMONIA.

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

Viste, A.; Taube, H.

1966-01-01

The nitrogen isotopic discrimination of some salts and metals, studied in liquid ammonia solution at -50ºC, decreases in magnitude in the order Pb{sup++}, Ca{sup++}, Li{sup+}, Ag{sup+}, Na{sup+}, Li, K{sup+}, Na, K. The isotopic discrimination appears to provide qualitative information about the strength of the cation-solvent interaction in liquid amonia.

Display characterization by eye: contrast ratio and discrimination throughout the grayscale

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gille, Jennifer; Arend, Larry; Larimer, James O.

2004-06-01

We have measured the ability of observers to estimate the contrast ratio (maximum white luminance / minimum black or gray) of various displays and to assess luminous discrimination over the tonescale of the display. This was done using only the computer itself and easily-distributed devices such as neutral density filters. The ultimate goal of this work is to see how much of the characterization of a display can be performed by the ordinary user in situ, in a manner that takes advantage of the unique abilities of the human visual system and measures visually important aspects of the display. We discuss the relationship among contrast ratio, tone scale, display transfer function and room lighting. These results may contribute to the development of applications that allow optimization of displays for the situated viewer / display system without instrumentation and without indirect inferences from laboratory to workplace.

Spontaneous processing of abstract categorical information in the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex

PubMed Central

Cohen, Yale E; Hauser, Marc D; Russ, Brian E

2006-01-01

In various aspects of linguistic analysis and human cognition, some forms of observed variation are ignored in the service of handling more abstract categories. In the absence of training, rhesus discriminate between different types of vocalizations based on the information conveyed as opposed to their acoustic morphologies. We hypothesized that neurons in the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (vPFC), an area involved in auditory-object processing, might be involved in this spontaneous categorization. To test this hypothesis, we recorded vPFC activity while rhesus listened to vocalizations conveying information about food and non-food events. Results showed between, but not within category discrimination. That is, vPFC neurons discriminated between vocalizations associated with food versus non-food events but not within the class of food calls associated with differences in quality. These results indicate that the vPFC plays a significant role in spontaneously processing abstract categorical information. PMID:17148378

An Information Analysis of 2-, 3-, and 4-Word Verbal Discrimination Learning.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Arima, James K.; Gray, Francis D.

Information theory was used to qualify the difficulty of verbal discrimination (VD) learning tasks and to measure VD performance. Words for VD items were selected with high background frequency and equal a priori probabilities of being selected as a first response. Three VD lists containing only 2-, 3-, or 4-word items were created and equated for…

Messages discriminated from the media about illicit drugs.

PubMed

Patterson, S J

1994-01-01

The electronic media have been an instrumental tool in the most recent efforts to address the issue of illicit drug abuse in the United States. Messages about illicit drugs appear in three places in the media: advertising content, news content, and entertainment content. Many studies have documented the amount and types of messages that appear on the electronic media, but few have asked the audience how they interpret these messages. The purpose of this study is to investigate how much and what type of information college students receive from the media about drugs. Interviews were conducted with 228 students using the message discrimination protocol. The messages were then content analyzed into theme areas. Results indicate the majority of messages discriminated from advertising content were fear appeals; that the majority of messages discriminated from news content documented the enforcement efforts in the war on drugs; and that messages about drugs in entertainment content were more likely to provide clear accurate information about drugs than the other two content sources. The results are discussed in terms of the audience receiving fear and fight messages from the electronic media rather than clear, accurate information necessary to make informed decisions about drugs.

Combining features from ERP components in single-trial EEG for discriminating four-category visual objects.

PubMed

Wang, Changming; Xiong, Shi; Hu, Xiaoping; Yao, Li; Zhang, Jiacai

2012-10-01

Categorization of images containing visual objects can be successfully recognized using single-trial electroencephalograph (EEG) measured when subjects view images. Previous studies have shown that task-related information contained in event-related potential (ERP) components could discriminate two or three categories of object images. In this study, we investigated whether four categories of objects (human faces, buildings, cats and cars) could be mutually discriminated using single-trial EEG data. Here, the EEG waveforms acquired while subjects were viewing four categories of object images were segmented into several ERP components (P1, N1, P2a and P2b), and then Fisher linear discriminant analysis (Fisher-LDA) was used to classify EEG features extracted from ERP components. Firstly, we compared the classification results using features from single ERP components, and identified that the N1 component achieved the highest classification accuracies. Secondly, we discriminated four categories of objects using combining features from multiple ERP components, and showed that combination of ERP components improved four-category classification accuracies by utilizing the complementarity of discriminative information in ERP components. These findings confirmed that four categories of object images could be discriminated with single-trial EEG and could direct us to select effective EEG features for classifying visual objects.

Information management for aged care provision in Australia: development of an aged care minimum dataset and strategies to improve quality and continuity of care.

PubMed

Davis, Jenny; Morgans, Amee; Burgess, Stephen

2016-04-01

Efficient information systems support the provision of multi-disciplinary aged care and a variety of organisational purposes, including quality, funding, communication and continuity of care. Agreed minimum data sets enable accurate communication across multiple care settings. However, in aged care multiple and poorly integrated data collection frameworks are commonly used for client assessment, government reporting and funding purposes. To determine key information needs in aged care settings to improve information quality, information transfer, safety, quality and continuity of care to meet the complex needs of aged care clients. Modified Delphi methods involving five stages were employed by one aged care provider in Victoria, Australia, to establish stakeholder consensus for a derived minimum data set and address barriers to data quality. Eleven different aged care programs were identified; with five related data dictionaries, three minimum data sets, five program standards or quality frameworks. The remaining data collection frameworks related to diseases classification, funding, service activity reporting, and statistical standards and classifications. A total of 170 different data items collected across seven internal information systems were consolidated to a derived set of 60 core data items and aligned with nationally consistent data collection frameworks. Barriers to data quality related to inconsistencies in data items, staff knowledge, workflow, system access and configuration. The development an internal aged care minimum data set highlighted the critical role of primary data quality in the upstream and downstream use of client information; and presents a platform to build national consistency across the sector.

Evidence of across-channel processing for spectral-ripple discrimination in cochlear implant listeners.

PubMed

Won, Jong Ho; Jones, Gary L; Drennan, Ward R; Jameyson, Elyse M; Rubinstein, Jay T

2011-10-01

Spectral-ripple discrimination has been used widely for psychoacoustical studies in normal-hearing, hearing-impaired, and cochlear implant listeners. The present study investigated the perceptual mechanism for spectral-ripple discrimination in cochlear implant listeners. The main goal of this study was to determine whether cochlear implant listeners use a local intensity cue or global spectral shape for spectral-ripple discrimination. The effect of electrode separation on spectral-ripple discrimination was also evaluated. Results showed that it is highly unlikely that cochlear implant listeners depend on a local intensity cue for spectral-ripple discrimination. A phenomenological model of spectral-ripple discrimination, as an "ideal observer," showed that a perceptual mechanism based on discrimination of a single intensity difference cannot account for performance of cochlear implant listeners. Spectral modulation depth and electrode separation were found to significantly affect spectral-ripple discrimination. The evidence supports the hypothesis that spectral-ripple discrimination involves integrating information from multiple channels. © 2011 Acoustical Society of America

Evidence of across-channel processing for spectral-ripple discrimination in cochlear implant listeners a

PubMed Central

Ho Won, Jong; Jones, Gary L.; Drennan, Ward R.; Jameyson, Elyse M.; Rubinstein, Jay T.

2011-01-01

Spectral-ripple discrimination has been used widely for psychoacoustical studies in normal-hearing, hearing-impaired, and cochlear implant listeners. The present study investigated the perceptual mechanism for spectral-ripple discrimination in cochlear implant listeners. The main goal of this study was to determine whether cochlear implant listeners use a local intensity cue or global spectral shape for spectral-ripple discrimination. The effect of electrode separation on spectral-ripple discrimination was also evaluated. Results showed that it is highly unlikely that cochlear implant listeners depend on a local intensity cue for spectral-ripple discrimination. A phenomenological model of spectral-ripple discrimination, as an “ideal observer,” showed that a perceptual mechanism based on discrimination of a single intensity difference cannot account for performance of cochlear implant listeners. Spectral modulation depth and electrode separation were found to significantly affect spectral-ripple discrimination. The evidence supports the hypothesis that spectral-ripple discrimination involves integrating information from multiple channels. PMID:21973363

78 FR 53165 - Agency Information Collection Activities: Submission to OMB for Reinstatement, With Change, of a...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-08-28

... identifying possible discriminatory lending patterns and enforcing anti-discrimination statutes. The... patterns and enforcing anti-discrimination statutes. Respondents: Credit unions. Estimated No. of...

The tribal girl child in Rajasthan.

PubMed

Bhanti, R

1995-01-01

This article describes the status of the girl child among tribes in India. Tribes have son preference but do not discriminate against girls by female infanticide or sex determination tests. Girls do not inherit land, but they are not abused, hated, or subjected to rigid social norms. Girls are not veiled and are free to participate in dancing and other recreational programs. There is no dowry on marriage. The father of the bridegroom pays a brideprice to the father of the girl. Widowed or divorced women are free to marry again. Daughters care for young children, perform housework, and work in the field with their brothers. In the tribal village of Choti Underi girls were not discriminated against in health and nutrition, but there was a gender gap in education. Both girls and boys were equally exposed to infection and undernourishment. Tribals experience high rates of infant and child mortality due to poverty and its related malnutrition. Child labor among tribals is a way of life for meeting the basic needs of the total household. A recent report on tribals in Rajasthan reveals that 15-20% of child labor involved work in mines that were dangerous to children's health. Girl children had no security provisions or minimum wages. Tribal children were exploited by human service agencies. Child laborers were raped. Government programs in tribal areas should focus on improving living conditions for children in general. Special programs for girls are needed for providing security in the workplace and increasing female educational levels. More information is needed on the work burden of tribal girls that may include wage employment as well as housework.

77 FR 43196 - Minimum Internal Control Standards and Technical Standards

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-07-24

... NATIONAL INDIAN GAMING COMMISSION 25 CFR Parts 543 and 547 Minimum Internal Control Standards [email protected] . SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Part 543 addresses minimum internal control standards (MICS) for Class II gaming operations. The regulations require tribes to establish controls and implement...

Development and testing of an algorithm to detect implantable cardioverter-defibrillator lead failure.

PubMed

Gunderson, Bruce D; Gillberg, Jeffrey M; Wood, Mark A; Vijayaraman, Pugazhendhi; Shepard, Richard K; Ellenbogen, Kenneth A

2006-02-01

Implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) lead failures often present as inappropriate shock therapy. An algorithm that can reliably discriminate between ventricular tachyarrhythmias and noise due to lead failure may prevent patient discomfort and anxiety and avoid device-induced proarrhythmia by preventing inappropriate ICD shocks. The goal of this analysis was to test an ICD tachycardia detection algorithm that differentiates noise due to lead failure from ventricular tachyarrhythmias. We tested an algorithm that uses a measure of the ventricular intracardiac electrogram baseline to discriminate the sinus rhythm isoelectric line from the right ventricular coil-can (i.e., far-field) electrogram during oversensing of noise caused by a lead failure. The baseline measure was defined as the product of the sum (mV) and standard deviation (mV) of the voltage samples for a 188-ms window centered on each sensed electrogram. If the minimum baseline measure of the last 12 beats was <0.35 mV-mV, then the detected rhythm was considered noise due to a lead failure. The first ICD-detected episode of lead failure and inappropriate detection from 24 ICD patients with a pace/sense lead failure and all ventricular arrhythmias from 56 ICD patients without a lead failure were selected. The stored data were analyzed to determine the sensitivity and specificity of the algorithm to detect lead failures. The minimum baseline measure for the 24 lead failure episodes (0.28 +/- 0.34 mV-mV) was smaller than the 135 ventricular tachycardia (40.8 +/- 43.0 mV-mV, P <.0001) and 55 ventricular fibrillation episodes (19.1 +/- 22.8 mV-mV, P <.05). A minimum baseline <0.35 mV-mV threshold had a sensitivity of 83% (20/24) with a 100% (190/190) specificity. A baseline measure of the far-field electrogram had a high sensitivity and specificity to detect lead failure noise compared with ventricular tachycardia or fibrillation.

Combining spatial and spectral information to improve crop/weed discrimination algorithms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yan, L.; Jones, G.; Villette, S.; Paoli, J. N.; Gée, C.

2012-01-01

Reduction of herbicide spraying is an important key to environmentally and economically improve weed management. To achieve this, remote sensors such as imaging systems are commonly used to detect weed plants. We developed spatial algorithms that detect the crop rows to discriminate crop from weeds. These algorithms have been thoroughly tested and provide robust and accurate results without learning process but their detection is limited to inter-row areas. Crop/Weed discrimination using spectral information is able to detect intra-row weeds but generally needs a prior learning process. We propose a method based on spatial and spectral information to enhance the discrimination and overcome the limitations of both algorithms. The classification from the spatial algorithm is used to build the training set for the spectral discrimination method. With this approach we are able to improve the range of weed detection in the entire field (inter and intra-row). To test the efficiency of these algorithms, a relevant database of virtual images issued from SimAField model has been used and combined to LOPEX93 spectral database. The developed method based is evaluated and compared with the initial method in this paper and shows an important enhancement from 86% of weed detection to more than 95%.

Facial patterns in a tropical social wasp correlate with colony membership

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Baracchi, David; Turillazzi, Stefano; Chittka, Lars

2016-10-01

Social insects excel in discriminating nestmates from intruders, typically relying on colony odours. Remarkably, some wasp species achieve such discrimination using visual information. However, while it is universally accepted that odours mediate a group level recognition, the ability to recognise colony members visually has been considered possible only via individual recognition by which wasps discriminate `friends' and `foes'. Using geometric morphometric analysis, which is a technique based on a rigorous statistical theory of shape allowing quantitative multivariate analyses on structure shapes, we first quantified facial marking variation of Liostenogaster flavolineata wasps. We then compared this facial variation with that of chemical profiles (generated by cuticular hydrocarbons) within and between colonies. Principal component analysis and discriminant analysis applied to sets of variables containing pure shape information showed that despite appreciable intra-colony variation, the faces of females belonging to the same colony resemble one another more than those of outsiders. This colony-specific variation in facial patterns was on a par with that observed for odours. While the occurrence of face discrimination at the colony level remains to be tested by behavioural experiments, overall our results suggest that, in this species, wasp faces display adequate information that might be potentially perceived and used by wasps for colony level recognition.

Cortical Neuroprosthesis Merges Visible and Invisible Light Without Impairing Native Sensory Function

PubMed Central

Thomson, Eric E.; Zea, Ivan; França, Wendy

2017-01-01

Abstract Adult rats equipped with a sensory prosthesis, which transduced infrared (IR) signals into electrical signals delivered to somatosensory cortex (S1), took approximately 4 d to learn a four-choice IR discrimination task. Here, we show that when such IR signals are projected to the primary visual cortex (V1), rats that are pretrained in a visual-discrimination task typically learn the same IR discrimination task on their first day of training. However, without prior training on a visual discrimination task, the learning rates for S1- and V1-implanted animals converged, suggesting there is no intrinsic difference in learning rate between the two areas. We also discovered that animals were able to integrate IR information into the ongoing visual processing stream in V1, performing a visual-IR integration task in which they had to combine IR and visual information. Furthermore, when the IR prosthesis was implanted in S1, rats showed no impairment in their ability to use their whiskers to perform a tactile discrimination task. Instead, in some rats, this ability was actually enhanced. Cumulatively, these findings suggest that cortical sensory neuroprostheses can rapidly augment the representational scope of primary sensory areas, integrating novel sources of information into ongoing processing while incurring minimal loss of native function. PMID:29279860

Multi-level discriminative dictionary learning with application to large scale image classification.

PubMed

Shen, Li; Sun, Gang; Huang, Qingming; Wang, Shuhui; Lin, Zhouchen; Wu, Enhua

2015-10-01

The sparse coding technique has shown flexibility and capability in image representation and analysis. It is a powerful tool in many visual applications. Some recent work has shown that incorporating the properties of task (such as discrimination for classification task) into dictionary learning is effective for improving the accuracy. However, the traditional supervised dictionary learning methods suffer from high computation complexity when dealing with large number of categories, making them less satisfactory in large scale applications. In this paper, we propose a novel multi-level discriminative dictionary learning method and apply it to large scale image classification. Our method takes advantage of hierarchical category correlation to encode multi-level discriminative information. Each internal node of the category hierarchy is associated with a discriminative dictionary and a classification model. The dictionaries at different layers are learnt to capture the information of different scales. Moreover, each node at lower layers also inherits the dictionary of its parent, so that the categories at lower layers can be described with multi-scale information. The learning of dictionaries and associated classification models is jointly conducted by minimizing an overall tree loss. The experimental results on challenging data sets demonstrate that our approach achieves excellent accuracy and competitive computation cost compared with other sparse coding methods for large scale image classification.

You are born with your genes: justice and protection against discrimination in the use of genetic information.

PubMed

Francis, Leslie P

2010-01-01

Genetic information poses an apparent paradox for justice in health care. On the one hand, genetic information seems to be exactly the kind of information that it is unjust to take into account in the distribution of important goods. On the other hand, genetic information may increasingly become useful in individual patient care as evidence for personalized medicine increases. Although it is important to emphasize the difference between genetic information and the social construct of race, nonetheless, the historical interplay between discrimination based on assumptions about heritability and discrimination based on race are significant. Thus, this article defends the importance of paying very close attention to protections in the use of genetic information. Three current examples of inadequate protection are cited. First, informed consent to genetic testing should incorporate potential confidentiality risks raised by this information. Second, the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act is too porous to protect employees from their employers' possession of genetic information; if such information is used in discriminatory ways, burdens of seeking protection then fall on the employees. More stringent strategies for protecting information are thus desirable. Finally, current designs of interoperable health records fail to allow for the sequestration of genetic information. Efforts to develop such sequestration techniques should be encouraged; among other benefits, they would be helpful in shielding genetic information from employers. (c) 2010 Mount Sinai School of Medicine.

[Trial of eye drops recognizer for visually disabled persons].

PubMed

Okamoto, Norio; Suzuki, Katsuhiko; Mimura, Osamu

2009-01-01

The development of a device to enable the visually disabled to differentiate eye drops and their dose. The new instrument is composed of a voice generator and a two-dimensional bar-code reader (LS9208). We designed voice outputs for the visually disabled to state when (number of times) and where (right, left, or both) to administer eye drops. We then determined the minimum bar-code size that can be recognized. After attaching bar-codes of the appropriate size to the lateral or bottom surface of the eye drops container, the readability of the bar-codes was compared. The minimum discrimination bar-code size was 6 mm high x 8.5 mm long. Bar-codes on the bottom surface could be more easily recognized than bar-codes on the side. Our newly-developed device using bar-codes enables visually disabled persons to differentiate eye drops and their doses.

Classification of Stellar Spectra with Fuzzy Minimum Within-Class Support Vector Machine

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhong-bao, Liu; Wen-ai, Song; Jing, Zhang; Wen-juan, Zhao

2017-06-01

Classification is one of the important tasks in astronomy, especially in spectra analysis. Support Vector Machine (SVM) is a typical classification method, which is widely used in spectra classification. Although it performs well in practice, its classification accuracies can not be greatly improved because of two limitations. One is it does not take the distribution of the classes into consideration. The other is it is sensitive to noise. In order to solve the above problems, inspired by the maximization of the Fisher's Discriminant Analysis (FDA) and the SVM separability constraints, fuzzy minimum within-class support vector machine (FMWSVM) is proposed in this paper. In FMWSVM, the distribution of the classes is reflected by the within-class scatter in FDA and the fuzzy membership function is introduced to decrease the influence of the noise. The comparative experiments with SVM on the SDSS datasets verify the effectiveness of the proposed classifier FMWSVM.

77 FR 47851 - Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection; Comment Request

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-08-10

... Collection: Minimum Data Set for Medicaid Incentives for Prevention of Chronic Diseases Program Grantees; Use... collection, the MIPCD Minimum Data Set (MDS), is intended to collect data for program performance monitoring and evaluation. The MDS is a secondary data collection that assembles information already collected by...

Idiographic duo-trio tests using a constant-reference based on preference of each consumer: Sample presentation sequence in difference test can be customized for individual consumers to reduce error.

PubMed

Kim, Min-A; Sim, Hye-Min; Lee, Hye-Seong

2016-11-01

As reformulations and processing changes are increasingly needed in the food industry to produce healthier, more sustainable, and cost effective products while maintaining superior quality, reliable measurements of consumers' sensory perception and discrimination are becoming more critical. Consumer discrimination methods using a preferred-reference duo-trio test design have been shown to be effective in improving the discrimination performance by customizing sample presentation sequences. However, this design can add complexity to the discrimination task for some consumers, resulting in more errors in sensory discrimination. The objective of the present study was to investigate the effects of different types of test instructions using the preference-reference duo-trio test design where a paired-preference test is followed by 6 repeated preferred-reference duo-trio tests, in comparison to the analytical method using the balanced-reference duo-trio. Analyses of d' estimates (product-related measure) and probabilistic sensory discriminators in momentary numbers of subjects showing statistical significance (subject-related measure) revealed that only preferred-reference duo-trio test using affective reference-framing, either by providing no information about the reference or information on a previously preferred sample, improved the sensory discrimination more than the analytical method. No decrease in discrimination performance was observed with any type of instruction, confirming that consumers could handle the test methods. These results suggest that when repeated tests are feasible, using the affective discrimination method would be operationally more efficient as well as ecologically more reliable for measuring consumers' sensory discrimination ability. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

76 FR 42131 - Agency Information Collection Activities: DHS Individual Complaint of Employment Discrimination

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-07-18

... for all persons, to prohibit discrimination in employment because of race, color, religion, sex... Act (Title VII) (42 U.S.C. 2000e et seq.) (race, color, religion, sex, national origin), the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) (29 U.S.C. 621 et seq.) (age), the Equal Pay Act (29 U.S.C. 206(d)) (sex...

Comparing success levels of different neural network structures in extracting discriminative information from the response patterns of a temperature-modulated resistive gas sensor

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hosseini-Golgoo, S. M.; Bozorgi, H.; Saberkari, A.

2015-06-01

Performances of three neural networks, consisting of a multi-layer perceptron, a radial basis function, and a neuro-fuzzy network with local linear model tree training algorithm, in modeling and extracting discriminative features from the response patterns of a temperature-modulated resistive gas sensor are quantitatively compared. For response pattern recording, a voltage staircase containing five steps each with a 20 s plateau is applied to the micro-heater of the sensor, when 12 different target gases, each at 11 concentration levels, are present. In each test, the hidden layer neuron weights are taken as the discriminatory feature vector of the target gas. These vectors are then mapped to a 3D feature space using linear discriminant analysis. The discriminative information content of the feature vectors are determined by the calculation of the Fisher’s discriminant ratio, affording quantitative comparison among the success rates achieved by the different neural network structures. The results demonstrate a superior discrimination ratio for features extracted from local linear neuro-fuzzy and radial-basis-function networks with recognition rates of 96.27% and 90.74%, respectively.

Action Recognition and Movement Direction Discrimination Tasks Are Associated with Different Adaptation Patterns

PubMed Central

de la Rosa, Stephan; Ekramnia, Mina; Bülthoff, Heinrich H.

2016-01-01

The ability to discriminate between different actions is essential for action recognition and social interactions. Surprisingly previous research has often probed action recognition mechanisms with tasks that did not require participants to discriminate between actions, e.g., left-right direction discrimination tasks. It is not known to what degree visual processes in direction discrimination tasks are also involved in the discrimination of actions, e.g., when telling apart a handshake from a high-five. Here, we examined whether action discrimination is influenced by movement direction and whether direction discrimination depends on the type of action. We used an action adaptation paradigm to target action and direction discrimination specific visual processes. In separate conditions participants visually adapted to forward and backward moving handshake and high-five actions. Participants subsequently categorized either the action or the movement direction of an ambiguous action. The results showed that direction discrimination adaptation effects were modulated by the type of action but action discrimination adaptation effects were unaffected by movement direction. These results suggest that action discrimination and direction categorization rely on partly different visual information. We propose that action discrimination tasks should be considered for the exploration of visual action recognition mechanisms. PMID:26941633

EXTRACTING PRINCIPLE COMPONENTS FOR DISCRIMINANT ANALYSIS OF FMRI IMAGES

PubMed Central

Liu, Jingyu; Xu, Lai; Caprihan, Arvind; Calhoun, Vince D.

2009-01-01

This paper presents an approach for selecting optimal components for discriminant analysis. Such an approach is useful when further detailed analyses for discrimination or characterization requires dimensionality reduction. Our approach can accommodate a categorical variable such as diagnosis (e.g. schizophrenic patient or healthy control), or a continuous variable like severity of the disorder. This information is utilized as a reference for measuring a component’s discriminant power after principle component decomposition. After sorting each component according to its discriminant power, we extract the best components for discriminant analysis. An application of our reference selection approach is shown using a functional magnetic resonance imaging data set in which the sample size is much less than the dimensionality. The results show that the reference selection approach provides an improved discriminant component set as compared to other approaches. Our approach is general and provides a solid foundation for further discrimination and classification studies. PMID:20582334

EXTRACTING PRINCIPLE COMPONENTS FOR DISCRIMINANT ANALYSIS OF FMRI IMAGES.

PubMed

Liu, Jingyu; Xu, Lai; Caprihan, Arvind; Calhoun, Vince D

2008-05-12

This paper presents an approach for selecting optimal components for discriminant analysis. Such an approach is useful when further detailed analyses for discrimination or characterization requires dimensionality reduction. Our approach can accommodate a categorical variable such as diagnosis (e.g. schizophrenic patient or healthy control), or a continuous variable like severity of the disorder. This information is utilized as a reference for measuring a component's discriminant power after principle component decomposition. After sorting each component according to its discriminant power, we extract the best components for discriminant analysis. An application of our reference selection approach is shown using a functional magnetic resonance imaging data set in which the sample size is much less than the dimensionality. The results show that the reference selection approach provides an improved discriminant component set as compared to other approaches. Our approach is general and provides a solid foundation for further discrimination and classification studies.

