Relativistic (2,3)-threshold quantum secret sharing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ahmadi, Mehdi; Wu, Ya-Dong; Sanders, Barry C.

2017-09-01

In quantum secret sharing protocols, the usual presumption is that the distribution of quantum shares and players' collaboration are both performed inertially. Here we develop a quantum secret sharing protocol that relaxes these assumptions wherein we consider the effects due to the accelerating motion of the shares. Specifically, we solve the (2,3)-threshold continuous-variable quantum secret sharing in noninertial frames. To this aim, we formulate the effect of relativistic motion on the quantum field inside a cavity as a bosonic quantum Gaussian channel. We investigate how the fidelity of quantum secret sharing is affected by nonuniform motion of the quantum shares. Furthermore, we fully characterize the canonical form of the Gaussian channel, which can be utilized in quantum-information-processing protocols to include relativistic effects.

Steganography on multiple MP3 files using spread spectrum and Shamir's secret sharing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yoeseph, N. M.; Purnomo, F. A.; Riasti, B. K.; Safiie, M. A.; Hidayat, T. N.

2016-11-01

The purpose of steganography is how to hide data into another media. In order to increase security of data, steganography technique is often combined with cryptography. The weakness of this combination technique is the data was centralized. Therefore, a steganography technique is develop by using combination of spread spectrum and secret sharing technique. In steganography with secret sharing, shares of data is created and hidden in several medium. Medium used to concealed shares were MP3 files. Hiding technique used was Spread Spectrum. Secret sharing scheme used was Shamir's Secret Sharing. The result showed that steganography with spread spectrum combined with Shamir's Secret Share using MP3 files as medium produce a technique that could hid data into several cover. To extract and reconstruct the data hidden in stego object, it is needed the amount of stego object which more or equal to its threshold. Furthermore, stego objects were imperceptible and robust.

Shared Secrets versus Secrets Kept Private Are Linked to Better Adolescent Adjustment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Frijns, Tom; Finkenauer, Catrin; Keijsers, Loes

2013-01-01

It is a household notion that secrecy is bad while sharing is good. But what about shared secrets? The present research adopts a functional analysis of sharing secrets, arguing that it should negate harmful consequences generally associated with secrecy and serves important interpersonal functions in adolescence. A survey study among 790 Dutch…

Quantum secret sharing with identity authentication based on Bell states

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abulkasim, Hussein; Hamad, Safwat; Khalifa, Amal; El Bahnasy, Khalid

Quantum secret sharing techniques allow two parties or more to securely share a key, while the same number of parties or less can efficiently deduce the secret key. In this paper, we propose an authenticated quantum secret sharing protocol, where a quantum dialogue protocol is adopted to authenticate the identity of the parties. The participants simultaneously authenticate the identity of each other based on parts of a prior shared key. Moreover, the whole prior shared key can be reused for deducing the secret data. Although the proposed scheme does not significantly improve the efficiency performance, it is more secure compared to some existing quantum secret sharing scheme due to the identity authentication process. In addition, the proposed scheme can stand against participant attack, man-in-the-middle attack, impersonation attack, Trojan-horse attack as well as information leaks.

A Secret 3D Model Sharing Scheme with Reversible Data Hiding Based on Space Subdivision

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tsai, Yuan-Yu

2016-03-01

Secret sharing is a highly relevant research field, and its application to 2D images has been thoroughly studied. However, secret sharing schemes have not kept pace with the advances of 3D models. With the rapid development of 3D multimedia techniques, extending the application of secret sharing schemes to 3D models has become necessary. In this study, an innovative secret 3D model sharing scheme for point geometries based on space subdivision is proposed. Each point in the secret point geometry is first encoded into a series of integer values that fall within [0, p - 1], where p is a predefined prime number. The share values are derived by substituting the specified integer values for all coefficients of the sharing polynomial. The surface reconstruction and the sampling concepts are then integrated to derive a cover model with sufficient model complexity for each participant. Finally, each participant has a separate 3D stego model with embedded share values. Experimental results show that the proposed technique supports reversible data hiding and the share values have higher levels of privacy and improved robustness. This technique is simple and has proven to be a feasible secret 3D model sharing scheme.

Hybrid threshold adaptable quantum secret sharing scheme with reverse Huffman-Fibonacci-tree coding.

PubMed

Lai, Hong; Zhang, Jun; Luo, Ming-Xing; Pan, Lei; Pieprzyk, Josef; Xiao, Fuyuan; Orgun, Mehmet A

2016-08-12

With prevalent attacks in communication, sharing a secret between communicating parties is an ongoing challenge. Moreover, it is important to integrate quantum solutions with classical secret sharing schemes with low computational cost for the real world use. This paper proposes a novel hybrid threshold adaptable quantum secret sharing scheme, using an m-bonacci orbital angular momentum (OAM) pump, Lagrange interpolation polynomials, and reverse Huffman-Fibonacci-tree coding. To be exact, we employ entangled states prepared by m-bonacci sequences to detect eavesdropping. Meanwhile, we encode m-bonacci sequences in Lagrange interpolation polynomials to generate the shares of a secret with reverse Huffman-Fibonacci-tree coding. The advantages of the proposed scheme is that it can detect eavesdropping without joint quantum operations, and permits secret sharing for an arbitrary but no less than threshold-value number of classical participants with much lower bandwidth. Also, in comparison with existing quantum secret sharing schemes, it still works when there are dynamic changes, such as the unavailability of some quantum channel, the arrival of new participants and the departure of participants. Finally, we provide security analysis of the new hybrid quantum secret sharing scheme and discuss its useful features for modern applications.

Hybrid threshold adaptable quantum secret sharing scheme with reverse Huffman-Fibonacci-tree coding

PubMed Central

Lai, Hong; Zhang, Jun; Luo, Ming-Xing; Pan, Lei; Pieprzyk, Josef; Xiao, Fuyuan; Orgun, Mehmet A.

2016-01-01

With prevalent attacks in communication, sharing a secret between communicating parties is an ongoing challenge. Moreover, it is important to integrate quantum solutions with classical secret sharing schemes with low computational cost for the real world use. This paper proposes a novel hybrid threshold adaptable quantum secret sharing scheme, using an m-bonacci orbital angular momentum (OAM) pump, Lagrange interpolation polynomials, and reverse Huffman-Fibonacci-tree coding. To be exact, we employ entangled states prepared by m-bonacci sequences to detect eavesdropping. Meanwhile, we encode m-bonacci sequences in Lagrange interpolation polynomials to generate the shares of a secret with reverse Huffman-Fibonacci-tree coding. The advantages of the proposed scheme is that it can detect eavesdropping without joint quantum operations, and permits secret sharing for an arbitrary but no less than threshold-value number of classical participants with much lower bandwidth. Also, in comparison with existing quantum secret sharing schemes, it still works when there are dynamic changes, such as the unavailability of some quantum channel, the arrival of new participants and the departure of participants. Finally, we provide security analysis of the new hybrid quantum secret sharing scheme and discuss its useful features for modern applications. PMID:27515908

Threshold multi-secret sharing scheme based on phase-shifting interferometry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Deng, Xiaopeng; Wen, Wei; Shi, Zhengang

2017-03-01

A threshold multi-secret sharing scheme is proposed based on phase-shifting interferometry. The K secret images to be shared are firstly encoded by using Fourier transformation, respectively. Then, these encoded images are shared into many shadow images based on recording principle of the phase-shifting interferometry. In the recovering stage, the secret images can be restored by combining any 2 K + 1 or more shadow images, while any 2 K or fewer shadow images cannot obtain any information about the secret images. As a result, a (2 K + 1 , N) threshold multi-secret sharing scheme can be implemented. Simulation results are presented to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed method.

Nonlinear secret image sharing scheme.

PubMed

Shin, Sang-Ho; Lee, Gil-Je; Yoo, Kee-Young

2014-01-01

Over the past decade, most of secret image sharing schemes have been proposed by using Shamir's technique. It is based on a linear combination polynomial arithmetic. Although Shamir's technique based secret image sharing schemes are efficient and scalable for various environments, there exists a security threat such as Tompa-Woll attack. Renvall and Ding proposed a new secret sharing technique based on nonlinear combination polynomial arithmetic in order to solve this threat. It is hard to apply to the secret image sharing. In this paper, we propose a (t, n)-threshold nonlinear secret image sharing scheme with steganography concept. In order to achieve a suitable and secure secret image sharing scheme, we adapt a modified LSB embedding technique with XOR Boolean algebra operation, define a new variable m, and change a range of prime p in sharing procedure. In order to evaluate efficiency and security of proposed scheme, we use the embedding capacity and PSNR. As a result of it, average value of PSNR and embedding capacity are 44.78 (dB) and 1.74t⌈log2 m⌉ bit-per-pixel (bpp), respectively.

Nonlinear Secret Image Sharing Scheme

PubMed Central

Shin, Sang-Ho; Yoo, Kee-Young

2014-01-01

Over the past decade, most of secret image sharing schemes have been proposed by using Shamir's technique. It is based on a linear combination polynomial arithmetic. Although Shamir's technique based secret image sharing schemes are efficient and scalable for various environments, there exists a security threat such as Tompa-Woll attack. Renvall and Ding proposed a new secret sharing technique based on nonlinear combination polynomial arithmetic in order to solve this threat. It is hard to apply to the secret image sharing. In this paper, we propose a (t, n)-threshold nonlinear secret image sharing scheme with steganography concept. In order to achieve a suitable and secure secret image sharing scheme, we adapt a modified LSB embedding technique with XOR Boolean algebra operation, define a new variable m, and change a range of prime p in sharing procedure. In order to evaluate efficiency and security of proposed scheme, we use the embedding capacity and PSNR. As a result of it, average value of PSNR and embedding capacity are 44.78 (dB) and 1.74t⌈log2⁡m⌉ bit-per-pixel (bpp), respectively. PMID:25140334

Eavesdropping on the improved three-party quantum secret sharing protocol

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gao, Gan

2011-02-01

Lin et al. [Song Lin, Fei Gao, Qiao-yan Wen, Fu-chen Zhu, Opt. Commun. 281 (2008) 4553] pointed out that the multiparty quantum secret sharing protocol [Zhan-jun Zhang, Gan Gao, Xin Wang, Lian-fang Han, Shou-hua Shi, Opt. Commun. 269 (2007) 418] is not secure and proposed an improved three-party quantum secret sharing protocol. In this paper, we study the security of the improved three-party quantum secret sharing protocol and find that it is still not secure. Finally, a further improved three-party quantum secret sharing protocol is proposed.

A Note on Threshold Schemes with Disenrollment

DTIC Science & Technology

2003-01-01

such a way that t or more participants can construct the secret by pooling their shares, but the secret remains undetermined to (t − 1) or fewer par...the threshold size t by 1, because (t− 1) shares plus the disclosed share can decrypt the secret . To keep the same level of secrecy in terms of...t. (2) In a (t, n) threshold scheme, the secret K is recoverable from t or more shares based on condition (1), but the secret remains uncertain even

Secret sharing based on quantum Fourier transform

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Wei; Huang, Liusheng; Shi, Runhua; He, Libao

2013-07-01

Secret sharing plays a fundamental role in both secure multi-party computation and modern cryptography. We present a new quantum secret sharing scheme based on quantum Fourier transform. This scheme enjoys the property that each share of a secret is disguised with true randomness, rather than classical pseudorandomness. Moreover, under the only assumption that a top priority for all participants (secret sharers and recovers) is to obtain the right result, our scheme is able to achieve provable security against a computationally unbounded attacker.

Sequential quantum secret sharing in a noisy environment aided with weak measurements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ray, Maharshi; Chatterjee, Sourav; Chakrabarty, Indranil

2016-05-01

In this work we give a (n,n)-threshold protocol for sequential secret sharing of quantum information for the first time. By sequential secret sharing we refer to a situation where the dealer is not having all the secrets at the same time, at the beginning of the protocol; however if the dealer wishes to share secrets at subsequent phases she/he can realize it with the help of our protocol. First of all we present our protocol for three parties and later we generalize it for the situation where we have more (n> 3) parties. Interestingly, we show that our protocol of sequential secret sharing requires less amount of quantum as well as classical resource as compared to the situation wherein existing protocols are repeatedly used. Further in a much more realistic situation, we consider the sharing of qubits through two kinds of noisy channels, namely the phase damping channel (PDC) and the amplitude damping channel (ADC). When we carry out the sequential secret sharing in the presence of noise we observe that the fidelity of secret sharing at the kth iteration is independent of the effect of noise at the (k - 1)th iteration. In case of ADC we have seen that the average fidelity of secret sharing drops down to ½ which is equivalent to a random guess of the quantum secret. Interestingly, we find that by applying weak measurements one can enhance the average fidelity. This increase of the average fidelity can be achieved with certain trade off with the success probability of the weak measurements.

Quantum Optimal Multiple Assignment Scheme for Realizing General Access Structure of Secret Sharing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Matsumoto, Ryutaroh

The multiple assignment scheme is to assign one or more shares to single participant so that any kind of access structure can be realized by classical secret sharing schemes. We propose its quantum version including ramp secret sharing schemes. Then we propose an integer optimization approach to minimize the average share size.

Quantum Stabilizer Codes Can Realize Access Structures Impossible by Classical Secret Sharing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Matsumoto, Ryutaroh

We show a simple example of a secret sharing scheme encoding classical secret to quantum shares that can realize an access structure impossible by classical information processing with limitation on the size of each share. The example is based on quantum stabilizer codes.

Threshold quantum secret sharing based on single qubit

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lu, Changbin; Miao, Fuyou; Meng, Keju; Yu, Yue

2018-03-01

Based on unitary phase shift operation on single qubit in association with Shamir's ( t, n) secret sharing, a ( t, n) threshold quantum secret sharing scheme (or ( t, n)-QSS) is proposed to share both classical information and quantum states. The scheme uses decoy photons to prevent eavesdropping and employs the secret in Shamir's scheme as the private value to guarantee the correctness of secret reconstruction. Analyses show it is resistant to typical intercept-and-resend attack, entangle-and-measure attack and participant attacks such as entanglement swapping attack. Moreover, it is easier to realize in physic and more practical in applications when compared with related ones. By the method in our scheme, new ( t, n)-QSS schemes can be easily constructed using other classical ( t, n) secret sharing.

Novel Threshold Changeable Secret Sharing Schemes Based on Polynomial Interpolation

PubMed Central

Li, Mingchu; Guo, Cheng; Choo, Kim-Kwang Raymond; Ren, Yizhi

2016-01-01

After any distribution of secret sharing shadows in a threshold changeable secret sharing scheme, the threshold may need to be adjusted to deal with changes in the security policy and adversary structure. For example, when employees leave the organization, it is not realistic to expect departing employees to ensure the security of their secret shadows. Therefore, in 2012, Zhang et al. proposed (t → t′, n) and ({t1, t2,⋯, tN}, n) threshold changeable secret sharing schemes. However, their schemes suffer from a number of limitations such as strict limit on the threshold values, large storage space requirement for secret shadows, and significant computation for constructing and recovering polynomials. To address these limitations, we propose two improved dealer-free threshold changeable secret sharing schemes. In our schemes, we construct polynomials to update secret shadows, and use two-variable one-way function to resist collusion attacks and secure the information stored by the combiner. We then demonstrate our schemes can adjust the threshold safely. PMID:27792784

Novel Threshold Changeable Secret Sharing Schemes Based on Polynomial Interpolation.

PubMed

Yuan, Lifeng; Li, Mingchu; Guo, Cheng; Choo, Kim-Kwang Raymond; Ren, Yizhi

2016-01-01

After any distribution of secret sharing shadows in a threshold changeable secret sharing scheme, the threshold may need to be adjusted to deal with changes in the security policy and adversary structure. For example, when employees leave the organization, it is not realistic to expect departing employees to ensure the security of their secret shadows. Therefore, in 2012, Zhang et al. proposed (t → t', n) and ({t1, t2,⋯, tN}, n) threshold changeable secret sharing schemes. However, their schemes suffer from a number of limitations such as strict limit on the threshold values, large storage space requirement for secret shadows, and significant computation for constructing and recovering polynomials. To address these limitations, we propose two improved dealer-free threshold changeable secret sharing schemes. In our schemes, we construct polynomials to update secret shadows, and use two-variable one-way function to resist collusion attacks and secure the information stored by the combiner. We then demonstrate our schemes can adjust the threshold safely.

Serial interpolation for secure membership testing and matching in a secret-split archive

DOEpatents

Kroeger, Thomas M.; Benson, Thomas R.

2016-12-06

The various technologies presented herein relate to analyzing a plurality of shares stored at a plurality of repositories to determine whether a secret from which the shares were formed matches a term in a query. A threshold number of shares are formed with a generating polynomial operating on the secret. A process of serially interpolating the threshold number of shares can be conducted whereby a contribution of a first share is determined, a contribution of a second share is determined while seeded with the contribution of the first share, etc. A value of a final share in the threshold number of shares can be determined and compared with the search term. In the event of the value of the final share and the search term matching, the search term matches the secret in the file from which the shares are formed.

Floral and vegetative cues in oil-secreting and non-oil-secreting Lysimachia species

PubMed Central

Schäffler, I.; Balao, F.; Dötterl, S.

2012-01-01

Background and Aims Unrelated plants pollinated by the same group or guild of animals typically evolve similar floral cues due to pollinator-mediated selection. Related plant species, however, may possess similar cues either as a result of pollinator-mediated selection or as a result of sharing a common ancestor that possessed the same cues or traits. In this study, visual and olfactory floral cues in Lysimachia species exhibiting different pollination strategies were analysed and compared, and the importance of pollinators and phylogeny on the evolution of these floral cues was determined. For comparison, cues of vegetative material were examined where pollinator selection would not be expected. Methods Floral and vegetative scents and colours in floral oil- and non-floral oil-secreting Lysimachia species were studied by chemical and spectrophotometric analyses, respectively, compared between oil- and non-oil-secreting species, and analysed by phylogenetically controlled methods. Key Results Vegetative and floral scent was species specific, and variability in floral but not vegetative scent was lower in oil compared with non-oil species. Overall, oil species did not differ in their floral or vegetative scent from non-oil species. However, a correlation was found between oil secretion and six floral scent constituents specific to oil species, whereas the presence of four other floral compounds can be explained by phylogeny. Four of the five analysed oil species had bee-green flowers and the pattern of occurrence of this colour correlated with oil secretion. Non-oil species had different floral colours. The colour of leaves was similar among all species studied. Conclusions Evidence was found for correlated evolution between secretion of floral oils and floral but not vegetative visual and olfactory cues. The cues correlating with oil secretion were probably selected by Macropis bees, the specialized pollinators of oil-secreting Lysimachia species, and may have evolved in order to attract these bees. PMID:22634256

Quantum secret sharing for a general quantum access structure

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bai, Chen-Ming; Li, Zhi-Hui; Si, Meng-Meng; Li, Yong-Ming

2017-10-01

Quantum secret sharing is a procedure for sharing a secret among a number of participants such that only certain subsets of participants can collaboratively reconstruct it, which are called authorized sets. The quantum access structure of a secret sharing is a family of all authorized sets. Firstly, in this paper, we propose the concept of decomposition of quantum access structure to design a quantum secret sharing scheme. Secondly, based on a maximal quantum access structure (MQAS) [D. Gottesman, Phys. Rev. A 61, 042311 (2000)], we propose an algorithm to improve a MQAS and obtain an improved maximal quantum access structure (IMQAS). Then, we present a sufficient and necessary condition about IMQAS, which shows the relationship between the minimal authorized sets and the players. In accordance with properties, we construct an efficient quantum secret sharing scheme with a decomposition and IMQAS. A major advantage of these techniques is that it allows us to construct a method to realize a general quantum access structure. Finally, we present two kinds of quantum secret sharing schemes via the thought of concatenation or a decomposition of quantum access structure. As a consequence, we find that the application of these techniques allows us to save more quantum shares and reduces more cost than the existing scheme.

Entanglement-secured single-qubit quantum secret sharing

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

Scherpelz, P.; Resch, R.; Berryrieser, D.

In single-qubit quantum secret sharing, a secret is shared between N parties via manipulation and measurement of one qubit at a time. Each qubit is sent to all N parties in sequence; the secret is encoded in the first participant's preparation of the qubit state and the subsequent participants' choices of state rotation or measurement basis. We present a protocol for single-qubit quantum secret sharing using polarization entanglement of photon pairs produced in type-I spontaneous parametric downconversion. We investigate the protocol's security against eavesdropping attack under common experimental conditions: a lossy channel for photon transmission, and imperfect preparation of themore » initial qubit state. A protocol which exploits entanglement between photons, rather than simply polarization correlation, is more robustly secure. We implement the entanglement-based secret-sharing protocol with 87% secret-sharing fidelity, limited by the purity of the entangled state produced by our present apparatus. We demonstrate a photon-number splitting eavesdropping attack, which achieves no success against the entanglement-based protocol while showing the predicted rate of success against a correlation-based protocol.« less

A Generalized Information Theoretical Model for Quantum Secret Sharing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bai, Chen-Ming; Li, Zhi-Hui; Xu, Ting-Ting; Li, Yong-Ming

2016-11-01

An information theoretical model for quantum secret sharing was introduced by H. Imai et al. (Quantum Inf. Comput. 5(1), 69-80 2005), which was analyzed by quantum information theory. In this paper, we analyze this information theoretical model using the properties of the quantum access structure. By the analysis we propose a generalized model definition for the quantum secret sharing schemes. In our model, there are more quantum access structures which can be realized by our generalized quantum secret sharing schemes than those of the previous one. In addition, we also analyse two kinds of important quantum access structures to illustrate the existence and rationality for the generalized quantum secret sharing schemes and consider the security of the scheme by simple examples.

Bounds on the information rate of quantum-secret-sharing schemes

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

Sarvepalli, Pradeep

An important metric of the performance of a quantum-secret-sharing scheme is its information rate. Beyond the fact that the information rate is upper-bounded by one, very little is known in terms of bounds on the information rate of quantum-secret-sharing schemes. Furthermore, not every scheme can be realized with rate one. In this paper we derive upper bounds for the information rates of quantum-secret-sharing schemes. We show that there exist quantum access structures on n players for which the information rate cannot be better than O((log{sub 2}n)/n). These results are the quantum analogues of the bounds for classical-secret-sharing schemes proved bymore » Csirmaz.« less

Sagnac secret sharing over telecom fiber networks.

PubMed

Bogdanski, Jan; Ahrens, Johan; Bourennane, Mohamed

2009-01-19

We report the first Sagnac quantum secret sharing (in three-and four-party implementations) over 1550 nm single mode fiber (SMF) networks, using a single qubit protocol with phase encoding. Our secret sharing experiment has been based on a single qubit protocol, which has opened the door to practical secret sharing implementation over fiber telecom channels and in free-space. The previous quantum secret sharing proposals were based on multiparticle entangled states, difficult in the practical implementation and not scalable. Our experimental data in the three-party implementation show stable (in regards to birefringence drift) quantum secret sharing transmissions at the total Sagnac transmission loop distances of 55-75 km with the quantum bit error rates (QBER) of 2.3-2.4% for the mean photon number micro?= 0.1 and 1.7-2.1% for micro= 0.3. In the four-party case we have achieved quantum secret sharing transmissions at the total Sagnac transmission loop distances of 45-55 km with the quantum bit error rates (QBER) of 3.0-3.7% for the mean photon number micro= 0.1 and 1.8-3.0% for micro?= 0.3. The stability of quantum transmission has been achieved thanks to our new concept for compensation of SMF birefringence effects in Sagnac, based on a polarization control system and a polarization insensitive phase modulator. The measurement results have showed feasibility of quantum secret sharing over telecom fiber networks in Sagnac configuration, using standard fiber telecom components.

Optical threshold secret sharing scheme based on basic vector operations and coherence superposition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Deng, Xiaopeng; Wen, Wei; Mi, Xianwu; Long, Xuewen

2015-04-01

We propose, to our knowledge for the first time, a simple optical algorithm for secret image sharing with the (2,n) threshold scheme based on basic vector operations and coherence superposition. The secret image to be shared is firstly divided into n shadow images by use of basic vector operations. In the reconstruction stage, the secret image can be retrieved by recording the intensity of the coherence superposition of any two shadow images. Compared with the published encryption techniques which focus narrowly on information encryption, the proposed method can realize information encryption as well as secret sharing, which further ensures the safety and integrality of the secret information and prevents power from being kept centralized and abused. The feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed method are demonstrated by numerical results.

Verifiable Secret Redistribution

DTIC Science & Technology

2001-10-01

but they are not trusted with secret. Thus, we require a protocol for redistribution without reconstruction of the secret . We also require...verification that the new shareholders have valid shares (ones that can be used to reconstruct the secret ). We present a new protocol to perform non...secret to shareholders in Shamir’s (m,n) threshold scheme (one in which we require m of n shares to reconstruct the secret ), and wish to redistribute the

Unconditional security of entanglement-based continuous-variable quantum secret sharing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kogias, Ioannis; Xiang, Yu; He, Qiongyi; Adesso, Gerardo

2017-01-01

The need for secrecy and security is essential in communication. Secret sharing is a conventional protocol to distribute a secret message to a group of parties, who cannot access it individually but need to cooperate in order to decode it. While several variants of this protocol have been investigated, including realizations using quantum systems, the security of quantum secret sharing schemes still remains unproven almost two decades after their original conception. Here we establish an unconditional security proof for entanglement-based continuous-variable quantum secret sharing schemes, in the limit of asymptotic keys and for an arbitrary number of players. We tackle the problem by resorting to the recently developed one-sided device-independent approach to quantum key distribution. We demonstrate theoretically the feasibility of our scheme, which can be implemented by Gaussian states and homodyne measurements, with no need for ideal single-photon sources or quantum memories. Our results contribute to validating quantum secret sharing as a viable primitive for quantum technologies.

Secret Sharing and Shared Information

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rauh, Johannes

2017-11-01

Secret sharing is a cryptographic discipline in which the goal is to distribute information about a secret over a set of participants in such a way that only specific authorized combinations of participants together can reconstruct the secret. Thus, secret sharing schemes are systems of variables in which it is very clearly specified which subsets have information about the secret. As such, they provide perfect model systems for information decompositions. However, following this intuition too far leads to an information decomposition with negative partial information terms, which are difficult to interpret. One possible explanation is that the partial information lattice proposed by Williams and Beer is incomplete and has to be extended to incorporate terms corresponding to higher order redundancy. These results put bounds on information decompositions that follow the partial information framework, and they hint at where the partial information lattice needs to be improved.

Combination of Sharing Matrix and Image Encryption for Lossless $(k,n)$ -Secret Image Sharing.

PubMed

Bao, Long; Yi, Shuang; Zhou, Yicong

2017-12-01

This paper first introduces a (k,n) -sharing matrix S (k, n) and its generation algorithm. Mathematical analysis is provided to show its potential for secret image sharing. Combining sharing matrix with image encryption, we further propose a lossless (k,n) -secret image sharing scheme (SMIE-SIS). Only with no less than k shares, all the ciphertext information and security key can be reconstructed, which results in a lossless recovery of original information. This can be proved by the correctness and security analysis. Performance evaluation and security analysis demonstrate that the proposed SMIE-SIS with arbitrary settings of k and n has at least five advantages: 1) it is able to fully recover the original image without any distortion; 2) it has much lower pixel expansion than many existing methods; 3) its computation cost is much lower than the polynomial-based secret image sharing methods; 4) it is able to verify and detect a fake share; and 5) even using the same original image with the same initial settings of parameters, every execution of SMIE-SIS is able to generate completely different secret shares that are unpredictable and non-repetitive. This property offers SMIE-SIS a high level of security to withstand many different attacks.

High-Dimensional Circular Quantum Secret Sharing Using Orbital Angular Momentum

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tang, Dawei; Wang, Tie-jun; Mi, Sichen; Geng, Xiao-Meng; Wang, Chuan

2016-11-01

Quantum secret sharing is to distribute secret message securely between multi-parties. Here exploiting orbital angular momentum (OAM) state of single photons as the information carrier, we propose a high-dimensional circular quantum secret sharing protocol which increases the channel capacity largely. In the proposed protocol, the secret message is split into two parts, and each encoded on the OAM state of single photons. The security of the protocol is guaranteed by the laws of non-cloning theorem. And the secret messages could not be recovered except that the two receivers collaborated with each other. Moreover, the proposed protocol could be extended into high-level quantum systems, and the enhanced security could be achieved.

Threshold secret sharing scheme based on phase-shifting interferometry.

PubMed

Deng, Xiaopeng; Shi, Zhengang; Wen, Wei

2016-11-01

We propose a new method for secret image sharing with the (3,N) threshold scheme based on phase-shifting interferometry. The secret image, which is multiplied with an encryption key in advance, is first encrypted by using Fourier transformation. Then, the encoded image is shared into N shadow images based on the recording principle of phase-shifting interferometry. Based on the reconstruction principle of phase-shifting interferometry, any three or more shadow images can retrieve the secret image, while any two or fewer shadow images cannot obtain any information of the secret image. Thus, a (3,N) threshold secret sharing scheme can be implemented. Compared with our previously reported method, the algorithm of this paper is suited for not only a binary image but also a gray-scale image. Moreover, the proposed algorithm can obtain a larger threshold value t. Simulation results are presented to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed method.

Secret Sharing of a Quantum State.

PubMed

Lu, He; Zhang, Zhen; Chen, Luo-Kan; Li, Zheng-Da; Liu, Chang; Li, Li; Liu, Nai-Le; Ma, Xiongfeng; Chen, Yu-Ao; Pan, Jian-Wei

2016-07-15

Secret sharing of a quantum state, or quantum secret sharing, in which a dealer wants to share a certain amount of quantum information with a few players, has wide applications in quantum information. The critical criterion in a threshold secret sharing scheme is confidentiality: with less than the designated number of players, no information can be recovered. Furthermore, in a quantum scenario, one additional critical criterion exists: the capability of sharing entangled and unknown quantum information. Here, by employing a six-photon entangled state, we demonstrate a quantum threshold scheme, where the shared quantum secrecy can be efficiently reconstructed with a state fidelity as high as 93%. By observing that any one or two parties cannot recover the secrecy, we show that our scheme meets the confidentiality criterion. Meanwhile, we also demonstrate that entangled quantum information can be shared and recovered via our setting, which shows that our implemented scheme is fully quantum. Moreover, our experimental setup can be treated as a decoding circuit of the five-qubit quantum error-correcting code with two erasure errors.

Profiling Synaptic Proteins Identifies Regulators of Insulin Secretion and Lifespan

PubMed Central

Kaplan, Joshua M.

2008-01-01

Cells are organized into distinct compartments to perform specific tasks with spatial precision. In neurons, presynaptic specializations are biochemically complex subcellular structures dedicated to neurotransmitter secretion. Activity-dependent changes in the abundance of presynaptic proteins are thought to endow synapses with different functional states; however, relatively little is known about the rules that govern changes in the composition of presynaptic terminals. We describe a genetic strategy to systematically analyze protein localization at Caenorhabditis elegans presynaptic specializations. Nine presynaptic proteins were GFP-tagged, allowing visualization of multiple presynaptic structures. Changes in the distribution and abundance of these proteins were quantified in 25 mutants that alter different aspects of neurotransmission. Global analysis of these data identified novel relationships between particular presynaptic components and provides a new method to compare gene functions by identifying shared protein localization phenotypes. Using this strategy, we identified several genes that regulate secretion of insulin-like growth factors (IGFs) and influence lifespan in a manner dependent on insulin/IGF signaling. PMID:19043554

Multi-party semi-quantum key distribution-convertible multi-party semi-quantum secret sharing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yu, Kun-Fei; Gu, Jun; Hwang, Tzonelih; Gope, Prosanta

2017-08-01

This paper proposes a multi-party semi-quantum secret sharing (MSQSS) protocol which allows a quantum party (manager) to share a secret among several classical parties (agents) based on GHZ-like states. By utilizing the special properties of GHZ-like states, the proposed scheme can easily detect outside eavesdropping attacks and has the highest qubit efficiency among the existing MSQSS protocols. Then, we illustrate an efficient way to convert the proposed MSQSS protocol into a multi-party semi-quantum key distribution (MSQKD) protocol. The proposed approach is even useful to convert all the existing measure-resend type of semi-quantum secret sharing protocols into semi-quantum key distribution protocols.

Applying secret sharing for HIS backup exchange.

PubMed

Kuroda, Tomohiro; Kimura, Eizen; Matsumura, Yasushi; Yamashita, Yoshinori; Hiramatsu, Haruhiko; Kume, Naoto; Sato, Atsushi

2013-01-01

To secure business continuity is indispensable for hospitals to fulfill its social responsibility under disasters. Although to back up the data of the hospital information system (HIS) at multiple remote sites is a key strategy of business continuity plan (BCP), the requirements to treat privacy sensitive data jack up the cost for the backup. The secret sharing is a method to split an original secret message up so that each individual piece is meaningless, but putting sufficient number of pieces together to reveal the original message. The secret sharing method eases us to exchange HIS backups between multiple hospitals. This paper evaluated the feasibility of the commercial secret sharing solution for HIS backup through several simulations. The result shows that the commercial solution is feasible to realize reasonable HIS backup exchange platform when template of contract between participating hospitals is ready.

Cryptanalysis of a semi-quantum secret sharing scheme based on Bell states

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gao, Gan; Wang, Yue; Wang, Dong

2018-03-01

In the paper [Mod. Phys. Lett. B 31 (2017) 1750150], Yin et al. proposed a semi-quantum secret sharing scheme by using Bell states. We find that the proposed scheme cannot finish the quantum secret sharing task. In addition, we also find that the proposed scheme has a security loophole, that is, it will not be detected that the dishonest participant, Charlie attacks on the quantum channel.

A New Improving Quantum Secret Sharing Scheme

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu, Ting-Ting; Li, Zhi-Hui; Bai, Chen-Ming; Ma, Min

2017-04-01

An improving quantum secret sharing scheme (IQSS scheme) was introduced by Nascimento et al. (Phys. Rev. A 64, 042311 (2001)), which was analyzed by the improved quantum access structure. In this paper, we propose a new improving quantum secret sharing scheme, and more quantum access structures can be realized by this scheme than the previous one. For example, we prove that any threshold and hypercycle quantum access structures can be realized by the new scheme.

Two new Controlled not Gate Based Quantum Secret Sharing Protocols without Entanglement Attenuation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhu, Zhen-Chao; Hu, Ai-Qun; Fu, An-Min

2016-05-01

In this paper, we propose two new controlled not gate based quantum secret sharing protocols. In these two protocols, each photon only travels once, which guarantees the agents located in long distance can be able to derive the dealer's secret without suffering entanglement attenuation problem. The protocols are secure against trojan horse attack, intercept-resend attack, entangle-measure attack and entanglement-swapping attack. The theoretical efficiency for qubits of these two protocols can approach 100 %, except those used for eavesdropping checking, all entangled states can be used for final secret sharing.

Dynamic quantum secret sharing by using d-dimensional GHZ state

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Qin, Huawang; Dai, Yuewei

2017-03-01

Through generating the d-dimensional GHZ state in the Z-basis and measuring it in the X-basis, a dynamic quantum secret sharing scheme is proposed. In the proposed scheme, multiple participants can be added or deleted in one update period, and the shared secret does not need to be changed. The participants can be added or deleted by themselves, and the dealer does not need to be online. Compared to the existing schemes, the proposed scheme is more efficient and more practical.

An Efficient Multiparty Quantum Secret Sharing Protocol Based on Bell States in the High Dimension Hilbert Space

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gao, Gan; Wang, Li-Ping

2010-11-01

We propose a quantum secret sharing protocol, in which Bell states in the high dimension Hilbert space are employed. The biggest advantage of our protocol is the high source capacity. Compared with the previous secret sharing protocol, ours has the higher controlling efficiency. In addition, as decoy states in the high dimension Hilbert space are used, we needn’t destroy quantum entanglement for achieving the goal to check the channel security.