76 FR 15368 - Minimum Security Devices and Procedures

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-03-21

... DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY Office of Thrift Supervision Minimum Security Devices and Procedures... concerning the following information collection. Title of Proposal: Minimum Security Devices and Procedures... establish a written security program is necessitated by the Bank Protection Act (12 U.S.C. 1881-1884), which...

Improved performance comparisons of radioxenon systems for low level releases in nuclear explosion monitoring.

PubMed

Haas, Derek A; Eslinger, Paul W; Bowyer, Theodore W; Cameron, Ian M; Hayes, James C; Lowrey, Justin D; Miley, Harry S

2017-11-01

The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty bans all nuclear tests and mandates development of verification measures to detect treaty violations. One verification measure is detection of radioactive xenon isotopes produced in the fission of actinides. The International Monitoring System (IMS) currently deploys automated radioxenon systems that can detect four radioxenon isotopes. Radioxenon systems with lower detection limits are currently in development. Historically, the sensitivity of radioxenon systems was measured by the minimum detectable concentration for each isotope. In this paper we analyze the response of radioxenon systems using rigorous metrics in conjunction with hypothetical representative releases indicative of an underground nuclear explosion instead of using only minimum detectable concentrations. Our analyses incorporate the impact of potential spectral interferences on detection limits and the importance of measuring isotopic ratios of the relevant radioxenon isotopes in order to improve discrimination from background sources particularly for low-level releases. To provide a sufficient data set for analysis, hypothetical representative releases are simulated every day from the same location for an entire year. The performance of three types of samplers are evaluated assuming they are located at 15 IMS radionuclide stations in the region of the release point. The performance of two IMS-deployed samplers and a next-generation system is compared with proposed metrics for detection and discrimination using representative releases from the nuclear test site used by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Impact of Institutional - and Individual - Level Discrimination on Medical Care & Quality of Life Among Breast Cancer Survivors

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-07-01

level information including: 1) previously collected geographic information systems (GIS) data about the social and built environment; and 2...of interest (discrimination), we also identified several other domains of interest to include in the questionnaire: stress, coping, social support...and social networks, social burden, patient-provider communication, cultural factors and beliefs, cultural health capital, sociodemographics

Patterns and correlates of self-reported racial discrimination among Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults, 2008–09: analysis of national survey data

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background There is now considerable evidence that racism is a pernicious and enduring social problem with a wide range of detrimental outcomes for individuals, communities and societies. Although indigenous people worldwide are subjected to high levels of racism, there is a paucity of population-based, quantitative data about the factors associated with their reporting of racial discrimination, about the settings in which such discrimination takes place, and about the frequency with which it is experienced. Such information is essential in efforts to reduce both exposure to racism among indigenous people and the harms associated with such exposure. Methods Weighted data on self-reported racial discrimination from over 7,000 Indigenous Australian adults participating in the 2008–09 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Survey, a nationally representative survey conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, were analysed by socioeconomic, demographic and cultural factors. Results More than one in four respondents (27%) reported experiencing racial discrimination in the past year. Racial discrimination was most commonly reported in public (41% of those reporting any racial discrimination), legal (40%) and work (30%) settings. Among those reporting any racial discrimination, about 40% experienced this discrimination most or all of the time (as opposed to a little or some of the time) in at least one setting. Reporting of racial discrimination peaked in the 35–44 year age group and then declined. Higher reporting of racial discrimination was associated with removal from family, low trust, unemployment, having a university degree, and indicators of cultural identity and participation. Lower reporting of racial discrimination was associated with home ownership, remote residence and having relatively few Indigenous friends. Conclusions These data indicate that racial discrimination is commonly experienced across a wide variety of settings, with public, legal and work settings identified as particularly salient. The observed relationships, while not necessarily causal, help to build a detailed picture of self-reported racial discrimination experienced by Indigenous people in contemporary Australia, providing important evidence to inform anti-racism policy. PMID:23816052

Patterns and correlates of self-reported racial discrimination among Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults, 2008-09: analysis of national survey data.

PubMed

Cunningham, Joan; Paradies, Yin C

2013-07-01

There is now considerable evidence that racism is a pernicious and enduring social problem with a wide range of detrimental outcomes for individuals, communities and societies. Although indigenous people worldwide are subjected to high levels of racism, there is a paucity of population-based, quantitative data about the factors associated with their reporting of racial discrimination, about the settings in which such discrimination takes place, and about the frequency with which it is experienced. Such information is essential in efforts to reduce both exposure to racism among indigenous people and the harms associated with such exposure. Weighted data on self-reported racial discrimination from over 7,000 Indigenous Australian adults participating in the 2008-09 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Survey, a nationally representative survey conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, were analysed by socioeconomic, demographic and cultural factors. More than one in four respondents (27%) reported experiencing racial discrimination in the past year. Racial discrimination was most commonly reported in public (41% of those reporting any racial discrimination), legal (40%) and work (30%) settings. Among those reporting any racial discrimination, about 40% experienced this discrimination most or all of the time (as opposed to a little or some of the time) in at least one setting. Reporting of racial discrimination peaked in the 35-44 year age group and then declined. Higher reporting of racial discrimination was associated with removal from family, low trust, unemployment, having a university degree, and indicators of cultural identity and participation. Lower reporting of racial discrimination was associated with home ownership, remote residence and having relatively few Indigenous friends. These data indicate that racial discrimination is commonly experienced across a wide variety of settings, with public, legal and work settings identified as particularly salient. The observed relationships, while not necessarily causal, help to build a detailed picture of self-reported racial discrimination experienced by Indigenous people in contemporary Australia, providing important evidence to inform anti-racism policy.

Neighborhood Discriminant Hashing for Large-Scale Image Retrieval.

PubMed

Tang, Jinhui; Li, Zechao; Wang, Meng; Zhao, Ruizhen

2015-09-01

With the proliferation of large-scale community-contributed images, hashing-based approximate nearest neighbor search in huge databases has aroused considerable interest from the fields of computer vision and multimedia in recent years because of its computational and memory efficiency. In this paper, we propose a novel hashing method named neighborhood discriminant hashing (NDH) (for short) to implement approximate similarity search. Different from the previous work, we propose to learn a discriminant hashing function by exploiting local discriminative information, i.e., the labels of a sample can be inherited from the neighbor samples it selects. The hashing function is expected to be orthogonal to avoid redundancy in the learned hashing bits as much as possible, while an information theoretic regularization is jointly exploited using maximum entropy principle. As a consequence, the learned hashing function is compact and nonredundant among bits, while each bit is highly informative. Extensive experiments are carried out on four publicly available data sets and the comparison results demonstrate the outperforming performance of the proposed NDH method over state-of-the-art hashing techniques.

Combining Speed Information Across Space

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Verghese, Preeti; Stone, Leland S.

1995-01-01

We used speed discrimination tasks to measure the ability of observers to combine speed information from multiple stimuli distributed across space. We compared speed discrimination thresholds in a classical discrimination paradigm to those in an uncertainty/search paradigm. Thresholds were measured using a temporal two-interval forced-choice design. In the discrimination paradigm, the n gratings in each interval all moved at the same speed and observers were asked to choose the interval with the faster gratings. Discrimination thresholds for this paradigm decreased as the number of gratings increased. This decrease was not due to increasing the effective stimulus area as a control experiment that increased the area of a single grating did not show a similar improvement in thresholds. Adding independent speed noise to each of the n gratings caused thresholds to decrease at a rate similar to the original no-noise case, consistent with observers combining an independent sample of speed from each grating in both the added- and no-noise cases. In the search paradigm, observers were asked to choose the interval in which one of the n gratings moved faster. Thresholds in this case increased with the number of gratings, behavior traditionally attributed to an input bottleneck. However, results from the discrimination paradigm showed that the increase was not due to observers' inability to process these gratings. We have also shown that the opposite trends of the data in the two paradigms can be predicted by a decision theory model that combines independent samples of speed information across space. This demonstrates that models typically used in classical detection and discrimination paradigms are also applicable to search paradigms. As our model does not distinguish between samples in space and time, it predicts that discrimination performance should be the same regardless of whether the gratings are presented in two spatial intervals or two temporal intervals. Our last experiment largely confirmed this prediction.

Barriers and facilitators to the implementation of an evidence-based electronic minimum dataset for nursing team leader handover: A descriptive survey.

PubMed

Spooner, Amy J; Aitken, Leanne M; Chaboyer, Wendy

2017-11-15

There is widespread use of clinical information systems in intensive care units however, the evidence to support electronic handover is limited. The study aim was to assess the barriers and facilitators to use of an electronic minimum dataset for nursing team leader shift-to-shift handover in the intensive care unit prior to its implementation. The study was conducted in a 21-bed medical/surgical intensive care unit, specialising in cardiothoracic surgery at a tertiary referral hospital, in Queensland, Australia. An established tool was modified to the intensive care nursing handover context and a survey of all 63 nursing team leaders was undertaken. Survey statements were rated using a 6-point Likert scale with selections from 'strongly disagree' to 'strongly agree', and open-ended questions. Descriptive statistics were used to summarise results. A total of 39 team leaders responded to the survey (62%). Team leaders used general intensive care work unit guidelines to inform practice however they were less familiar with the intensive care handover work unit guideline. Barriers to minimum dataset uptake included: a tool that was not user friendly, time consuming and contained too much information. Facilitators to minimum dataset adoption included: a tool that was user friendly, saved time and contained relevant information. Identifying the complexities of a healthcare setting prior to the implementation of an intervention assists researchers and clinicians to integrate new knowledge into healthcare settings. Barriers and facilitators to knowledge use focused on usability, content and efficiency of the electronic minimum dataset and can be used to inform tailored strategies to optimise team leaders' adoption of a minimum dataset for handover. Copyright © 2017 Australian College of Critical Care Nurses Ltd. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Can Inexperienced Listeners Hear Who Is Singing? The Role of Onset Cues.

PubMed

Erickson, Molly L

2018-05-28

This study sought to determine whether the acoustic information contained in the onset of phonation can improve the ability to discriminate voices across pitch. This study was a repeated-measures factorial design. Listeners heard two singers producing /ɑ/ at the same pitch and an unknown singer producing /ɑ/ at a different pitch. Listener's identified which singer was the unknown singer. Two baritones and two tenors were recorded producing /ɑ/ at the pitches C3, E3, G3, B3, D4, and F4. Two sopranos and two mezzo-sopranos were recorded producing /ɑ/ at the pitches C4, E4, G4, B4, D5, and F5. For each group of stimuli, male and female, all possible pairs of singers were constructed for the lowest pitch. The unknown singer was varied across the remaining pitches. All stimulus combinations were presented with and without onset cues. In general, the inclusion of onset information affected listeners' ability to discriminate singers across pitch. When the pitch interval was small, a 3rd or a 5th, onset information improved the ability to correctly discriminate singers across pitch. This effect was greater for female voices than for male voices. However, when the pitch interval was larger, a 7th, 9th, or 11th, the onset information either had no effect, as was seen in the female voices, or had a negative effect, as was seen in the male voices. Voice onset information affects voice discrimination in certain circumstances, but cannot be used by inexperienced listeners as a consistent cue to improve singer discrimination across all pitch intervals. Copyright © 2017 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The impact of racial discrimination and coping strategies on internalizing symptoms in African American youth.

PubMed

Gaylord-Harden, Noni K; Cunningham, Jamila A

2009-04-01

The current study examined the impact of racial discrimination stress on internalizing symptoms and coping strategies in a sample of 268 African American early adolescents (mean age = 12.90; 56% female) from low-income communities. Information about discrimination stress, coping, and internalizing symptoms was obtained via adolescents' self-report. It was predicted that discrimination stress would be positively associated with depression and anxiety, as well as culturally-specific coping. Finally, culturally-relevant coping and mainstream coping were examined as moderators of the association between discrimination stress and internalizing symptoms. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that discrimination stress was positively associated with depression and anxiety and predicted culturally-relevant coping while controlling for mainstream coping. Communalistic coping moderated the association between discrimination and anxiety, but demonstrated a vulnerability function by increasing anxiety at high levels of discrimination. The results highlight the salience of racial discrimination for African American adolescents and the importance of considering culturally-specific coping behaviors.

Discriminative analysis of lip motion features for speaker identification and speech-reading.

PubMed

Cetingül, H Ertan; Yemez, Yücel; Erzin, Engin; Tekalp, A Murat

2006-10-01

There have been several studies that jointly use audio, lip intensity, and lip geometry information for speaker identification and speech-reading applications. This paper proposes using explicit lip motion information, instead of or in addition to lip intensity and/or geometry information, for speaker identification and speech-reading within a unified feature selection and discrimination analysis framework, and addresses two important issues: 1) Is using explicit lip motion information useful, and, 2) if so, what are the best lip motion features for these two applications? The best lip motion features for speaker identification are considered to be those that result in the highest discrimination of individual speakers in a population, whereas for speech-reading, the best features are those providing the highest phoneme/word/phrase recognition rate. Several lip motion feature candidates have been considered including dense motion features within a bounding box about the lip, lip contour motion features, and combination of these with lip shape features. Furthermore, a novel two-stage, spatial, and temporal discrimination analysis is introduced to select the best lip motion features for speaker identification and speech-reading applications. Experimental results using an hidden-Markov-model-based recognition system indicate that using explicit lip motion information provides additional performance gains in both applications, and lip motion features prove more valuable in the case of speech-reading application.

Information Forests

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-01-01

Classification confidence, or informative content of the subsets, is quantified by the Information Divergence. Our approach relates to active learning , semi-supervised learning, mixed generative/discriminative learning.

78 FR 48632 - Releasing Information; General Provisions; Accounting and Reporting Requirements; Reports of...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-08-09

... the confidentiality of borrower information. The system of internal controls, at a minimum, must... and maintain an effective system of internal controls over the data included in the report of accounts... system of internal controls, at a minimum, must comply with the requirements of applicable Farm Credit...

77 FR 76979 - Pesticides; Revisions to Minimum Risk Exemption

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-12-31

...EPA is proposing to more clearly describe the active and inert ingredients permitted in products eligible for the exemption from regulation for minimum risk pesticides. EPA is proposing to reorganize these lists with a focus on clarity and transparency by adding specific chemical identifiers. The identifiers would make it clearer to manufacturers; the public; and Federal, state, and tribal inspectors which ingredients are permitted in minimum risk pesticide products. EPA is also proposing to modify the label requirements in the exemption to require the use of specific common chemical names in lists of ingredients on minimum risk pesticide product labels, and to require producer contact information on the label. Once final, these proposed changes would maintain the availability of minimum risk pesticide products while providing more consistent information for consumers, clearer regulations for producers, and easier identification by states, tribes and EPA as to whether a product is in compliance with the exemption.

Echolocation versus echo suppression in humans

PubMed Central

Wallmeier, Ludwig; Geßele, Nikodemus; Wiegrebe, Lutz

2013-01-01

Several studies have shown that blind humans can gather spatial information through echolocation. However, when localizing sound sources, the precedence effect suppresses spatial information of echoes, and thereby conflicts with effective echolocation. This study investigates the interaction of echolocation and echo suppression in terms of discrimination suppression in virtual acoustic space. In the ‘Listening’ experiment, sighted subjects discriminated between positions of a single sound source, the leading or the lagging of two sources, respectively. In the ‘Echolocation’ experiment, the sources were replaced by reflectors. Here, the same subjects evaluated echoes generated in real time from self-produced vocalizations and thereby discriminated between positions of a single reflector, the leading or the lagging of two reflectors, respectively. Two key results were observed. First, sighted subjects can learn to discriminate positions of reflective surfaces echo-acoustically with accuracy comparable to sound source discrimination. Second, in the Listening experiment, the presence of the leading source affected discrimination of lagging sources much more than vice versa. In the Echolocation experiment, however, the presence of both the lead and the lag strongly affected discrimination. These data show that the classically described asymmetry in the perception of leading and lagging sounds is strongly diminished in an echolocation task. Additional control experiments showed that the effect is owing to both the direct sound of the vocalization that precedes the echoes and owing to the fact that the subjects actively vocalize in the echolocation task. PMID:23986105

Learning Robust and Discriminative Subspace With Low-Rank Constraints.

PubMed

Li, Sheng; Fu, Yun

2016-11-01

In this paper, we aim at learning robust and discriminative subspaces from noisy data. Subspace learning is widely used in extracting discriminative features for classification. However, when data are contaminated with severe noise, the performance of most existing subspace learning methods would be limited. Recent advances in low-rank modeling provide effective solutions for removing noise or outliers contained in sample sets, which motivates us to take advantage of low-rank constraints in order to exploit robust and discriminative subspace for classification. In particular, we present a discriminative subspace learning method called the supervised regularization-based robust subspace (SRRS) approach, by incorporating the low-rank constraint. SRRS seeks low-rank representations from the noisy data, and learns a discriminative subspace from the recovered clean data jointly. A supervised regularization function is designed to make use of the class label information, and therefore to enhance the discriminability of subspace. Our approach is formulated as a constrained rank-minimization problem. We design an inexact augmented Lagrange multiplier optimization algorithm to solve it. Unlike the existing sparse representation and low-rank learning methods, our approach learns a low-dimensional subspace from recovered data, and explicitly incorporates the supervised information. Our approach and some baselines are evaluated on the COIL-100, ALOI, Extended YaleB, FERET, AR, and KinFace databases. The experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach, especially when the data contain considerable noise or variations.

Weighted Discriminative Dictionary Learning based on Low-rank Representation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chang, Heyou; Zheng, Hao

2017-01-01

Low-rank representation has been widely used in the field of pattern classification, especially when both training and testing images are corrupted with large noise. Dictionary plays an important role in low-rank representation. With respect to the semantic dictionary, the optimal representation matrix should be block-diagonal. However, traditional low-rank representation based dictionary learning methods cannot effectively exploit the discriminative information between data and dictionary. To address this problem, this paper proposed weighted discriminative dictionary learning based on low-rank representation, where a weighted representation regularization term is constructed. The regularization associates label information of both training samples and dictionary atoms, and encourages to generate a discriminative representation with class-wise block-diagonal structure, which can further improve the classification performance where both training and testing images are corrupted with large noise. Experimental results demonstrate advantages of the proposed method over the state-of-the-art methods.

Visual search for motion-form conjunctions: is form discriminated within the motion system?

PubMed

von Mühlenen, A; Müller, H J

2001-06-01

Motion-form conjunction search can be more efficient when the target is moving (a moving 45 degrees tilted line among moving vertical and stationary 45 degrees tilted lines) rather than stationary. This asymmetry may be due to aspects of form being discriminated within a motion system representing only moving items, whereas discrimination of stationary items relies on a static form system (J. Driver & P. McLeod, 1992). Alternatively, it may be due to search exploiting differential motion velocity and direction signals generated by the moving-target and distractor lines. To decide between these alternatives, 4 experiments systematically varied the motion-signal information conveyed by the moving target and distractors while keeping their form difference salient. Moving-target search was found to be facilitated only when differential motion-signal information was available. Thus, there is no need to assume that form is discriminated within the motion system.

Nursing Minimum Data Set Based on EHR Archetypes Approach.

PubMed

Spigolon, Dandara N; Moro, Cláudia M C

2012-01-01

The establishment of a Nursing Minimum Data Set (NMDS) can facilitate the use of health information systems. The adoption of these sets and represent them based on archetypes are a way of developing and support health systems. The objective of this paper is to describe the definition of a minimum data set for nursing in endometriosis represent with archetypes. The study was divided into two steps: Defining the Nursing Minimum Data Set to endometriosis, and Development archetypes related to the NMDS. The nursing data set to endometriosis was represented in the form of archetype, using the whole perception of the evaluation item, organs and senses. This form of representation is an important tool for semantic interoperability and knowledge representation for health information systems.

Nursing Minimum Data Set Based on EHR Archetypes Approach

PubMed Central

Spigolon, Dandara N.; Moro, Cláudia M.C.

2012-01-01

The establishment of a Nursing Minimum Data Set (NMDS) can facilitate the use of health information systems. The adoption of these sets and represent them based on archetypes are a way of developing and support health systems. The objective of this paper is to describe the definition of a minimum data set for nursing in endometriosis represent with archetypes. The study was divided into two steps: Defining the Nursing Minimum Data Set to endometriosis, and Development archetypes related to the NMDS. The nursing data set to endometriosis was represented in the form of archetype, using the whole perception of the evaluation item, organs and senses. This form of representation is an important tool for semantic interoperability and knowledge representation for health information systems. PMID:24199126

Mapping Informative Clusters in a Hierarchial Framework of fMRI Multivariate Analysis

PubMed Central

Xu, Rui; Zhen, Zonglei; Liu, Jia

2010-01-01

Pattern recognition methods have become increasingly popular in fMRI data analysis, which are powerful in discriminating between multi-voxel patterns of brain activities associated with different mental states. However, when they are used in functional brain mapping, the location of discriminative voxels varies significantly, raising difficulties in interpreting the locus of the effect. Here we proposed a hierarchical framework of multivariate approach that maps informative clusters rather than voxels to achieve reliable functional brain mapping without compromising the discriminative power. In particular, we first searched for local homogeneous clusters that consisted of voxels with similar response profiles. Then, a multi-voxel classifier was built for each cluster to extract discriminative information from the multi-voxel patterns. Finally, through multivariate ranking, outputs from the classifiers were served as a multi-cluster pattern to identify informative clusters by examining interactions among clusters. Results from both simulated and real fMRI data demonstrated that this hierarchical approach showed better performance in the robustness of functional brain mapping than traditional voxel-based multivariate methods. In addition, the mapped clusters were highly overlapped for two perceptually equivalent object categories, further confirming the validity of our approach. In short, the hierarchical framework of multivariate approach is suitable for both pattern classification and brain mapping in fMRI studies. PMID:21152081

Viewing the body modulates tactile receptive fields.

PubMed

Haggard, Patrick; Christakou, Anastasia; Serino, Andrea

2007-06-01

Tactile discrimination performance depends on the receptive field (RF) size of somatosensory cortical (SI) neurons. Psychophysical masking effects can reveal the RF of an idealized "virtual" somatosensory neuron. Previous studies show that top-down factors strongly affect tactile discrimination performance. Here, we show that non-informative vision of the touched body part influences tactile discrimination by modulating tactile RFs. Ten subjects performed spatial discrimination between touch locations on the forearm. Performance was improved when subjects saw their forearm compared to viewing a neutral object in the same location. The extent of visual information was relevant, since restricted view of the forearm did not have this enhancing effect. Vibrotactile maskers were placed symmetrically on either side of the tactile target locations, at two different distances. Overall, masking significantly impaired discrimination performance, but the spatial gradient of masking depended on what subjects viewed. Viewing the body reduced the effect of distant maskers, but enhanced the effect of close maskers, as compared to viewing a neutral object. We propose that viewing the body improves functional touch by sharpening tactile RFs in an early somatosensory map. Top-down modulation of lateral inhibition could underlie these effects.

Benign-malignant mass classification in mammogram using edge weighted local texture features

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rabidas, Rinku; Midya, Abhishek; Sadhu, Anup; Chakraborty, Jayasree

2016-03-01

This paper introduces novel Discriminative Robust Local Binary Pattern (DRLBP) and Discriminative Robust Local Ternary Pattern (DRLTP) for the classification of mammographic masses as benign or malignant. Mass is one of the common, however, challenging evidence of breast cancer in mammography and diagnosis of masses is a difficult task. Since DRLBP and DRLTP overcome the drawbacks of Local Binary Pattern (LBP) and Local Ternary Pattern (LTP) by discriminating a brighter object against the dark background and vice-versa, in addition to the preservation of the edge information along with the texture information, several edge-preserving texture features are extracted, in this study, from DRLBP and DRLTP. Finally, a Fisher Linear Discriminant Analysis method is incorporated with discriminating features, selected by stepwise logistic regression method, for the classification of benign and malignant masses. The performance characteristics of DRLBP and DRLTP features are evaluated using a ten-fold cross-validation technique with 58 masses from the mini-MIAS database, and the best result is observed with DRLBP having an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.982.

Discriminant analysis of resting-state functional connectivity patterns on the Grassmann manifold

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fan, Yong; Liu, Yong; Jiang, Tianzi; Liu, Zhening; Hao, Yihui; Liu, Haihong

2010-03-01

The functional networks, extracted from fMRI images using independent component analysis, have been demonstrated informative for distinguishing brain states of cognitive functions and neurological diseases. In this paper, we propose a novel algorithm for discriminant analysis of functional networks encoded by spatial independent components. The functional networks of each individual are used as bases for a linear subspace, referred to as a functional connectivity pattern, which facilitates a comprehensive characterization of temporal signals of fMRI data. The functional connectivity patterns of different individuals are analyzed on the Grassmann manifold by adopting a principal angle based subspace distance. In conjunction with a support vector machine classifier, a forward component selection technique is proposed to select independent components for constructing the most discriminative functional connectivity pattern. The discriminant analysis method has been applied to an fMRI based schizophrenia study with 31 schizophrenia patients and 31 healthy individuals. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method not only achieves a promising classification performance for distinguishing schizophrenia patients from healthy controls, but also identifies discriminative functional networks that are informative for schizophrenia diagnosis.

Simple algorithms for digital pulse-shape discrimination with liquid scintillation detectors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alharbi, T.

2015-01-01

The development of compact, battery-powered digital liquid scintillation neutron detection systems for field applications requires digital pulse processing (DPP) algorithms with minimum computational overhead. To meet this demand, two DPP algorithms for the discrimination of neutron and γ-rays with liquid scintillation detectors were developed and examined by using a NE213 liquid scintillation detector in a mixed radiation field. The first algorithm is based on the relation between the amplitude of a current pulse at the output of a photomultiplier tube and the amount of charge contained in the pulse. A figure-of-merit (FOM) value of 0.98 with 450 keVee (electron equivalent energy) energy threshold was achieved with this method when pulses were sampled at 250 MSample/s and with 8-bit resolution. Compared to the similar method of charge-comparison this method requires only a single integration window, thereby reducing the amount of computations by approximately 40%. The second approach is a digital version of the trailing-edge constant-fraction discrimination method. A FOM value of 0.84 with an energy threshold of 450 keVee was achieved with this method. In comparison with the similar method of rise-time discrimination this method requires a single time pick-off, thereby reducing the amount of computations by approximately 50%. The algorithms described in this work are useful for developing portable detection systems for applications such as homeland security, radiation dosimetry and environmental monitoring.