Threshold quantum cryptography

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tokunaga, Yuuki; Okamoto, Tatsuaki; Imoto, Nobuyuki

2005-01-01

We present the concept of threshold collaborative unitary transformation or threshold quantum cryptography, which is a kind of quantum version of threshold cryptography. Threshold quantum cryptography states that classical shared secrets are distributed to several parties and a subset of them, whose number is greater than a threshold, collaborates to compute a quantum cryptographic function, while keeping each share secretly inside each party. The shared secrets are reusable if no cheating is detected. As a concrete example of this concept, we show a distributed protocol (with threshold) of conjugate coding.

Verifiable Secret Redistribution for Threshold Sharing Schemes

DTIC Science & Technology

2002-02-01

complete verification in our protocol, old shareholders broadcast a commitment to the secret to the new shareholders. We prove that the new...of an m − 1 degree polynomial from m of n points yields a constant term in 1 the polynomial that corresponds to the secret . In Blakley’s scheme [Bla79...the intersection of m of n vector spaces yields a one-dimensional vector that corresponds to the secret . Desmedt surveys other sharing schemes

Comment on "Proactive quantum secret sharing"

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gao, Gan; Wang, Yue

2017-03-01

In the paper, Qin and Dai (Quantum Inf Process 14:4237-4244, 2015) proposed a proactive quantum secret sharing scheme. We study the security of the proposed scheme and find that it is not secure. In the distribution phase of the proposed scheme, two dishonest participants may collaborate to eavesdrop the secret of the dealer without introducing any error.

Visualization of glucagon secretion from pancreatic α cells by bioluminescence video microscopy: Identification of secretion sites in the intercellular contact regions

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

Yokawa, Satoru; School of Pharmacy, Aichi Gakuin University, Nagoya 464-8650; Suzuki, Takahiro

We have firstly visualized glucagon secretion using a method of video-rate bioluminescence imaging. The fusion protein of proglucagon and Gaussia luciferase (PGCG-GLase) was used as a reporter to detect glucagon secretion and was efficiently expressed in mouse pancreatic α cells (αTC1.6) using a preferred human codon-optimized gene. In the culture medium of the cells expressing PGCG-GLase, luminescence activity determined with a luminometer was increased with low glucose stimulation and KCl-induced depolarization, as observed for glucagon secretion. From immunochemical analyses, PGCG-GLase stably expressed in clonal αTC1.6 cells was correctly processed and released by secretory granules. Luminescence signals of the secreted PGCG-GLase frommore » the stable cells were visualized by video-rate bioluminescence microscopy. The video images showed an increase in glucagon secretion from clustered cells in response to stimulation by KCl. The secretory events were observed frequently at the intercellular contact regions. Thus, the localization and frequency of glucagon secretion might be regulated by cell-cell adhesion. - Highlights: • The fused protein of proglucagon to Gaussia luciferase was used as a reporter. • The fusion protein was highly expressed using a preferred human-codon optimized gene. • Glucagon secretion stimulated by depolarization was determined by luminescence. • Glucagon secretion in α cells was visualized by bioluminescence imaging. • Glucagon secretion sites were localized in the intercellular contact regions.« less

On Asymptotically Good Ramp Secret Sharing Schemes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Geil, Olav; Martin, Stefano; Martínez-Peñas, Umberto; Matsumoto, Ryutaroh; Ruano, Diego

Asymptotically good sequences of linear ramp secret sharing schemes have been intensively studied by Cramer et al. in terms of sequences of pairs of nested algebraic geometric codes. In those works the focus is on full privacy and full reconstruction. In this paper we analyze additional parameters describing the asymptotic behavior of partial information leakage and possibly also partial reconstruction giving a more complete picture of the access structure for sequences of linear ramp secret sharing schemes. Our study involves a detailed treatment of the (relative) generalized Hamming weights of the considered codes.

An efficient (t,n) threshold quantum secret sharing without entanglement

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Qin, Huawang; Dai, Yuewei

2016-04-01

An efficient (t,n) threshold quantum secret sharing (QSS) scheme is proposed. In our scheme, the Hash function is used to check the eavesdropping, and no particles need to be published. So the utilization efficiency of the particles is real 100%. No entanglement is used in our scheme. The dealer uses the single particles to encode the secret information, and the participants get the secret through measuring the single particles. Compared to the existing schemes, our scheme is simpler and more efficient.

Graph State-Based Quantum Secret Sharing with the Chinese Remainder Theorem

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guo, Ying; Luo, Peng; Wang, Yijun

2016-11-01

Quantum secret sharing (QSS) is a significant quantum cryptography technology in the literature. Dividing an initial secret into several sub-secrets which are then transferred to other legal participants so that it can be securely recovered in a collaboration fashion. In this paper, we develop a quantum route selection based on the encoded quantum graph state, thus enabling the practical QSS scheme in the small-scale complex quantum network. Legal participants are conveniently designated with the quantum route selection using the entanglement of the encoded graph states. Each participant holds a vertex of the graph state so that legal participants are selected through performing operations on specific vertices. The Chinese remainder theorem (CRT) strengthens the security of the recovering process of the initial secret among the legal participants. The security is ensured by the entanglement of the encoded graph states that are cooperatively prepared and shared by legal users beforehand with the sub-secrets embedded in the CRT over finite fields.

Quantitative visualization of synchronized insulin secretion from 3D-cultured cells

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

Suzuki, Takahiro; Kanamori, Takao; Inouye, Satoshi

Quantitative visualization of synchronized insulin secretion was performed in an isolated rat pancreatic islet and a spheroid of rat pancreatic beta cell line using a method of video-rate bioluminescence imaging. Video-rate images of insulin secretion from 3D-cultured cells were obtained by expressing the fusion protein of insulin and Gaussia luciferase (Insulin-GLase). A subclonal rat INS-1E cell line stably expressing Insulin-GLase, named iGL, was established and a cluster of iGL cells showed oscillatory insulin secretion that was completely synchronized in response to high glucose. Furthermore, we demonstrated the effect of an antidiabetic drug, glibenclamide, on synchronized insulin secretion from 2D- andmore » 3D-cultured iGL cells. The amount of secreted Insulin-GLase from iGL cells was also determined by a luminometer. Thus, our bioluminescence imaging method could generally be used for investigating protein secretion from living 3D-cultured cells. In addition, iGL cell line would be valuable for evaluating antidiabetic drugs. - Highlights: • An imaging method for protein secretion from 3D-cultured cells was established. • The fused protein of insulin to GLase, Insulin-GLase, was used as a reporter. • Synchronous insulin secretion was visualized in rat islets and spheroidal beta cells. • A rat beta cell line stably expressing Insulin-GLase, named iGL, was established. • Effect of an antidiabetic drug on insulin secretion was visualized in iGL cells.« less

Cryptanalysis and Improvement of the Semi-quantum Secret Sharing Protocol

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gao, Xiang; Zhang, Shibin; Chang, Yan

2017-08-01

Recently, Xie et al. Int. J. Theor. Phys. 54, 3819-3824, (2015) proposed a Semi-quantum secret sharing protocol (SQSS). Yin et al. Int. J. Theor. Phys. 55: 4027-4035, (2016) pointed out that this protocol suffers from the intercept-resend attack. Yin et al. also proposed an improved protocol. However, we find out that Yin et al.'s paper has some problems, we analyze Yin et al.'s paper, then proposed the improved semi-quantum secret sharing protocol. Our protocol is more secure and efficient, most importantly, our protocol satisfies the condition of semi-quantum.

Quantum secret sharing via local operations and classical communication.

PubMed

Yang, Ying-Hui; Gao, Fei; Wu, Xia; Qin, Su-Juan; Zuo, Hui-Juan; Wen, Qiao-Yan

2015-11-20

We investigate the distinguishability of orthogonal multipartite entangled states in d-qudit system by restricted local operations and classical communication. According to these properties, we propose a standard (2, n)-threshold quantum secret sharing scheme (called LOCC-QSS scheme), which solves the open question in [Rahaman et al., Phys. Rev. A, 91, 022330 (2015)]. On the other hand, we find that all the existing (k, n)-threshold LOCC-QSS schemes are imperfect (or "ramp"), i.e., unauthorized groups can obtain some information about the shared secret. Furthermore, we present a (3, 4)-threshold LOCC-QSS scheme which is close to perfect.

Comment on "Dynamic quantum secret sharing"

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liao, Ci-Hong; Yang, Chun-Wei; Hwang, Tzonelish

2013-10-01

Hsu et al. (Quantum Inf Process 12:331-344,2013) proposed a dynamic quantum secret sharing (DQSS) protocol using the entanglement swapping of Bell states for an agent to easily join (or leave) the system. In 2013, Wang and Li (Quantum Inf Process 12(5):1991-1997, 2013) proposed a collusion attack on Hsu et al.'s DQSS protocol. Nevertheless, this study points out a new security issue on Hsu et al.'s DQSS protocol regarding to the honesty of a revoked agent. Without considering this issue, the DQSS protocol could be failed to provide secret sharing function.

(t, n) Threshold d-Level Quantum Secret Sharing.

PubMed

Song, Xiu-Li; Liu, Yan-Bing; Deng, Hong-Yao; Xiao, Yong-Gang

2017-07-25

Most of Quantum Secret Sharing(QSS) are (n, n) threshold 2-level schemes, in which the 2-level secret cannot be reconstructed until all n shares are collected. In this paper, we propose a (t, n) threshold d-level QSS scheme, in which the d-level secret can be reconstructed only if at least t shares are collected. Compared with (n, n) threshold 2-level QSS, the proposed QSS provides better universality, flexibility, and practicability. Moreover, in this scheme, any one of the participants does not know the other participants' shares, even the trusted reconstructor Bob 1 is no exception. The transformation of the particles includes some simple operations such as d-level CNOT, Quantum Fourier Transform(QFT), Inverse Quantum Fourier Transform(IQFT), and generalized Pauli operator. The transformed particles need not to be transmitted from one participant to another in the quantum channel. Security analysis shows that the proposed scheme can resist intercept-resend attack, entangle-measure attack, collusion attack, and forgery attack. Performance comparison shows that it has lower computation and communication costs than other similar schemes when 2 < t < n - 1.

Fourier-based automatic alignment for improved Visual Cryptography schemes.

PubMed

Machizaud, Jacques; Chavel, Pierre; Fournel, Thierry

2011-11-07

In Visual Cryptography, several images, called "shadow images", that separately contain no information, are overlapped to reveal a shared secret message. We develop a method to digitally register one printed shadow image acquired by a camera with a purely digital shadow image, stored in memory. Using Fourier techniques derived from Fourier Optics concepts, the idea is to enhance and exploit the quasi periodicity of the shadow images, composed by a random distribution of black and white patterns on a periodic sampling grid. The advantage is to speed up the security control or the access time to the message, in particular in the cases of a small pixel size or of large numbers of pixels. Furthermore, the interest of visual cryptography can be increased by embedding the initial message in two shadow images that do not have identical mathematical supports, making manual registration impractical. Experimental results demonstrate the successful operation of the method, including the possibility to directly project the result onto the printed shadow image.

Comment on ‘Authenticated quantum secret sharing with quantum dialogue based on Bell states’

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gao, Gan; Wang, Yue; Wang, Dong; Ye, Liu

2018-02-01

In the paper (2016 Phys. Scr. 91 085101), Abulkasim et al proposed a authenticated quantum secret sharing scheme. We study the security of the multiparty case in the proposed scheme and find that it is not secure.

Multiparty Quantum Direct Secret Sharing of Classical Information with Bell States and Bell Measurements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Song, Yun; Li, Yongming; Wang, Wenhua

2018-02-01

This paper proposed a new and efficient multiparty quantum direct secret sharing (QDSS) by using swapping quantum entanglement of Bell states. In the proposed scheme, the quantum correlation between the possible measurement results of the members (except dealer) and the original local unitary operation encoded by the dealer was presented. All agents only need to perform Bell measurements to share dealer's secret by recovering dealer's operation without performing any unitary operation. Our scheme has several advantages. The dealer is not required to retain any photons, and can further share a predetermined key instead of a random key to the agents. It has high capacity as two bits of secret messages can be transmitted by an EPR pair and the intrinsic efficiency approaches 100%, because no classical bit needs to be transmitted except those for detection. Without inserting any checking sets for detecting the eavesdropping, the scheme can resist not only the existing attacks, but also the cheating attack from the dishonest agent.

Multiparty Quantum Secret Sharing of Key Using Practical Faint Laser Pulses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Zhan-Jun; Man, Zhong-Xiao

2005-07-01

Based on a bidirectional quantum key distribution protocol [Phys. Rev. A 70 (2004) 012311], we propose a (m-1,m-1)-threshold scheme of m (m >= 3)-party quantum secret sharing of key by using practical faint laser pulses. In our scheme, if all the m-1 sharers collaborate, they can obtain the joint secret key from the message sender. Our scheme is more feasible according to the present-day technology.

Image communication scheme based on dynamic visual cryptography and computer generated holography

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Palevicius, Paulius; Ragulskis, Minvydas

2015-01-01

Computer generated holograms are often exploited to implement optical encryption schemes. This paper proposes the integration of dynamic visual cryptography (an optical technique based on the interplay of visual cryptography and time-averaging geometric moiré) with Gerchberg-Saxton algorithm. A stochastic moiré grating is used to embed the secret into a single cover image. The secret can be visually decoded by a naked eye if only the amplitude of harmonic oscillations corresponds to an accurately preselected value. The proposed visual image encryption scheme is based on computer generated holography, optical time-averaging moiré and principles of dynamic visual cryptography. Dynamic visual cryptography is used both for the initial encryption of the secret image and for the final decryption. Phase data of the encrypted image are computed by using Gerchberg-Saxton algorithm. The optical image is decrypted using the computationally reconstructed field of amplitudes.

Quantum secret sharing via local operations and classical communication

PubMed Central

Yang, Ying-Hui; Gao, Fei; Wu, Xia; Qin, Su-Juan; Zuo, Hui-Juan; Wen, Qiao-Yan

2015-01-01

We investigate the distinguishability of orthogonal multipartite entangled states in d-qudit system by restricted local operations and classical communication. According to these properties, we propose a standard (2, n)-threshold quantum secret sharing scheme (called LOCC-QSS scheme), which solves the open question in [Rahaman et al., Phys. Rev. A, 91, 022330 (2015)]. On the other hand, we find that all the existing (k, n)-threshold LOCC-QSS schemes are imperfect (or “ramp”), i.e., unauthorized groups can obtain some information about the shared secret. Furthermore, we present a (3, 4)-threshold LOCC-QSS scheme which is close to perfect. PMID:26586412

Two-party secret key distribution via a modified quantum secret sharing protocol.

PubMed

Grice, W P; Evans, P G; Lawrie, B; Legré, M; Lougovski, P; Ray, W; Williams, B P; Qi, B; Smith, A M

2015-03-23

We present and demonstrate a novel protocol for distributing secret keys between two and only two parties based on N-party single-qubit Quantum Secret Sharing (QSS). We demonstrate our new protocol with N = 3 parties using phase-encoded photons. We show that any two out of N parties can build a secret key based on partial information from each other and with collaboration from the remaining N - 2 parties. Our implementation allows for an accessible transition between N-party QSS and arbitrary two party QKD without modification of hardware. In addition, our approach significantly reduces the number of resources such as single photon detectors, lasers and dark fiber connections needed to implement QKD.

Unbreakable distributed storage with quantum key distribution network and password-authenticated secret sharing

PubMed Central

Fujiwara, M.; Waseda, A.; Nojima, R.; Moriai, S.; Ogata, W.; Sasaki, M.

2016-01-01

Distributed storage plays an essential role in realizing robust and secure data storage in a network over long periods of time. A distributed storage system consists of a data owner machine, multiple storage servers and channels to link them. In such a system, secret sharing scheme is widely adopted, in which secret data are split into multiple pieces and stored in each server. To reconstruct them, the data owner should gather plural pieces. Shamir’s (k, n)-threshold scheme, in which the data are split into n pieces (shares) for storage and at least k pieces of them must be gathered for reconstruction, furnishes information theoretic security, that is, even if attackers could collect shares of less than the threshold k, they cannot get any information about the data, even with unlimited computing power. Behind this scenario, however, assumed is that data transmission and authentication must be perfectly secure, which is not trivial in practice. Here we propose a totally information theoretically secure distributed storage system based on a user-friendly single-password-authenticated secret sharing scheme and secure transmission using quantum key distribution, and demonstrate it in the Tokyo metropolitan area (≤90 km). PMID:27363566

Unbreakable distributed storage with quantum key distribution network and password-authenticated secret sharing.

PubMed

Fujiwara, M; Waseda, A; Nojima, R; Moriai, S; Ogata, W; Sasaki, M

2016-07-01

Distributed storage plays an essential role in realizing robust and secure data storage in a network over long periods of time. A distributed storage system consists of a data owner machine, multiple storage servers and channels to link them. In such a system, secret sharing scheme is widely adopted, in which secret data are split into multiple pieces and stored in each server. To reconstruct them, the data owner should gather plural pieces. Shamir's (k, n)-threshold scheme, in which the data are split into n pieces (shares) for storage and at least k pieces of them must be gathered for reconstruction, furnishes information theoretic security, that is, even if attackers could collect shares of less than the threshold k, they cannot get any information about the data, even with unlimited computing power. Behind this scenario, however, assumed is that data transmission and authentication must be perfectly secure, which is not trivial in practice. Here we propose a totally information theoretically secure distributed storage system based on a user-friendly single-password-authenticated secret sharing scheme and secure transmission using quantum key distribution, and demonstrate it in the Tokyo metropolitan area (≤90 km).

A special attack on the multiparty quantum secret sharing of secure direct communication using single photons

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Qin, Su-Juan; Gao, Fei; Wen, Qiao-Yan; Zhu, Fu-Chen

2008-11-01

The security of a multiparty quantum secret sharing protocol [L.F. Han, Y.M. Liu, J. Liu, Z.J. Zhang, Opt. Commun. 281 (2008) 2690] is reexamined. It is shown that any one dishonest participant can obtain all the transmitted secret bits by a special attack, where the controlled- (-iσy) gate is employed to invalidate the role of the random phase shift operation. Furthermore, a possible way to resist this attack is discussed.