Event-related brain potentials and cognitive processes related to perceptual-motor information transmission.

PubMed

Kopp, Bruno; Wessel, Karl

2010-05-01

In the present study, event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded to investigate cognitive processes related to the partial transmission of information from stimulus recognition to response preparation. Participants classified two-dimensional visual stimuli with dimensions size and form. One feature combination was designated as the go-target, whereas the other three feature combinations served as no-go distractors. Size discriminability was manipulated across three experimental conditions. N2c and P3a amplitudes were enhanced in response to those distractors that shared the feature from the faster dimension with the target. Moreover, N2c and P3a amplitudes showed a crossover effect: Size distractors evoked more pronounced ERPs under high size discriminability, but form distractors elicited enhanced ERPs under low size discriminability. These results suggest that partial perceptual-motor transmission of information is accompanied by acts of cognitive control and by shifts of attention between the sources of conflicting information. Selection negativity findings imply adaptive allocation of visual feature-based attention across the two stimulus dimensions.

Deletion of the forebrain mineralocorticoid receptor impairs social discrimination and decision-making in male, but not in female mice.

PubMed

Ter Horst, Judith P; van der Mark, Maaike; Kentrop, Jiska; Arp, Marit; van der Veen, Rixt; de Kloet, E Ronald; Oitzl, Melly S

2014-01-01

Social interaction with unknown individuals requires fast processing of information to decide whether it is friend or foe. This process of discrimination and decision-making is stressful and triggers secretion of corticosterone activating mineralocorticoid receptor (MR) and glucocorticoid receptor (GR). The MR is involved in appraisal of novel experiences and risk assessment. Recently, we have demonstrated in a dual-solution memory task that MR plays a role in the early stage of information processing and decision-making. Here we examined social approach and social discrimination in male and female mice lacking MR from hippocampal-amygdala-prefrontal circuitry and controls. The social approach task allows the assessment of time spent with an unfamiliar mouse and the ability to discriminate between familiar and unfamiliar conspecifics. The male and female test mice were both more interested in the social than the non-social experience and deletion of their limbic MR increased the time spent with an unfamiliar mouse. Unlike controls, the male MR(CaMKCre) mice were not able to discriminate between an unfamiliar and the familiar mouse. However, the female MR mutant had retained the discriminative ability between unfamiliar and familiar mice. Administration of the MR antagonist RU28318 to male mice supported the role of the MR in the discrimination between an unfamiliar mouse and a non-social stimulus. No effect was found with a GR antagonist. Our findings suggest that MR is involved in sociability and social discrimination in a sex-specific manner through inhibitory control exerted putatively via limbic-hippocampal efferents. The ability to discriminate between familiar and unfamiliar conspecifics is of uttermost importance for territorial defense and depends on a role of MR in decision-making.

Principal Components of Recurrence Quantification Analysis of EMG

DTIC Science & Technology

2001-10-25

Springer, 1981, pp. 366-381. 4. M. Fraser and H. L. Swinney, “ Independent coordinates for strange attractors from mutual information ,” Phys. Rev. A...autocorrelation function of s(n), although it has also been argued that the first local minimum of the auto mutual information function is more appropriate [4...recordings from a given subject. T was taken as the lag corresponding to the first minimum of the auto mutual information function, calculated as

Discrimination between stages of Alzheimer's disease with subsets of Mini-Mental State Examination items. An analysis of Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer's Disease data.

PubMed

Fillenbaum, G G; Wilkinson, W E; Welsh, K A; Mohs, R C

1994-09-01

To identify minimal sets of Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) items that can distinguish normal control subjects from patients with mild Alzheimer's disease (AD), patients with mild from those with moderate AD, and those with moderate from those with severe AD. Two randomly selected equivalent half samples. Results of logistic regression analysis from data from the first half of the sample were confirmed by receiver operating characteristic curves on the second half. Memory disorders clinics at major medical centers in the United States affiliated with the Consortium to establish a Registry for Alzheimer's Disease (CERAD). White, normal control subjects (n = 412) and patients with AD (n = 621) who met CERAD criteria; nonwhite subjects (n = 165) and persons with missing data (n = 27) were excluded. Three four-item sets of MMSE items that discriminate, respectively, (1) normal controls from patients with mild AD, (2) patients with mild from those with moderate AD, and (3) patients with moderate from those with severe AD. The MMSE items discriminating normal controls from patients with mild AD were day, date, recall of apple, and recall of penny; those discriminating patients with mild from those with moderate AD were month, city, spelling world backward, and county, and those discriminating patients with moderate from those with severe AD were floor of building, repeating the word table, naming watch, and folding paper in half. Performance on the first two four-item sets was comparable with that of the full MMSE; the third set distinguished patients with moderate from those with severe AD better than chance. A minimum set of MMSE items can effectively discriminate normal controls from patients with mild AD and between successive levels of severity of AD. Data apply only to white patients with AD. Performance in minorities, more heterogeneous groups, or normal subjects with questionable cognitive status has not been assessed.

76 FR 48942 - Agency Information Collection Activities: Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-08-09

.... 3605) prohibits discrimination in the financing of housing on the basis of race, color, religion, sex... discrimination in any aspect of a credit transaction on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex...

76 FR 24503 - Agency Information Collection Activities: DHS Individual Complaint of Employment Discrimination

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-05-02

... employment for all persons, to prohibit discrimination in employment because of race, color, religion, sex... Act (Title VII) (42 U.S.C. 2000e et seq.) (race, color, religion, sex, national origin), the Age...

76 FR 4933 - Notice of Submission of Proposed Information Collection to OMB; Owner's Certification With HUD...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-01-27

... discrimination in conjunction with selection of tenants and units; (3) specify how tenants' incomes and rents... subsidized housing; (2) prohibit discrimination in conjunction with selection of tenants and units; (3...

Multiclass Bayes error estimation by a feature space sampling technique

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mobasseri, B. G.; Mcgillem, C. D.

1979-01-01

A general Gaussian M-class N-feature classification problem is defined. An algorithm is developed that requires the class statistics as its only input and computes the minimum probability of error through use of a combined analytical and numerical integration over a sequence simplifying transformations of the feature space. The results are compared with those obtained by conventional techniques applied to a 2-class 4-feature discrimination problem with results previously reported and 4-class 4-feature multispectral scanner Landsat data classified by training and testing of the available data.

Globally Optimal Path Planning with Anisotropic Running Costs

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-03-01

contours were generated on a 3852 Cartesian grid. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 A1 The N(i, j ) set shown mapped onto Ωh as large dots for the case...function NF(x) near front set as a function of x ∈ Ωh NF(i, j ) near front set as a function of (i, j ) ∈ ΩZh Υ(x) anisotropy function at x δ Cartesian...discriminant of the polynomial p, see Equation (26) argmin argument of the minimum of a function V yz(x, ζ) see Equation (28) T (i, j ) the triplet {(i, j ), V

Where You Look Matters for Body Perception: Preferred Gaze Location Contributes to the Body Inversion Effect

PubMed Central

McKean, Danielle L.; Tsao, Jack W.; Chan, Annie W.-Y.

2017-01-01

The Body Inversion Effect (BIE; reduced visual discrimination performance for inverted compared to upright bodies) suggests that bodies are visually processed configurally; however, the specific importance of head posture information in the BIE has been indicated in reports of BIE reduction for whole bodies with fixed head position and for headless bodies. Through measurement of gaze patterns and investigation of the causal relation of fixation location to visual body discrimination performance, the present study reveals joint contributions of feature and configuration processing to visual body discrimination. Participants predominantly gazed at the (body-centric) upper body for upright bodies and the lower body for inverted bodies in the context of an experimental paradigm directly comparable to that of prior studies of the BIE. Subsequent manipulation of fixation location indicates that these preferential gaze locations causally contributed to the BIE for whole bodies largely due to the informative nature of gazing at or near the head. Also, a BIE was detected for both whole and headless bodies even when fixation location on the body was held constant, indicating a role of configural processing in body discrimination, though inclusion of the head posture information was still highly discriminative in the context of such processing. Interestingly, the impact of configuration (upright and inverted) to the BIE appears greater than that of differential preferred gaze locations. PMID:28085894

Impact of HIPAA’s Minimum Necessary Standard on Genomic Data Sharing

PubMed Central

Evans, Barbara J.; Jarvik, Gail P.

2017-01-01

Purpose This article provides a brief introduction to the HIPAA Privacy Rule’s minimum necessary standard, which applies to sharing of genomic data, particularly clinical data, following 2013 Privacy Rule revisions. Methods This research used the Thomson Reuters Westlaw™ database and law library resources in its legal analysis of the HIPAA privacy tiers and the impact of the minimum necessary standard on genomic data-sharing. We considered relevant example cases of genomic data-sharing needs. Results In a climate of stepped-up HIPAA enforcement, this standard is of concern to laboratories that generate, use, and share genomic information. How data-sharing activities are characterized—whether for research, public health, or clinical interpretation and medical practice support—affects how the minimum necessary standard applies and its overall impact on data access and use. Conclusion There is no clear regulatory guidance on how to apply HIPAA’s minimum necessary standard when considering the sharing of information in the data-rich environment of genomic testing. Laboratories that perform genomic testing should engage with policy-makers to foster sound, well-informed policies and appropriate characterization of data-sharing activities to minimize adverse impacts on day-to-day workflows. PMID:28914268

Impact of HIPAA's minimum necessary standard on genomic data sharing.

PubMed

Evans, Barbara J; Jarvik, Gail P

2018-04-01

This article provides a brief introduction to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) Privacy Rule's minimum necessary standard, which applies to sharing of genomic data, particularly clinical data, following 2013 Privacy Rule revisions. This research used the Thomson Reuters Westlaw database and law library resources in its legal analysis of the HIPAA privacy tiers and the impact of the minimum necessary standard on genomic data sharing. We considered relevant example cases of genomic data-sharing needs. In a climate of stepped-up HIPAA enforcement, this standard is of concern to laboratories that generate, use, and share genomic information. How data-sharing activities are characterized-whether for research, public health, or clinical interpretation and medical practice support-affects how the minimum necessary standard applies and its overall impact on data access and use. There is no clear regulatory guidance on how to apply HIPAA's minimum necessary standard when considering the sharing of information in the data-rich environment of genomic testing. Laboratories that perform genomic testing should engage with policy makers to foster sound, well-informed policies and appropriate characterization of data-sharing activities to minimize adverse impacts on day-to-day workflows.

Giant pandas can discriminate the emotions of human facial pictures.

PubMed

Li, Youxu; Dai, Qiang; Hou, Rong; Zhang, Zhihe; Chen, Peng; Xue, Rui; Feng, Feifei; Chen, Chao; Liu, Jiabin; Gu, Xiaodong; Zhang, Zejun; Qi, Dunwu

2017-08-16

Previous studies have shown that giant pandas (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) can discriminate face-like shapes, but little is known about their cognitive ability with respect to the emotional expressions of humans. We tested whether adult giant pandas can discriminate expressions from pictures of half of a face and found that pandas can learn to discriminate between angry and happy expressions based on global information from the whole face. Young adult pandas (5-7 years old) learned to discriminate expressions more quickly than older individuals (8-16 years old), but no significant differences were found between females and males. These results suggest that young adult giant pandas are better at discriminating emotional expressions of humans. We showed for the first time that the giant panda, can discriminate the facial expressions of humans. Our results can also be valuable for the daily care and management of captive giant pandas.

The contribution of respiration in tree-stems to the Dole Effect

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Angert, A.; Muhr, J.; Negron Juarez, R.; Alegria Muñoz, W.; Kraemer, G.; Ramirez Santillan, J.; Chambers, J. Q.; Trumbore, S. E.

2012-01-01

Understanding the variability and the current value of the Dole Effect, which has been used to infer past changes in biospheric productivity, requires accurate information on the discrimination associated with respiratory oxygen consumption in each of the biosphere components. Respiration in tree stems is an important component of the land carbon cycle. Here we measured, for the first time, the discrimination associated with tree stem oxygen uptake. The measurements included tropical forest trees, which are major contributors to the global fluxes of carbon and oxygen. We found discrimination in the range of 12.6-21.5 ‰, indicating both diffusion limitation, resulting in O2 discrimination values below 20 ‰, and alternative oxidase respiration, which resulted in discrimination values greater than 20 ‰. Discrimination varied seasonally, between and within tree species. Calculations based on these results show that variability in woody plants discrimination can result in significant variations in the global Dole Effect.

The contribution of respiration in tree stems to the Dole Effect

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Angert, A.; Muhr, J.; Negron Juarez, R.; Alegria Muñoz, W.; Kraemer, G.; Ramirez Santillan, J.; Chambers, J. Q.; Trumbore, S. E.

2012-10-01

Understanding the variability and the current value of the Dole Effect, which has been used to infer past changes in biospheric productivity, requires accurate information on the isotopic discrimination associated with respiratory oxygen consumption in each of the biosphere components. Respiration in tree stems is an important component of the land carbon cycle. Here we measured, for the first time, the discrimination associated with tree stem oxygen uptake. The measurements included tropical forest trees, which are major contributors to the global fluxes of carbon and oxygen. We found discrimination in the range of 12.6-21.5‰, indicating both diffusion limitation, resulting in O2 discrimination values below 20‰, and alternative oxidase respiration, which resulted in discrimination values greater than 20‰. Discrimination varied seasonally, between and within tree species. Calculations based on these results show that variability in woody plants discrimination can result in significant variations in the global Dole Effect.

Stigma in the mental health workplace: perceptions of peer employees and clinicians.

PubMed

Stromwall, Layne K; Holley, Lynn C; Bashor, Kathy E

2011-08-01

Informed by a structural theory of workplace discrimination, mental health system employees' perceptions of mental health workplace stigma and discrimination against service recipients and peer employees were investigated. Fifty-one peer employees and 52 licensed behavioral health clinicians participated in an online survey. Independent variables were employee status (peer or clinician), gender, ethnicity, years of mental health employment, age, and workplace social inclusion of peer employees. Analysis of covariance on workplace discrimination against service recipients revealed that peer employees perceived more discrimination than clinicians and whites perceived more discrimination than employees of color (corrected model F = 9.743 [16, 87], P = .000, partial ŋ (2) = .644). Analysis of covariance on workplace discrimination against peer employees revealed that peer employees perceived more discrimination than clinicians (F = 4.593, [6, 97], P = .000, partial ŋ (2) = .223).

The"minimum information about an environmental sequence" (MIENS) specification

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

Yilmaz, P.; Kottmann, R.; Field, D.

We present the Genomic Standards Consortium's (GSC) 'Minimum Information about an ENvironmental Sequence' (MIENS) standard for describing marker genes. Adoption of MIENS will enhance our ability to analyze natural genetic diversity across the Tree of Life as it is currently being documented by massive DNA sequencing efforts from myriad ecosystems in our ever-changing biosphere.

Perceived discrimination as worldview threat or worldview confirmation: implications for self-esteem.

PubMed

Major, Brenda; Kaiser, Cheryl R; O'Brien, Laurie T; McCoy, Shannon K

2007-06-01

In 3 studies, the authors tested the hypothesis that discrimination targets' worldview moderates the impact of perceived discrimination on self-esteem among devalued groups. In Study 1, perceiving discrimination against the ingroup was negatively associated with self-esteem among Latino Americans who endorsed a meritocracy worldview (e.g., believed that individuals of any group can get ahead in America and that success stems from hard work) but was positively associated with self-esteem among those who rejected this worldview. Study 2 showed that exposure to discrimination against their ingroup (vs. a non-self-relevant group) led to lower self-esteem, greater feelings of personal vulnerability, and ingroup blame among Latino Americans who endorsed a meritocracy worldview but to higher self-esteem and decreased ingroup blame among Latino Americans who rejected it. Study 3 showed that compared with women informed that prejudice against their ingroup is pervasive, women informed that prejudice against their ingroup is rare had higher self-esteem if they endorsed a meritocracy worldview but lower self-esteem if they rejected this worldview. Findings support the idea that perceiving discrimination against one's ingroup threatens the worldview of individuals who believe that status in society is earned but confirms the worldview of individuals who do not. (c) 2007 APA, all rights reserved.

Detecting and discriminating novel objects: The impact of perirhinal cortex disconnection on hippocampal activity patterns

PubMed Central

Amin, Eman; Olarte‐Sánchez, Cristian M.; Aggleton, John P.

2016-01-01

ABSTRACT Perirhinal cortex provides object‐based information and novelty/familiarity information for the hippocampus. The necessity of these inputs was tested by comparing hippocampal c‐fos expression in rats with or without perirhinal lesions. These rats either discriminated novel from familiar objects (Novel‐Familiar) or explored pairs of novel objects (Novel‐Novel). Despite impairing Novel‐Familiar discriminations, the perirhinal lesions did not affect novelty detection, as measured by overall object exploration levels (Novel‐Novel condition). The perirhinal lesions also largely spared a characteristic network of linked c‐fos expression associated with novel stimuli (entorhinal cortex→CA3→distal CA1→proximal subiculum). The findings show: I) that perirhinal lesions preserve behavioral sensitivity to novelty, whilst still impairing the spontaneous ability to discriminate novel from familiar objects, II) that the distinctive patterns of hippocampal c‐fos activity promoted by novel stimuli do not require perirhinal inputs, III) that entorhinal Fos counts (layers II and III) increase for novelty discriminations, IV) that hippocampal c‐fos networks reflect proximal‐distal connectivity differences, and V) that discriminating novelty creates different pathway interactions from merely detecting novelty, pointing to top‐down effects that help guide object selection. © 2016 The Authors Hippocampus Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. PMID:27398938

Tactile discrimination and representations of texture, shape, and softness

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Srinivasan, M. A.; Lamotte, R. H.

1991-01-01

We present here some of the salient results on the tactual discriminabilities of human subjects obtained through psychophysical experiments, and the associated peripheral neural codes obtained through electrophysiological recordings from monkey single nerve fibers. Humans can detect the presence of a 2 micron high single dot on a smooth glass plate stroked on the skin, based on the responses of Meissner type rapidly adapting fibers (RAs). They can also detect a 0.06 micron high grating on the plate, owing to the response of Pacinian corpuscle fibers. Among all the possible representations of the shapes of objects, the surface curvature distribution seems to be the most relevant for tactile sensing. Slowly adapting fibers respond to both the change and rate of change of curvature of the skin surface at the most sensitive spot in their receptive fields, whereas RAs respond only to the rate of change of curvature. Human discriminability of compliance of objects depends on whether the object has a deformable or rigid surface. When the surface is deformable, the spatial pressure distribution within the contact region is dependent on object compliance, and hence information from cutaneous mechanoreceptors is sufficient for discrimination of subtle differences in compliance. When the surface is rigid, kinesthetic information is necessary for discrimination, and the discriminability is much poorer than that for objects with deformable surfaces.

Family physicians' awareness and knowledge of the Genetic Information Non-Discrimination Act (GINA).

PubMed

Laedtke, Amanda L; O'Neill, Suzanne M; Rubinstein, Wendy S; Vogel, Kristen J

2012-04-01

Historically, physicians have expressed concern about their patients' risk of genetic discrimination, which has acted as a barrier to uptake of genetic services. The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 (GINA) is intended to protect patients against employer and health insurance discrimination. Physicians' awareness and knowledge of GINA has yet to be evaluated. In 2009, we mailed surveys to 1500 randomly selected members of the American Academy of Family Physicians. Questions measured physicians' current knowledge of GINA and their level of concern for genetic discrimination. In total, 401 physicians completed the survey (response rate 26.9%). Approximately half (54.5%) of physicians had no awareness of GINA. Of physicians who reported basic knowledge of GINA, the majority were aware of the protections offered for group health insurance (92.7%), private health insurance (82.9%), and employment (70.7%). Fewer physicians were aware of GINA's limitations regarding life insurance (53.7%) and long-term care insurance (58.8%). Physicians demonstrated highest levels of concern for health insurance, life insurance, and long-term care insurance discrimination, with less concern for employer and family/social discrimination. Level of concern for the risk of genetic discrimination did not correlate significantly with awareness of GINA. Approximately 17 months after GINA was signed into federal law, physicians' knowledge remained limited regarding the existence of this legislation and relevant details. Physicians who are aware of GINA continue to have significant concerns regarding the risk of genetic discrimination. This study reveals the need to further educate physicians about the existence of GINA and the protections offered.

Severe Loss of Tritan Color Discrimination in RPE65 Associated Leber Congenital Amaurosis

PubMed Central

Kumaran, Neruban; Ripamonti, Caterina; Kalitzeos, Angelos; Rubin, Gary S.; Bainbridge, James W. B.

2018-01-01

Purpose RPE65-associated Leber congenital amaurosis (RPE65-LCA) is a progressive severe retinal dystrophy with early profound dysfunction of rod photoreceptors followed by progressive cone photoreceptor degeneration. We aim to provide detailed information about how cone dysfunction affects color discrimination. Methods Seven adults (aged 16–21) with RPE65-LCA underwent monocular color discrimination assessment using the Trivector and Ellipse versions of three computerized tests: Cambridge Colour Test (CCT), low vision version of the Cambridge Colour Test (lvvCCT), and the Universal Colour Discrimination Test (UCDT). For comparison, subjects were also tested using the American Optical Hardy Rand Rittler (AO-HRR) plates. Each assessment was repeated three times. Results The Trivector version of the tests demonstrated that color discrimination along the tritan axis was undetectable in four subjects, and severely reduced in three subjects. These findings were confirmed by the Ellipse version of the tests. Color discrimination along the protan and deutan axes was evident but reduced in six of seven subjects. Four of seven subjects were unable to read any of the HRR plates. Conclusions The computerized color vision tests adopted in this study provide detailed information about color discrimination in adult RPE65-LCA patients. The condition is associated with severe impairment of color discrimination, particularly along the tritan axis indicating possible early involvement of S-cones, with additional protan and deutan loss to a lesser extent. This psychophysical assessment strategy is likely to be valuable in measuring the impact of therapeutic intervention on cone function. PMID:29332120

Changes in employment status and experience of discrimination among cancer patients: findings from a nationwide survey in Korea.

PubMed

Park, Jae-Hyun; Park, Jong-Hyock; Kim, Sung-Gyeong; Lee, Kyung-Sook; Hahm, Myung-Il

2010-12-01

As the number of working cancer patients increases, workplace discrimination and its relationship to changes in employment status among cancer patients is becoming an increasingly important social concern. The aim of this study is to provide a comprehensive overview of the relationship between changes in employment status and discrimination following a diagnosis of cancer. A total of 748 cancer patients, aged 18 years and older, who were employed before receiving a diagnosis of cancer, were enrolled in this study. Patients were recruited from ten cancer centers in Korea. Sociodemographic data, work-related data, and clinical information, as well as information on changes in employment status and incidences of discrimination, were collected from all patients. A change in employment status was reported by 73.4% of the sample, with unemployment being the most common change (46.4%). Forty-two (5.6%) patients reported that they had experienced discrimination in the workplace. Reports of discrimination were only weakly correlated with changes in employment status, but were significantly correlated with forced unemployment. Additional analyses revealed that being female, being from a lower socioeconomic status group and having a disability were risk-factors for unemployment, while being male, being from a higher socioeconomic status group and having a disability were risk-factors for workplace discrimination or forced unemployment. More attention should be paid to vulnerable who are diagnosed with cancer. An individualized and culture-based approach should be taken to minimize undesirable changes in employment status and to reduce discrimination among patients receiving a diagnosis of cancer. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Extracting remaining information from an inconclusive result in optimal unambiguous state discrimination

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Gang; Yu, Long-Bao; Zhang, Wen-Hai; Cao, Zhuo-Liang

2014-12-01

In unambiguous state discrimination, the measurement results consist of the error-free results and an inconclusive result, and an inconclusive result is conventionally regarded as a useless remainder from which no information about initial states is extracted. In this paper, we investigate the problem of extracting remaining information from an inconclusive result, provided that the optimal total success probability is determined. We present three simple examples. An inconclusive answer in the first two examples can be extracted partial information, while an inconclusive answer in the third one cannot be. The initial states in the third example are defined as the highly symmetric states.

Study on nondestructive discrimination of genuine and counterfeit wild ginsengs using NIRS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lu, Q.; Fan, Y.; Peng, Z.; Ding, H.; Gao, H.

2012-07-01

A new approach for the nondestructive discrimination between genuine wild ginsengs and the counterfeit ones by near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) was developed. Both discriminant analysis and back propagation artificial neural network (BP-ANN) were applied to the model establishment for discrimination. Optimal modeling wavelengths were determined based on the anomalous spectral information of counterfeit samples. Through principal component analysis (PCA) of various wild ginseng samples, genuine and counterfeit, the cumulative percentages of variance of the principal components were obtained, serving as a reference for principal component (PC) factor determination. Discriminant analysis achieved an identification ratio of 88.46%. With sample' truth values as its outputs, a three-layer BP-ANN model was built, which yielded a higher discrimination accuracy of 100%. The overall results sufficiently demonstrate that NIRS combined with BP-ANN classification algorithm performs better on ginseng discrimination than discriminant analysis, and can be used as a rapid and nondestructive method for the detection of counterfeit wild ginsengs in food and pharmaceutical industry.

Gender differences among discrimination & stigma experienced by depressive patients in Pakistan

PubMed Central

Khan, Nashi; Kausar, Rukhsana; Khalid, Adeela; Farooq, Anum

2015-01-01

Objective: This study aims to examine Gender Difference in the level of Discrimination and Stigma experienced by people diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder in Pakistan. It was hypothesized that Women diagnosed with Depression are likely to be experiencing more Discrimination and Internalized Stigma in comparison to Men. Methods: This is a Cross Sectional Study. Thirty eight patients diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder recruited from different Government Sector Hospitals of Lahore; were approached after obtaining informed consent. Discrimination and Stigma were measured through Discrimination and Stigma Scale and Internalized Stigma of Mental Illness Inventory respectively. Results: Both Men and Women experience considerably high level of associated Stigma and Discrimination due to their Mental Illness. However, Women in comparison to Men experience significantly greater level of Internalized Stigma especially in domains of Discrimination Experience and Social Withdrawal. Conclusion: The findings of this study highlight the fact that people with Depression can be more benefited with psychological treatment if dealing with Stigma and Discrimination is also addressed in Intervention Plans. PMID:26870110

Gender differences among discrimination & stigma experienced by depressive patients in Pakistan.