Secret Key Generation via a Modified Quantum Secret Sharing Protocol

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

Smith IV, Amos M; Evans, Philip G; Lawrie, Benjamin J

We present and experimentally show a novel protocol for distributing secret information between two and only two parties in a N-party single-qubit Quantum Secret Sharing (QSS) system. We demonstrate this new algorithm with N = 3 active parties over 6km of telecom. ber. Our experimental device is based on the Clavis2 Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) system built by ID Quantique but is generalizable to any implementation. We show that any two out of the N parties can build secret keys based on partial information from each other and with collaboration from the remaining N > 2 parties. This algorithm allowsmore » for the creation of two-party secret keys were standard QSS does not and signicantly reduces the number of resources needed to implement QKD on a highly connected network such as the electrical grid.« less

Quantum secret sharing using the d-dimensional GHZ state

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bai, Chen-Ming; Li, Zhi-Hui; Xu, Ting-Ting; Li, Yong-Ming

2017-03-01

We propose a quantum secret sharing scheme that uses an orthogonal pair of n-qudit GHZ states and local distinguishability. In the proposed protocol, the participants use an X-basis measurement and classical communication to distinguish between the two orthogonal states and reconstruct the original secret. We also present (2, n)-threshold and generalized restricted (2, n)-threshold schemes that enable any two cooperating players from two disjoint groups to always reconstruct the secret. Compared to the existing scheme by Rahaman and Parker (Phys Rev A 91:022330, 2015), the proposed scheme is more general and the access structure contains more authorized sets.

Navajo Code Talker Joe Morris, Sr. shared insights from his time as a secret World War Two messenger

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2002-01-01

Navajo Code Talker Joe Morris, Sr. shared insights from his time as a secret World War Two messenger with his audience at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center on Nov. 26, 2002. NASA Dryden is located on Edwards Air Force Base in California's Mojave Desert.

The physical boundaries of public goods cooperation between surface-attached bacterial cells

PubMed Central

Weigert, Michael; Kümmerli, Rolf

2017-01-01

Bacteria secrete a variety of compounds important for nutrient scavenging, competition mediation and infection establishment. While there is a general consensus that secreted compounds can be shared and therefore have social consequences for the bacterial collective, we know little about the physical limits of such bacterial social interactions. Here, we address this issue by studying the sharing of iron-scavenging siderophores between surface-attached microcolonies of the bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Using single-cell fluorescent microscopy, we show that siderophores, secreted by producers, quickly reach non-producers within a range of 100 µm, and significantly boost their fitness. Producers in turn respond to variation in sharing efficiency by adjusting their pyoverdine investment levels. These social effects wane with larger cell-to-cell distances and on hard surfaces. Thus, our findings reveal the boundaries of compound sharing, and show that sharing is particularly relevant between nearby yet physically separated bacteria on soft surfaces, matching realistic natural conditions such as those encountered in soft tissue infections. PMID:28701557

Two-Party secret key distribution via a modified quantum secret sharing protocol

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

Grice, Warren P.; Evans, Philip G.; Lawrie, Benjamin

We present and demonstrate a method of distributing secret information based on N-party single-qubit Quantum Secret Sharing (QSS) in a modied plug-and-play two-party Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) system with N 2 intermediate nodes and compare it to both standard QSS and QKD. Our setup is based on the Clavis2 QKD system built by ID Quantique but is generalizable to any implementation. We show that any two out of N parties can build a secret key based on partial information from each other and with collaboration from the remaining N 2 parties. This method signicantly reduces the number of resources (singlemore » photon detectors, lasers and dark ber connections) needed to implement QKD on the grid.« less

Two-Party secret key distribution via a modified quantum secret sharing protocol

DOE PAGES

Grice, Warren P.; Evans, Philip G.; Lawrie, Benjamin; ...

2015-01-01

We present and demonstrate a method of distributing secret information based on N-party single-qubit Quantum Secret Sharing (QSS) in a modied plug-and-play two-party Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) system with N 2 intermediate nodes and compare it to both standard QSS and QKD. Our setup is based on the Clavis2 QKD system built by ID Quantique but is generalizable to any implementation. We show that any two out of N parties can build a secret key based on partial information from each other and with collaboration from the remaining N 2 parties. This method signicantly reduces the number of resources (singlemore » photon detectors, lasers and dark ber connections) needed to implement QKD on the grid.« less

Visualization and characterization of individual type III protein secretion machines in live bacteria

PubMed Central

Lara-Tejero, María; Bewersdorf, Jörg; Galán, Jorge E.

2017-01-01

Type III protein secretion machines have evolved to deliver bacterially encoded effector proteins into eukaryotic cells. Although electron microscopy has provided a detailed view of these machines in isolation or fixed samples, little is known about their organization in live bacteria. Here we report the visualization and characterization of the Salmonella type III secretion machine in live bacteria by 2D and 3D single-molecule switching superresolution microscopy. This approach provided access to transient components of this machine, which previously could not be analyzed. We determined the subcellular distribution of individual machines, the stoichiometry of the different components of this machine in situ, and the spatial distribution of the substrates of this machine before secretion. Furthermore, by visualizing this machine in Salmonella mutants we obtained major insights into the machine’s assembly. This study bridges a major resolution gap in the visualization of this nanomachine and may serve as a paradigm for the examination of other bacterially encoded molecular machines. PMID:28533372

A novel semi-quantum secret sharing scheme based on Bell states

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yin, Aihan; Wang, Zefan; Fu, Fangbo

2017-05-01

A semi-quantum secret sharing (SQSS) scheme based on Bell states is proposed in this paper. The sender who can perform any relevant quantum operations uses Bell states to share the secret keys with her participants that are limited to perform classical operations on the transmitted qubits. It is found that our scheme is easy to generalize from three parties to multiparty and more efficient than the previous schemes [Q. Li, W. H. Chan and D. Y. Long, Phys. Rev. A 82 (2010) 022303; L. Z. Li, D. W. Qiu and P. Mateus, J. Phys. A: Math. Theor. 26 (2013) 045304; C. Xie, L. Z. Li and D. W. Qiu, Int. J. Theor. Phys. 54 (2015) 3819].

Discovering and Sharing of Secret Architectures: the Hidden Tomb of the Pharaoh of El-Khasneh Jordan

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Malinverni, E. S.; Pierdicca, R.

2017-02-01

The documentation of the archaeological heritage through 3D models to know ancient findings, has become a common practice within the international panorama. Using minimal hardware, as well as its ease of use in almost every environmental condition, make 3D sampling solutions based on Multiple View Stereo (MVS) matching and Structure from Motion techniques ideal for on-site documentation of excavations or emergencies. Moreover, the availability of inexpensive platforms for web-based visualization represents great benefit in the field of archaeology, where generally the low budged and the limitation of more complex instruments are a must. The case study presented in these pages, experienced in Petra, Jordan, moves towards this direction. In the close proximity of the El- Khasneh façade, is situated an excavation where two entrance, well preserved, give access to the Tomb of Pharaoh. The documentation described in these pages has the twofold objective of providing the research community with a priceless dataset, acquired for one of the most important heritage of the world that is partially still unknown and to share on line these computations. This work confirms how cultural heritage documentation and dissemination of architectural rests, that are important for tourism and their interactive visualization, can strongly benefit from the creation of 3D models and their sharing on the web. This particular archaeological setting is an interesting base for investigation, given the complexity of the structure and its precarious condition.

Verifying Secrets and Relative Secrecy

DTIC Science & Technology

2000-01-01

Systems that authenticate a user based on a shared secret (such as a password or PIN) normally allow anyone to query whether the secret is a given...value. For example, an ATM machine allows one to ask whether a string is the secret PIN of a (lost or stolen) ATM card. Yet such queries are prohibited

Navajo Code Talker Joe Morris, Sr. shared insights from his time as a secret World War Two messenger with his audience at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center

NASA Image and Video Library

2002-11-26

Navajo Code Talker Joe Morris, Sr. shared insights from his time as a secret World War Two messenger with his audience at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center on Nov. 26, 2002. NASA Dryden is located on Edwards Air Force Base in California's Mojave Desert.

Reply to ``Comment II on `Quantum secret sharing based on reusable Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger states as secure carriers' ''

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Karimipour, V.

2006-07-01

In the preceding Comment [Jian-Zhong Du, Su-Juan Qin, Qiao-Yan Wen, and Fu-Chen Zhu, Phys. Rev. A 74, 016301 (2006)], it has been shown that in a quantum secret sharing protocol proposed in [S. Bagherinezhad and V. Karimipour, Phys. Rev. A 67, 044302 (2003)], one of the receivers can cheat by splitting the entanglement of the carrier and intercepting the secret, without being detected. In this reply we show that a simple modification of the protocol prevents the receivers from this kind of cheating.

Revisiting Deng et al.'s Multiparty Quantum Secret Sharing Protocol

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hwang, Tzonelih; Hwang, Cheng-Chieh; Yang, Chun-Wei; Li, Chuan-Ming

2011-09-01

The multiparty quantum secret sharing protocol [Deng et al. in Chin. Phys. Lett. 23: 1084-1087, 2006] is revisited in this study. It is found that the performance of Deng et al.'s protocol can be much improved by using the techniques of block-transmission and decoy single photons. As a result, the qubit efficiency is improved 2.4 times and only one classical communication, a public discussion, and two quantum communications between each agent and the secret holder are needed rather than n classical communications, n public discussions, and 3n/2 quantum communications required in the original scheme.

The Secret Club Project: Exploring Miscarriage through the Visual Arts.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Seftel, Laura

2001-01-01

Examines art as a means to understand the physical and emotional loss of miscarriage. "The Secret Club Project," an innovative exhibit featuring 10 women artists' visual responses to miscarriage, is described. Rituals related to pregnancy loss are reviewed, as well as artists' and art therapists' use of the creative process to move…

Application of homomorphism to secure image sharing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Islam, Naveed; Puech, William; Hayat, Khizar; Brouzet, Robert

2011-09-01

In this paper, we present a new approach for sharing images between l players by exploiting the additive and multiplicative homomorphic properties of two well-known public key cryptosystems, i.e. RSA and Paillier. Contrary to the traditional schemes, the proposed approach employs secret sharing in a way that limits the influence of the dealer over the protocol and allows each player to participate with the help of his key-image. With the proposed approach, during the encryption step, each player encrypts his own key-image using the dealer's public key. The dealer encrypts the secret-to-be-shared image with the same public key and then, the l encrypted key-images plus the encrypted to-be shared image are multiplied homomorphically to get another encrypted image. After this step, the dealer can safely get a scrambled image which corresponds to the addition or multiplication of the l + 1 original images ( l key-images plus the secret image) because of the additive homomorphic property of the Paillier algorithm or multiplicative homomorphic property of the RSA algorithm. When the l players want to extract the secret image, they do not need to use keys and the dealer has no role. Indeed, with our approach, to extract the secret image, the l players need only to subtract their own key-image with no specific order from the scrambled image. Thus, the proposed approach provides an opportunity to use operators like multiplication on encrypted images for the development of a secure privacy preserving protocol in the image domain. We show that it is still possible to extract a visible version of the secret image with only l-1 key-images (when one key-image is missing) or when the l key-images used for the extraction are different from the l original key-images due to a lossy compression for example. Experimental results and security analysis verify and prove that the proposed approach is secure from cryptographic viewpoint.

A Novel Image Steganography Technique for Secured Online Transaction Using DWT and Visual Cryptography

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Anitha Devi, M. D.; ShivaKumar, K. B.

2017-08-01

Online payment eco system is the main target especially for cyber frauds. Therefore end to end encryption is very much needed in order to maintain the integrity of secret information related to transactions carried online. With access to payment related sensitive information, which enables lot of money transactions every day, the payment infrastructure is a major target for hackers. The proposed system highlights, an ideal approach for secure online transaction for fund transfer with a unique combination of visual cryptography and Haar based discrete wavelet transform steganography technique. This combination of data hiding technique reduces the amount of information shared between consumer and online merchant needed for successful online transaction along with providing enhanced security to customer’s account details and thereby increasing customer’s confidence preventing “Identity theft” and “Phishing”. To evaluate the effectiveness of proposed algorithm Root mean square error, Peak signal to noise ratio have been used as evaluation parameters

Simulating cloud environment for HIS backup using secret sharing.

PubMed

Kuroda, Tomohiro; Kimura, Eizen; Matsumura, Yasushi; Yamashita, Yoshinori; Hiramatsu, Haruhiko; Kume, Naoto

2013-01-01

In the face of a disaster hospitals are expected to be able to continue providing efficient and high-quality care to patients. It is therefore crucial for hospitals to develop business continuity plans (BCPs) that identify their vulnerabilities, and prepare procedures to overcome them. A key aspect of most hospitals' BCPs is creating the backup of the hospital information system (HIS) data at multiple remote sites. However, the need to keep the data confidential dramatically increases the costs of making such backups. Secret sharing is a method to split an original secret message so that individual pieces are meaningless, but putting sufficient number of pieces together reveals the original message. It allows creation of pseudo-redundant arrays of independent disks for privacy-sensitive data over the Internet. We developed a secret sharing environment for StarBED, a large-scale network experiment environment, and evaluated its potential and performance during disaster recovery. Simulation results showed that the entire main HIS database of Kyoto University Hospital could be retrieved within three days even if one of the distributed storage systems crashed during a disaster.

Tag Content Access Control with Identity-based Key Exchange

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yan, Liang; Rong, Chunming

2010-09-01

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology that used to identify objects and users has been applied to many applications such retail and supply chain recently. How to prevent tag content from unauthorized readout is a core problem of RFID privacy issues. Hash-lock access control protocol can make tag to release its content only to reader who knows the secret key shared between them. However, in order to get this shared secret key required by this protocol, reader needs to communicate with a back end database. In this paper, we propose to use identity-based secret key exchange approach to generate the secret key required for hash-lock access control protocol. With this approach, not only back end database connection is not needed anymore, but also tag cloning problem can be eliminated at the same time.

Retrieving and routing quantum information in a quantum network

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sazim, S.; Chiranjeevi, V.; Chakrabarty, I.; Srinathan, K.

2015-12-01

In extant quantum secret sharing protocols, once the secret is shared in a quantum network ( qnet) it cannot be retrieved, even if the dealer wishes that his/her secret no longer be available in the network. For instance, if the dealer is part of the two qnets, say {{Q}}_1 and {{Q}}_2 and he/she subsequently finds that {{Q}}_2 is more reliable than {{Q}}_1, he/she may wish to transfer all her secrets from {{Q}}_1 to {{Q}}_2. Known protocols are inadequate to address such a revocation. In this work we address this problem by designing a protocol that enables the source/dealer to bring back the information shared in the network, if desired. Unlike classical revocation, the no-cloning theorem automatically ensures that the secret is no longer shared in the network. The implications of our results are multi-fold. One interesting implication of our technique is the possibility of routing qubits in asynchronous qnets. By asynchrony we mean that the requisite data/resources are intermittently available (but not necessarily simultaneously) in the qnet. For example, we show that a source S can send quantum information to a destination R even though (a) S and R share no quantum resource, (b) R's identity is unknown to S at the time of sending the message, but is subsequently decided, (c) S herself can be R at a later date and/or in a different location to bequeath her information (`backed-up' in the qnet) and (d) importantly, the path chosen for routing the secret may hit a dead end due to resource constraints, congestion, etc., (therefore the information needs to be back-tracked and sent along an alternate path). Another implication of our technique is the possibility of using insecure resources. For instance, if the quantum memory within an organization is insufficient, it may safely store (using our protocol) its private information with a neighboring organization without (a) revealing critical data to the host and (b) losing control over retrieving the data. Putting the two implications together, namely routing and secure storage, it is possible to envision applications like quantum mail (qmail) as an outsourced service.

Experimental quantum secret sharing and third-man quantum cryptography.

PubMed

Chen, Yu-Ao; Zhang, An-Ning; Zhao, Zhi; Zhou, Xiao-Qi; Lu, Chao-Yang; Peng, Cheng-Zhi; Yang, Tao; Pan, Jian-Wei

2005-11-11

Quantum secret sharing (QSS) and third-man quantum cryptography (TQC) are essential for advanced quantum communication; however, the low intensity and fragility of the multiphoton entanglement source in previous experiments have made their realization an extreme experimental challenge. Here, we develop and exploit an ultrastable high intensity source of four-photon entanglement to report an experimental realization of QSS and TQC. The technology developed in our experiment will be important for future multiparty quantum communication.

Local distinguishability of Dicke states in quantum secret sharing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Jing-Tao; Xu, Gang; Chen, Xiu-Bo; Sun, Xing-Ming; Jia, Heng-Yue

2017-03-01

We comprehensively investigate the local distinguishability of orthogonal Dicke states under local operations and classical communication (LOCC) from both qualitative and quantitative aspects. Based on our work, defects in the LOCC-quantum secret sharing (QSS) scheme can be complemented, and the information leakage can be quantified. For (k1 ,k2 , k , n)-threshold LOCC-QSS scheme, more intuitive formulas for unambiguous probability and guessing probability were established, which can be used for determining the parameter k1 and k2 directly.

Improving the multiparty quantum secret sharing over two collective-noise channels against insider attack

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sun, Ying; Wen, Qiao-yan; Zhu, Fu-chen

2010-01-01

The security of the multiparty quantum secret sharing protocol presented by Zhang [Z.J. Zhang, Physica A, 361 (2006) 233] is analyzed. It is shown that this protocol is vulnerable to the insider attack since eavesdropping detection is performed only when all states arrive at the last agent. We propose an attack strategy and give an improved version of the original protocol. The improved protocol is robust and has the same traits with the original one.

Experimental circular quantum secret sharing over telecom fiber network.

PubMed

Wei, Ke-Jin; Ma, Hai-Qiang; Yang, Jian-Hui

2013-07-15

We present a robust single photon circular quantum secret sharing (QSS) scheme with phase encoding over 50 km single mode fiber network using a circular QSS protocol. Our scheme can automatically provide a perfect compensation of birefringence and remain stable for a long time. A high visibility of 99.3% is obtained. Furthermore, our scheme realizes a polarization insensitive phase modulators. The visibility of this system can be maintained perpetually without any adjustment to the system every time we test the system.

A comparative hidden Markov model analysis pipeline identifies proteins characteristic of cereal-infecting fungi

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background Fungal pathogens cause devastating losses in economically important cereal crops by utilising pathogen proteins to infect host plants. Secreted pathogen proteins are referred to as effectors and have thus far been identified by selecting small, cysteine-rich peptides from the secretome despite increasing evidence that not all effectors share these attributes. Results We take advantage of the availability of sequenced fungal genomes and present an unbiased method for finding putative pathogen proteins and secreted effectors in a query genome via comparative hidden Markov model analyses followed by unsupervised protein clustering. Our method returns experimentally validated fungal effectors in Stagonospora nodorum and Fusarium oxysporum as well as the N-terminal Y/F/WxC-motif from the barley powdery mildew pathogen. Application to the cereal pathogen Fusarium graminearum reveals a secreted phosphorylcholine phosphatase that is characteristic of hemibiotrophic and necrotrophic cereal pathogens and shares an ancient selection process with bacterial plant pathogens. Three F. graminearum protein clusters are found with an enriched secretion signal. One of these putative effector clusters contains proteins that share a [SG]-P-C-[KR]-P sequence motif in the N-terminal and show features not commonly associated with fungal effectors. This motif is conserved in secreted pathogenic Fusarium proteins and a prime candidate for functional testing. Conclusions Our pipeline has successfully uncovered conservation patterns, putative effectors and motifs of fungal pathogens that would have been overlooked by existing approaches that identify effectors as small, secreted, cysteine-rich peptides. It can be applied to any pathogenic proteome data, such as microbial pathogen data of plants and other organisms. PMID:24252298

Quantum secret sharing using orthogonal multiqudit entangled states

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bai, Chen-Ming; Li, Zhi-Hui; Liu, Cheng-Ji; Li, Yong-Ming

2017-12-01

In this work, we investigate the distinguishability of orthogonal multiqudit entangled states under restricted local operations and classical communication. According to these properties, we propose a quantum secret sharing scheme to realize three types of access structures, i.e., the ( n, n)-threshold, the restricted (3, n)-threshold and restricted (4, n)-threshold schemes (called LOCC-QSS scheme). All cooperating players in the restricted threshold schemes are from two disjoint groups. In the proposed protocol, the participants use the computational basis measurement and classical communication to distinguish between those orthogonal states and reconstruct the original secret. Furthermore, we also analyze the security of our scheme in four primary quantum attacks and give a simple encoding method in order to better prevent the participant conspiracy attack.

Practical scheme to share a secret key through a quantum channel with a 27.6% bit error rate

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chau, H. F.

2002-12-01

A secret key shared through quantum key distribution between two cooperative players is secure against any eavesdropping attack allowed by the laws of physics. Yet, such a key can be established only when the quantum channel error rate due to eavesdropping or imperfect apparatus is low. Here, a practical quantum key distribution scheme by making use of an adaptive privacy amplification procedure with two-way classical communication is reported. Then, it is proven that the scheme generates a secret key whenever the bit error rate of the quantum channel is less than 0.5-0.1(5)≈27.6%, thereby making it the most error resistant scheme known to date.

Low cost and compact quantum key distribution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Duligall, J. L.; Godfrey, M. S.; Harrison, K. A.; Munro, W. J.; Rarity, J. G.

2006-10-01

We present the design of a novel free-space quantum cryptography system, complete with purpose-built software, that can operate in daylight conditions. The transmitter and receiver modules are built using inexpensive off-the-shelf components. Both modules are compact allowing the generation of renewed shared secrets on demand over a short range of a few metres. An analysis of the software is shown as well as results of error rates and therefore shared secret yields at varying background light levels. As the system is designed to eventually work in short-range consumer applications, we also present a use scenario where the consumer can regularly 'top up' a store of secrets for use in a variety of one-time-pad (OTP) and authentication protocols.

Visualizing and quantifying protein secretion using a Renilla luciferase-GFP fusion protein.

PubMed

Liu, J; Wang, Y; Szalay, A A; Escher, A

2000-01-01

We have shown previously that an engineered form of Renilla luciferase (SRUC) can be secreted as a functional enzyme by mammalian cells, and that fusing wild-type Renilla luciferase with the green fluorescent protein from Aequorea victoria (GFP) yields a chimeric protein retaining light-emission properties similar to that of unfused Renilla luciferase and GFP. In the work presented here, SRUC was fused with GFP to determine whether it could be used to both visualize and quantify protein secretion in mammalian cells. Simian COS-7 and Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells were transiently transfected with gene constructs encoding a secreted or an intracellular version of a Renilla luciferase-GFP fusion protein. Renilla luciferase activity was measured from COS-7 cell lysates and culture media, and GFP activity was detected in CHO cells using fluorescence microscopy. Data indicated that the SRUC-GFP fusion protein was secreted as a chimeric protein that had both Renilla luciferase and GFP activity. This fusion protein could be a useful marker for the study of protein secretion in mammalian cells. Copyright 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Secret shared multiple-image encryption based on row scanning compressive ghost imaging and phase retrieval in the Fresnel domain

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Xianye; Meng, Xiangfeng; Wang, Yurong; Yang, Xiulun; Yin, Yongkai; Peng, Xiang; He, Wenqi; Dong, Guoyan; Chen, Hongyi

2017-09-01

A multiple-image encryption method is proposed that is based on row scanning compressive ghost imaging, (t, n) threshold secret sharing, and phase retrieval in the Fresnel domain. In the encryption process, after wavelet transform and Arnold transform of the target image, the ciphertext matrix can be first detected using a bucket detector. Based on a (t, n) threshold secret sharing algorithm, the measurement key used in the row scanning compressive ghost imaging can be decomposed and shared into two pairs of sub-keys, which are then reconstructed using two phase-only mask (POM) keys with fixed pixel values, placed in the input plane and transform plane 2 of the phase retrieval scheme, respectively; and the other POM key in the transform plane 1 can be generated and updated by the iterative encoding of each plaintext image. In each iteration, the target image acts as the input amplitude constraint in the input plane. During decryption, each plaintext image possessing all the correct keys can be successfully decrypted by measurement key regeneration, compression algorithm reconstruction, inverse wavelet transformation, and Fresnel transformation. Theoretical analysis and numerical simulations both verify the feasibility of the proposed method.

Quantum state sharing against the controller's cheating

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shi, Run-hua; Zhong, Hong; Huang, Liu-sheng

2013-08-01

Most existing QSTS schemes are equivalent to the controlled teleportation, in which a designated agent (i.e., the recoverer) can recover the teleported state with the help of the controllers. However, the controller may attempt to cheat the recoverer during the phase of recovering the secret state. How can we detect this cheating? In this paper, we considered the problem of detecting the controller's cheating in Quantum State Sharing, and further proposed an effective Quantum State Sharing scheme against the controller's cheating. We cleverly use Quantum Secret Sharing, Multiple Quantum States Sharing and decoy-particle techniques. In our scheme, via a previously shared entanglement state Alice can teleport multiple arbitrary multi-qubit states to Bob with the help of Charlie. Furthermore, by the classical information shared previously, Alice and Bob can check whether there is any cheating of Charlie. In addition, our scheme only needs to perform Bell-state and single-particle measurements, and to apply C-NOT gate and other single-particle unitary operations. With the present techniques, it is feasible to implement these necessary measurements and operations.

Entropic inequalities for a class of quantum secret-sharing states

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

Sarvepalli, Pradeep

It is well known that von Neumann entropy is nonmonotonic, unlike Shannon entropy (which is monotonically nondecreasing). Consequently, it is difficult to relate the entropies of the subsystems of a given quantum state. In this paper, we show that if we consider quantum secret-sharing states arising from a class of monotone span programs, then we can partially recover the monotonicity of entropy for the so-called unauthorized sets. Furthermore, we can show for these quantum states that the entropy of the authorized sets is monotonically nonincreasing.

An emerging case for membrane pore formation as a common mechanism for the unconventional secretion of FGF2 and IL-1β.

PubMed

Brough, David; Pelegrin, Pablo; Nickel, Walter

2017-10-01

Extracellular proteins with important signalling roles in processes, such as inflammation and angiogenesis, are known to employ unconventional routes of protein secretion. Although mechanisms of unconventional protein secretion are beginning to emerge, the precise molecular details have remained elusive for the majority of cargo proteins secreted by unconventional means. Recent findings suggest that for two examples of unconventionally secreted proteins, interleukin 1β (IL-1β) and fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF2), the common molecular principle of pore formation may be shared. Under specific experimental conditions, secretion of IL-1β and FGF2 is triggered by phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate [PI(4,5)P 2 ]-dependent formation of pores across the plasma membrane. However, the underlying mechanisms are different, with FGF2 known to directly interact with PI(4,5)P 2 , whereas in the case of IL-1β secretion, it is proposed that the N-terminal fragment of gasdermin D interacts with PI(4,5)P 2 to form the pore. Thus, although implemented in different ways, these findings suggest that pore formation may be shared by the unconventional secretion mechanisms for FGF2 and IL-1β in at least some cases. In this Opinion article, we discuss the unconventional mechanisms of FGF2 and IL-1β release with a particular emphasis on recent discoveries suggesting the importance of pore formation on the plasma membrane. © 2017. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd.

Detector-device-independent quantum secret sharing with source flaws.

PubMed

Yang, Xiuqing; Wei, Kejin; Ma, Haiqiang; Liu, Hongwei; Yin, Zhenqiang; Cao, Zhu; Wu, Lingan

2018-04-10

Measurement-device-independent entanglement witness (MDI-EW) plays an important role for detecting entanglement with untrusted measurement device. We present a double blinding-attack on a quantum secret sharing (QSS) protocol based on GHZ state. Using the MDI-EW method, we propose a QSS protocol against all detector side-channels. We allow source flaws in practical QSS system, so that Charlie can securely distribute a key between the two agents Alice and Bob over long distances. Our protocol provides condition on the extracted key rate for the secret against both external eavesdropper and arbitrary dishonest participants. A tight bound for collective attacks can provide good bounds on the practical QSS with source flaws. Then we show through numerical simulations that using single-photon source a secure QSS over 136 km can be achieved.

Experimental demonstration of graph-state quantum secret sharing.

PubMed

Bell, B A; Markham, D; Herrera-Martí, D A; Marin, A; Wadsworth, W J; Rarity, J G; Tame, M S

2014-11-21

Quantum communication and computing offer many new opportunities for information processing in a connected world. Networks using quantum resources with tailor-made entanglement structures have been proposed for a variety of tasks, including distributing, sharing and processing information. Recently, a class of states known as graph states has emerged, providing versatile quantum resources for such networking tasks. Here we report an experimental demonstration of graph state-based quantum secret sharing--an important primitive for a quantum network with applications ranging from secure money transfer to multiparty quantum computation. We use an all-optical setup, encoding quantum information into photons representing a five-qubit graph state. We find that one can reliably encode, distribute and share quantum information amongst four parties, with various access structures based on the complex connectivity of the graph. Our results show that graph states are a promising approach for realising sophisticated multi-layered communication protocols in quantum networks.

A kind of universal quantum secret sharing protocol

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Xiu-Bo; Dou, Zhao; Xu, Gang; He, Xiao-Yu; Yang, Yi-Xian

2017-01-01

Universality is an important feature, but less researched in quantum communication protocols. In this paper, a kind of universal quantum secret sharing protocol is investigated. Firstly, we design a quantum secret sharing protocol based on the Borras-Plastino-Batle (BPB) state. Departing from previous research, our protocol has a salient feature in that participants in our protocol only need projective measurement instead of any unitary operations. It makes our protocol more flexible. Secondly, universality of quantum communication protocols is studied for the first time. More specifically, module division of quantum communication protocols and coupling between different modules are discussed. Our aforementioned protocol is analyzed as an example. On one hand, plenty of quantum states (the BPB-class states and the BPB-like-class states, which are proposed in this paper) could be used as carrier to perform our protocol. On the other hand, our protocol also could be regarded as a quantum private comparison protocol with a little revision. These features are rare for quantum communication protocols, and make our protocol more robust. Thirdly, entanglements of the BPB-class states are calculated in the Appendix.

A kind of universal quantum secret sharing protocol.

PubMed

Chen, Xiu-Bo; Dou, Zhao; Xu, Gang; He, Xiao-Yu; Yang, Yi-Xian

2017-01-12

Universality is an important feature, but less researched in quantum communication protocols. In this paper, a kind of universal quantum secret sharing protocol is investigated. Firstly, we design a quantum secret sharing protocol based on the Borras-Plastino-Batle (BPB) state. Departing from previous research, our protocol has a salient feature in that participants in our protocol only need projective measurement instead of any unitary operations. It makes our protocol more flexible. Secondly, universality of quantum communication protocols is studied for the first time. More specifically, module division of quantum communication protocols and coupling between different modules are discussed. Our aforementioned protocol is analyzed as an example. On one hand, plenty of quantum states (the BPB-class states and the BPB-like-class states, which are proposed in this paper) could be used as carrier to perform our protocol. On the other hand, our protocol also could be regarded as a quantum private comparison protocol with a little revision. These features are rare for quantum communication protocols, and make our protocol more robust. Thirdly, entanglements of the BPB-class states are calculated in the Appendix.

A kind of universal quantum secret sharing protocol

PubMed Central

Chen, Xiu-Bo; Dou, Zhao; Xu, Gang; He, Xiao-Yu; Yang, Yi-Xian

2017-01-01

Universality is an important feature, but less researched in quantum communication protocols. In this paper, a kind of universal quantum secret sharing protocol is investigated. Firstly, we design a quantum secret sharing protocol based on the Borras-Plastino-Batle (BPB) state. Departing from previous research, our protocol has a salient feature in that participants in our protocol only need projective measurement instead of any unitary operations. It makes our protocol more flexible. Secondly, universality of quantum communication protocols is studied for the first time. More specifically, module division of quantum communication protocols and coupling between different modules are discussed. Our aforementioned protocol is analyzed as an example. On one hand, plenty of quantum states (the BPB-class states and the BPB-like-class states, which are proposed in this paper) could be used as carrier to perform our protocol. On the other hand, our protocol also could be regarded as a quantum private comparison protocol with a little revision. These features are rare for quantum communication protocols, and make our protocol more robust. Thirdly, entanglements of the BPB-class states are calculated in the Appendix. PMID:28079109

Improved Secret Image Sharing Scheme in Embedding Capacity without Underflow and Overflow.

PubMed

Pang, Liaojun; Miao, Deyu; Li, Huixian; Wang, Qiong

2015-01-01

Computational secret image sharing (CSIS) is an effective way to protect a secret image during its transmission and storage, and thus it has attracted lots of attentions since its appearance. Nowadays, it has become a hot topic for researchers to improve the embedding capacity and eliminate the underflow and overflow situations, which is embarrassing and difficult to deal with. The scheme, which has the highest embedding capacity among the existing schemes, has the underflow and overflow problems. Although the underflow and overflow situations have been well dealt with by different methods, the embedding capacities of these methods are reduced more or less. Motivated by these concerns, we propose a novel scheme, in which we take the differential coding, Huffman coding, and data converting to compress the secret image before embedding it to further improve the embedding capacity, and the pixel mapping matrix embedding method with a newly designed matrix is used to embed secret image data into the cover image to avoid the underflow and overflow situations. Experiment results show that our scheme can improve the embedding capacity further and eliminate the underflow and overflow situations at the same time.

Improved Secret Image Sharing Scheme in Embedding Capacity without Underflow and Overflow

PubMed Central

Pang, Liaojun; Miao, Deyu; Li, Huixian; Wang, Qiong

2015-01-01

Computational secret image sharing (CSIS) is an effective way to protect a secret image during its transmission and storage, and thus it has attracted lots of attentions since its appearance. Nowadays, it has become a hot topic for researchers to improve the embedding capacity and eliminate the underflow and overflow situations, which is embarrassing and difficult to deal with. The scheme, which has the highest embedding capacity among the existing schemes, has the underflow and overflow problems. Although the underflow and overflow situations have been well dealt with by different methods, the embedding capacities of these methods are reduced more or less. Motivated by these concerns, we propose a novel scheme, in which we take the differential coding, Huffman coding, and data converting to compress the secret image before embedding it to further improve the embedding capacity, and the pixel mapping matrix embedding method with a newly designed matrix is used to embed secret image data into the cover image to avoid the underflow and overflow situations. Experiment results show that our scheme can improve the embedding capacity further and eliminate the underflow and overflow situations at the same time. PMID:26351657

Notes on two multiparty quantum secret sharing schemes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gao, Gan

In the paper [H. Abulkasim et al., Int. J. Quantum Inform. 15 (2017) 1750023], Abulkasim et al. proposed a quantum secret sharing scheme based on Bell states. We study the security of the multiparty case in the proposed scheme and detect that it is not secure. In the paper [Y. Du and W. Bao, Opt. Commun. 308 (2013) 159], Du and Bao listed Gao’s scheme and gave a attack strategy on the listed scheme. We point out that their listing scheme is not the genuine Gao’s scheme and their research method is not advisable.

Robust multiparty quantum secret key sharing over two collective-noise channels

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Zhan-jun

2006-02-01

Based on a polarization-based quantum key distribution protocol over a collective-noise channel [Phys. Rev. Lett. 92 (2004) 017901], a robust (n,n)-threshold scheme of multiparty quantum secret sharing of key over two collective-noise channels (i.e., the collective dephasing channel and the collective rotating channel) is proposed. In this scheme the sharer entirety can establish a joint key with the message sender only if all the sharers collaborate together. Since Bell singlets are enough for use and only single-photon polarization needs to be identified, this scheme is feasible according to the present-day technique.

Plants as models for the study of human pathogenesis.

PubMed

Guttman, David S

2004-05-01

There are many common disease mechanisms used by bacterial pathogens of plants and humans. They use common means of attachment, secretion and genetic regulation. They share many virulence factors, such as extracellular polysaccharides and some type III secreted effectors. Plant and human innate immune systems also share many similarities. Many of these shared bacterial virulence mechanisms are homologous, but even more appear to have independently converged on a common function. This combination of homologous and analogous systems reveals conserved and critical steps in the disease process. Given these similarities, and the many experimental advantages of plant biology, including ease of replication, stringent genetic and reproductive control, and high throughput with low cost, it is proposed that plants would make excellent models for the study of human pathogenesis.