PubMed

Khan, Nashi; Kausar, Rukhsana; Khalid, Adeela; Farooq, Anum

2015-01-01

This study aims to examine Gender Difference in the level of Discrimination and Stigma experienced by people diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder in Pakistan. It was hypothesized that Women diagnosed with Depression are likely to be experiencing more Discrimination and Internalized Stigma in comparison to Men. This is a Cross Sectional Study. Thirty eight patients diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder recruited from different Government Sector Hospitals of Lahore; were approached after obtaining informed consent. Discrimination and Stigma were measured through Discrimination and Stigma Scale and Internalized Stigma of Mental Illness Inventory respectively. Both Men and Women experience considerably high level of associated Stigma and Discrimination due to their Mental Illness. However, Women in comparison to Men experience significantly greater level of Internalized Stigma especially in domains of Discrimination Experience and Social Withdrawal. The findings of this study highlight the fact that people with Depression can be more benefited with psychological treatment if dealing with Stigma and Discrimination is also addressed in Intervention Plans.

76 FR 80781 - Alcohol and Drug Testing: Determination of Minimum Random Testing Rates for 2012

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-12-27

...-11213, Notice No. 15] RIN 2130-AA81 Alcohol and Drug Testing: Determination of Minimum Random Testing.... According to data from FRA's Management Information System, the rail industry's random drug testing [[Page... Administrator (Administrator) has therefore determined that the minimum annual random drug testing rate for the...

77 FR 75896 - Alcohol and Drug Testing: Determination of Minimum Random Testing Rates for 2013

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-12-26

...-11213, Notice No. 16] Alcohol and Drug Testing: Determination of Minimum Random Testing Rates for 2013... from FRA's Management Information System, the rail industry's random drug testing positive rate has... therefore determined that the minimum annual random drug testing rate for the period January 1, 2013...

Multi-modal approach using Raman spectroscopy and optical coherence tomography for the discrimination of colonic adenocarcinoma from normal colon

PubMed Central

Ashok, Praveen C.; Praveen, Bavishna B.; Bellini, Nicola; Riches, Andrew; Dholakia, Kishan; Herrington, C. Simon

2013-01-01

We report a multimodal optical approach using both Raman spectroscopy and optical coherence tomography (OCT) in tandem to discriminate between colonic adenocarcinoma and normal colon. Although both of these non-invasive techniques are capable of discriminating between normal and tumour tissues, they are unable individually to provide both the high specificity and high sensitivity required for disease diagnosis. We combine the chemical information derived from Raman spectroscopy with the texture parameters extracted from OCT images. The sensitivity obtained using Raman spectroscopy and OCT individually was 89% and 78% respectively and the specificity was 77% and 74% respectively. Combining the information derived using the two techniques increased both sensitivity and specificity to 94% demonstrating that combining complementary optical information enhances diagnostic accuracy. These data demonstrate that multimodal optical analysis has the potential to achieve accurate non-invasive cancer diagnosis. PMID:24156073

Privacy Impact Assessment for the External Compliance Program Discrimination Complaint Files

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

The External Compliance Program Discrimination Complaint Files System collects information on administrative complaints. Learn how this data will be collected in the system, how it will be used, access to the data, and the purpose of data collection.

28 CFR 42.406 - Data and information collection.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... Section 42.406 Judicial Administration DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE NONDISCRIMINATION; EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY; POLICIES AND PROCEDURES Coordination of Enforcement of Non-discrimination in Federally Assisted... such services on the basis of prohibited discrimination; (2) The population eligible to be served by...

Good eggs? Evaluating consent forms for egg donation.

PubMed

Cattapan, Alana Rose

2016-07-01

Beyond gaps in the provision of information, the informed consent process for egg donation is complicated by conflicts of interest, payment and a lack of longitudinal data about physiological and psychological risks. Recent scholarship has suggested that egg donation programmes could improve the informed consent process by revising consent documents. At a minimum, these documents should include information about eight key criteria: the nature and objectives of treatment; the benefits, risks and inconveniences of egg donation; the privacy of donors and their anonymity (where applicable); disclosure that participation is voluntary (withdrawal); the availability of counselling; financial considerations; the possibility of an unsuccessful cycle and potential uses of the eggs retrieved. This study evaluates the incorporation of these minimum criteria in consent forms for egg donation, obtained through requests to Canadian fertility clinics. Even when clinics were considered to have met criteria simply by mentioning them, among the eight consent forms assessed, none met the minimum standards. Only half of clinics addressed privacy/anonymity concerns, financial issues and the possibility of a future cycle. Improving the quality of consent documentation to meet the minimum standards established by this study may not be an onerous task. For some, this will include re-evaluating how they include one or two elements of disclosure, and for others, this will require a substantial overhaul. Using the criteria provided by this study as the minimum standard for consent could ensure that donors have the basic information they need to make informed decisions. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/

An improved discriminative filter bank selection approach for motor imagery EEG signal classification using mutual information.

PubMed

Kumar, Shiu; Sharma, Alok; Tsunoda, Tatsuhiko

2017-12-28

Common spatial pattern (CSP) has been an effective technique for feature extraction in electroencephalography (EEG) based brain computer interfaces (BCIs). However, motor imagery EEG signal feature extraction using CSP generally depends on the selection of the frequency bands to a great extent. In this study, we propose a mutual information based frequency band selection approach. The idea of the proposed method is to utilize the information from all the available channels for effectively selecting the most discriminative filter banks. CSP features are extracted from multiple overlapping sub-bands. An additional sub-band has been introduced that cover the wide frequency band (7-30 Hz) and two different types of features are extracted using CSP and common spatio-spectral pattern techniques, respectively. Mutual information is then computed from the extracted features of each of these bands and the top filter banks are selected for further processing. Linear discriminant analysis is applied to the features extracted from each of the filter banks. The scores are fused together, and classification is done using support vector machine. The proposed method is evaluated using BCI Competition III dataset IVa, BCI Competition IV dataset I and BCI Competition IV dataset IIb, and it outperformed all other competing methods achieving the lowest misclassification rate and the highest kappa coefficient on all three datasets. Introducing a wide sub-band and using mutual information for selecting the most discriminative sub-bands, the proposed method shows improvement in motor imagery EEG signal classification.

EEG biometric identification: a thorough exploration of the time-frequency domain

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

DelPozo-Banos, Marcos; Travieso, Carlos M.; Weidemann, Christoph T.; Alonso, Jesús B.

2015-10-01

Objective. Although interest in using electroencephalogram (EEG) activity for subject identification has grown in recent years, the state of the art still lacks a comprehensive exploration of the discriminant information within it. This work aims to fill this gap, and in particular, it focuses on the time-frequency representation of the EEG. Approach. We executed qualitative and quantitative analyses of six publicly available data sets following a sequential experimentation approach. This approach was divided in three blocks analysing the configuration of the power spectrum density, the representation of the data and the properties of the discriminant information. A total of ten experiments were applied. Main results. Results show that EEG information below 40 Hz is unique enough to discriminate across subjects (a maximum of 100 subjects were evaluated here), regardless of the recorded cognitive task or the sensor location. Moreover, the discriminative power of rhythms follows a W-like shape between 1 and 40 Hz, with the central peak located at the posterior rhythm (around 10 Hz). This information is maximized with segments of around 2 s, and it proved to be moderately constant across montages and time. Significance. Therefore, we characterize how EEG activity differs across individuals and detail the optimal conditions to detect subject-specific information. This work helps to clarify the results of previous studies and to solve some unanswered questions. Ultimately, it will serve as guide for the design of future biometric systems.

Recognition of visual stimuli and memory for spatial context in schizophrenic patients and healthy volunteers.

PubMed

Brébion, Gildas; David, Anthony S; Pilowsky, Lyn S; Jones, Hugh

2004-11-01

Verbal and visual recognition tasks were administered to 40 patients with schizophrenia and 40 healthy comparison subjects. The verbal recognition task consisted of discriminating between 16 target words and 16 new words. The visual recognition task consisted of discriminating between 16 target pictures (8 black-and-white and 8 color) and 16 new pictures (8 black-and-white and 8 color). Visual recognition was followed by a spatial context discrimination task in which subjects were required to remember the spatial location of the target pictures at encoding. Results showed that recognition deficit in patients was similar for verbal and visual material. In both schizophrenic and healthy groups, men, but not women, obtained better recognition scores for the colored than for the black-and-white pictures. However, men and women similarly benefited from color to reduce spatial context discrimination errors. Patients showed a significant deficit in remembering the spatial location of the pictures, independently of accuracy in remembering the pictures themselves. These data suggest that patients are impaired in the amount of visual information that they can encode. With regards to the perceptual attributes of the stimuli, memory for spatial information appears to be affected, but not processing of color information.

[Traceability of Wine Varieties Using Near Infrared Spectroscopy Combined with Cyclic Voltammetry].

PubMed

Li, Meng-hua; Li, Jing-ming; Li, Jun-hui; Zhang, Lu-da; Zhao, Long-lian

2015-06-01

To achieve the traceability of wine varieties, a method was proposed to fuse Near-infrared (NIR) spectra and cyclic voltammograms (CV) which contain different information using D-S evidence theory. NIR spectra and CV curves of three different varieties of wines (cabernet sauvignon, merlot, cabernet gernischt) which come from seven different geographical origins were collected separately. The discriminant models were built using PLS-DA method. Based on this, D-S evidence theory was then applied to achieve the integration of the two kinds of discrimination results. After integrated by D-S evidence theory, the accuracy rate of cross-validation is 95.69% and validation set is 94.12% for wine variety identification. When only considering the wine that come from Yantai, the accuracy rate of cross-validation is 99.46% and validation set is 100%. All the traceability models after fusion achieved better results on classification than individual method. These results suggest that the proposed method combining electrochemical information with spectral information using the D-S evidence combination formula is benefit to the improvement of model discrimination effect, and is a promising tool for discriminating different kinds of wines.

Penalized discriminant analysis for the detection of wild-grown and cultivated Ganoderma lucidum using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhu, Ying; Tan, Tuck Lee

2016-04-01

An effective and simple analytical method using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy to distinguish wild-grown high-quality Ganoderma lucidum (G. lucidum) from cultivated one is of essential importance for its quality assurance and medicinal value estimation. Commonly used chemical and analytical methods using full spectrum are not so effective for the detection and interpretation due to the complex system of the herbal medicine. In this study, two penalized discriminant analysis models, penalized linear discriminant analysis (PLDA) and elastic net (Elnet),using FTIR spectroscopy have been explored for the purpose of discrimination and interpretation. The classification performances of the two penalized models have been compared with two widely used multivariate methods, principal component discriminant analysis (PCDA) and partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLSDA). The Elnet model involving a combination of L1 and L2 norm penalties enabled an automatic selection of a small number of informative spectral absorption bands and gave an excellent classification accuracy of 99% for discrimination between spectra of wild-grown and cultivated G. lucidum. Its classification performance was superior to that of the PLDA model in a pure L1 setting and outperformed the PCDA and PLSDA models using full wavelength. The well-performed selection of informative spectral features leads to substantial reduction in model complexity and improvement of classification accuracy, and it is particularly helpful for the quantitative interpretations of the major chemical constituents of G. lucidum regarding its anti-cancer effects.

Discrimination of isotrigon textures using the Rényi entropy of Allan variances.

PubMed

Gabarda, Salvador; Cristóbal, Gabriel

2008-09-01

We present a computational algorithm for isotrigon texture discrimination. The aim of this method consists in discriminating isotrigon textures against a binary random background. The extension of the method to the problem of multitexture discrimination is considered as well. The method relies on the fact that the information content of time or space-frequency representations of signals, including images, can be readily analyzed by means of generalized entropy measures. In such a scenario, the Rényi entropy appears as an effective tool, given that Rényi measures can be used to provide information about a local neighborhood within an image. Localization is essential for comparing images on a pixel-by-pixel basis. Discrimination is performed through a local Rényi entropy measurement applied on a spatially oriented 1-D pseudo-Wigner distribution (PWD) of the test image. The PWD is normalized so that it may be interpreted as a probability distribution. Prior to the calculation of the texture's PWD, a preprocessing filtering step replaces the original texture with its localized spatially oriented Allan variances. The anisotropic structure of the textures, as revealed by the Allan variances, turns out to be crucial later to attain a high discrimination by the extraction of Rényi entropy measures. The method has been empirically evaluated with a family of isotrigon textures embedded in a binary random background. The extension to the case of multiple isotrigon mosaics has also been considered. Discrimination results are compared with other existing methods.

Insiders' Insight: Discrimination against Indigenous Peoples through the Eyes of Health Care Professionals.

PubMed

Wylie, Lloy; McConkey, Stephanie

2018-05-07

Discrimination in the health care system has a direct negative impact on health and wellbeing. Experiences of discrimination are considered a root cause for the health inequalities that exist among Indigenous peoples. Experiences of discrimination are commonplace, with patients noting abusive treatment, stereotyping, and a lack of quality in the care provided, which discourage Indigenous people from accessing care. This research project examined the perspectives of health care providers and decision-makers to identify what challenges they see facing Indigenous patients and families when accessing health services in a large city in southern Ontario. Discrimination against Indigenous people was identified as major challenges by respondents, noting that it is widespread. This paper discusses the three key discrimination subthemes that were identified, including an unwelcoming environment, stereotyping and stigma, and practice informed by racism. These findings point to the conclusion that in order to improve health care access for Indigenous peoples, we need to go beyond simply making health services more welcoming and inclusive. Practice norms shaped by biases informed by discrimination against Indigenous people are widespread and compromise standards of care. Therefore, the problem needs to be addressed throughout the health care system as part of a quality improvement strategy. This will require not only a significant shift in the attitudes, knowledge, and skills of health care providers, but also the establishment of accountabilities for health care organizations to ensure equitable health services for Indigenous peoples.

Depression and discrimination in the lives of women, transgender and gender liminal people in Ontario, Canada.

PubMed

Williams, Charmaine C; Curling, Deone; Steele, Leah S; Gibson, Margaret F; Daley, Andrea; Green, Datejie Cheko; Ross, Lori E

2017-05-01

This article uses an intersectionality lens to explore how experiences of race, gender, sexuality, class and their intersections are associated with depression and unmet need for mental healthcare in a population of 704 women and transgender/gender liminal people from Ontario, Canada. A survey collecting demographic information, information about mental health and use of mental healthcare services, and data for the Everyday Discrimination Scale and the PHQ-9 Questionnaire for Depression was completed by 704 people via Internet or pen-and-paper between June 2011 and June 2012. Bivariate and regression analyses were conducted to assess group differences in depression and discrimination experiences, and predictors of depression and unmet need for mental healthcare services. Analyses revealed that race, gender, class and sexuality all corresponded to significant differences in exposure to discrimination, experiences of depression and unmet needs for mental healthcare. Use of interaction terms to model intersecting identities and exclusion contributed to explained variance in both outcome variables. Everyday discrimination was the strongest predictor of both depression and unmet need for mental healthcare. The results suggest lower income and intersections of race with other marginalised identities are associated with more depression and unmet need for mental healthcare; however, discrimination is the factor that contributes the most to those vulnerabilities. Future research can build on intersectionality theory by foregrounding the role of structural inequities and discrimination in promoting poor mental health and barriers to healthcare. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Forest tree species clssification based on airborne hyper-spectral imagery

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dian, Yuanyong; Li, Zengyuan; Pang, Yong

2013-10-01

Forest precision classification products were the basic data for surveying of forest resource, updating forest subplot information, logging and design of forest. However, due to the diversity of stand structure, complexity of the forest growth environment, it's difficult to discriminate forest tree species using multi-spectral image. The airborne hyperspectral images can achieve the high spatial and spectral resolution imagery of forest canopy, so it will good for tree species level classification. The aim of this paper was to test the effective of combining spatial and spectral features in airborne hyper-spectral image classification. The CASI hyper spectral image data were acquired from Liangshui natural reserves area. Firstly, we use the MNF (minimum noise fraction) transform method for to reduce the hyperspectral image dimensionality and highlighting variation. And secondly, we use the grey level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM) to extract the texture features of forest tree canopy from the hyper-spectral image, and thirdly we fused the texture and the spectral features of forest canopy to classify the trees species using support vector machine (SVM) with different kernel functions. The results showed that when using the SVM classifier, MNF and texture-based features combined with linear kernel function can achieve the best overall accuracy which was 85.92%. It was also confirm that combine the spatial and spectral information can improve the accuracy of tree species classification.

Effective Identification of Low-Gliadin Wheat Lines by Near Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS): Implications for the Development and Analysis of Foodstuffs Suitable for Celiac Patients.

PubMed

García-Molina, María Dolores; García-Olmo, Juan; Barro, Francisco

2016-01-01

The aim of this work was to assess the ability of Near Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS) to distinguish wheat lines with low gliadin content, obtained by RNA interference (RNAi), from non-transgenic wheat lines. The discriminant analysis was performed using both whole grain and flour. The transgenic sample set included 409 samples for whole grain sorting and 414 samples for flour experiments, while the non-transgenic set consisted of 126 and 156 samples for whole grain and flour, respectively. Samples were scanned using a Foss-NIR Systems 6500 System II instrument. Discrimination models were developed using the entire spectral range (400-2500 nm) and ranges of 400-780 nm, 800-1098 nm and 1100-2500 nm, followed by analysis of means of partial least square (PLS). Two external validations were made, using samples from the years 2013 and 2014 and a minimum of 99% of the flour samples and 96% of the whole grain samples were classified correctly. The results demonstrate the ability of NIRS to successfully discriminate between wheat samples with low-gliadin content and wild types. These findings are important for the development and analysis of foodstuff for celiac disease (CD) patients to achieve better dietary composition and a reduction in disease incidence.

Imperfect pitch: Gabor's uncertainty principle and the pitch of extremely brief sounds.

PubMed

Hsieh, I-Hui; Saberi, Kourosh

2016-02-01

How brief must a sound be before its pitch is no longer perceived? The uncertainty tradeoff between temporal and spectral resolution (Gabor's principle) limits the minimum duration required for accurate pitch identification or discrimination. Prior studies have reported that pitch can be extracted from sinusoidal pulses as brief as half a cycle. This finding has been used in a number of classic papers to develop models of pitch encoding. We have found that phase randomization, which eliminates timbre confounds, degrades this ability to chance, raising serious concerns over the foundation on which classic pitch models have been built. The current study investigated whether subthreshold pitch cues may still exist in partial-cycle pulses revealed through statistical integration in a time series containing multiple pulses. To this end, we measured frequency-discrimination thresholds in a two-interval forced-choice task for trains of partial-cycle random-phase tone pulses. We found that residual pitch cues exist in these pulses but discriminating them requires an order of magnitude (ten times) larger frequency difference than that reported previously, necessitating a re-evaluation of pitch models built on earlier findings. We also found that as pulse duration is decreased to less than two cycles its pitch becomes biased toward higher frequencies, consistent with predictions of an auto-correlation model of pitch extraction.

Individuals with 22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome Are Impaired at Explicit, but Not Implicit, Discrimination of Local Forms Embedded in Global Structures

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Giersch, Anne; Glaser, Bronwyn; Pasca, Catherine; Chabloz, Mélanie; Debbané, Martin; Eliez, Stephan

2014-01-01

Individuals with 22q11.2 deletion syndrome (22q11.2DS) are impaired at exploring visual information in space; however, not much is known about visual form discrimination in the syndrome. Thirty-five individuals with 22q11.2DS and 41 controls completed a form discrimination task with global forms made up of local elements. Affected individuals…

40 CFR 7.85 - Recipients.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... description of any lawsuits pending against the recipient that allege discrimination which this part prohibits; (2) Racial/ethnic, national origin, age, sex and handicap data, or EPA Form 4700-4 information submitted with its application; (3) A log of discrimination complaints which identifies the complaint, the...

40 CFR 7.85 - Recipients.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... description of any lawsuits pending against the recipient that allege discrimination which this part prohibits; (2) Racial/ethnic, national origin, age, sex and handicap data, or EPA Form 4700-4 information submitted with its application; (3) A log of discrimination complaints which identifies the complaint, the...

40 CFR 7.85 - Recipients.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... description of any lawsuits pending against the recipient that allege discrimination which this part prohibits; (2) Racial/ethnic, national origin, age, sex and handicap data, or EPA Form 4700-4 information submitted with its application; (3) A log of discrimination complaints which identifies the complaint, the...

40 CFR 7.85 - Recipients.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... description of any lawsuits pending against the recipient that allege discrimination which this part prohibits; (2) Racial/ethnic, national origin, age, sex and handicap data, or EPA Form 4700-4 information submitted with its application; (3) A log of discrimination complaints which identifies the complaint, the...

Developing prediction equations and a mobile phone application to identify infants at risk of obesity.

PubMed

Santorelli, Gillian; Petherick, Emily S; Wright, John; Wilson, Brad; Samiei, Haider; Cameron, Noël; Johnson, William

2013-01-01

Advancements in knowledge of obesity aetiology and mobile phone technology have created the opportunity to develop an electronic tool to predict an infant's risk of childhood obesity. The study aims were to develop and validate equations for the prediction of childhood obesity and integrate them into a mobile phone application (App). Anthropometry and childhood obesity risk data were obtained for 1868 UK-born White or South Asian infants in the Born in Bradford cohort. Logistic regression was used to develop prediction equations (at 6 ± 1.5, 9 ± 1.5 and 12 ± 1.5 months) for risk of childhood obesity (BMI at 2 years >91(st) centile and weight gain from 0-2 years >1 centile band) incorporating sex, birth weight, and weight gain as predictors. The discrimination accuracy of the equations was assessed by the area under the curve (AUC); internal validity by comparing area under the curve to those obtained in bootstrapped samples; and external validity by applying the equations to an external sample. An App was built to incorporate six final equations (two at each age, one of which included maternal BMI). The equations had good discrimination (AUCs 86-91%), with the addition of maternal BMI marginally improving prediction. The AUCs in the bootstrapped and external validation samples were similar to those obtained in the development sample. The App is user-friendly, requires a minimum amount of information, and provides a risk assessment of low, medium, or high accompanied by advice and website links to government recommendations. Prediction equations for risk of childhood obesity have been developed and incorporated into a novel App, thereby providing proof of concept that childhood obesity prediction research can be integrated with advancements in technology.

Metabarcoding Baseline for the Sargasso Sea Zooplankton Community

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Blanco-Bercial, L.; Alam, S.

2016-02-01

Understanding the responses and evolution of any community over space and time requires a deep knowledge of the species present at each location and their interactions. Where taxonomy turns out to be challenging, as it is in the case of zooplankton, supra-species grouping is a common resort in community characterization. Although this makes morphological identification manageable, there is the associated price of a limited depth of study and the risk of mixing different species' organismal responses. As global change begins to influence species distributions and physiologies, it becomes ever more important to discriminate at a species specific level. The development of DNA-based identification protocols during the last decades are rapidly driving these limitations away, increasing our understanding of the existing complexity of even very close taxa to different stressors or environmental conditions. Beyond the mere taxonomic discrimination of the analyzed community, the use of DNA sequences allows for the rapid integration of phylogenetic measurements and related indexes. In this presentation, we show our first results tackling one of the regions with the highest zooplankton diversity, the Subtropical North Atlantic at the Bermuda Atlantic Time-Series Study (BATS) site. The chosen metabarcoding region was the hypervariable V9 region of the 18S rRNA gene. In this first investigation, we establish the baseline information needed for further and more comprehensive analyses on the time series: minimum coverage depth per sample, taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity of the community and effect of the Diel Vertical Migration in the epipelagic community. We also analyze the limitations of the species identification in relation to the variability of the V9 region within and between species.

REGIONAL SEISMIC CHEMICAL AND NUCLEAR EXPLOSION DISCRIMINATION: WESTERN U.S. EXAMPLES

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

Walter, W R; Taylor, S R; Matzel, E

2006-07-07

We continue exploring methodologies to improve regional explosion discrimination using the western U.S. as a natural laboratory. The western U.S. has abundant natural seismicity, historic nuclear explosion data, and widespread mine blasts, making it a good testing ground to study the performance of regional explosion discrimination techniques. We have assembled and measured a large set of these events to systematically explore how to best optimize discrimination performance. Nuclear explosions can be discriminated from a background of earthquakes using regional phase (Pn, Pg, Sn, Lg) amplitude measures such as high frequency P/S ratios. The discrimination performance is improved if the amplitudesmore » can be corrected for source size and path length effects. We show good results are achieved using earthquakes alone to calibrate for these effects with the MDAC technique (Walter and Taylor, 2001). We show significant further improvement is then possible by combining multiple MDAC amplitude ratios using an optimized weighting technique such as Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA). However this requires data or models for both earthquakes and explosions. In many areas of the world regional distance nuclear explosion data is lacking, but mine blast data is available. Mine explosions are often designed to fracture and/or move rock, giving them different frequency and amplitude behavior than contained chemical shots, which seismically look like nuclear tests. Here we explore discrimination performance differences between explosion types, the possible disparity in the optimization parameters that would be chosen if only chemical explosions were available and the corresponding effect of that disparity on nuclear explosion discrimination. Even after correcting for average path and site effects, regional phase ratios contain a large amount of scatter. This scatter appears to be due to variations in source properties such as depth, focal mechanism, stress drop, in the near source material properties (including emplacement conditions in the case of explosions) and in variations from the average path and site correction. Here we look at several kinds of averaging as a means to try and reduce variance in earthquake and explosion populations and better understand the factors going into a minimum variance level as a function of epicenter (see Anderson ee et al. this volume). We focus on the performance of P/S ratios over the frequency range from 1 to 16 Hz finding some improvements in discrimination as frequency increases. We also explore averaging and optimally combining P/S ratios in multiple frequency bands as a means to reduce variance. Similarly we explore the effects of azimuthally averaging both regional amplitudes and amplitude ratios over multiple stations to reduce variance. Finally we look at optimal performance as a function of magnitude and path length, as these put limits the availability of good high frequency discrimination measures.« less

Optimal visuotactile integration for velocity discrimination of self-hand movements

PubMed Central

Chancel, M.; Blanchard, C.; Guerraz, M.; Montagnini, A.