SSeCloud: Using secret sharing scheme to secure keys

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hu, Liang; Huang, Yang; Yang, Disheng; Zhang, Yuzhen; Liu, Hengchang

2017-08-01

With the use of cloud storage services, one of the concerns is how to protect sensitive data securely and privately. While users enjoy the convenience of data storage provided by semi-trusted cloud storage providers, they are confronted with all kinds of risks at the same time. In this paper, we present SSeCloud, a secure cloud storage system that improves security and usability by applying secret sharing scheme to secure keys. The system encrypts uploading files on the client side and splits encrypted keys into three shares. Each of them is respectively stored by users, cloud storage providers and the alternative third trusted party. Any two of the parties can reconstruct keys. Evaluation results of prototype system show that SSeCloud provides high security without too much performance penalty.

Evolutionary Interactions Between Visual and Chemical Signals: Chemosignals Compensate for the Loss of a Visual Signal in Male Sceloporus Lizards.

PubMed

Pruett, Jake A; Zúñiga-Vega, J Jaime; Campos, Stephanie M; Soini, Helena A; Novotny, Milos V; Vital-García, Cuauhcihuatl; Martins, Emília P; Hews, Diana K

2016-11-01

Animals rely on multimodal signals to obtain information from conspecifics through alternative sensory systems, and the evolutionary loss of a signal in one modality may lead to compensation through increased use of signals in an alternative modality. We investigated associations between chemical signaling and evolutionary loss of abdominal color patches in males of four species (two plain-bellied and two colorful-bellied) of Sceloporus lizards. We conducted field trials to compare behavioral responses of male lizards to swabs with femoral gland (FG) secretions from conspecific males and control swabs (clean paper). We also analyzed the volatile organic compound (VOC) composition of male FG secretions by stir bar extraction and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) to test the hypothesis that loss of the visual signal is associated with elaboration of the chemical signal. Males of plain-bellied, but not colorful-bellied species exhibited different rates of visual displays when exposed to swabs of conspecific FG secretions relative to control swabs. The VOC composition of male Sceloporus FG secretions was similar across all four species, and no clear association between relative abundances of VOCs and evolutionary loss of abdominal color patches was observed. The emerging pattern is that behavioral responses to conspecific chemical signals are species- and context-specific in male Sceloporus, and compensatory changes in receivers, but not signalers may be involved in mediating increased responsiveness to chemical signals in males of plain-bellied species.

Chemical and behavioral studies of femoral gland secretions in iguanid lizards.

PubMed

Alberts, A C

1993-01-01

Comparative studies on the chemistry and behavioral significance of femoral gland secretions in desert iguanas (Dipsosaurus dorsalis) and green iguanas (Iguana iguana) are reviewed. Field and laboratory studies suggest that femoral gland secretions function in conspecific recognition and range marking. In desert iguanas, secretions are of low volatility and may be detected initially using long-range ultraviolet visual cues. In contrast, green iguana secretions contain a diversity of volatile lipids and appear to be localized by chemoreception. Interspecific differences in femoral gland chemistry may reflect adaptations to the diverse climatic conditions of arid desert and tropical forest environments.

Bacterial Translocation Ratchets: Shared Physical Principles with Different Molecular Implementations: How bacterial secretion systems bias Brownian motion for efficient translocation of macromolecules.

PubMed

Hepp, Christof; Maier, Berenike

2017-10-01

Secretion systems enable bacteria to import and secrete large macromolecules including DNA and proteins. While most components of these systems have been identified, the molecular mechanisms of macromolecular transport remain poorly understood. Recent findings suggest that various bacterial secretion systems make use of the translocation ratchet mechanism for transporting polymers across the cell envelope. Translocation ratchets are powered by chemical potential differences generated by concentration gradients of ions or molecules that are specific to the respective secretion systems. Bacteria employ these potential differences for biasing Brownian motion of the macromolecules within the conduits of the secretion systems. Candidates for this mechanism include DNA import by the type II secretion/type IV pilus system, DNA export by the type IV secretion system, and protein export by the type I secretion system. Here, we propose that these three secretion systems employ different molecular implementations of the translocation ratchet mechanism. © 2017 The Authors. BioEssays Published by WILEY Periodicals, Inc.

Evidence of shared Epstein-Barr viral isolates between sexual partners, and low level EBV in genital secretions.

PubMed

Thomas, Ranjit; Macsween, Karen F; McAulay, Karen; Clutterbuck, Daniel; Anderson, Richard; Reid, Stuart; Higgins, Craig D; Swerdlow, Anthony J; Harrison, Nadine; Williams, Hilary; Crawford, Dorothy H

2006-09-01

Epstein-Barr virus is present in the saliva of most persistently infected individuals and is generally thought to be spread by close oral contact. However, there are now several reports of EBV in genital secretions, suggesting the possibility of sexual transmission between adults. The present study was undertaken to investigate the risk of sexual transmission of EBV. PCR analysis was used to examined the degree to which a group (n = 11) of patients with infectious mononucleosis (IM) shared the same viral isolates as their sexual partners, and compare this to the extent of isolate sharing among a different group (n = 18) of IM patients and their non-sexual contacts. There was significantly more sharing of EBV isolates among the IM/sexual-contact pairs than among the IM/non-sexual-contact pairs (P = 0.0012). Female cervical (n = 84), male urethral (n = 55), and semen (n = 30) samples from asymptomatic, unselected volunteers were analyzed for the presence of EBV DNA, revealing 7%, 5%, and 3% to be EBV positive, respectively. Fractionation of cervical and urethral samples into cellular and supernatant fluid components showed EBV to be mainly cell-associated. Quantitation of EBV in these samples gave levels of below 10 EBV genomes per microg of DNA. Overall the findings support the possibility that EBV could on occasions be transmitted sexually, however, the low levels detected in genital secretions compared to saliva suggest that this is not a major transmission route. The finding of small quantities of cell-associated virus suggests a latent infection; thus EBV is probably in the B lymphocyte rather than in the epithelial cell component of the secretions.

Comment on “Cryptanalysis and improvement of multiparty semiquantum secret sharing based on rearranging orders of qubits”

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gao, Gan

2017-11-01

In this paper, we show that the attack strategy [A. Yin and F. Fu, Mod. Phys. Lett. B 30 (2016) 1650415] fails, that is, the last agent and other agents cannot get the sender’s secret keys without being detected by using the attack strategy.

Secrets of Mlearning Failures: Confronting Reality

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cochrane, Thomas

2012-01-01

Having implemented and evaluated over 35 mlearning projects in a variety of contexts in higher education over the past 6 years the researcher is ready to share the untold secret: not all mlearning projects succeed! This article critiques three of the researcher's mlearning projects that can be classed as "failures" and compares them to successful…

Cortisol Secretion and Change in Sleep Problems in Early Childhood: Moderation by Maternal Overcontrol

PubMed Central

Kiel, Elizabeth J.; Hummel, Alexandra C.; Luebbe, Aaron M.

2015-01-01

Childhood sleep problems are prevalent and relate to a wide range of negative psychological outcomes. However, it remains unclear how biological processes, such as HPA activity, may predict sleep problems over time in childhood in the context of certain parenting environments. Fifty-one mothers and their 18–20 month-old toddlers participated in a short-term longitudinal study assessing how shared variance among morning levels, diurnal change, and nocturnal change in toddlers’ cortisol secretion predicted change in sleep problems in the context of maternal overprotection and critical control. A composite characterized by low variability in, and, to a lesser extent, high morning values of cortisol, predicted increasing sleep problems from age 2 to age 3 when mothers reported high critical control. Results suggest value in assessing shared variance among different indices of cortisol secretion patterns and the interaction between cortisol and the environment in predicting sleep problems in early childhood. PMID:25766262

Comparative analysis of secretomes from Ectomycorrhizal fungi with an emphasis on small-secreted proteins

DOE PAGES

Pellegrin, Clement; Morin, Emmanuelle; Martin, Francis M.; ...

2015-11-18

Fungi are major players in the carbon cycle in forest ecosystems due to the wide range of interactions they have with plants either through soil degradation processes by litter decayers or biotrophic interactions with pathogenic and ectomycorrhizal symbionts. Secretion of fungal proteins mediates these interactions by allowing the fungus to interact with its environment and/or host. Ectomycorrhizal (ECM) symbiosis independently appeared several times throughout evolution and involves approximately 80% of trees. Despite extensive physiological studies on ECM symbionts, little is known about the composition and specificities of their secretomes. In this study, we used a bioinformatics pipeline to predict andmore » analyze the secretomes of 49 fungal species, including 11 ECM fungi, wood and soil decayers and pathogenic fungi to tackle the following questions: (1) Are there differences between the secretomes of saprophytic and ECM fungi? (2) Are small-secreted proteins (SSPs) more abundant in biotrophic fungi than in saprophytic fungi? and (3) Are there SSPs shared between ECM, saprotrophic and pathogenic fungi? We showed that the number of predicted secreted proteins is similar in the surveyed species, independently of their lifestyle. The secretome from ECM fungi is characterized by a restricted number of secreted CAZymes, but their repertoires of secreted proteases and lipases are similar to those of saprotrophic fungi. Focusing on SSPs, we showed that the secretome of ECM fungi is enriched in SSPs compared with other species. Most of the SSPs are coded by orphan genes with no known PFAM domain or similarities to known sequences in databases. Finally, based on the clustering analysis, we identified shared- and lifestyle-specific SSPs between saprotrophic and ECM fungi. The presence of SSPs is not limited to fungi interacting with living plants as the genome of saprotrophic fungi also code for numerous SSPs. As a result, ECM fungi shared lifestyle-specific SSPs likely involved in symbiosis that are good candidates for further functional analyses.« less

Comparative analysis of secretomes from Ectomycorrhizal fungi with an emphasis on small-secreted proteins

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

Pellegrin, Clement; Morin, Emmanuelle; Martin, Francis M.

Fungi are major players in the carbon cycle in forest ecosystems due to the wide range of interactions they have with plants either through soil degradation processes by litter decayers or biotrophic interactions with pathogenic and ectomycorrhizal symbionts. Secretion of fungal proteins mediates these interactions by allowing the fungus to interact with its environment and/or host. Ectomycorrhizal (ECM) symbiosis independently appeared several times throughout evolution and involves approximately 80% of trees. Despite extensive physiological studies on ECM symbionts, little is known about the composition and specificities of their secretomes. In this study, we used a bioinformatics pipeline to predict andmore » analyze the secretomes of 49 fungal species, including 11 ECM fungi, wood and soil decayers and pathogenic fungi to tackle the following questions: (1) Are there differences between the secretomes of saprophytic and ECM fungi? (2) Are small-secreted proteins (SSPs) more abundant in biotrophic fungi than in saprophytic fungi? and (3) Are there SSPs shared between ECM, saprotrophic and pathogenic fungi? We showed that the number of predicted secreted proteins is similar in the surveyed species, independently of their lifestyle. The secretome from ECM fungi is characterized by a restricted number of secreted CAZymes, but their repertoires of secreted proteases and lipases are similar to those of saprotrophic fungi. Focusing on SSPs, we showed that the secretome of ECM fungi is enriched in SSPs compared with other species. Most of the SSPs are coded by orphan genes with no known PFAM domain or similarities to known sequences in databases. Finally, based on the clustering analysis, we identified shared- and lifestyle-specific SSPs between saprotrophic and ECM fungi. The presence of SSPs is not limited to fungi interacting with living plants as the genome of saprotrophic fungi also code for numerous SSPs. As a result, ECM fungi shared lifestyle-specific SSPs likely involved in symbiosis that are good candidates for further functional analyses.« less

Comparative Analysis of Secretomes from Ectomycorrhizal Fungi with an Emphasis on Small-Secreted Proteins

PubMed Central

Pellegrin, Clement; Morin, Emmanuelle; Martin, Francis M.; Veneault-Fourrey, Claire

2015-01-01

Fungi are major players in the carbon cycle in forest ecosystems due to the wide range of interactions they have with plants either through soil degradation processes by litter decayers or biotrophic interactions with pathogenic and ectomycorrhizal symbionts. Secretion of fungal proteins mediates these interactions by allowing the fungus to interact with its environment and/or host. Ectomycorrhizal (ECM) symbiosis independently appeared several times throughout evolution and involves approximately 80% of trees. Despite extensive physiological studies on ECM symbionts, little is known about the composition and specificities of their secretomes. In this study, we used a bioinformatics pipeline to predict and analyze the secretomes of 49 fungal species, including 11 ECM fungi, wood and soil decayers and pathogenic fungi to tackle the following questions: (1) Are there differences between the secretomes of saprophytic and ECM fungi? (2) Are small-secreted proteins (SSPs) more abundant in biotrophic fungi than in saprophytic fungi? and (3) Are there SSPs shared between ECM, saprotrophic and pathogenic fungi? We showed that the number of predicted secreted proteins is similar in the surveyed species, independently of their lifestyle. The secretome from ECM fungi is characterized by a restricted number of secreted CAZymes, but their repertoires of secreted proteases and lipases are similar to those of saprotrophic fungi. Focusing on SSPs, we showed that the secretome of ECM fungi is enriched in SSPs compared with other species. Most of the SSPs are coded by orphan genes with no known PFAM domain or similarities to known sequences in databases. Finally, based on the clustering analysis, we identified shared- and lifestyle-specific SSPs between saprotrophic and ECM fungi. The presence of SSPs is not limited to fungi interacting with living plants as the genome of saprotrophic fungi also code for numerous SSPs. ECM fungi shared lifestyle-specific SSPs likely involved in symbiosis that are good candidates for further functional analyses. PMID:26635749

Shared filtering processes link attentional and visual short-term memory capacity limits.

PubMed

Bettencourt, Katherine C; Michalka, Samantha W; Somers, David C

2011-09-30

Both visual attention and visual short-term memory (VSTM) have been shown to have capacity limits of 4 ± 1 objects, driving the hypothesis that they share a visual processing buffer. However, these capacity limitations also show strong individual differences, making the degree to which these capacities are related unclear. Moreover, other research has suggested a distinction between attention and VSTM buffers. To explore the degree to which capacity limitations reflect the use of a shared visual processing buffer, we compared individual subject's capacities on attentional and VSTM tasks completed in the same testing session. We used a multiple object tracking (MOT) and a VSTM change detection task, with varying levels of distractors, to measure capacity. Significant correlations in capacity were not observed between the MOT and VSTM tasks when distractor filtering demands differed between the tasks. Instead, significant correlations were seen when the tasks shared spatial filtering demands. Moreover, these filtering demands impacted capacity similarly in both attention and VSTM tasks. These observations fail to support the view that visual attention and VSTM capacity limits result from a shared buffer but instead highlight the role of the resource demands of underlying processes in limiting capacity.

Quantum-Secret-Sharing Scheme Based on Local Distinguishability of Orthogonal Seven-Qudit Entangled States

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Cheng-Ji; Li, Zhi-Hui; Bai, Chen-Ming; Si, Meng-Meng

2018-02-01

The concept of judgment space was proposed by Wang et al. (Phys. Rev. A 95, 022320, 2017), which was used to study some important properties of quantum entangled states based on local distinguishability. In this study, we construct 15 kinds of seven-qudit quantum entangled states in the sense of permutation, calculate their judgment space and propose a distinguishability rule to make the judgment space more clearly. Based on this rule, we study the local distinguishability of the 15 kinds of seven-qudit quantum entangled states and then propose a ( k, n) threshold quantum secret sharing scheme. Finally, we analyze the security of the scheme.

Jones index, secret sharing and total quantum dimension

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fiedler, Leander; Naaijkens, Pieter; Osborne, Tobias J.

2017-02-01

We study the total quantum dimension in the thermodynamic limit of topologically ordered systems. In particular, using the anyons (or superselection sectors) of such models, we define a secret sharing scheme, storing information invisible to a malicious party, and argue that the total quantum dimension quantifies how well we can perform this task. We then argue that this can be made mathematically rigorous using the index theory of subfactors, originally due to Jones and later extended by Kosaki and Longo. This theory provides us with a ‘relative entropy’ of two von Neumann algebras and a quantum channel, and we argue how these can be used to quantify how much classical information two parties can hide form an adversary. We also review the total quantum dimension in finite systems, in particular how it relates to topological entanglement entropy. It is known that the latter also has an interpretation in terms of secret sharing schemes, although this is shown by completely different methods from ours. Our work provides a different and independent take on this, which at the same time is completely mathematically rigorous. This complementary point of view might be beneficial, for example, when studying the stability of the total quantum dimension when the system is perturbed.

A Secure and Efficient Scalable Secret Image Sharing Scheme with Flexible Shadow Sizes.

PubMed

Xie, Dong; Li, Lixiang; Peng, Haipeng; Yang, Yixian

2017-01-01

In a general (k, n) scalable secret image sharing (SSIS) scheme, the secret image is shared by n participants and any k or more than k participants have the ability to reconstruct it. The scalability means that the amount of information in the reconstructed image scales in proportion to the number of the participants. In most existing SSIS schemes, the size of each image shadow is relatively large and the dealer does not has a flexible control strategy to adjust it to meet the demand of differen applications. Besides, almost all existing SSIS schemes are not applicable under noise circumstances. To address these deficiencies, in this paper we present a novel SSIS scheme based on a brand-new technique, called compressed sensing, which has been widely used in many fields such as image processing, wireless communication and medical imaging. Our scheme has the property of flexibility, which means that the dealer can achieve a compromise between the size of each shadow and the quality of the reconstructed image. In addition, our scheme has many other advantages, including smooth scalability, noise-resilient capability, and high security. The experimental results and the comparison with similar works demonstrate the feasibility and superiority of our scheme.

Common and Distinct Capsid and Surface Protein Requirements for Secretion of Complete and Genome-free Hepatitis B Virions.