2016-01-01

Illusory hand movements can be elicited by a textured disk or a visual pattern rotating under one's hand, while proprioceptive inputs convey immobility information (Blanchard C, Roll R, Roll JP, Kavounoudias A. PLoS One 8: e62475, 2013). Here, we investigated whether visuotactile integration can optimize velocity discrimination of illusory hand movements in line with Bayesian predictions. We induced illusory movements in 15 volunteers by visual and/or tactile stimulation delivered at six angular velocities. Participants had to compare hand illusion velocities with a 5°/s hand reference movement in an alternative forced choice paradigm. Results showed that the discrimination threshold decreased in the visuotactile condition compared with unimodal (visual or tactile) conditions, reflecting better bimodal discrimination. The perceptual strength (gain) of the illusions also increased: the stimulation required to give rise to a 5°/s illusory movement was slower in the visuotactile condition compared with each of the two unimodal conditions. The maximum likelihood estimation model satisfactorily predicted the improved discrimination threshold but not the increase in gain. When we added a zero-centered prior, reflecting immobility information, the Bayesian model did actually predict the gain increase but systematically overestimated it. Interestingly, the predicted gains better fit the visuotactile performances when a proprioceptive noise was generated by covibrating antagonist wrist muscles. These findings show that kinesthetic information of visual and tactile origins is optimally integrated to improve velocity discrimination of self-hand movements. However, a Bayesian model alone could not fully describe the illusory phenomenon pointing to the crucial importance of the omnipresent muscle proprioceptive cues with respect to other sensory cues for kinesthesia. PMID:27385802

29 CFR 520.403 - What information is required when applying for authority to pay less than the minimum wage?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... pay less than the minimum wage? 520.403 Section 520.403 Labor Regulations Relating to Labor (Continued) WAGE AND HOUR DIVISION, DEPARTMENT OF LABOR REGULATIONS EMPLOYMENT UNDER SPECIAL CERTIFICATE OF... than the minimum wage? (a) A separate application must be made for each plant or establishment...

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

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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

2015-01-01

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

Classification of Hand Grasp Kinetics and Types Using Movement-Related Cortical Potentials and EEG Rhythms.

PubMed

Jochumsen, Mads; Rovsing, Cecilie; Rovsing, Helene; Niazi, Imran Khan; Dremstrup, Kim; Kamavuako, Ernest Nlandu

2017-01-01

Detection of single-trial movement intentions from EEG is paramount for brain-computer interfacing in neurorehabilitation. These movement intentions contain task-related information and if this is decoded, the neurorehabilitation could potentially be optimized. The aim of this study was to classify single-trial movement intentions associated with two levels of force and speed and three different grasp types using EEG rhythms and components of the movement-related cortical potential (MRCP) as features. The feature importance was used to estimate encoding of discriminative information. Two data sets were used. 29 healthy subjects executed and imagined different hand movements, while EEG was recorded over the contralateral sensorimotor cortex. The following features were extracted: delta, theta, mu/alpha, beta, and gamma rhythms, readiness potential, negative slope, and motor potential of the MRCP. Sequential forward selection was performed, and classification was performed using linear discriminant analysis and support vector machines. Limited classification accuracies were obtained from the EEG rhythms and MRCP-components: 0.48 ± 0.05 (grasp types), 0.41 ± 0.07 (kinetic profiles, motor execution), and 0.39 ± 0.08 (kinetic profiles, motor imagination). Delta activity contributed the most but all features provided discriminative information. These findings suggest that information from the entire EEG spectrum is needed to discriminate between task-related parameters from single-trial movement intentions.

Discriminating cellular heterogeneity using microwell-based RNA cytometry

PubMed Central

Dimov, Ivan K.; Lu, Rong; Lee, Eric P.; Seita, Jun; Sahoo, Debashis; Park, Seung-min; Weissman, Irving L.; Lee, Luke P.

2014-01-01

Discriminating cellular heterogeneity is important for understanding cellular physiology. However, it is limited by the technical difficulties of single-cell measurements. Here, we develop a two-stage system to determine cellular heterogeneity. In the first stage, we perform multiplex single-cell RNA-cytometry in a microwell array containing over 60,000 reaction chambers. In the second stage, we use the RNA-cytometry data to determine cellular heterogeneity by providing a heterogeneity likelihood score. Moreover, we use Monte-Carlo simulation and RNA-cytometry data to calculate the minimum number of cells required for detecting heterogeneity. We applied this system to characterize the RNA distributions of aging related genes in a highly purified mouse hematopoietic stem cell population. We identified genes that reveal novel heterogeneity of these cells. We also show that changes in expression of genes such as Birc6 during aging can be attributed to the shift of relative portions of cells in the high-expressing subgroup versus low-expressing subgroup. PMID:24667995

Authentication and Quantitation of Fraud in Extra Virgin Olive Oils Based on HPLC-UV Fingerprinting and Multivariate Calibration

PubMed Central

Carranco, Núria; Farrés-Cebrián, Mireia; Saurina, Javier

2018-01-01

High performance liquid chromatography method with ultra-violet detection (HPLC-UV) fingerprinting was applied for the analysis and characterization of olive oils, and was performed using a Zorbax Eclipse XDB-C8 reversed-phase column under gradient elution, employing 0.1% formic acid aqueous solution and methanol as mobile phase. More than 130 edible oils, including monovarietal extra-virgin olive oils (EVOOs) and other vegetable oils, were analyzed. Principal component analysis results showed a noticeable discrimination between olive oils and other vegetable oils using raw HPLC-UV chromatographic profiles as data descriptors. However, selected HPLC-UV chromatographic time-window segments were necessary to achieve discrimination among monovarietal EVOOs. Partial least square (PLS) regression was employed to tackle olive oil authentication of Arbequina EVOO adulterated with Picual EVOO, a refined olive oil, and sunflower oil. Highly satisfactory results were obtained after PLS analysis, with overall errors in the quantitation of adulteration in the Arbequina EVOO (minimum 2.5% adulterant) below 2.9%. PMID:29561820

Contributions of individual face features to face discrimination.

PubMed

Logan, Andrew J; Gordon, Gael E; Loffler, Gunter

2017-08-01

Faces are highly complex stimuli that contain a host of information. Such complexity poses the following questions: (a) do observers exhibit preferences for specific information? (b) how does sensitivity to individual face parts compare? These questions were addressed by quantifying sensitivity to different face features. Discrimination thresholds were determined for synthetic faces under the following conditions: (i) 'full face': all face features visible; (ii) 'isolated feature': single feature presented in isolation; (iii) 'embedded feature': all features visible, but only one feature modified. Mean threshold elevations for isolated features, relative to full-faces, were 0.84x, 1.08, 2.12, 3.34, 4.07 and 4.47 for head-shape, hairline, nose, mouth, eyes and eyebrows respectively. Hence, when two full faces can be discriminated at threshold, the difference between the eyes is about four times less than what is required when discriminating between isolated eyes. In all cases, sensitivity was higher when features were presented in isolation than when they were embedded within a face context (threshold elevations of 0.94x, 1.74, 2.67, 2.90, 5.94 and 9.94). This reveals a specific pattern of sensitivity to face information. Observers are between two and four times more sensitive to external than internal features. The pattern for internal features (higher sensitivity for the nose, compared to mouth, eyes and eyebrows) is consistent with lower sensitivity for those parts affected by facial dynamics (e.g. facial expressions). That isolated features are easier to discriminate than embedded features supports a holistic face processing mechanism which impedes extraction of information about individual features from full faces. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Novel jet observables from machine learning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Datta, Kaustuv; Larkoski, Andrew J.

2018-03-01

Previous studies have demonstrated the utility and applicability of machine learning techniques to jet physics. In this paper, we construct new observables for the discrimination of jets from different originating particles exclusively from information identified by the machine. The approach we propose is to first organize information in the jet by resolved phase space and determine the effective N -body phase space at which discrimination power saturates. This then allows for the construction of a discrimination observable from the N -body phase space coordinates. A general form of this observable can be expressed with numerous parameters that are chosen so that the observable maximizes the signal vs. background likelihood. Here, we illustrate this technique applied to discrimination of H\\to b\\overline{b} decays from massive g\\to b\\overline{b} splittings. We show that for a simple parametrization, we can construct an observable that has discrimination power comparable to, or better than, widely-used observables motivated from theory considerations. For the case of jets on which modified mass-drop tagger grooming is applied, the observable that the machine learns is essentially the angle of the dominant gluon emission off of the b\\overline{b} pair.

A phylogenetic comparison of urease-positive thermophilic Campylobacter (UPTC) and urease-negative (UN) C. lari.

PubMed

Hirayama, Junichi; Tazumi, Akihiro; Hayashi, Kyohei; Tasaki, Erina; Kuribayashi, Takashi; Moore, John E; Millar, Beverley C; Matsuda, Motoo

2011-06-01

In the present study, the reliability of full-length gene sequence information for several genes including 16S rRNA was examined, for the discrimination of the two representative Campylobacter lari taxa, namely urease-negative (UN) C. lari and urease-positive thermophilic Campylobacter (UPTC). As previously described, 16S rRNA gene sequence are not reliable for the molecular discrimination of UN C. lari from UPTC organisms employing both the unweighted pair group method using arithmetic means analysis (UPGMA) and neighbor joining (NJ) methods. In addition, three composite full-length gene sequences (ciaB, flaC and vacJ) out of seven gene loci examined were reliable for discrimination employing dendrograms constructed by the UPGMA method. In addition, all the dendrograms of the NJ phylogenetic trees constructed based on the nine gene information were not reliable for the discrimination. Three composite full-length gene sequences (ciaB, flaC and vacJ) were reliable for the molecular discrimination between UN C. lari and UPTC organisms employing the UPGMA method, as well as among four thermophilic Campylobacter species. Copyright © 2011 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Male hamsters discriminate estrous state from vaginal secretions and individuals from flank marks

PubMed Central

delBarco-Trillo, Javier; LaVenture, Alex B.; Johnston, Robert E.

2009-01-01

It is clear that male hamsters discriminate between the odors of individual, conspecific females, as shown by using habituation-dishabituation methods. However, it is not clear from past research whether male hamsters are able to discriminate between the odors of estrous and non-estrous females. A series of habituation-dishabituation experiments were conducted to determine whether males discriminated between different estrous cycle states using two female secretions, those from flank glands and vaginal secretions. We found that, when habituated to a female flank-gland secretion, males discriminated between this female and a second female on the test trial, whether both were in estrus, both were in diestrus, or one was in estrus and the other in diestrus. There was no difference, however, in the magnitude of their dishabituation response toward flank-gland odors of females in estrus and diestrus. These results suggest that males use flank-gland odors to gain information primarily about individuals. When tested with vaginal secretions in habituation-dishabituation tests, males only showed differences in investigation when the second female was in estrus, indicating that males use vaginal secretions to gain information primarily about reproductive state. PMID:19615611

Male hamsters discriminate estrous state from vaginal secretions and individuals from flank marks.

PubMed

delBarco-Trillo, Javier; LaVenture, Alex B; Johnston, Robert E

2009-09-01

It is clear that male hamsters discriminate between the odors of individual, conspecific females, as shown by using habituation-dishabituation methods. However, it is not clear from past research whether male hamsters are able to discriminate between the odors of estrous and non-estrous females. A series of habituation-dishabituation experiments was conducted to determine whether males discriminated between different estrous cycle states using two female secretions, those from flank-glands and vaginal secretions. We found that, when habituated to a female flank-gland secretion, males discriminated between this female and a second female on the test trial, whether both were in estrus, both were in diestrus, or one was in estrus and the other in diestrus. There was no difference, however, in the magnitude of their dishabituation response toward flank-gland odors of females in estrus and diestrus. These results suggest that males use flank-gland odors to gain information primarily about individuals. When tested with vaginal secretions in habituation-dishabituation tests, males only showed differences in investigation when the second female was in estrus, indicating that males use vaginal secretions to gain information primarily about reproductive state.

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

Shumway, R.H.; McQuarrie, A.D.

Robust statistical approaches to the problem of discriminating between regional earthquakes and explosions are developed. We compare linear discriminant analysis using descriptive features like amplitude and spectral ratios with signal discrimination techniques using the original signal waveforms and spectral approximations to the log likelihood function. Robust information theoretic techniques are proposed and all methods are applied to 8 earthquakes and 8 mining explosions in Scandinavia and to an event from Novaya Zemlya of unknown origin. It is noted that signal discrimination approaches based on discrimination information and Renyi entropy perform better in the test sample than conventional methods based onmore » spectral ratios involving the P and S phases. Two techniques for identifying the ripple-firing pattern for typical mining explosions are proposed and shown to work well on simulated data and on several Scandinavian earthquakes and explosions. We use both cepstral analysis in the frequency domain and a time domain method based on the autocorrelation and partial autocorrelation functions. The proposed approach strips off underlying smooth spectral and seasonal spectral components corresponding to the echo pattern induced by two simple ripple-fired models. For two mining explosions, a pattern is identified whereas for two earthquakes, no pattern is evident.« less

76 FR 38743 - Proposed Information Collection (Complaint of Employment Discrimination) Activity: Comment Request

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-07-01

... (Complaint of Employment Discrimination) Activity: Comment Request AGENCY: Human Resources and Administration, Department of Veterans Affairs. ACTION: Notice. SUMMARY: The Human Resources and Administration (HRA... http://www.Regulations.gov or to Lillette Turner-Nelson, Human Resources and Administration, Office of...

Otolith shape analysis for stock discrimination of two Collichthys genus croaker (Pieces: Sciaenidae,) from the northern Chinese coast

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, Bo; Liu, Jinhu; Song, Junjie; Cao, Liang; Dou, Shuozeng

2017-08-01

The otolith morphology of two croaker species (Collichthys lucidus and Collichthys niveatus) from three areas (Liaodong Bay, LD; Huanghe (Yellow) River estuary, HRE; Jiaozhou Bay, JZ) along the northern Chinese coast were investigated for species identification and stock discrimination. The otolith contour shape described by elliptic Fourier coefficients (EFC) were analysed using principal components analysis (PCA) and stepwise canonical discriminant analysis (CDA) to identify species and stocks. The two species were well differentiated, with an overall classification success rate of 97.8%. And variations in the otolith shapes were significant enough to discriminate among the three geographical samples of C. lucidus (67.7%) or C. niveatus (65.2%). Relatively high mis-assignment occurred between the geographically adjacent LD and HRE samples, which implied that individual mixing may exist between the two samples. This study yielded information complementary to that derived from genetic studies and provided information for assessing the stock structure of C. lucidus and C. niveatus in the Bohai Sea and the Yellow Sea.

Discrimination of high-Z materials in concrete-filled containers using muon scattering tomography

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Frazão, L.; Velthuis, J.; Thomay, C.; Steer, C.

2016-07-01

An analysis method of identifying materials using muon scattering tomography is presented, which uses previous knowledge of the position of high-Z objects inside a container and distinguishes them from similar materials. In particular, simulations were performed in order to distinguish a block of Uranium from blocks of Lead and Tungsten of the same size, inside a concrete-filled drum. The results show that, knowing the shape and position from previous analysis, it is possible to distinguish 5 × 5 × 5 cm3 blocks of these materials with about 4h of muon exposure, down to 2 × 2 × 2 cm3 blocks with 70h of data using multivariate analysis (MVA). MVA uses several variables, but it does not benefit the discrimination over a simpler method using only the scatter angles. This indicates that the majority of discrimination is provided by the angular information. Momentum information is shown to provide no benefits in material discrimination.

Visual speech discrimination and identification of natural and synthetic consonant stimuli

PubMed Central

Files, Benjamin T.; Tjan, Bosco S.; Jiang, Jintao; Bernstein, Lynne E.

2015-01-01

From phonetic features to connected discourse, every level of psycholinguistic structure including prosody can be perceived through viewing the talking face. Yet a longstanding notion in the literature is that visual speech perceptual categories comprise groups of phonemes (referred to as visemes), such as /p, b, m/ and /f, v/, whose internal structure is not informative to the visual speech perceiver. This conclusion has not to our knowledge been evaluated using a psychophysical discrimination paradigm. We hypothesized that perceivers can discriminate the phonemes within typical viseme groups, and that discrimination measured with d-prime (d’) and response latency is related to visual stimulus dissimilarities between consonant segments. In Experiment 1, participants performed speeded discrimination for pairs of consonant-vowel spoken nonsense syllables that were predicted to be same, near, or far in their perceptual distances, and that were presented as natural or synthesized video. Near pairs were within-viseme consonants. Natural within-viseme stimulus pairs were discriminated significantly above chance (except for /k/-/h/). Sensitivity (d’) increased and response times decreased with distance. Discrimination and identification were superior with natural stimuli, which comprised more phonetic information. We suggest that the notion of the viseme as a unitary perceptual category is incorrect. Experiment 2 probed the perceptual basis for visual speech discrimination by inverting the stimuli. Overall reductions in d’ with inverted stimuli but a persistent pattern of larger d’ for far than for near stimulus pairs are interpreted as evidence that visual speech is represented by both its motion and configural attributes. The methods and results of this investigation open up avenues for understanding the neural and perceptual bases for visual and audiovisual speech perception and for development of practical applications such as visual lipreading/speechreading speech synthesis. PMID:26217249

Characterization of local complex structures in a recurrence plot to improve nonlinear dynamic discriminant analysis.

PubMed

Ding, Hang

2014-01-01

Structures in recurrence plots (RPs), preserving the rich information of nonlinear invariants and trajectory characteristics, have been increasingly analyzed in dynamic discrimination studies. The conventional analysis of RPs is mainly focused on quantifying the overall diagonal and vertical line structures through a method, called recurrence quantification analysis (RQA). This study extensively explores the information in RPs by quantifying local complex RP structures. To do this, an approach was developed to analyze the combination of three major RQA variables: determinism, laminarity, and recurrence rate (DLR) in a metawindow moving over a RP. It was then evaluated in two experiments discriminating (1) ideal nonlinear dynamic series emulated from the Lorenz system with different control parameters and (2) data sets of human heart rate regulations with normal sinus rhythms (n = 18) and congestive heart failure (n = 29). Finally, the DLR was compared with seven major RQA variables in terms of discriminatory power, measured by standardized mean difference (DSMD). In the two experiments, DLR resulted in the highest discriminatory power with DSMD = 2.53 and 0.98, respectively, which were 7.41 and 2.09 times the best performance from RQA. The study also revealed that the optimal RP structures for the discriminations were neither typical diagonal structures nor vertical structures. These findings indicate that local complex RP structures contain some rich information unexploited by RQA. Therefore, future research to extensively analyze complex RP structures would potentially improve the effectiveness of the RP analysis in dynamic discrimination studies.

Automatic face naming by learning discriminative affinity matrices from weakly labeled images.

PubMed

Xiao, Shijie; Xu, Dong; Wu, Jianxin

2015-10-01

Given a collection of images, where each image contains several faces and is associated with a few names in the corresponding caption, the goal of face naming is to infer the correct name for each face. In this paper, we propose two new methods to effectively solve this problem by learning two discriminative affinity matrices from these weakly labeled images. We first propose a new method called regularized low-rank representation by effectively utilizing weakly supervised information to learn a low-rank reconstruction coefficient matrix while exploring multiple subspace structures of the data. Specifically, by introducing a specially designed regularizer to the low-rank representation method, we penalize the corresponding reconstruction coefficients related to the situations where a face is reconstructed by using face images from other subjects or by using itself. With the inferred reconstruction coefficient matrix, a discriminative affinity matrix can be obtained. Moreover, we also develop a new distance metric learning method called ambiguously supervised structural metric learning by using weakly supervised information to seek a discriminative distance metric. Hence, another discriminative affinity matrix can be obtained using the similarity matrix (i.e., the kernel matrix) based on the Mahalanobis distances of the data. Observing that these two affinity matrices contain complementary information, we further combine them to obtain a fused affinity matrix, based on which we develop a new iterative scheme to infer the name of each face. Comprehensive experiments demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach.

MIDAS: Regionally linear multivariate discriminative statistical mapping.

PubMed

Varol, Erdem; Sotiras, Aristeidis; Davatzikos, Christos

2018-07-01

Statistical parametric maps formed via voxel-wise mass-univariate tests, such as the general linear model, are commonly used to test hypotheses about regionally specific effects in neuroimaging cross-sectional studies where each subject is represented by a single image. Despite being informative, these techniques remain limited as they ignore multivariate relationships in the data. Most importantly, the commonly employed local Gaussian smoothing, which is important for accounting for registration errors and making the data follow Gaussian distributions, is usually chosen in an ad hoc fashion. Thus, it is often suboptimal for the task of detecting group differences and correlations with non-imaging variables. Information mapping techniques, such as searchlight, which use pattern classifiers to exploit multivariate information and obtain more powerful statistical maps, have become increasingly popular in recent years. However, existing methods may lead to important interpretation errors in practice (i.e., misidentifying a cluster as informative, or failing to detect truly informative voxels), while often being computationally expensive. To address these issues, we introduce a novel efficient multivariate statistical framework for cross-sectional studies, termed MIDAS, seeking highly sensitive and specific voxel-wise brain maps, while leveraging the power of regional discriminant analysis. In MIDAS, locally linear discriminative learning is applied to estimate the pattern that best discriminates between two groups, or predicts a variable of interest. This pattern is equivalent to local filtering by an optimal kernel whose coefficients are the weights of the linear discriminant. By composing information from all neighborhoods that contain a given voxel, MIDAS produces a statistic that collectively reflects the contribution of the voxel to the regional classifiers as well as the discriminative power of the classifiers. Critically, MIDAS efficiently assesses the statistical significance of the derived statistic by analytically approximating its null distribution without the need for computationally expensive permutation tests. The proposed framework was extensively validated using simulated atrophy in structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and further tested using data from a task-based functional MRI study as well as a structural MRI study of cognitive performance. The performance of the proposed framework was evaluated against standard voxel-wise general linear models and other information mapping methods. The experimental results showed that MIDAS achieves relatively higher sensitivity and specificity in detecting group differences. Together, our results demonstrate the potential of the proposed approach to efficiently map effects of interest in both structural and functional data. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Discriminating the precipitation phase based on different temperature thresholds in the Songhua River Basin, China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhong, Keyuan; Zheng, Fenli; Xu, Ximeng; Qin, Chao

2018-06-01

Different precipitation phases (rain, snow or sleet) differ greatly in their hydrological and erosional processes. Therefore, accurate discrimination of the precipitation phase is highly important when researching hydrologic processes and climate change at high latitudes and mountainous regions. The objective of this study was to identify suitable temperature thresholds for discriminating the precipitation phase in the Songhua River Basin (SRB) based on 20-year daily precipitation collected from 60 meteorological stations located in and around the basin. Two methods, the air temperature method (AT method) and the wet bulb temperature method (WBT method), were used to discriminate the precipitation phase. Thirteen temperature thresholds were used to discriminate snowfall in the SRB. These thresholds included air temperatures from 0 to 5.5 °C at intervals of 0.5 °C and the wet bulb temperature (WBT). Three evaluation indices, the error percentage of discriminated snowfall days (Ep), the relative error of discriminated snowfall (Re) and the determination coefficient (R2), were applied to assess the discrimination accuracy. The results showed that 2.5 °C was the optimum threshold temperature for discriminating snowfall at the scale of the entire basin. Due to differences in the landscape conditions at the different stations, the optimum threshold varied by station. The optimal threshold ranged 1.5-4.0 °C, and 19 stations, 17 stations and 18 stations had optimal thresholds of 2.5 °C, 3.0 °C, and 3.5 °C respectively, occupying 90% of all stations. Compared with using a single suitable temperature threshold to discriminate snowfall throughout the basin, it was more accurate to use the optimum threshold at each station to estimate snowfall in the basin. In addition, snowfall was underestimated when the temperature threshold was the WBT and when the temperature threshold was below 2.5 °C, whereas snowfall was overestimated when the temperature threshold exceeded 4.0 °C at most stations. The results of this study provide information for climate change research and hydrological process simulations in the SRB, as well as provide reference information for discriminating precipitation phase in other regions.

Thermal and range fusion for a planetary rover

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Caillas, Claude

1992-01-01

This paper describes how fusion between thermal and range imaging allows us to discriminate different types of materials in outdoor scenes. First, we analyze how pure vision segmentation algorithms applied to thermal images allow discriminating materials such as rock and sand. Second, we show how combining thermal and range information allows us to better discriminate rocks from sand. Third, as an application, we examine how an autonomous legged robot can use these techniques to explore other planets.

A finite-state, finite-memory minimum principle, part 2

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sandell, N. R., Jr.; Athans, M.

1975-01-01

In part 1 of this paper, a minimum principle was found for the finite-state, finite-memory (FSFM) stochastic control problem. In part 2, conditions for the sufficiency of the minimum principle are stated in terms of the informational properties of the problem. This is accomplished by introducing the notion of a signaling strategy. Then a min-H algorithm based on the FSFM minimum principle is presented. This algorithm converges, after a finite number of steps, to a person - by - person extremal solution.

Revising the Belgian Nursing Minimum Dataset: from concept to implementation.

PubMed

Sermeus, Walter; van den Heede, Koen; Michiels, Dominik; Delesie, Lucas; Thonon, Olivier; Van Boven, Caroline; Codognotto, Jean; Gillet, Pierre

2005-12-01

The process of revising the Belgian Nursing Minimum Dataset (B-NMDS) started in 2000 and entailed four major phases. The first phase (June-October 2002) involved the development of a conceptual framework based on a literature review and secondary data analysis. The Nursing Interventions Classification (NIC) was selected as a framework for the revision of the original B-NMDS. The second phase (November 2002-September 2003) focused on language development for six care programs evaluated by panels of clinical experts (N=75). These panels identified the following items as priorities for the revised B-NMDS: hospital financing, nurse staffing allocation, assessment of the appropriateness of hospitalisation, and quality management. During this period, we developed a draft instrument with 92 variables using the NIC. This led to an alpha version of a revised B-NMDS. The third phase (October 2003-December 2004) focused on data collection and validation of the new tool. The revised B-NMDS (alpha version) was tested in 158 nursing wards in 66 Belgian hospitals from December 2003 until March 2004. This test generated data for some 95,000 in-patient days. The interrater reliability of the revised B-NMDS was assessed. The criterion-related validity of the revised B-NMDS was compared to that of the original B-NMDS. The discriminative power of the revised B-NMDS was also assessed to select the most relevant variables for data collection. This resulted in a beta version of the revised B-NMDS in December 2004. The records of the revised B-NMDS were linked to the Hospital Discharge Dataset and other mandatory datasets to integrate the revised B-NMDS into the overall healthcare management system. The fourth phase (January 2005-December 2005) is presently focusing on information management. Nationwide implementation is foreseen by January 2007.