PubMed

Ning, Xiaojun; Luckenbaugh, Laurie; Liu, Kuancheng; Bruss, Volker; Sureau, Camille; Hu, Jianming

2018-05-09

During the morphogenesis of hepatitis B virus (HBV), an enveloped virus, two types of virions are secreted: (1) a minor population of complete virions containing a mature nucleocapsid with the characteristic, partially double-stranded, relaxed circular DNA genome and (2) a major population containing an empty capsid with no DNA or RNA (empty virions). Secretion of both types of virions requires interactions between the HBV capsid or core protein (HBc) and the viral surface or envelope proteins. We have studied the requirements from both HBc and envelope proteins for empty virion secretion, in comparison with those for secretion of complete virions. Substitutions within the N-terminal domain of HBc that block secretion of DNA-containing virions reduced but did not prevent secretion of empty virions. The HBc C-terminal domain was not essential for empty virion secretion. Among the three viral envelope proteins, the smallest, S, alone was sufficient for empty virion secretion at a basal level. The largest protein, L, essential for complete virion secretion, was not required for, but could stimulate empty virion secretion. Also, substitutions in L that eliminate secretion of complete virions reduced but did not eliminate empty virion secretion. S mutations that block secretion of the hepatitis D virus (HDV), an HBV satellite, did not block secretion of either empty or complete HBV virions. Together, these results indicate that both common and distinct signals on empty capsids vs. mature nucleocapsids interact with the S and L proteins during the formation of complete vs. empty virions. IMPORTANCE Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is a major cause of severe liver diseases including cirrhosis and cancer. In addition to the complete infectious virion particle, which contains an outer envelope layer and an interior capsid that, in turn, encloses a DNA genome, HBV infected cells also secrete non-infectious, incomplete viral particles in large excess over the complete virions. In particular, the empty (or genome-free) virion share with the complete virion the outer envelope and interior capsid but contain no genome. We have carried out a comparative study on the capsid and envelope requirements for the secretion of these two types of virion particles and uncovered both shared and distinct determinants on the capsid and envelope for their secretion. These results provide new information on HBV morphogenesis, and have implications for efforts to develop empty HBV virions as a novel biomarker and a new generation of HBV vaccine. Copyright © 2018 American Society for Microbiology.

Seeking to Expand Middle Level Success to All Students: A Not-So-Secret Recipe

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

White, Jesse

2014-01-01

The recipe for success of Strive Preparatory Charter School (formerly West Denver Preparatory Charter School) is not a secret. This summer program, turned four-campus, middle level phenomenon, is proving to satisfy the appetite of parents hungry for a change in their children's educational opportunities. The intent of this article is to share a…

"It is the 'starting over' part that is so hard": Using an online group to support hospice bereavement.

PubMed

Wittenberg-Lyles, Elaine; Washington, Karla; Oliver, Debra Parker; Shaunfield, Sara; Gage, L Ashley; Mooney, Megan; Lewis, Alexandria

2015-04-01

Although hospice agencies are required to provide informal caregivers (family or friends of the patient) with formal bereavement support when their loved one passes, most bereavement interventions lack standardization and remain untested. We employed the Dual Processing Model of Bereavement as a theoretical framework for assessing the potential of a secret Facebook group for bereaved hospice caregivers. A mixed-methods approach was utilized to analyze online communication (posts and comments) in the secret Facebook group, and self-reported outcome measures on depression and anxiety were compared pre- and post-intervention. Sixteen caregivers participated in the secret Facebook group over a period of nine months. The majority of online talk was oriented to restoration, revealing abrupt and anticipated triggers that evoked feelings of loss. Caregivers also shared loss orientation through storytelling, sharing and giving advice, and encouraging others to manage the challenges of coping. Caregiver anxiety and depression were lower after the intervention. This pilot study provides insight into the use of a secret Facebook group to facilitate bereavement support to caregivers. Findings highlight the promise of Facebook for hospice bereavement support. Providers and researchers are encouraged to explore the positive outcomes associated with bereavement support.

A novel secret sharing with two users based on joint transform correlator and compressive sensing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, Tieyu; Chi, Yingying

2018-05-01

Recently, joint transform correlator (JTC) has been widely applied to image encryption and authentication. This paper presents a novel secret sharing scheme with two users based on JTC. Two users must be present during the decryption that the system has high security and reliability. In the scheme, two users use their fingerprints to encrypt plaintext, and they can decrypt only if both of them provide the fingerprints which are successfully authenticated. The linear relationship between the plaintext and ciphertext is broken using the compressive sensing, which can resist existing attacks on JTC. The results of the theoretical analysis and numerical simulation confirm the validity of the system.

Secrets and Misperceptions: The Creation of Self-Fulfilling Illusions

PubMed Central

Cowan, Sarah K.

2015-01-01

This study examines who hears what secrets, comparing two similar secrets-one that is highly stigmatized and one that is less so. Using a unique survey representative of American adults and intake forms from a medical clinic, I document marked differences in who hears these secrets. People who are sympathetic to the stigmatizing secret are more likely to hear of it than those who may react negatively. This is a consequence of people not just selectively disclosing their own secrets but selectively sharing others’ as well. As a result, people in the same social network will be exposed to and influenced by different information about those they know and hence experience that network differently. When people effectively exist in networks tailored by others not to offend, then the information they hear tends to be that of which they already approve. Were they to hear secrets they disapproved of, then their attitudes might change, but they are less likely to hear those secrets. As such, the patterns of secret hearing contribute to a stasis in public opinion. PMID:26082932

Secreting and sensing the same molecule allows cells to achieve versatile social behaviors

PubMed Central

Youk, Hyun; Lim, Wendell A.

2014-01-01

Cells that secrete and sense the same signaling molecule are ubiquitous. To uncover the functional capabilities of the core ‘secrete-and-sense’ circuit motif shared by these cells, we engineered yeast to secrete and sense the mating pheromone. Perturbing each circuit element revealed parameters that control the degree to which the cell communicated with itself versus with its neighbors. This tunable interplay of self- and neighbor-communication enables cells to span a diverse repertoire of cellular behaviors. These include a cell being asocial by responding only to itself, social through quorum sensing and an isogenic population of cells splitting into social and asocial subpopulations. A mathematical model explained these behaviors. The versatility of the secrete-and-sense circuit motif may explain its recurrence across species. PMID:24503857

Toolkit for visualization of the cellular structure and organelles in Aspergillus niger.

PubMed

Buren, Emiel B J Ten; Karrenbelt, Michiel A P; Lingemann, Marit; Chordia, Shreyans; Deng, Ying; Hu, JingJing; Verest, Johanna M; Wu, Vincen; Gonzalez, Teresita J Bello; Heck, Ruben G A van; Odoni, Dorett I; Schonewille, Tom; Straat, Laura van der; Graaff, Leo H de; Passel, Mark W J van

2014-12-19

Aspergillus niger is a filamentous fungus that is extensively used in industrial fermentations for protein expression and the production of organic acids. Inherent biosynthetic capabilities, such as the capacity to secrete these biomolecules in high amounts, make A. niger an attractive production host. Although A. niger is renowned for this ability, the knowledge of the molecular components that underlie its production capacity, intercellular trafficking processes and secretion mechanisms is far from complete. Here, we introduce a standardized set of tools, consisting of an N-terminal GFP-actin fusion and codon optimized eforRed chromoprotein. Expression of the GFP-actin construct facilitates visualization of the actin filaments of the cytoskeleton, whereas expression of the chromoprotein construct results in a clearly distinguishable red phenotype. These experimentally validated constructs constitute the first set of standardized A. niger biomarkers, which can be used to study morphology, intercellular trafficking, and secretion phenomena.

Getting connected: Both associative and semantic links structure semantic memory for newly learned persons.

PubMed

Wiese, Holger; Schweinberger, Stefan R

2015-01-01

The present study examined whether semantic memory for newly learned people is structured by visual co-occurrence, shared semantics, or both. Participants were trained with pairs of simultaneously presented (i.e., co-occurring) preexperimentally unfamiliar faces, which either did or did not share additionally provided semantic information (occupation, place of living, etc.). Semantic information could also be shared between faces that did not co-occur. A subsequent priming experiment revealed faster responses for both co-occurrence/no shared semantics and no co-occurrence/shared semantics conditions, than for an unrelated condition. Strikingly, priming was strongest in the co-occurrence/shared semantics condition, suggesting additive effects of these factors. Additional analysis of event-related brain potentials yielded priming in the N400 component only for combined effects of visual co-occurrence and shared semantics, with more positive amplitudes in this than in the unrelated condition. Overall, these findings suggest that both semantic relatedness and visual co-occurrence are important when novel information is integrated into person-related semantic memory.

Assessing the secretory capacity of pancreatic acinar cells.

PubMed

Geron, Erez; Schejter, Eyal D; Shilo, Ben-Zion

2014-08-28

Pancreatic acinar cells produce and secrete digestive enzymes. These cells are organized as a cluster which forms and shares a joint lumen. This work demonstrates how the secretory capacity of these cells can be assessed by culture of isolated acini. The setup is advantageous since isolated acini, which retain many characteristics of the intact exocrine pancreas can be manipulated and monitored more readily than in the whole animal. Proper isolation of pancreatic acini is a key requirement so that the ex vivo culture will represent the in vivo nature of the acini. The protocol demonstrates how to isolate intact acini from the mouse pancreas. Subsequently, two complementary methods for evaluating pancreatic secretion are presented. The amylase secretion assay serves as a global measure, while direct imaging of pancreatic secretion allows the characterization of secretion at a sub-cellular resolution. Collectively, the techniques presented here enable a broad spectrum of experiments to study exocrine secretion.

Visual and Spatial Working Memory Are Not that Dissociated after All: A Time-Based Resource-Sharing Account

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vergauwe, Evie; Barrouillet, Pierre; Camos, Valerie

2009-01-01

Examinations of interference between visual and spatial materials in working memory have suggested domain- and process-based fractionations of visuo-spatial working memory. The present study examined the role of central time-based resource sharing in visuo-spatial working memory and assessed its role in obtained interference patterns. Visual and…

A Secure and Efficient Scalable Secret Image Sharing Scheme with Flexible Shadow Sizes

PubMed Central

Xie, Dong; Li, Lixiang; Peng, Haipeng; Yang, Yixian

2017-01-01

In a general (k, n) scalable secret image sharing (SSIS) scheme, the secret image is shared by n participants and any k or more than k participants have the ability to reconstruct it. The scalability means that the amount of information in the reconstructed image scales in proportion to the number of the participants. In most existing SSIS schemes, the size of each image shadow is relatively large and the dealer does not has a flexible control strategy to adjust it to meet the demand of differen applications. Besides, almost all existing SSIS schemes are not applicable under noise circumstances. To address these deficiencies, in this paper we present a novel SSIS scheme based on a brand-new technique, called compressed sensing, which has been widely used in many fields such as image processing, wireless communication and medical imaging. Our scheme has the property of flexibility, which means that the dealer can achieve a compromise between the size of each shadow and the quality of the reconstructed image. In addition, our scheme has many other advantages, including smooth scalability, noise-resilient capability, and high security. The experimental results and the comparison with similar works demonstrate the feasibility and superiority of our scheme. PMID:28072851

Quantum Key Distribution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hughes, Richard

2004-05-01

Quantum key distribution (QKD) uses single-photon communications to generate the shared, secret random number sequences that are used to encrypt and decrypt secret communications. The unconditional security of QKD is based on the interplay between fundamental principles of quantum physics and information theory. An adversary can neither successfully tap the transmissions, nor evade detection (eavesdropping raises the key error rate above a threshold value). QKD could be particularly attractive for free-space optical communications, both ground-based and for satellites. I will describe a QKD experiment performed over multi-kilometer line-of-sight paths, which serves as a model for a satellite-to-ground key distribution system. The system uses single-photon polarization states, without active polarization switching, and for the first time implements the complete BB84 QKD protocol including, reconciliation, privacy amplification and the all-important authentication stage. It is capable of continuous operation throughout the day and night, achieving the self-sustaining production of error-free, shared, secret bits. I will also report on the results of satellite-to-ground QKD modeling.

Mothers' Attention-Getting Utterances during Shared Book Reading: Links to Low-Income Preschoolers' Verbal Engagement, Visual Attention, and Early Literacy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Son, Seung-Hee Claire; Tineo, Maria F.

2016-01-01

This study examined associations among low-income mothers' use of attention-getting utterances during shared book reading, preschoolers' verbal engagement and visual attention to reading, and their early literacy skills (N = 51). Mother-child shared book reading sessions were videotaped and coded for each utterance, including attention talk,…

Learning Program for Enhancing Visual Literacy for Non-Design Students Using a CMS to Share Outcomes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ariga, Taeko; Watanabe, Takashi; Otani, Toshio; Masuzawa, Toshimitsu

2016-01-01

This study proposes a basic learning program for enhancing visual literacy using an original Web content management system (Web CMS) to share students' outcomes in class as a blog post. It seeks to reinforce students' understanding and awareness of the design of visual content. The learning program described in this research focuses on to address…

Sequential Quantum Secret Sharing Using a Single Qudit

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bai, Chen-Ming; Li, Zhi-Hui; Li, Yong-Ming

2018-05-01

In this paper we propose a novel and efficient quantum secret sharing protocol using d-level single particle, which it can realize a general access structure via the thought of concatenation. In addition, Our scheme includes all advantages of Tavakoli’s scheme [Phys. Rev. A 92 (2015) 030302(R)]. In contrast to Tavakoli’s scheme, the efficiency of our scheme is 1 for the same situation, and the access structure is more general and has advantages in practical significance. Furthermore, we also analyze the security of our scheme in the primary quantum attacks. Sponsored by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant Nos. 61373150 and 61602291, and Industrial Research and Development Project of Science and Technology of Shaanxi Province under Grant No. 2013k0611

Recent Works Share Mothers' Unique Experiences

PubMed Central

Shilling, Teri

2005-01-01

In this column, reviewers offer perspectives and comments on The Official Lamaze Guide, a book by Judith Lothian and Charlotte De Vries; Breastfeeding, a slideshow by Roni Chastain; 100 Promises to My Baby, a book by Mallika Chopra; and The Breastfeeding Café: Mothers Share the Joys, Challenges, and Secrets of Nursing, a book by Barbara L. Berhmann.

Large-Capacity Three-Party Quantum Digital Secret Sharing Using Three Particular Matrices Coding

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lai, Hong; Luo, Ming-Xing; Pieprzyk, Josef; Tao, Li; Liu, Zhi-Ming; Orgun, Mehmet A.

2016-11-01

In this paper, we develop a large-capacity quantum digital secret sharing (QDSS) scheme, combined the Fibonacci- and Lucas-valued orbital angular momentum (OAM) entanglement with the recursive Fibonacci and Lucas matrices. To be exact, Alice prepares pairs of photons in the Fibonacci- and Lucas-valued OAM entangled states, and then allocates them to two participants, say, Bob and Charlie, to establish the secret key. Moreover, the available Fibonacci and Lucas values from the matching entangled states are used as the seed for generating the Fibonacci and Lucas matrices. This is achieved because the entries of the Fibonacci and Lucas matrices are recursive. The secret key can only be obtained jointly by Bob and Charlie, who can further recover the secret. Its security is based on the facts that nonorthogonal states are indistinguishable, and Bob or Charlie detects a Fibonacci number, there is still a twofold uncertainty for Charlie' (Bob') detected value. Supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities under Grant No. XDJK2016C043 and the Doctoral Program of Higher Education under Grant No. SWU115091, the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant No. 61303039, the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities under Grant No. XDJK2015C153 and the Doctoral Program of Higher Education under Grant No. SWU114112, and the Financial Support the 1000-Plan of Chongqing by Southwest University under Grant No. SWU116007

Biliary obstruction - slideshow

MedlinePlus

... ency/presentations/100199.htm Biliary obstruction - series—Normal anatomy To use the sharing ... Overview Bile is a digestive fluid secreted by the liver and stored in the gallbladder which normally is ...

Structural Characterization and Oligomerization of the TssL Protein, a Component Shared by Bacterial Type VI and Type IVb Secretion Systems*

PubMed Central

Durand, Eric; Zoued, Abdelrahim; Spinelli, Silvia; Watson, Paul J. H.; Aschtgen, Marie-Stéphanie; Journet, Laure; Cambillau, Christian; Cascales, Eric

2012-01-01

The Type VI secretion system (T6SS) is a macromolecular system distributed in Gram-negative bacteria, responsible for the secretion of effector proteins into target cells. The T6SS has a broad versatility as it can target both eukaryotic and prokaryotic cells. It is therefore involved in host pathogenesis or killing neighboring bacterial cells to colonize a new niche. At the architecture level, the T6SS core apparatus is composed of 13 proteins, which assemble in two subcomplexes. One of these subcomplexes, composed of subunits that share structural similarities with bacteriophage tail and baseplate components, is anchored to the cell envelope by the membrane subcomplex. This latter is constituted of at least three proteins, TssL, TssM, and TssJ. The crystal structure of the TssJ outer membrane lipoprotein and its interaction with the inner membrane TssM protein have been recently reported. TssL and TssM share sequence homology and characteristics with two components of the Type IVb secretion system (T4bSS), IcmH/DotU and IcmF, respectively. In this study, we report the crystal structure of the cytoplasmic domain of the TssL inner membrane protein from the enteroaggregative Escherichia coli Sci-1 T6SS. It folds as a hook-like structure composed of two three-helix bundles. Two TssL molecules associate to form a functional complex. Although the TssL trans-membrane segment is the main determinant of self-interaction, contacts between the cytoplasmic domains are required for TssL function. Based on sequence homology and secondary structure prediction, we propose that the TssL structure is the prototype for the members of the TssL and IcmH/DotU families. PMID:22371492

Oral administration of royal jelly restores tear secretion capacity in rat blink-suppressed dry eye model by modulating lacrimal gland function.