Usefulness of cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging to predict the need for intervention in patients with coarctation of the aorta.

PubMed

Muzzarelli, Stefano; Meadows, Alison Knauth; Ordovas, Karen Gomes; Higgins, Charles Bernard; Meadows, Jeffery Joshua

2012-03-15

Cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging can predict hemodynamically significant coarctation of the aorta (CoA) with a high degree of discrimination. However, the ability of CMR to predict important clinical outcomes in this patient population is unknown. Therefore, we sought to define the ability of CMR to predict the need for surgical or transcatheter intervention in patients with CoA. We retrospectively reviewed the data from 133 consecutive patients who had undergone CMR for the evaluation of known or suspected CoA. The characteristics of the CMR-derived variables predicting the need for surgical or transcatheter intervention for CoA within 1 year were determined through logistic regression analysis. Therapeutic aortic intervention was performed in 41 (31%) of the 133 patients during the study period. The indexed minimum aortic cross-sectional area was the strongest predictor of subsequent intervention (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve 0.975) followed by heart rate-corrected deceleration time in the descending aorta (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve 0.951), and the percentage of flow increase (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve 0.867). The combination of the indexed minimum aortic cross-sectional area and rate-corrected deceleration time in the descending aorta provided the best predictive model (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve 0.986). In conclusion, CMR findings can predict the need for subsequent intervention in CoA. These findings reinforce the "gate-keeper role" of CMR to cardiac catheterization by providing valuable diagnostic and powerful prognostic information and could guide additional treatment of patients with CoA with the final intent of reducing the number of diagnostic catheterizations in such patients. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Minimum alcohol pricing policies in practice: A critical examination of implementation in Canada.

PubMed

Thompson, Kara; Stockwell, Tim; Wettlaufer, Ashley; Giesbrecht, Norman; Thomas, Gerald

2017-02-01

There is an interest globally in using Minimum Unit Pricing (MUP) of alcohol to promote public health. Canada is the only country to have both implemented and evaluated some forms of minimum alcohol prices, albeit in ways that fall short of MUP. To inform these international debates, we describe the degree to which minimum alcohol prices in Canada meet recommended criteria for being an effective public health policy. We collected data on the implementation of minimum pricing with respect to (1) breadth of application, (2) indexation to inflation and (3) adjustments for alcohol content. Some jurisdictions have implemented recommended practices with respect to minimum prices; however, the full harm reduction potential of minimum pricing is not fully realised due to incomplete implementation. Key concerns include the following: (1) the exclusion of minimum prices for several beverage categories, (2) minimum prices below the recommended minima and (3) prices are not regularly adjusted for inflation or alcohol content. We provide recommendations for best practices when implementing minimum pricing policy.

Phonological experience modulates voice discrimination: Evidence from functional brain networks analysis.

PubMed

Hu, Xueping; Wang, Xiangpeng; Gu, Yan; Luo, Pei; Yin, Shouhang; Wang, Lijun; Fu, Chao; Qiao, Lei; Du, Yi; Chen, Antao

2017-10-01

Numerous behavioral studies have found a modulation effect of phonological experience on voice discrimination. However, the neural substrates underpinning this phenomenon are poorly understood. Here we manipulated language familiarity to test the hypothesis that phonological experience affects voice discrimination via mediating the engagement of multiple perceptual and cognitive resources. The results showed that during voice discrimination, the activation of several prefrontal regions was modulated by language familiarity. More importantly, the same effect was observed concerning the functional connectivity from the fronto-parietal network to the voice-identity network (VIN), and from the default mode network to the VIN. Our findings indicate that phonological experience could bias the recruitment of cognitive control and information retrieval/comparison processes during voice discrimination. Therefore, the study unravels the neural substrates subserving the modulation effect of phonological experience on voice discrimination, and provides new insights into studying voice discrimination from the perspective of network interactions. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Analysis of Optimal Sequential State Discrimination for Linearly Independent Pure Quantum States.

PubMed

Namkung, Min; Kwon, Younghun

2018-04-25

Recently, J. A. Bergou et al. proposed sequential state discrimination as a new quantum state discrimination scheme. In the scheme, by the successful sequential discrimination of a qubit state, receivers Bob and Charlie can share the information of the qubit prepared by a sender Alice. A merit of the scheme is that a quantum channel is established between Bob and Charlie, but a classical communication is not allowed. In this report, we present a method for extending the original sequential state discrimination of two qubit states to a scheme of N linearly independent pure quantum states. Specifically, we obtain the conditions for the sequential state discrimination of N = 3 pure quantum states. We can analytically provide conditions when there is a special symmetry among N = 3 linearly independent pure quantum states. Additionally, we show that the scenario proposed in this study can be applied to quantum key distribution. Furthermore, we show that the sequential state discrimination of three qutrit states performs better than the strategy of probabilistic quantum cloning.

78 FR 13855 - Notice of Public Information Collection Requirements Submitted to OMB for Review

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-03-01

... will be utilized to collect information to determine the most qualified person for a position without gathering information which may lead to discrimination or bias information towards or gathered from...

Information Overload?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Doring, Allan

1999-01-01

Access to information is inadequate without attention to learning processes and the use of information in the production of knowledge. The ability to sift sources, discriminate, and think is far more important than the ability to find vast quantities of information. (SK)

Comparing solvophobic and multivalent induced collapse in polyelectrolyte brushes

DOE PAGES

Jackson, Nicholas E.; Brettmann, Blair K.; Vishwanath, Venkatram; ...

2017-02-03

Here, coarse-grained molecular dynamics enhanced by free-energy sampling methods is used to examine the roles of solvophobicity and multivalent salts on polyelectrolyte brush collapse. Specifically, we demonstrate that while ostensibly similar, solvophobic collapsed brushes and multivalent-ion collapsed brushes exhibit distinct mechanistic and structural features. Notably, multivalent-induced heterogeneous brush collapse is observed under good solvent polymer backbone conditions, demonstrating that the mechanism of multivalent collapse is not contingent upon a solvophobic backbone. Umbrella sampling of the potential of mean-force (PMF) between two individual brush strands confirms this analysis, revealing starkly different PMFs under solvophobic and multivalent conditions, suggesting the role ofmore » multivalent “bridging” as the discriminating feature in trivalent collapse. Structurally, multivalent ions show a propensity for nucleating order within collapsed brushes, whereas poor-solvent collapsed brushes are more disordered; this difference is traced to the existence of a metastable PMF minimum for poor solvent conditions, and a global PMF minimum for trivalent systems, under experimentally relevant conditions.« less

Comparing solvophobic and multivalent induced collapse in polyelectrolyte brushes

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

Jackson, Nicholas E.; Brettmann, Blair K.; Vishwanath, Venkatram

Here, coarse-grained molecular dynamics enhanced by free-energy sampling methods is used to examine the roles of solvophobicity and multivalent salts on polyelectrolyte brush collapse. Specifically, we demonstrate that while ostensibly similar, solvophobic collapsed brushes and multivalent-ion collapsed brushes exhibit distinct mechanistic and structural features. Notably, multivalent-induced heterogeneous brush collapse is observed under good solvent polymer backbone conditions, demonstrating that the mechanism of multivalent collapse is not contingent upon a solvophobic backbone. Umbrella sampling of the potential of mean-force (PMF) between two individual brush strands confirms this analysis, revealing starkly different PMFs under solvophobic and multivalent conditions, suggesting the role ofmore » multivalent “bridging” as the discriminating feature in trivalent collapse. Structurally, multivalent ions show a propensity for nucleating order within collapsed brushes, whereas poor-solvent collapsed brushes are more disordered; this difference is traced to the existence of a metastable PMF minimum for poor solvent conditions, and a global PMF minimum for trivalent systems, under experimentally relevant conditions.« less

When mental fatigue maybe characterized by Event Related Potential (P300) during virtual wheelchair navigation.

PubMed

Lamti, Hachem A; Gorce, Philippe; Ben Khelifa, Mohamed Moncef; Alimi, Adel M

2016-12-01

The goal of this study is to investigate the influence of mental fatigue on the event related potential P300 features (maximum pick, minimum amplitude, latency and period) during virtual wheelchair navigation. For this purpose, an experimental environment was set up based on customizable environmental parameters (luminosity, number of obstacles and obstacles velocities). A correlation study between P300 and fatigue ratings was conducted. Finally, the best correlated features supplied three classification algorithms which are MLP (Multi Layer Perceptron), Linear Discriminate Analysis and Support Vector Machine. The results showed that the maximum feature over visual and temporal regions as well as period feature over frontal, fronto-central and visual regions were correlated with mental fatigue levels. In the other hand, minimum amplitude and latency features didn't show any correlation. Among classification techniques, MLP showed the best performance although the differences between classification techniques are minimal. Those findings can help us in order to design suitable mental fatigue based wheelchair control.

Information-Processing Correlates of Computer-Assisted Word Learning by Mentally Retarded Students.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Conners, Frances A.; Detterman, Douglas K.

1987-01-01

Nineteen moderately/severely retarded students (ages 9-22) completed ten 15-minute computer-assisted instruction sessions and seven basic cognitive tasks measuring simple learning, choice reaction time, relearning, probed recall, stimulus discrimination, tachictoscopic threshold, and recognition memory. Stimulus discrimination, probed recall, and…

The Counselor and Testing: Some Legal Concerns.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Talbutt, Lou Culler

1983-01-01

Summarizes significant laws and court cases pertaining to discrimination in educational testing and discusses the implications for counselors. Counselors must be knowledgeable about current testing information, regulations of the state and local boards of education, and professional guidelines to avoid discrimination of students because of sex,…

Interpersonal discrimination and markers of adiposity in longitudinal studies: a systematic review.

PubMed

Bernardo, C de O; Bastos, J L; González-Chica, D A; Peres, M A; Paradies, Y C

2017-09-01

While the impact of interpersonal discrimination on mental health is well established, its effects on physical health outcomes have not been fully elucidated. This study systematically reviewed the literature on the prospective association between interpersonal discrimination and markers of adiposity. Medline, Web of Science, Scopus, PsycInfo, SciELO, LILACS, Google Scholar, Capes/Brazil and ProQuest databases were used to retrieve relevant information in November 2016. The results from the 10 studies that met the inclusion criteria support an association between interpersonal self-reported discrimination and the outcomes. In general, the most consistent findings were for weight and body mass index (BMI) among women, i.e. high levels of self-reported discrimination were related to increased weight and BMI. Waist circumference (WC) showed a similar pattern of association with discrimination, in a positive direction, but an inverted U-shaped association was also found. Despite a few inverse associations between discrimination and markers of adiposity, none of the associations were statistically significant. Overall, markers of adiposity were consistently associated with discrimination, mainly through direct and nonlinear associations. This review provides evidence that self-reported discrimination can play an important role in weight, BMI and WC changes. © 2017 World Obesity Federation.

Trauma exposure, discrimination, and romantic relationship functioning: A longitudinal investigation among LGB young adults

PubMed Central

Sullivan, Timothy J.; Feinstein, Brian A.; Marshall, Amy D.; Mustanski, Brian

2017-01-01

Sexual orientation-related discrimination is common among sexual minority individuals, but its influence on romantic relationship functioning remains unclear. Further, exposure to potentially traumatic events may influence the association between discrimination and relationship functioning, but this has not been tested among sexual minority couples to date. The current study examines breadth of lifetime trauma exposure as a moderator of the associations between recent discrimination and changes in relationship functioning (satisfaction, commitment, and trust) over twelve months among 86 racially/ethnically diverse sexual minority young adults in relationships. For those with low trauma exposure, discrimination was associated with increases in satisfaction and commitment, but not trust. In contrast, for those with high trauma exposure, discrimination was not associated with changes in relationship functioning. Thus, some partnered sexual minority young adults may experience resilience in the face of discrimination, such that discrimination may promote positive relationship functioning. However, this does not appear to extend to those with more extensive trauma exposure histories. With an eye toward informing interventions, these findings call for additional research on individual differences in responses to discrimination, such as support seeking and dyadic coping. PMID:29527540

Rapid Decision-Making with Side-Specific Perceptual Discrimination in Ants

PubMed Central

Stroeymeyt, Nathalie; Guerrieri, Fernando J.; van Zweden, Jelle S.; d'Ettorre, Patrizia

2010-01-01

Background Timely decision making is crucial for survival and reproduction. Organisms often face a speed-accuracy trade-off, as fully informed, accurate decisions require time-consuming gathering and treatment of information. Optimal strategies for decision-making should therefore vary depending on the context. In mammals, there is mounting evidence that multiple systems of perceptual discrimination based on different neural circuits emphasize either fast responses or accurate treatment of stimuli depending on the context. Methodology/Principal Findings We used the ant Camponotus aethiops to test the prediction that fast information processing achieved through direct neural pathways should be favored in situations where quick reactions are adaptive. Social insects discriminate readily between harmless group-members and dangerous strangers using easily accessible cuticular hydrocarbons as nestmate recognition cues. We show that i) tethered ants display rapid aggressive reactions upon presentation of non-nestmate odor (120 to 160 ms); ii) ants' aggressiveness towards non-nestmates can be specifically reduced by exposure to non-nestmate odor only, showing that social interactions are not required to alter responses towards non-nestmates; iii) decision-making by ants does not require information transfer between brain hemispheres, but relies on side-specific decision rules. Conclusions/Significance Our results strongly suggest that first-order olfactory processing centers (up to the antennal lobes) are likely to play a key role in ant nestmate recognition. We hypothesize that the coarse level of discrimination achieved in the antennal lobes early in odor processing provides enough information to determine appropriate behavioral responses towards non-nestmates. This asks for a reappraisal of the mechanisms underlying social recognition in insects. PMID:20808782

Penalized discriminant analysis for the detection of wild-grown and cultivated Ganoderma lucidum using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy.

PubMed

Zhu, Ying; Tan, Tuck Lee

2016-04-15

An effective and simple analytical method using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy to distinguish wild-grown high-quality Ganoderma lucidum (G. lucidum) from cultivated one is of essential importance for its quality assurance and medicinal value estimation. Commonly used chemical and analytical methods using full spectrum are not so effective for the detection and interpretation due to the complex system of the herbal medicine. In this study, two penalized discriminant analysis models, penalized linear discriminant analysis (PLDA) and elastic net (Elnet),using FTIR spectroscopy have been explored for the purpose of discrimination and interpretation. The classification performances of the two penalized models have been compared with two widely used multivariate methods, principal component discriminant analysis (PCDA) and partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLSDA). The Elnet model involving a combination of L1 and L2 norm penalties enabled an automatic selection of a small number of informative spectral absorption bands and gave an excellent classification accuracy of 99% for discrimination between spectra of wild-grown and cultivated G. lucidum. Its classification performance was superior to that of the PLDA model in a pure L1 setting and outperformed the PCDA and PLSDA models using full wavelength. The well-performed selection of informative spectral features leads to substantial reduction in model complexity and improvement of classification accuracy, and it is particularly helpful for the quantitative interpretations of the major chemical constituents of G. lucidum regarding its anti-cancer effects. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Assessment of Minimum Important Difference and Substantial Clinical Benefit with the Vascular Quality of Life Questionnaire-6 when Evaluating Revascularisation Procedures in Peripheral Arterial Disease.

PubMed

Nordanstig, J; Pettersson, M; Morgan, M; Falkenberg, M; Kumlien, C

2017-09-01

Patient reported outcomes are increasingly used to assess outcomes after peripheral arterial disease (PAD) interventions. VascuQoL-6 (VQ-6) is a PAD specific health-related quality of life (HRQoL) instrument for routine clinical practice and clinical research. This study assessed the minimum important difference for the VQ-6 and determined thresholds for the minimum important difference and substantial clinical benefit following PAD revascularisation. This was a population-based observational cohort study. VQ-6 data from the Swedvasc Registry (January 2014 to September 2016) was analysed for revascularised PAD patients. The minimum important difference was determined using a combination of a distribution based and an anchor-based method, while receiver operating characteristic curve analysis (ROC) was used to determine optimal thresholds for a substantial clinical benefit following revascularisation. A total of 3194 revascularised PAD patients with complete VQ-6 baseline recordings (intermittent claudication (IC) n = 1622 and critical limb ischaemia (CLI) n = 1572) were studied, of which 2996 had complete VQ-6 recordings 30 days and 1092 a year after the vascular intervention. The minimum important difference 1 year after revascularisation for IC patients ranged from 1.7 to 2.2 scale steps, depending on the method of analysis. Among CLI patients, the minimum important difference after 1 year was 1.9 scale steps. ROC analyses demonstrated that the VQ-6 discriminative properties for a substantial clinical benefit was excellent for IC patients (area under curve (AUC) 0.87, sensitivity 0.81, specificity 0.76) and acceptable in CLI (AUC 0.736, sensitivity 0.63, specificity 0.72). An optimal VQ-6 threshold for a substantial clinical benefit was determined at 3.5 scale steps among IC patients and 4.5 in CLI patients. The suggested thresholds for minimum important difference and substantial clinical benefit could be used when evaluating VQ-6 outcomes following different interventions in PAD and in the design of clinical trials. Copyright © 2017 European Society for Vascular Surgery. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Plant Distribution Data Show Broader Climatic Limits than Expert-Based Climatic Tolerance Estimates

PubMed Central

Curtis, Caroline A.; Bradley, Bethany A.

2016-01-01

Background Although increasingly sophisticated environmental measures are being applied to species distributions models, the focus remains on using climatic data to provide estimates of habitat suitability. Climatic tolerance estimates based on expert knowledge are available for a wide range of plants via the USDA PLANTS database. We aim to test how climatic tolerance inferred from plant distribution records relates to tolerance estimated by experts. Further, we use this information to identify circumstances when species distributions are more likely to approximate climatic tolerance. Methods We compiled expert knowledge estimates of minimum and maximum precipitation and minimum temperature tolerance for over 1800 conservation plant species from the ‘plant characteristics’ information in the USDA PLANTS database. We derived climatic tolerance from distribution data downloaded from the Global Biodiversity and Information Facility (GBIF) and corresponding climate from WorldClim. We compared expert-derived climatic tolerance to empirical estimates to find the difference between their inferred climate niches (ΔCN), and tested whether ΔCN was influenced by growth form or range size. Results Climate niches calculated from distribution data were significantly broader than expert-based tolerance estimates (Mann-Whitney p values << 0.001). The average plant could tolerate 24 mm lower minimum precipitation, 14 mm higher maximum precipitation, and 7° C lower minimum temperatures based on distribution data relative to expert-based tolerance estimates. Species with larger ranges had greater ΔCN for minimum precipitation and minimum temperature. For maximum precipitation and minimum temperature, forbs and grasses tended to have larger ΔCN while grasses and trees had larger ΔCN for minimum precipitation. Conclusion Our results show that distribution data are consistently broader than USDA PLANTS experts’ knowledge and likely provide more robust estimates of climatic tolerance, especially for widespread forbs and grasses. These findings suggest that widely available expert-based climatic tolerance estimates underrepresent species’ fundamental niche and likely fail to capture the realized niche. PMID:27870859

Smell or vision? The use of different sensory modalities in predator discrimination.

PubMed

Fischer, Stefan; Oberhummer, Evelyne; Cunha-Saraiva, Filipa; Gerber, Nina; Taborsky, Barbara

2017-01-01

Theory predicts that animals should adjust their escape responses to the perceived predation risk. The information animals obtain about potential predation risk may differ qualitatively depending on the sensory modality by which a cue is perceived. For instance, olfactory cues may reveal better information about the presence or absence of threats, whereas visual information can reliably transmit the position and potential attack distance of a predator. While this suggests a differential use of information perceived through the two sensory channels, the relative importance of visual vs. olfactory cues when distinguishing between different predation threats is still poorly understood. Therefore, we exposed individuals of the cooperatively breeding cichlid Neolamprologus pulcher to a standardized threat stimulus combined with either predator or non-predator cues presented either visually or chemically. We predicted that flight responses towards a threat stimulus are more pronounced if cues of dangerous rather than harmless heterospecifics are presented and that N. pulcher , being an aquatic species, relies more on olfaction when discriminating between dangerous and harmless heterospecifics. N. pulcher responded faster to the threat stimulus, reached a refuge faster and entered a refuge more likely when predator cues were perceived. Unexpectedly, the sensory modality used to perceive the cues did not affect the escape response or the duration of the recovery phase. This suggests that N. pulcher are able to discriminate heterospecific cues with similar acuity when using vision or olfaction. We discuss that this ability may be advantageous in aquatic environments where the visibility conditions strongly vary over time. The ability to rapidly discriminate between dangerous predators and harmless heterospecifics is crucial for the survival of prey animals. In seasonally fluctuating environment, sensory conditions may change over the year and may make the use of multiple sensory modalities for heterospecific discrimination highly beneficial. Here we compared the efficacy of visual and olfactory senses in the discrimination ability of the cooperatively breeding cichlid Neolamprologus pulcher . We presented individual fish with visual or olfactory cues of predators or harmless heterospecifics and recorded their flight response. When exposed to predator cues, individuals responded faster, reached a refuge faster and were more likely to enter the refuge. Unexpectedly, the olfactory and visual senses seemed to be equally efficient in this discrimination task, suggesting that seasonal variation of water conditions experienced by N. pulcher may necessitate the use of multiple sensory channels for the same task.

Accuracy of forecasts in strategic intelligence

PubMed Central

Mandel, David R.; Barnes, Alan

2014-01-01

The accuracy of 1,514 strategic intelligence forecasts abstracted from intelligence reports was assessed. The results show that both discrimination and calibration of forecasts was very good. Discrimination was better for senior (versus junior) analysts and for easier (versus harder) forecasts. Miscalibration was mainly due to underconfidence such that analysts assigned more uncertainty than needed given their high level of discrimination. Underconfidence was more pronounced for harder (versus easier) forecasts and for forecasts deemed more (versus less) important for policy decision making. Despite the observed underconfidence, there was a paucity of forecasts in the least informative 0.4–0.6 probability range. Recalibrating the forecasts substantially reduced underconfidence. The findings offer cause for tempered optimism about the accuracy of strategic intelligence forecasts and indicate that intelligence producers aim to promote informativeness while avoiding overstatement. PMID:25024176

Classification of white wine aromas with an electronic nose.

PubMed

Lozano, J; Santos, J P; Horrillo, M C

2005-09-15

This paper reports the use of a tin dioxide multisensor array based electronic nose for recognition of 29 typical aromas in white wine. Headspace technique has been used to extract aroma of the wine. Multivariate analysis, including principal component analysis (PCA) as well as probabilistic neural networks (PNNs), has been used to identify the main aroma added to the wine. The results showed that in spite of the strong influence of ethanol and other majority compounds of wine, the system could discriminate correctly the aromatic compounds added to the wine with a minimum accuracy of 97.2%.

Compensatory strategies for reducing interpersonal discrimination: the effectiveness of acknowledgments, increased positivity, and individuating information.

PubMed

Singletary, Sarah L; Hebl, Michelle R

2009-05-01

Previous research has revealed, across a number of contexts, that stigmatized individuals are the recipients of interpersonal discrimination (e.g., M. R. Hebl, J. B. Foster, L. M. Mannix, & J. F. Dovidio, 2002). Such discrimination has been linked to a number of negative outcomes in the workplace, both for stigmatized individuals and for organizations as a whole (see, e.g., E. B. King, J. L. Shapiro, M. R. Hebl, S. L. Singletary, & S. Turner, 2006; C. O. Word, M. P. Zanna, & J. Cooper, 1974). The current research examines 3 individual-level compensatory strategies aimed at reducing interpersonal discrimination. Results reveal that compensatory strategies are successful in reducing interpersonal discrimination in job application contexts and that such strategies uniquely benefit stigmatized individuals. (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved.

29 CFR Appendix A to §§ 1605.2 and... - Background Information

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

....3 Labor Regulations Relating to Labor (Continued) EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION GUIDELINES ON DISCRIMINATION BECAUSE OF RELIGION Selection practices. §§ 1605.2 &1605.3, App. A Appendix A to... discrimination which stated that an employer had an obligation to accommodate the religious practices of its...

29 CFR Appendix A to §§ 1605.2 and... - Background Information

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

....3 Labor Regulations Relating to Labor (Continued) EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION GUIDELINES ON DISCRIMINATION BECAUSE OF RELIGION Selection practices. §§ 1605.2 &1605.3, App. A Appendix A to... discrimination which stated that an employer had an obligation to accommodate the religious practices of its...

29 CFR Appendix A to §§ 1605.2 and... - Background Information

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

....3 Labor Regulations Relating to Labor (Continued) EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION GUIDELINES ON DISCRIMINATION BECAUSE OF RELIGION Selection practices. §§ 1605.2 &1605.3, App. A Appendix A to... discrimination which stated that an employer had an obligation to accommodate the religious practices of its...

Teaching in an Open Classroom: Informal Checks, Diagnoses, and Learning Strategies for Beginning Reading and Math.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Langstaff, Nancy

This book, intended for use by inservice teachers, preservice teachers, and parents interested in open classrooms, contains three chapters. "Beginning Reading in an Open Classroom" discusses language development, sight vocabulary, visual discrimination, auditory discrimination, directional concepts, small muscle control, and measurement of…

Role of Gamma-Band Synchronization in Priming of Form Discrimination for Multiobject Displays

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lu, Hongjing; Morrison, Robert G.; Hummel, John E.; Holyoak, Keith J.

2006-01-01

Previous research has shown that synchronized flicker can facilitate detection of a single Kanizsa square. The present study investigated the role of temporally structured priming in discrimination tasks involving perceptual relations between multiple Kanizsa-type figures. Results indicate that visual information presented as temporally structured…

Optimal Experimental Design for Model Discrimination

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Myung, Jay I.; Pitt, Mark A.

2009-01-01

Models of a psychological process can be difficult to discriminate experimentally because it is not easy to determine the values of the critical design variables (e.g., presentation schedule, stimulus structure) that will be most informative in differentiating them. Recent developments in sampling-based search methods in statistics make it…

Educators' Handbook on Federal Anti-Sex Discrimination Laws.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mercer, James

The document presents a summary of major federal legislation affecting the policy and operation of educational programs and activities. The handbook is intended to help educators locate information on the constitutional aspects of anti-discrimination laws. The document is presented in four chapters. Chapter I discusses the constitutional aspects…

Equity and Discrimination among Children: Schooling Decisions in Rural Nepal.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ashby, Jacqueline A.

1985-01-01

Interviews and survey questionnaires were used to collect--from 302 randomly selected farm households in the Kahvre Palanchowk District in eastern Nepal--information regarding how families make decisions about schooling for children. The findings suggest that sociocultural and economic factors cause parents to discriminate among children according…

Quality Assurance and Gender Discrimination in English Universities: An Investigation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smith, Jayne

2008-01-01

The present paper argues that university quality assurance (QA) promotes a masculinist culture leading to systemic discrimination against female academics. The analysis relates to the question of what it is about academic life that results in persistent gender inequality. Based on an ethnographically informed comparative study, textual/discourse…

IEEE Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems - Natural and Synthetic Held in Denver, Colorado on 28 November-1 December 1988

DTIC Science & Technology

1989-08-14

DISCRIMINATE SIMILAR KANJt CHARACTERS. Yoshihiro Mori, Kazuhiko Yokosawa . 12 FURTHER EXPLORATIONS IN THE LEARNING OF VISUALLY-GUIDED REACHING: MAKING MURPHY...NETWORKS THAT LEARN TO DISCRIMINATE SIMILAR KANJI CHARACTERS YOSHIHIRO MORI, KAZUHIKO YOKOSAWA , ATR Auditory and Visual Perception Research Laboratories

29 CFR 1691.5 - Agency processing of complaints of employment discrimination.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

...'s implementing regulations. The agency, therefore, may use information obtained by EEOC under the... discrimination. 1691.5 Section 1691.5 Labor Regulations Relating to Labor (Continued) EQUAL EMPLOYMENT... title VI, title IX, or the revenue sharing act; and (2) Determine whether EEOC may have jurisdiction...

29 CFR 1691.5 - Agency processing of complaints of employment discrimination.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

...'s implementing regulations. The agency, therefore, may use information obtained by EEOC under the... discrimination. 1691.5 Section 1691.5 Labor Regulations Relating to Labor (Continued) EQUAL EMPLOYMENT... title VI, title IX, or the revenue sharing act; and (2) Determine whether EEOC may have jurisdiction...

29 CFR 1691.5 - Agency processing of complaints of employment discrimination.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

...'s implementing regulations. The agency, therefore, may use information obtained by EEOC under the... discrimination. 1691.5 Section 1691.5 Labor Regulations Relating to Labor (Continued) EQUAL EMPLOYMENT... title VI, title IX, or the revenue sharing act; and (2) Determine whether EEOC may have jurisdiction...

29 CFR 1691.5 - Agency processing of complaints of employment discrimination.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

...'s implementing regulations. The agency, therefore, may use information obtained by EEOC under the... discrimination. 1691.5 Section 1691.5 Labor Regulations Relating to Labor (Continued) EQUAL EMPLOYMENT... title VI, title IX, or the revenue sharing act; and (2) Determine whether EEOC may have jurisdiction...

29 CFR 1691.5 - Agency processing of complaints of employment discrimination.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

...'s implementing regulations. The agency, therefore, may use information obtained by EEOC under the... discrimination. 1691.5 Section 1691.5 Labor Regulations Relating to Labor (Continued) EQUAL EMPLOYMENT... title VI, title IX, or the revenue sharing act; and (2) Determine whether EEOC may have jurisdiction...

Ohio Civil Rights Commission, 19th Annual Report, 1977-1978.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ohio State Civil Rights Commission, Columbus.

Presented in this document are the percentages, level, and basis of charges filed with the Commission regarding discrimination in the areas of housing, employment, credit, and public accommodations. Statistical information provided is based on such factors as racial, religious, and sex discrimination and handicap based charges. Other,…

75 FR 49455 - Notice of Request for Revision of a Currently Approved Information Collection (Procedures for the...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-08-13

.... Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination in all its programs and activities on the basis of race, color, national origin, gender, religion, age, disability, political beliefs, sexual orientation... complaint of discrimination, write USDA, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, 1400...

Intersensory Redundancy Hinders Face Discrimination in Preschool Children: Evidence for Visual Facilitation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bahrick, Lorraine E.; Krogh-Jespersen, Sheila; Argumosa, Melissa A.; Lopez, Hassel

2014-01-01

Although infants and children show impressive face-processing skills, little research has focused on the conditions that facilitate versus impair face perception. According to the intersensory redundancy hypothesis (IRH), face discrimination, which relies on detection of visual featural information, should be impaired in the context of…

Reaction Time and Self-Report Psychopathological Assessment: Convergent and Discriminant Validity.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Holden, Ronald R.; Fekken, G. Cynthia

The processing of incoming psychological information along the network, or schemata, of self-knowledge was studied to determine the convergent and discriminant validity of the patterns of schemata-specific response latencies. Fifty-three female and 52 male university students completed the Basic Personality Inventory (BPI). BPI scales assess…

Classification of stellar spectra with SVM based on within-class scatter and between-class scatter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Zhong-bao; Zhou, Fang-xiao; Qin, Zhen-tao; Luo, Xue-gang; Zhang, Jing

2018-07-01

Support Vector Machine (SVM) is a popular data mining technique, and it has been widely applied in astronomical tasks, especially in stellar spectra classification. Since SVM doesn't take the data distribution into consideration, and therefore, its classification efficiencies can't be greatly improved. Meanwhile, SVM ignores the internal information of the training dataset, such as the within-class structure and between-class structure. In view of this, we propose a new classification algorithm-SVM based on Within-Class Scatter and Between-Class Scatter (WBS-SVM) in this paper. WBS-SVM tries to find an optimal hyperplane to separate two classes. The difference is that it incorporates minimum within-class scatter and maximum between-class scatter in Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA) into SVM. These two scatters represent the distributions of the training dataset, and the optimization of WBS-SVM ensures the samples in the same class are as close as possible and the samples in different classes are as far as possible. Experiments on the K-, F-, G-type stellar spectra from Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), Data Release 8 show that our proposed WBS-SVM can greatly improve the classification accuracies.

Building versatile bipartite probes for quantum metrology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Farace, Alessandro; De Pasquale, Antonella; Adesso, Gerardo; Giovannetti, Vittorio

2016-01-01

We consider bipartite systems as versatile probes for the estimation of transformations acting locally on one of the subsystems. We investigate what resources are required for the probes to offer a guaranteed level of metrological performance, when the latter is averaged over specific sets of local transformations. We quantify such a performance via the average skew information (AvSk), a convex quantity which we compute in closed form for bipartite states of arbitrary dimensions, and which is shown to be strongly dependent on the degree of local purity of the probes. Our analysis contrasts and complements the recent series of studies focused on the minimum, rather than the average, performance of bipartite probes in local estimation tasks, which was instead determined by quantum correlations other than entanglement. We provide explicit prescriptions to characterize the most reliable states maximizing the AvSk, and elucidate the role of state purity, separability and correlations in the classification of optimal probes. Our results can help in the identification of useful resources for sensing, estimation and discrimination applications when complete knowledge of the interaction mechanism realizing the local transformation is unavailable, and access to pure entangled probes is technologically limited.

Auditory Information Systems in Military Aircraft: Current Configurations Versus the State of the Art.

DTIC Science & Technology

1984-06-01

types of conditions, discriminable differences in intensity, pitch, or use of beats or harmonics shall be provided. If absolute discrimination is...shall be directed to the operator’s headset as well as to the work area. Binaural headsets should not be used in any operational environment below 85...signals are to be used to alert an operator to different types of conditions, discriminable difference in Intensity, pitch, or use of beats and harmonics

Discrimination Power of Polynomial-Based Descriptors for Graphs by Using Functional Matrices.

PubMed

Dehmer, Matthias; Emmert-Streib, Frank; Shi, Yongtang; Stefu, Monica; Tripathi, Shailesh

2015-01-01

In this paper, we study the discrimination power of graph measures that are based on graph-theoretical matrices. The paper generalizes the work of [M. Dehmer, M. Moosbrugger. Y. Shi, Encoding structural information uniquely with polynomial-based descriptors by employing the Randić matrix, Applied Mathematics and Computation, 268(2015), 164-168]. We demonstrate that by using the new functional matrix approach, exhaustively generated graphs can be discriminated more uniquely than shown in the mentioned previous work.

Discrimination Power of Polynomial-Based Descriptors for Graphs by Using Functional Matrices

PubMed Central

Dehmer, Matthias; Emmert-Streib, Frank; Shi, Yongtang; Stefu, Monica; Tripathi, Shailesh

2015-01-01

In this paper, we study the discrimination power of graph measures that are based on graph-theoretical matrices. The paper generalizes the work of [M. Dehmer, M. Moosbrugger. Y. Shi, Encoding structural information uniquely with polynomial-based descriptors by employing the Randić matrix, Applied Mathematics and Computation, 268(2015), 164–168]. We demonstrate that by using the new functional matrix approach, exhaustively generated graphs can be discriminated more uniquely than shown in the mentioned previous work. PMID:26479495

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

PubMed Central

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

2016-01-01

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

Odor information transfer in the stingless bee Melipona quadrifasciata: effect of in-hive experiences on classical conditioning of proboscis extension.

PubMed

Mc Cabe, Sofía I; Farina, Walter M

2009-02-01

A recent study showed that the stingless bee Melipona quadrifasciata could learn to discriminate odors in a classical conditioning of proboscis extension response (PER). Here we used this protocol to investigate the ability of these bees to use olfactory information obtained within the colony in an experimental context: the PER paradigm. We compared their success in solving a classical differential conditioning depending on the previous olfactory experiences received inside the nest. We found that M. quadrifasciata bees are capable of transferring the food-odor information acquired in the colony to a differential conditioning in the PER paradigm. Bees attained higher discrimination levels when they had previously encountered the rewarded odor associated to food inside the hive. The increase in the discrimination levels, however, was in some cases unspecific to the odor used indicating a certain degree of generalization. The influence of the food scent offered at a field feeder 24 h before the classical conditioning could also be seen in the discrimination attained by the foragers in the PER setup, detecting the presence of long-term memory. Moreover, the improved performance of recruited bees in the PER paradigm suggests the occurrence of social learning of nectar scents inside the stingless bees' hives.

Acoustic fine structure may encode biologically relevant information for zebra finches.

PubMed

Prior, Nora H; Smith, Edward; Lawson, Shelby; Ball, Gregory F; Dooling, Robert J

2018-04-18

The ability to discriminate changes in the fine structure of complex sounds is well developed in birds. However, the precise limit of this discrimination ability and how it is used in the context of natural communication remains unclear. Here we describe natural variability in acoustic fine structure of male and female zebra finch calls. Results from psychoacoustic experiments demonstrate that zebra finches are able to discriminate extremely small differences in fine structure, which are on the order of the variation in acoustic fine structure that is present in their vocal signals. Results from signal analysis methods also suggest that acoustic fine structure may carry information that distinguishes between biologically relevant categories including sex, call type and individual identity. Combined, our results are consistent with the hypothesis that zebra finches can encode biologically relevant information within the fine structure of their calls. This study provides a foundation for our understanding of how acoustic fine structure may be involved in animal communication.

The utility of polarimetry within passive military imaging systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hickman, Duncan L.; Smith, Moira I.; Kim, Kyung Su; Choi, Hyun-Jin

2017-10-01

An ongoing challenge for many military imaging systems is the detection and classification of weak target signatures in a cluttered environment. In such cases, the use of image contrast and relative target motion alone does not always provide a sufficient level of target discrimination to give operational confidence and it is therefore necessary to consider the use of other discriminatory scene information. Polarisation is one such source of information and this paper reports on an extensive series of polarimetric trials undertaken across the visible, NIR, SWIR, MWIR and LWIR spectral bands. Using this data, the benefits and limitations of polarisation discrimination are reviewed in the context of practical military scenarios. It is shown that polarisation signatures vary with viewing geometry and atmospheric conditions. This would lead to an unpredictable performance level if the sensor discrimination was based solely on polarisation. However, by carefully combining polarisation with other scene information, useful operational benefits can be obtained and this is illustrated through a consideration of different data fusion approaches.

Earlier saccades to task-relevant targets irrespective of relative gain between peripheral and foveal information.

PubMed

Wolf, Christian; Schütz, Alexander C

2017-06-01

Saccades bring objects of interest onto the fovea for high-acuity processing. Saccades to rewarded targets show shorter latencies that correlate negatively with expected motivational value. Shorter latencies are also observed when the saccade target is relevant for a perceptual discrimination task. Here we tested whether saccade preparation is equally influenced by informational value as it is by motivational value. We defined informational value as the probability that information is task-relevant times the ratio between postsaccadic foveal and presaccadic peripheral discriminability. Using a gaze-contingent display, we independently manipulated peripheral and foveal discriminability of the saccade target. Latencies of saccades with perceptual task were reduced by 36 ms in general, but they were not modulated by the information saccades provide (Experiments 1 and 2). However, latencies showed a clear negative linear correlation with the probability that the target is task-relevant (Experiment 3). We replicated that the facilitation by a perceptual task is spatially specific and not due to generally heightened arousal (Experiment 4). Finally, the facilitation only emerged when the perceptual task is in the visual but not in the auditory modality (Experiment 5). Taken together, these results suggest that saccade latencies are not equally modulated by informational value as by motivational value. The facilitation by a perceptual task only arises when task-relevant visual information is foveated, irrespective of whether the foveation is useful or not.

Stigma and discrimination experienced by people living with severe and persistent mental illness in assertive community treatment settings.

PubMed

Ye, Jing; Chen, Timothy F; Paul, Diane; McCahon, Rebecca; Shankar, Sumitra; Rosen, Alan; O'Reilly, Claire L

2016-09-01

To describe the perceived experiences of stigma and discrimination among people living with severe and persistent mental illness in assertive community treatment (ACT teams) settings in New South Wales (NSW), Australia. The Discrimination and Stigma Scale (DISC) was used in this cross-sectional study with people living with severe and persistent mental illness. The DISC is a reliable and valid, quantitative and qualitative instrument used to explore and measure levels of negative, anticipated and positive discrimination. Relevant clinical history and socio-demographic information were also collected. A total of 50 clients participated, with 40 (80%) reporting experienced negative discrimination in at least one life area. Negative discrimination was most commonly experienced in being avoided or shunned (n=25, 50%), by neighbours (n=24, 48%) and family (n=23, 46%). Anticipated discrimination was common, with half of participants (n=25, 50%) feeling the need to conceal their mental health diagnosis. Discrimination was highly prevalent in everyday aspects of life. While healthcare professionals often tend to increase perceived stigma and discrimination, this was only experienced in interactions with general health professionals, while interactions with ACT team members decreased perceived stigma and increased positive discrimination. This indicates that healthcare professionals potentially have a significant role in reducing stigma and discrimination in mental health and that such an effect may be optimised in an ACT team setting. © The Author(s) 2016.

Magazines as wilderness information sources: assessing users' general wilderness knowledge and specific leave no trace knowledge

Treesearch

John J. Confer; Andrew J. Mowen; Alan K. Graefe; James D. Absher

2000-01-01

The Leave No Trace (LNT) educational program has the potential to provide wilderness users with useful minimum impact information. For LNT to be effective, managers need to understand who is most/least aware of minimum impact practices and how to expose users to LNT messages. This study examined LNT knowledge among various user groups at an Eastern wilderness area and...

Software Update.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Currents, 2000

2000-01-01

A chart of 40 alumni-development database systems provides information on vendor/Web site, address, contact/phone, software name, price range, minimum suggested workstation/suggested server, standard reports/reporting tools, minimum/maximum record capacity, and number of installed sites/client type. (DB)

Texture discrimination and multi-unit recording in the rat vibrissal nerve

PubMed Central

Albarracín, Ana L; Farfán, Fernando D; Felice, Carmelo J; Décima, Emilio E

2006-01-01

Background Rats distinguish objects differing in surface texture by actively moving their vibrissae. In this paper we characterized some aspects of texture sensing in anesthetized rats during active touch. We analyzed the multifiber discharge from a deep vibrissal nerve when the vibrissa sweeps materials (wood, metal, acrylic, sandpaper) having different textures. We polished these surfaces with sandpaper (P1000) to obtain close degrees of roughness and we induced vibrissal movement with two-branch facial nerve stimulation. We also consider the change in pressure against the vibrissa as a way to improve the tactile information acquisition. The signals were compared with a reference signal (control) – vibrissa sweeping the air – and were analyzed with the Root Mean Square (RMS) and the Power Spectrum Density (PSD). Results We extracted the information about texture discrimination hidden in the population activity of one vibrissa innervation, using the RMS values and the PSD. The pressure level 3 produced the best differentiation for RMS values and it could represent the "optimum" vibrissal pressure for texture discrimination. The frequency analysis (PSD) provided information only at low-pressure levels and showed that the differences are not related to the roughness of the materials but could be related to other texture parameters. Conclusion Our results suggest that the physical properties of different materials could be transduced by the trigeminal sensory system of rats, as are shown by amplitude and frequency changes. Likewise, varying the pressure could represent a behavioral strategy that improves the information acquisition for texture discrimination. PMID:16719904

Texture discrimination and multi-unit recording in the rat vibrissal nerve.

PubMed

Albarracín, Ana L; Farfán, Fernando D; Felice, Carmelo J; Décima, Emilio E

2006-05-23

Rats distinguish objects differing in surface texture by actively moving their vibrissae. In this paper we characterized some aspects of texture sensing in anesthetized rats during active touch. We analyzed the multifiber discharge from a deep vibrissal nerve when the vibrissa sweeps materials (wood, metal, acrylic, sandpaper) having different textures. We polished these surfaces with sandpaper (P1000) to obtain close degrees of roughness and we induced vibrissal movement with two-branch facial nerve stimulation. We also consider the change in pressure against the vibrissa as a way to improve the tactile information acquisition. The signals were compared with a reference signal (control)--vibrissa sweeping the air--and were analyzed with the Root Mean Square (RMS) and the Power Spectrum Density (PSD). We extracted the information about texture discrimination hidden in the population activity of one vibrissa innervation, using the RMS values and the PSD. The pressure level 3 produced the best differentiation for RMS values and it could represent the "optimum" vibrissal pressure for texture discrimination. The frequency analysis (PSD) provided information only at low-pressure levels and showed that the differences are not related to the roughness of the materials but could be related to other texture parameters. Our results suggest that the physical properties of different materials could be transduced by the trigeminal sensory system of rats, as are shown by amplitude and frequency changes. Likewise, varying the pressure could represent a behavioral strategy that improves the information acquisition for texture discrimination.

Minimum energy information fusion in sensor networks

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

Chapline, G

1999-05-11

In this paper we consider how to organize the sharing of information in a distributed network of sensors and data processors so as to provide explanations for sensor readings with minimal expenditure of energy. We point out that the Minimum Description Length principle provides an approach to information fusion that is more naturally suited to energy minimization than traditional Bayesian approaches. In addition we show that for networks consisting of a large number of identical sensors Kohonen self-organization provides an exact solution to the problem of combing the sensor outputs into minimal description length explanations.

Soccer player recognition by pixel classification in a hybrid color space

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vandenbroucke, Nicolas; Macaire, Ludovic; Postaire, Jack-Gerard

1997-08-01

Soccer is a very popular sport all over the world, Coaches and sport commentators need accurate information about soccer games, especially about the players behavior. These information can be gathered by inspectors who watch the soccer match and report manually the actions of the players involved in the principal phases of the game. Generally, these inspectors focus their attention on the few players standing near the ball and don't report about the motion of all the other players. So it seems desirable to design a system which automatically tracks all the players in real- time. That's why we propose to automatically track each player through the successive color images of the sequences acquired by a fixed color camera. Each player which is present in the image, is modelized by an active contour model or snake. When, during the soccer match, a player is hidden by another, the snakes which track these two players merge. So, it becomes impossible to track the players, except if the snakes are interactively re-initialized. Fortunately, in most cases, the two players don't belong to the same team. That is why we present an algorithm which recognizes the teams of the players by pixels representing the soccer ground which must be withdrawn before considering the players themselves. To eliminate these pixels, the color characteristics of the ground are determined interactively. In a second step, dealing with windows containing only one player of one team, the color features which yield the best discrimination between the two teams are selected. Thanks to these color features, the pixels associated to the players of the two teams form two separated clusters into a color space. In fact, there are many color representation systems and it's interesting to evaluate the features which provide the best separation between the two classes of pixels according to the players soccer suit. Finally, the classification process for image segmentation is based on the three most discriminating color features which define the coordinates of each pixel in an 'hybrid color space.' Thanks to this hybrid color representation, each pixel can be assigned to one of the two classes by a minimum distance classification.

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16 CFR 6.103 - Definitions.

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2010-01-01

... alleged victims of discrimination. Electronic and information technology includes information technology... that contains embedded information technology that is used as an integral part of the product, but the..., and medical equipment where information technology is integral to its operation are not electronic and...

Pattern Recognition-Assisted Infrared Library Searching of the Paint Data Query Database to Enhance Lead Information from Automotive Paint Trace Evidence.

PubMed

Lavine, Barry K; White, Collin G; Allen, Matthew D; Weakley, Andrew

2017-03-01

Multilayered automotive paint fragments, which are one of the most complex materials encountered in the forensic science laboratory, provide crucial links in criminal investigations and prosecutions. To determine the origin of these paint fragments, forensic automotive paint examiners have turned to the paint data query (PDQ) database, which allows the forensic examiner to compare the layer sequence and color, texture, and composition of the sample to paint systems of the original equipment manufacturer (OEM). However, modern automotive paints have a thin color coat and this layer on a microscopic fragment is often too thin to obtain accurate chemical and topcoat color information. A search engine has been developed for the infrared (IR) spectral libraries of the PDQ database in an effort to improve discrimination capability and permit quantification of discrimination power for OEM automotive paint comparisons. The similarity of IR spectra of the corresponding layers of various records for original finishes in the PDQ database often results in poor discrimination using commercial library search algorithms. A pattern recognition approach employing pre-filters and a cross-correlation library search algorithm that performs both a forward and backward search has been used to significantly improve the discrimination of IR spectra in the PDQ database and thus improve the accuracy of the search. This improvement permits inter-comparison of OEM automotive paint layer systems using the IR spectra alone. Such information can serve to quantify the discrimination power of the original automotive paint encountered in casework and further efforts to succinctly communicate trace evidence to the courts.

Enhancement of plant metabolite fingerprinting by machine learning.

PubMed

Scott, Ian M; Vermeer, Cornelia P; Liakata, Maria; Corol, Delia I; Ward, Jane L; Lin, Wanchang; Johnson, Helen E; Whitehead, Lynne; Kular, Baldeep; Baker, John M; Walsh, Sean; Dave, Anuja; Larson, Tony R; Graham, Ian A; Wang, Trevor L; King, Ross D; Draper, John; Beale, Michael H

2010-08-01

Metabolite fingerprinting of Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) mutants with known or predicted metabolic lesions was performed by (1)H-nuclear magnetic resonance, Fourier transform infrared, and flow injection electrospray-mass spectrometry. Fingerprinting enabled processing of five times more plants than conventional chromatographic profiling and was competitive for discriminating mutants, other than those affected in only low-abundance metabolites. Despite their rapidity and complexity, fingerprints yielded metabolomic insights (e.g. that effects of single lesions were usually not confined to individual pathways). Among fingerprint techniques, (1)H-nuclear magnetic resonance discriminated the most mutant phenotypes from the wild type and Fourier transform infrared discriminated the fewest. To maximize information from fingerprints, data analysis was crucial. One-third of distinctive phenotypes might have been overlooked had data models been confined to principal component analysis score plots. Among several methods tested, machine learning (ML) algorithms, namely support vector machine or random forest (RF) classifiers, were unsurpassed for phenotype discrimination. Support vector machines were often the best performing classifiers, but RFs yielded some particularly informative measures. First, RFs estimated margins between mutant phenotypes, whose relations could then be visualized by Sammon mapping or hierarchical clustering. Second, RFs provided importance scores for the features within fingerprints that discriminated mutants. These scores correlated with analysis of variance F values (as did Kruskal-Wallis tests, true- and false-positive measures, mutual information, and the Relief feature selection algorithm). ML classifiers, as models trained on one data set to predict another, were ideal for focused metabolomic queries, such as the distinctiveness and consistency of mutant phenotypes. Accessible software for use of ML in plant physiology is highlighted.

Control of Finite-State, Finite Memory Stochastic Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sandell, Nils R.

1974-01-01

A generalized problem of stochastic control is discussed in which multiple controllers with different data bases are present. The vehicle for the investigation is the finite state, finite memory (FSFM) stochastic control problem. Optimality conditions are obtained by deriving an equivalent deterministic optimal control problem. A FSFM minimum principle is obtained via the equivalent deterministic problem. The minimum principle suggests the development of a numerical optimization algorithm, the min-H algorithm. The relationship between the sufficiency of the minimum principle and the informational properties of the problem are investigated. A problem of hypothesis testing with 1-bit memory is investigated to illustrate the application of control theoretic techniques to information processing problems.

Integration of launch/impact discrimination algorithm with the UTAMS platform

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Desai, Sachi; Morcos, Amir; Tenney, Stephen; Mays, Brian

2008-04-01

An acoustic array, integrated with an algorithm to discriminate potential Launch (LA) or Impact (IM) events, was augmented by employing the Launch Impact Discrimination (LID) algorithm for mortar events. We develop an added situational awareness capability to determine whether the localized event is a mortar launch or mortar impact at safe standoff distances. The algorithm utilizes a discrete wavelet transform to exploit higher harmonic components of various sub bands of the acoustic signature. Additional features are extracted via the frequency domain exploiting harmonic components generated by the nature of event, i.e. supersonic shrapnel components at impact. The further extrapolations of these features are employed with a neural network to provide a high level of confidence for discrimination and classification. The ability to discriminate between these events is of great interest on the battlefield. Providing more information and developing a common picture of situational awareness. Algorithms exploit the acoustic sensor array to provide detection and identification of IM/LA events at extended ranges. The integration of this algorithm with the acoustic sensor array for mortar detection provides an early warning detection system giving greater battlefield information for field commanders. This paper will describe the integration of the algorithm with a candidate sensor and resulting field tests.

Stimulus similarity determines the prevalence of behavioral laterality in a visual discrimination task for mice

PubMed Central

Treviño, Mario

2014-01-01

Animal choices depend on direct sensory information, but also on the dynamic changes in the magnitude of reward. In visual discrimination tasks, the emergence of lateral biases in the choice record from animals is often described as a behavioral artifact, because these are highly correlated with error rates affecting psychophysical measurements. Here, we hypothesized that biased choices could constitute a robust behavioral strategy to solve discrimination tasks of graded difficulty. We trained mice to swim in a two-alterative visual discrimination task with escape from water as the reward. Their prevalence of making lateral choices increased with stimulus similarity and was present in conditions of high discriminability. While lateralization occurred at the individual level, it was absent, on average, at the population level. Biased choice sequences obeyed the generalized matching law and increased task efficiency when stimulus similarity was high. A mathematical analysis revealed that strongly-biased mice used information from past rewards but not past choices to make their current choices. We also found that the amount of lateralized choices made during the first day of training predicted individual differences in the average learning behavior. This framework provides useful analysis tools to study individualized visual-learning trajectories in mice. PMID:25524257

A novel Bayesian framework for discriminative feature extraction in Brain-Computer Interfaces.

PubMed

Suk, Heung-Il; Lee, Seong-Whan

2013-02-01

As there has been a paradigm shift in the learning load from a human subject to a computer, machine learning has been considered as a useful tool for Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs). In this paper, we propose a novel Bayesian framework for discriminative feature extraction for motor imagery classification in an EEG-based BCI in which the class-discriminative frequency bands and the corresponding spatial filters are optimized by means of the probabilistic and information-theoretic approaches. In our framework, the problem of simultaneous spatiospectral filter optimization is formulated as the estimation of an unknown posterior probability density function (pdf) that represents the probability that a single-trial EEG of predefined mental tasks can be discriminated in a state. In order to estimate the posterior pdf, we propose a particle-based approximation method by extending a factored-sampling technique with a diffusion process. An information-theoretic observation model is also devised to measure discriminative power of features between classes. From the viewpoint of classifier design, the proposed method naturally allows us to construct a spectrally weighted label decision rule by linearly combining the outputs from multiple classifiers. We demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed method by analyzing the results and its success on three public databases.

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Multimodal Discriminative Binary Embedding for Large-Scale Cross-Modal Retrieval.

PubMed

Wang, Di; Gao, Xinbo; Wang, Xiumei; He, Lihuo; Yuan, Bo

2016-10-01

Multimodal hashing, which conducts effective and efficient nearest neighbor search across heterogeneous data on large-scale multimedia databases, has been attracting increasing interest, given the explosive growth of multimedia content on the Internet. Recent multimodal hashing research mainly aims at learning the compact binary codes to preserve semantic information given by labels. The overwhelming majority of these methods are similarity preserving approaches which approximate pairwise similarity matrix with Hamming distances between the to-be-learnt binary hash codes. However, these methods ignore the discriminative property in hash learning process, which results in hash codes from different classes undistinguished, and therefore reduces the accuracy and robustness for the nearest neighbor search. To this end, we present a novel multimodal hashing method, named multimodal discriminative binary embedding (MDBE), which focuses on learning discriminative hash codes. First, the proposed method formulates the hash function learning in terms of classification, where the binary codes generated by the learned hash functions are expected to be discriminative. And then, it exploits the label information to discover the shared structures inside heterogeneous data. Finally, the learned structures are preserved for hash codes to produce similar binary codes in the same class. Hence, the proposed MDBE can preserve both discriminability and similarity for hash codes, and will enhance retrieval accuracy. Thorough experiments on benchmark data sets demonstrate that the proposed method achieves excellent accuracy and competitive computational efficiency compared with the state-of-the-art methods for large-scale cross-modal retrieval task.

Thermodynamical transcription of density functional theory with minimum Fisher information

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nagy, Á.

2018-03-01

Ghosh, Berkowitz and Parr designed a thermodynamical transcription of the ground-state density functional theory and introduced a local temperature that varies from point to point. The theory, however, is not unique because the kinetic energy density is not uniquely defined. Here we derive the expression of the phase-space Fisher information in the GBP theory taking the inverse temperature as the Fisher parameter. It is proved that this Fisher information takes its minimum for the case of constant temperature. This result is consistent with the recently proven theorem that the phase-space Shannon information entropy attains its maximum at constant temperature.

Minimum information required for a DMET experiment reporting.

PubMed

Kumuthini, Judit; Mbiyavanga, Mamana; Chimusa, Emile R; Pathak, Jyotishman; Somervuo, Panu; Van Schaik, Ron Hn; Dolzan, Vita; Mizzi, Clint; Kalideen, Kusha; Ramesar, Raj S; Macek, Milan; Patrinos, George P; Squassina, Alessio

2016-09-01

To provide pharmacogenomics reporting guidelines, the information and tools required for reporting to public omic databases. For effective DMET data interpretation, sharing, interoperability, reproducibility and reporting, we propose the Minimum Information required for a DMET Experiment (MIDE) reporting. MIDE provides reporting guidelines and describes the information required for reporting, data storage and data sharing in the form of XML. The MIDE guidelines will benefit the scientific community with pharmacogenomics experiments, including reporting pharmacogenomics data from other technology platforms, with the tools that will ease and automate the generation of such reports using the standardized MIDE XML schema, facilitating the sharing, dissemination, reanalysis of datasets through accessible and transparent pharmacogenomics data reporting.

Children's Use of Retrieval Cues to "Describe" Episodic Information in Memory: Problems of Constructability and Discriminability.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ackerman, Brian P.

1985-01-01

Four experiments were conducted to extend the "descriptions" approach to differences in using retrieval cues among second and fourth graders and college adults. Results indicate that deficits in discriminability and constructability contribute independently to developmental differences in using retrieval cues and suggest reasons for such…

75 FR 47524 - Notice of Request for a Revision of a Currently Approved Information Collection (Listeria...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

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Development and Validation of Discriminant Analysis Models for Student Loan Defaultees and Non-Defaultees.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Myers, Greeley; Siera, Steven

1980-01-01

Default on guaranteed student loans has been increasing. The use of discriminant analysis as a technique to identify "good" v "bad" student loans based on information available from the loan application is discussed. Research to test the ability of models to such predictions is reported. (Author/MLW)

Infants' Discrimination of Consonants: Interplay between Word Position and Acoustic Saliency

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Archer, Stephanie L.; Zamuner, Tania; Engel, Kathleen; Fais, Laurel; Curtin, Suzanne

2016-01-01

Research has shown that young infants use contrasting acoustic information to distinguish consonants. This has been used to argue that by 12 months, infants have homed in on their native language sound categories. However, this ability seems to be positionally constrained, with contrasts at the beginning of words (onsets) discriminated earlier.…

Optical Implementation Of The Synthetic Discrimination Function

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Butler, Steve; Riggins, James

1985-01-01

Computer-generated holograms of geometrical shape and synthetic discriminant function (SDF) matched filters are modeled and produced. The models include ideal correlations and Allebach-Keegan binary holograms. A distinction between Phase-Only-Information and Phase-Only-Material Filters is demonstrated. Signal-to-noise and efficiency measurements were made on the resultant correlation planes.

Getting Uncle Sam to Enforce Your Civil Rights. Clearinghouse Publication 59. Revised.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brooks, Barbara J.; And Others

This is a guide designed to aid in the filing of complaints against discriminatory practices. It provides information on how and where to file complaints about discrimination because of race, color, sex, religion or national origin. Discrimination because of age, handicap, lack of citizenship, institutionalization, military service, and status as…

Sex Discrimination in Simulated Employment Contexts: A Meta-analytic Investigation.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Davison, Heather K.; Burke, Michael J.

2000-01-01

The hypothesis that applicant and rater sex, job sex-type, and job-relevant information would affect discrimination against applicants was tested in simulations. Both sexes received lower ratings when applying for opposite-sex-typed jobs. Both male and female raters rated male applicants higher. Differences between male and female ratings…

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Impact of Social Factors on Labour Discrimination of Disabled Women

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mondejar-Jimenez, Jose; Vargas-Vargas, Manuel; Meseguer-Santamaria, Maria-Leticia; Mondejar-Jimenez, Juan-Antonio

2009-01-01

Disabled women suffer from a double labour discrimination due to their gender and their disability. In rural areas, in addition, they also suffer from a lack of specific services, the isolation of the disabled associations, problems with public transport, the dispersion of population centres, and a limited access to information that could improve…

Signal Detection Methods and Discriminant Analysis Applied to Categorization of Newspaper and Government Documents: A Preliminary Study.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ng, Kwong Bor; Rieh, Soo Young; Kantor, Paul

2000-01-01

Discussion of natural language processing focuses on experiments using linear discriminant analysis to distinguish "Wall Street Journal" texts from "Federal Register" tests using information about the frequency of occurrence of word boundaries, sentence boundaries, and punctuation marks. Displays and interprets results in terms…

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Speaker Identity Supports Phonetic Category Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mani, Nivedita; Schneider, Signe

2013-01-01

Visual cues from the speaker's face, such as the discriminable mouth movements used to produce speech sounds, improve discrimination of these sounds by adults. The speaker's face, however, provides more information than just the mouth movements used to produce speech--it also provides a visual indexical cue of the identity of the speaker. The…

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2011-09-13

... (Complaint of Employment Discrimination) Activity Under OMB Review AGENCY: Office of Human Resources and... Reduction Act (PRA) of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501-21), this notice announces that the Office of Human Resources... OMB Desk Officer, OMB Human Resources and Housing Branch, New Executive Office Building, Room 10235...

Hand-held EMI Sensor for Cued UXO Discrimination Man-Portable EMI Array for UXO Detection and Discrimination

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-03-01

collection of information if it does not display a currently valid OMB control number. 1. REPORT DATE MAR 2012 2 . REPORT TYPE 3. DATES COVERED...1 1.4 IMPLEMENTATION ISSUES .............................................................................. 2 2.0...assembled sensor with end caps attached. ................................................................................ 5 Figure 2 . Construction details

Long-term memory of color stimuli in the jungle crow (Corvus macrorhynchos).

PubMed

Bogale, Bezawork Afework; Sugawara, Satoshi; Sakano, Katsuhisa; Tsuda, Sonoko; Sugita, Shoei

2012-03-01

Wild-caught jungle crows (n = 20) were trained to discriminate between color stimuli in a two-alternative discrimination task. Next, crows were tested for long-term memory after 1-, 2-, 3-, 6-, and 10-month retention intervals. This preliminary study showed that jungle crows learn the task and reach a discrimination criterion (80% or more correct choices in two consecutive sessions of ten trials) in a few trials, and some even in a single session. Most, if not all, crows successfully remembered the constantly reinforced visual stimulus during training after all retention intervals. These results suggest that jungle crows have a high retention capacity for learned information, at least after a 10-month retention interval and make no or very few errors. This study is the first to show long-term memory capacity of color stimuli in corvids following a brief training that memory rather than rehearsal was apparent. Memory of visual color information is vital for exploitation of biological resources in crows. We suspect that jungle crows could remember the learned color discrimination task even after a much longer retention interval.

[Frequency and variables associated with perceived devaluation-discrimination in victims of the armed conflict in Colombia].

PubMed

Campo-Arias, Adalberto; Ospino, Anyelly C; Sanabria, Adriana R; Guerra, Valeria M; Caamaño, Beatriz H; Herazo, Edwin

2017-11-21

There is no information on frequency of perceived devaluation-discrimination in victims of the armed conflict in Colombia. The aim of this study was thus to determine the frequency of perceived devaluation-discrimination and associated variables among victims of the armed conflict in municipalities in the Department of Magdalena, Colombia. A cross-sectional study was conducted among victims enrolled in the Program for Psychosocial Care and Comprehensive Healthcare for Victims. Depressive symptoms were quantified with four dichotomous items (three or more were classified as high level of depressive symptoms), and perceived devaluation-discrimination was quantified with six dichotomous items (two or more were classified as high perceived devaluation-discrimination). A total of 943 adults participated (M = 47.9; SD = 14.2); 67.4%, women; 109 (11.6%) reported high level of depressive symptoms and 217 (23%) showed high perceived devaluation-discrimination. High perceived devaluation-discrimination was associated with high level of depressive symptoms (OR = 6.47; 95%CI: 4.23-9.88). In conclusion, one-fourth of the victims of the armed conflict in Magdalena reported high perceived devaluation-discrimination, which was significantly associated with high level of depressive symptoms.

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.

Mammalian Odor Information Recognition by Implanted Microsensor Array in vivo

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhou, Jun; Dong, Qi; Zhuang, Liujing; Liu, Qingjun; Wang, Ping

2011-09-01

The mammalian olfactory system has an exquisite capacity to rapidly recognize and discriminate thousands of distinct odors in our environment. Our research group focus on reading information from olfactory bulb circuit of anethetized Sprague-Dawley rat and utilize artificial recognition system for odor discrimination. After being stimulated by three odors with concentration of 10 μM to rat nose, the response of mitral cells in olfactory bulb is recorded by eight channel microwire sensor array. In 20 sessions with 3 animals, we obtained 30 discriminated individual cells recordings. The average firing rates of the cells are Isoamyl acetate 26 Hz, Methoxybenzene 16 Hz, and Rose essential oil 11 Hz. By spike sorting, we detect peaks and analyze the interspike interval distribution. Further more, principal component analysis is applied to reduce the dimensionality of the data sets and classify the response.

Sequential state discrimination and requirement of quantum dissonance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pang, Chao-Qian; Zhang, Fu-Lin; Xu, Li-Fang; Liang, Mai-Lin; Chen, Jing-Ling

2013-11-01

We study the procedure for sequential unambiguous state discrimination. A qubit is prepared in one of two possible states and measured by two observers Bob and Charlie sequentially. A necessary condition for the state to be unambiguously discriminated by Charlie is the absence of entanglement between the principal qubit, prepared by Alice, and Bob's auxiliary system. In general, the procedure for both Bob and Charlie to recognize between two nonorthogonal states conclusively relies on the availability of quantum discord which is precisely the quantum dissonance when the entanglement is absent. In Bob's measurement, the left discord is positively correlated with the information extracted by Bob, and the right discord enhances the information left to Charlie. When their product achieves its maximum the probability for both Bob and Charlie to identify the state achieves its optimal value.

Effective Identification of Low-Gliadin Wheat Lines by Near Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS): Implications for the Development and Analysis of Foodstuffs Suitable for Celiac Patients

PubMed Central

García-Molina, María Dolores; García-Olmo, Juan; Barro, Francisco

2016-01-01

Scope The aim of this work was to assess the ability of Near Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS) to distinguish wheat lines with low gliadin content, obtained by RNA interference (RNAi), from non-transgenic wheat lines. The discriminant analysis was performed using both whole grain and flour. The transgenic sample set included 409 samples for whole grain sorting and 414 samples for flour experiments, while the non-transgenic set consisted of 126 and 156 samples for whole grain and flour, respectively. Methods and Results Samples were scanned using a Foss-NIR Systems 6500 System II instrument. Discrimination models were developed using the entire spectral range (400–2500 nm) and ranges of 400–780 nm, 800–1098 nm and 1100–2500 nm, followed by analysis of means of partial least square (PLS). Two external validations were made, using samples from the years 2013 and 2014 and a minimum of 99% of the flour samples and 96% of the whole grain samples were classified correctly. Conclusions The results demonstrate the ability of NIRS to successfully discriminate between wheat samples with low-gliadin content and wild types. These findings are important for the development and analysis of foodstuff for celiac disease (CD) patients to achieve better dietary composition and a reduction in disease incidence. PMID:27018786

N400-like responses to three-chord harmonic sequences with unexpected out of key endings: scalp topography, cortical sources, and perspectives for a clinical use.

PubMed

Bonfiglio, Luca; Virgillito, Alessandra; Magrini, Massimo; Piarulli, Andrea; Bergamasco, Massimo; Barcaro, Umberto; Rossi, Bruno; Salvetti, Ovidio; Carboncini, Maria Chiara

2015-03-01

A series of ERP components, each provided with both a precise timing with respect to stimulation and a specific cortical localization, reflects the temporal succession of processing stages of music information. This makes the musical stimulus potentially usable to probe residual brain functions in non-communicating patients with disorders of consciousness. In an attempt to find a simple stimulation protocol that was suitable for use in a clinical setting, the purpose of this study was to verify whether a minimum-length musical stimulus, provided with a definite music-syntactic connotation, was still able to elicit musical ERPs in a group of eight healthy subjects. The stimulus was composed of the minimum number of chords necessary and sufficient to enable the subject to predict a plausible closure of the sequence (priming) and, at the same time, to provide him/her with the closing chord of the sequence (target), either congruous (probable closing) or not (improbable closing) to the tonal context. The subject's task was to discriminate and recognize the irregular targets. The components that were expected to be elicited, in this experimental situation, were ERAN, N5, P600/LPC. Conversely, in addition to these former components, we unexpectedly observed a N400-like component. To determine whether this component was a real N400, we submitted our data to a sLORETA analysis in order to identify its cortical generators. Irregular chords showed higher current densities with respect to regular ones on the right-sided medial and superior temporal gyri, superior and inferior parietal lobules, fusiform and parahippocampal gyri, and on the bilateral posterior cingulate cortex. In particular, the N400-like wave seems to share with the word-primed music-elicited N400 certain generators that are located in cortical areas BA 21/37 and BA 22. This suggests that even chord-primed chord targets can convey extra-musical meanings and that, consequently, they might be useful in assessing residual higher-order information-processing capabilities in non-communicating patients with disorders of consciousness.

Children can discriminate the authenticity of happy but not sad or fearful facial expressions, and use an immature intensity-only strategy.

PubMed

Dawel, Amy; Palermo, Romina; O'Kearney, Richard; McKone, Elinor

2015-01-01

Much is known about development of the ability to label facial expressions of emotion (e.g., as happy or sad), but rather less is known about the emergence of more complex emotional face processing skills. The present study investigates one such advanced skill: the ability to tell if someone is genuinely feeling an emotion or just pretending (i.e., authenticity discrimination). Previous studies have shown that children can discriminate authenticity of happy faces, using expression intensity as an important cue, but have not tested the negative emotions of sadness or fear. Here, children aged 8-12 years (n = 85) and adults (n = 57) viewed pairs of faces in which one face showed a genuinely-felt emotional expression (happy, sad, or scared) and the other face showed a pretend version. For happy faces, children discriminated authenticity above chance, although they performed more poorly than adults. For sad faces, for which our pretend and genuine images were equal in intensity, adults could discriminate authenticity, but children could not. Neither age group could discriminate authenticity of the fear faces. Results also showed that children judged authenticity based on intensity information alone for all three expressions tested, while adults used a combination of intensity and other factor/s. In addition, novel results show that individual differences in empathy (both cognitive and affective) correlated with authenticity discrimination for happy faces in adults, but not children. Overall, our results indicate late maturity of skills needed to accurately determine the authenticity of emotions from facial information alone, and raise questions about how this might affect social interactions in late childhood and the teenage years.

Children can discriminate the authenticity of happy but not sad or fearful facial expressions, and use an immature intensity-only strategy

PubMed Central

Dawel, Amy; Palermo, Romina; O’Kearney, Richard; McKone, Elinor

2015-01-01

Much is known about development of the ability to label facial expressions of emotion (e.g., as happy or sad), but rather less is known about the emergence of more complex emotional face processing skills. The present study investigates one such advanced skill: the ability to tell if someone is genuinely feeling an emotion or just pretending (i.e., authenticity discrimination). Previous studies have shown that children can discriminate authenticity of happy faces, using expression intensity as an important cue, but have not tested the negative emotions of sadness or fear. Here, children aged 8–12 years (n = 85) and adults (n = 57) viewed pairs of faces in which one face showed a genuinely-felt emotional expression (happy, sad, or scared) and the other face showed a pretend version. For happy faces, children discriminated authenticity above chance, although they performed more poorly than adults. For sad faces, for which our pretend and genuine images were equal in intensity, adults could discriminate authenticity, but children could not. Neither age group could discriminate authenticity of the fear faces. Results also showed that children judged authenticity based on intensity information alone for all three expressions tested, while adults used a combination of intensity and other factor/s. In addition, novel results show that individual differences in empathy (both cognitive and affective) correlated with authenticity discrimination for happy faces in adults, but not children. Overall, our results indicate late maturity of skills needed to accurately determine the authenticity of emotions from facial information alone, and raise questions about how this might affect social interactions in late childhood and the teenage years. PMID:25999868

Direct discriminant locality preserving projection with Hammerstein polynomial expansion.

PubMed

Chen, Xi; Zhang, Jiashu; Li, Defang

2012-12-01

Discriminant locality preserving projection (DLPP) is a linear approach that encodes discriminant information into the objective of locality preserving projection and improves its classification ability. To enhance the nonlinear description ability of DLPP, we can optimize the objective function of DLPP in reproducing kernel Hilbert space to form a kernel-based discriminant locality preserving projection (KDLPP). However, KDLPP suffers the following problems: 1) larger computational burden; 2) no explicit mapping functions in KDLPP, which results in more computational burden when projecting a new sample into the low-dimensional subspace; and 3) KDLPP cannot obtain optimal discriminant vectors, which exceedingly optimize the objective of DLPP. To overcome the weaknesses of KDLPP, in this paper, a direct discriminant locality preserving projection with Hammerstein polynomial expansion (HPDDLPP) is proposed. The proposed HPDDLPP directly implements the objective of DLPP in high-dimensional second-order Hammerstein polynomial space without matrix inverse, which extracts the optimal discriminant vectors for DLPP without larger computational burden. Compared with some other related classical methods, experimental results for face and palmprint recognition problems indicate the effectiveness of the proposed HPDDLPP.

Diagnosis of the "large medial meniscus" of the knee on MR imaging.

PubMed

Samoto, Nobuhiko; Kozuma, Masakazu; Tokuhisa, Toshio; Kobayashi, Kunio

2006-11-01

Although several quantitative magnetic resonance (MR) diagnostic criteria for discoid lateral meniscus (DLM) have been described, there are no criteria by which to estimate the size of the medial meniscus. We define a medial meniscus that exceeds the normal size as a "large medial meniscus" (LMM), and the purpose of this study is to establish the quantitative MR diagnostic criteria for LMM. The MR imaging findings of 96 knees with arthroscopically confirmed intact semilunar lateral meniscus (SLM), 18 knees with intact DLM, 105 knees with intact semilunar medial meniscus (SMM) and 4 knees with torn LMM were analyzed. The following three quantitative parameters were measured: (a) meniscal width (MW): the minimum MW on the coronal slice; (b) ratio of the meniscus to the tibia (RMT): the ratio of minimum MW to maximum tibial width on the coronal slice; (c) continuity of the anterior and posterior horns (CAPH): the number of consecutive 5-mm-thick sagittal slices showing continuity between the anterior horn and the posterior horn of the meniscus on sagittal slices. Using logistic discriminant analysis between intact SLM and DLM groups and using descriptive statistics of intact SLM and SMM groups, the cutoff values used to discriminate LMM from SMM were calculated by MW and RMT. Moreover, the efficacy of these cutoff values and three slices of the cutoff values for CAPH were estimated in the medial meniscus group. "MW> or =11 mm" and "RMT> or =15%" were determined to be effective diagnostic criteria for LMM, while three of four cases in the torn LMM group were true positives and specificity was 99% in both criteria. When "CAPH> or =3 slices" was used as a criterion, three of four torn LMM cases were true positives and specificity was 93%.

Perceived discrimination and stigma toward children affected by HIV/AIDS and their HIV-positive caregivers in central Haiti

PubMed Central

Surkan, Pamela J.; Mukherjee, Joia S.; Williams, David R.; Eustache, Eddy; Louis, Ermaze; Jean-Paul, Thierry; Lambert, Wesler; Scanlan, Fiona C.; Oswald, Catherine M.; Fawzi, Mary C. Smith

2010-01-01

In many settings worldwide, HIV-positive individuals have experienced a significant level of stigma and discrimination. This discrimination may also impact other family members affected by the disease, including children. The aim of our study was to identify factors associated with stigma and/or discrimination among HIV-affected youth and their HIV-positive caregivers in central Haiti. Recruitment of HIV-positive patients with children aged 10–17 years was conducted in 2006–2007. Data on HIV-related stigma and/or discrimination were based on interviews with 451 youth and 292 caregivers. Thirty-two percent of caregivers reported that children were discriminated against because of HIV/AIDS. Commune of residence was associated with discrimination against children affected by HIV/AIDS and HIV-related stigma among HIV-positive caregivers, suggesting variability across communities. Multivariable regression models showed that lacking social support, being an orphan, and caregiver HIV-related stigma were associated with discrimination in HIV-affected children. Caregiver HIV-related stigma demonstrated a strong association with depressive symptoms. The results could inform strategies for potential interventions to reduce HIV-related stigma and discrimination. These may include increasing social and caregiver support of children affected by HIV, enhancing support of caregivers to reduce burden of depressive symptoms, and promoting reduction of HIV-related stigma and discrimination at the community-level. PMID:20635244

Depth Structure from Asymmetric Shading Supports Face Discrimination

PubMed Central

Chen, Chien-Chung; Chen, Chin-Mei; Tyler, Christopher W.

2013-01-01

To examine the effect of illumination direction on the ability of observers to discriminate between faces, we manipulated the direction of illumination on scanned 3D face models. In order to dissociate the surface reflectance and illumination components of front-view face images, we introduce a symmetry algorithm that can separate the symmetric and asymmetric components of the face in both low and high spatial frequency bands. Based on this approach, hybrid faces stimuli were constructed with different combinations of symmetric and asymmetric spatial content. Discrimination results with these images showed that asymmetric illumination information biased face perception toward the structure of the shading component, while the symmetric illumination information had little, if any, effect. Measures of perceived depth showed that this property increased systematically with the asymmetric but not the symmetric low spatial frequency component. Together, these results suggest that (1) the asymmetric 3D shading information dramatically affects both the perceived facial information and the perceived depth of the facial structure; and (2) these effects both increase as the illumination direction is shifted to the side. Thus, our results support the hypothesis that face processing has a strong 3D component. PMID:23457484