PubMed

Imada, Toshihiro; Nakamura, Shigeru; Kitamura, Naoki; Shibuya, Izumi; Tsubota, Kazuo

2014-01-01

Tears are secreted from the lacrimal gland (LG), a dysfunction in which induces dry eye, resulting in ocular discomfort and visual impairment. Honey bee products are used as a nutritional source in daily life and medicine; however, little is known about their effects on dry eye. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of honey bee products on tear secretion capacity in dry eye. We selected raw honey, propolis, royal jelly (RJ), pollen, or larva from commercially available honey bee products. Tear secretion capacity was evaluated following the oral administration of each honey bee product in a rat blink-suppressed dry eye model. Changes in tear secretion, LG ATP content, and LG mitochondrial levels were measured. RJ restored the tear secretion capacity and decrease in LG ATP content and mitochondrial levels to the largest extent. Royal jelly can be used as a preventative intervention for dry eye by managing tear secretion capacity in the LG.

Unintentional force changes in cyclical tasks performed by an abundant system: Empirical observations and a dynamical model.

PubMed

Reschechtko, Sasha; Hasanbarani, Fariba; Akulin, Vladimir M; Latash, Mark L

2017-05-14

The study explored unintentional force changes elicited by removing visual feedback during cyclical, two-finger isometric force production tasks. Subjects performed two types of tasks at 1Hz, paced by an auditory metronome. One - Force task - required cyclical changes in total force while maintaining the sharing, defined as relative contribution of a finger to total force. The other task - Share task - required cyclical changes in sharing while keeping total force unchanged. Each trial started under full visual feedback on both force and sharing; subsequently, feedback on the variable that was instructed to stay constant was frozen, and finally feedback on the other variable was also removed. In both tasks, turning off visual feedback on total force elicited a drop in the mid-point of the force cycle and an increase in the peak-to-peak force amplitude. Turning off visual feedback on sharing led to a drift of mean share toward 50:50 across both tasks. Without visual feedback there was consistent deviation of the two force time series from the in-phase pattern (typical of the Force task) and from the out-of-phase pattern (typical of the Share task). This finding is in contrast to most earlier studies that demonstrated only two stable patterns, in-phase and out-of-phase. We interpret the results as consequences of drifts of parameters in a dynamical system leading in particular to drifts in the referent finger coordinates toward their actual coordinates. The relative phase desynchronization is caused by the right-left differences in the hypothesized drift processes, consistent with the dynamic dominance hypothesis. Copyright © 2017 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Unintentional force changes in cyclical tasks performed by an abundant system: Empirical observations and a dynamical model

PubMed Central

Reschechtko, Sasha; Hasanbarani, Fariba; Akulin, Vladimir M.; Latash, Mark L.

2017-01-01

The study explored unintentional force changes elicited by removing visual feedback during cyclical, two-finger isometric force production tasks. Subjects performed two types of tasks at 1 Hz, paced by an auditory metronome. One – Force task – required cyclical changes in total force while maintaining the sharing, defined as relative contribution of a finger to total force. The other task – Share task – required cyclical changes in sharing while keeping total force unchanged. Each trial started under full visual feedback on both force and sharing; subsequently, feedback on the variable that was instructed to stay constant was frozen, and finally feedback on the other variable was also removed. In both tasks, turning off visual feedback on total force elicited a drop in the mid-point of the force cycle and an increase in the peak-to-peak force amplitude. Turning off visual feedback on sharing led to a drift of mean share toward 50:50 across both tasks. Without visual feedback there was consistent deviation of the two force time series from the in-phase pattern (typical of the Force task) and from the out-of-phase pattern (typical of the Share task). This finding is in contrast to most earlier studies that demonstrated only two stable patterns, in-phase and out-of-phase. We interpret the results as consequences of drifts of parameters in a dynamical system leading in particular to drifts in the referent finger coordinates toward their actual coordinates. The relative phase desynchronization is caused by the right-left differences in the hypothesized drift processes, consistent with the dynamic dominance hypothesis. PMID:28344070

Modulation of interleukin-1 secretion by immunosuppressive drugs, alone and in combination.

PubMed

Reisman, L; Lin, W G; Martinelli, G P

1995-03-01

This study evaluates the ability of the immunosuppressive drugs dexamethasone, cyclosporine, FK506 and rapamycin, alone and in combination to suppress interleukin-1 beta (IL-1 beta) secretion in vitro by THP-1 cells when stimulated by lipopolysaccharide. All four drugs, when added to cell culture medium at therapeutic concentrations, significantly decrease secretion of the monokine to well below control levels. However, only dexamethasone completely suppresses IL-1 beta secretion in a dose-dependent fashion. Cyclosporine, FK506 and rapamycin only partially suppress secretion of IL-1 beta at concentrations within their therapeutic ranges and increasing concentrations of the drugs do not result in further suppression of secretion. Likewise, the combination of any two of these three drugs does not provide any additional suppressive effect. Dexamethasone, however, when added in increasing concentrations in combination with any of the other drugs, results in further suppression of IL-1 secretion in a dose-dependent fashion. These data suggest that cyclosporine, FK506 and rapamycin all share a common effect on the production of IL-1 beta, different from that of dexamethasone.

Semi-counterfactual cryptography

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Akshata Shenoy, H.; Srikanth, R.; Srinivas, T.

2013-09-01

In counterfactual quantum key distribution (QKD), two remote parties can securely share random polarization-encoded bits through the blocking rather than the transmission of particles. We propose a semi-counterfactual QKD, i.e., one where the secret bit is shared, and also encoded, based on the blocking or non-blocking of a particle. The scheme is thus semi-counterfactual and not based on polarization encoding. As with other counterfactual schemes and the Goldenberg-Vaidman protocol, but unlike BB84, the encoding states are orthogonal and security arises ultimately from single-particle non-locality. Unlike any of them, however, the secret bit generated is maximally indeterminate until the joint action of Alice and Bob. We prove the general security of the protocol, and study the most general photon-number-preserving incoherent attack in detail.

Creating "Visual Legacies": Infographics as a Means of Interpreting and Sharing Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thompson, Charee M.

2015-01-01

Guided by the principle "good data presentation is timeless," (Cressey, 2014, p.305), this unit project challenges students to engage an alternative means of sharing communication research and to realize the potential for their presentations to become "visual legacies" through the creation of infographics. Students encounter…

Optical properties of the uropygial gland secretion: no evidence for UV cosmetics in birds

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Delhey, Kaspar; Peters, Anne; Biedermann, Peter H. W.; Kempenaers, Bart

2008-10-01

Ultraviolet (UV) reflectance of the plumage is common in birds and plays an important role in sexual signalling. Recently, it has been proposed that birds are able to modify plumage UV reflectance by the application of uropygial gland secretion. Based on a survey of the optical properties of this secretion from 51 species belonging to 12 avian orders, we show that two main types of uropygial secretions exist, one predominantly found in passerines and one in non-passerines, both reducing relative UV reflectance of a white background (Teflon™ tape). We quantified how each type of secretion (exemplified by blue tit and mallard) affected feather UV reflectance. Both secretions reduced overall brightness and relative UV reflectance of white mallard feathers but hardly affected the reflectance of UV/blue blue tit crown feathers. According to models of avian colour vision, changes in reflectance due to application of the secretion were at or below the discrimination threshold of most birds. We conclude that the uropygial secretion is unlikely to play a major role in modifying plumage UV reflectance. However, the optical properties of the uropygial secretion may have been selected to interfere as little as possible with visual signaling through plumage reflectance.

Teleradiology mobile internet system with a new information security solution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Satoh, Hitoshi; Niki, Noboru; Eguchi, Kenji; Ohmatsu, Hironobu; Kusumoto, Masahiko; Kaneko, Masahiro; Moriyama, Noriyuki

2014-03-01

We have developed an external storage system by using secret sharing scheme and tokenization for regional medical cooperation, PHR service and information preservation. The use of mobile devices such as smart phones and tablets will be accelerated for a PHR service, and the confidential medical information is exposed to the risk of damage and intercept. We verified the transfer rate of the sending and receiving of data to and from the external storage system that connected it with PACS by the Internet this time. External storage systems are the data centers that exist in Okinawa, in Osaka, in Sapporo and in Tokyo by using secret sharing scheme. PACS continuously transmitted 382 CT images to the external data centers. Total capacity of the CT images is about 200MB. The total time that had been required to transmit was about 250 seconds. Because the preservation method to use secret sharing scheme is applied, security is strong. But, it also takes the information transfer time of this system too much. Therefore, DICOM data is masked to the header information part because it is made to anonymity in our method. The DICOM data made anonymous is preserved in the data base in the hospital. Header information including individual information is divided into two or more tallies by secret sharing scheme, and preserved at two or more external data centers. The token to relate the DICOM data anonymity made to header information preserved outside is strictly preserved in the token server. The capacity of header information that contains patient's individual information is only about 2% of the entire DICOM data. This total time that had been required to transmit was about 5 seconds. Other, common solutions that can protect computer communication networks from attacks are classified as cryptographic techniques or authentication techniques. Individual number IC card is connected with electronic certification authority of web medical image conference system. Individual number IC card is given only to the person to whom the authority to operate web medical image conference system was given.

Common Visual Preference for Curved Contours in Humans and Great Apes.

PubMed

Munar, Enric; Gómez-Puerto, Gerardo; Call, Josep; Nadal, Marcos

2015-01-01

Among the visual preferences that guide many everyday activities and decisions, from consumer choices to social judgment, preference for curved over sharp-angled contours is commonly thought to have played an adaptive role throughout human evolution, favoring the avoidance of potentially harmful objects. However, because nonhuman primates also exhibit preferences for certain visual qualities, it is conceivable that humans' preference for curved contours is grounded on perceptual and cognitive mechanisms shared with extant nonhuman primate species. Here we aimed to determine whether nonhuman great apes and humans share a visual preference for curved over sharp-angled contours using a 2-alternative forced choice experimental paradigm under comparable conditions. Our results revealed that the human group and the great ape group indeed share a common preference for curved over sharp-angled contours, but that they differ in the manner and magnitude with which this preference is expressed behaviorally. These results suggest that humans' visual preference for curved objects evolved from earlier primate species' visual preferences, and that during this process it became stronger, but also more susceptible to the influence of higher cognitive processes and preference for other visual features.

A study on haptic collaborative game in shared virtual environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lu, Keke; Liu, Guanyang; Liu, Lingzhi

2013-03-01

A study on collaborative game in shared virtual environment with haptic feedback over computer networks is introduced in this paper. A collaborative task was used where the players located at remote sites and played the game together. The player can feel visual and haptic feedback in virtual environment compared to traditional networked multiplayer games. The experiment was desired in two conditions: visual feedback only and visual-haptic feedback. The goal of the experiment is to assess the impact of force feedback on collaborative task performance. Results indicate that haptic feedback is beneficial for performance enhancement for collaborative game in shared virtual environment. The outcomes of this research can have a powerful impact on the networked computer games.

Visual supports for shared reading with young children: the effect of static overlay design.

PubMed

Wood Jackson, Carla; Wahlquist, Jordan; Marquis, Cassandra

2011-06-01

This study examined the effects of two types of static overlay design (visual scene display and grid display) on 39 children's use of a speech-generating device during shared storybook reading with an adult. This pilot project included two groups: preschool children with typical communication skills (n = 26) and with complex communication needs (n = 13). All participants engaged in shared reading with two books using each visual layout on a speech-generating device (SGD). The children averaged a greater number of activations when presented with a grid display during introductory exploration and free play. There was a large effect of the static overlay design on the number of silent hits, evidencing more silent hits with visual scene displays. On average, the children demonstrated relatively few spontaneous activations of the speech-generating device while the adult was reading, regardless of overlay design. When responding to questions, children with communication needs appeared to perform better when using visual scene displays, but the effect of display condition on the accuracy of responses to wh-questions was not statistically significant. In response to an open ended question, children with communication disorders demonstrated more frequent activations of the SGD using a grid display than a visual scene. Suggestions for future research as well as potential implications for designing AAC systems for shared reading with young children are discussed.

HydroShare: A Platform for Collaborative Data and Model Sharing in Hydrology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tarboton, D. G.; Idaszak, R.; Horsburgh, J. S.; Ames, D. P.; Goodall, J. L.; Couch, A.; Hooper, R. P.; Dash, P. K.; Stealey, M.; Yi, H.; Bandaragoda, C.; Castronova, A. M.

2017-12-01

HydroShare is an online, collaboration system for sharing of hydrologic data, analytical tools, and models. It supports the sharing of and collaboration around "resources" which are defined by standardized content types for data formats and models commonly used in hydrology. With HydroShare you can: Share your data and models with colleagues; Manage who has access to the content that you share; Share, access, visualize and manipulate a broad set of hydrologic data types and models; Use the web services application programming interface (API) to program automated and client access; Publish data and models and obtain a citable digital object identifier (DOI); Aggregate your resources into collections; Discover and access data and models published by others; Use web apps to visualize, analyze and run models on data in HydroShare. This presentation will describe the functionality and architecture of HydroShare highlighting its use as a virtual environment supporting education and research. HydroShare has components that support: (1) resource storage, (2) resource exploration, and (3) web apps for actions on resources. The HydroShare data discovery, sharing and publishing functions as well as HydroShare web apps provide the capability to analyze data and execute models completely in the cloud (servers remote from the user) overcoming desktop platform limitations. The HydroShare GIS app provides a basic capability to visualize spatial data. The HydroShare JupyterHub Notebook app provides flexible and documentable execution of Python code snippets for analysis and modeling in a way that results can be shared among HydroShare users and groups to support research collaboration and education. We will discuss how these developments can be used to support different types of educational efforts in Hydrology where being completely web based is of value in an educational setting as students can all have access to the same functionality regardless of their computer.

Diversity and Phylogenetic Distribution of Extracellular Microbial Peptidases

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nguyen, Trang; Mueller, Ryan; Myrold, David

2017-04-01

Depolymerization of proteinaceous compounds by extracellular proteolytic enzymes is a bottleneck in the nitrogen cycle, limiting the rate of the nitrogen turnover in soils. Protein degradation is accomplished by a diverse range of extracellular (secreted) peptidases. Our objective was to better understand the evolution of these enzymes and how their functional diversity corresponds to known phylogenetic diversity. Peptidase subfamilies from 110 archaeal, 1,860 bacterial, and 97 fungal genomes were extracted from the MEROPS database along with corresponding SSU sequences for each genome from the SILVA database, resulting in 43,177 secreted peptidases belonging to 34 microbial phyla and 149 peptidase subfamilies. We compared the distribution of each peptidase subfamily across all taxa to the phylogenetic relationships of these organisms based on their SSU gene sequences. The occurrence and abundance of genes coding for secreted peptidases varied across microbial taxa, distinguishing the peptidase complement of the three microbial kingdoms. Bacteria had the highest frequency of secreted peptidase coding genes per 1,000 genes and contributed from 1% to 6% of the gene content. Fungi only had a slightly higher number of secreted peptidase gene content than archaea, standardized by the total genes. The relative abundance profiles of secreted peptidases in each microbial kingdom also varied, in which aspartic family was found to be the greatest in fungi (25%), whereas it was only 12% in archaea and 4% in bacteria. Serine, metallo, and cysteine families consistently contributed widely up to 75% of the secreted peptidase abundance across the three kingdoms. Overall, bacteria had a much wider collection of secreted peptidases, whereas fungi and archaea shared most of their secreted peptidase families. Principle coordinate analysis of the peptidase subfamily-based dissimilarities showed distinguishable clusters for different groups of microorganisms. The distribution of secreted peptidases was found to be significantly correlated with phylogenetic relationships within kingdoms (archaea rMantel=0.364, p=0.001; bacteria rMantel=0.257, p=0.001, and fungi rMantel=0.281, p=0.005), inferring an evolutionary relationship where subsets of phylogenetically related organisms share similar types of secreted peptidases. We also tested the phylogenetic signal strength of each peptidase subfamily for each microbial kingdom based on the binary traits of the distribution (presence or absence of secreted peptidase subfamilies in individual species). About one-third of the peptidase subfamilies displayed a strong evolutionary signal; the rest were phylogenetically over-dispersed, suggesting that these subfamilies are randomly distributed across the tree of life or the result of events such as horizontal gene transfer. Study of the diversity and phylogenetic distribution of secreted peptidases offered a mechanistic basis to anticipate the proteolytic potential function of microbial communities.

Sharing the Diagnostic Process in the Clinical Teaching Environment: A Case Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cuello-Garcia; Carlos

2005-01-01

Revealing or visualizing the thinking involved in making clinical decisions is a challenge. A case study is presented with a visual implement for sharing the diagnostic process. This technique adapts the Bayesian approach to the case presentation. Pretest probabilities and likelihood ratios are gathered to obtain post-test probabilities of every…

Here's Looking at You: Visual Similarity Exacerbates the Moses Illusion for Semantically Similar Celebrities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Davis, Danielle K.; Abrams, Lise

2016-01-01

When people read questions like "How many animals of each kind did Moses take on the ark?", many mistakenly answer "2" despite knowing that Noah sailed the ark. This "Moses illusion" occurs when names share semantic features. Two experiments examined whether shared "visual" concepts (facial features)…

Feature-Based Memory-Driven Attentional Capture: Visual Working Memory Content Affects Visual Attention

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Olivers, Christian N. L.; Meijer, Frank; Theeuwes, Jan

2006-01-01

In 7 experiments, the authors explored whether visual attention (the ability to select relevant visual information) and visual working memory (the ability to retain relevant visual information) share the same content representations. The presence of singleton distractors interfered more strongly with a visual search task when it was accompanied by…

Tripartite counterfactual quantum cryptography

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Salih, Hatim

2014-07-01

We show how two distrustful parties, "Bob" and "Charlie," can share a secret key with the help of a mutually trusted "Alice" counterfactually; that is, with no information-carrying particles traveling between any of the three.

Experimentally feasible security check for n-qubit quantum secret sharing

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

Schauer, Stefan; Huber, Marcus; Hiesmayr, Beatrix C.

In this article we present a general security strategy for quantum secret sharing (QSS) protocols based on the scheme presented by Hillery, Buzek, and Berthiaume (HBB) [Phys. Rev. A 59, 1829 (1999)]. We focus on a generalization of the HBB protocol to n communication parties thus including n-partite Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger states. We show that the multipartite version of the HBB scheme is insecure in certain settings and impractical when going to large n. To provide security for such QSS schemes in general we use the framework presented by some of the authors [M. Huber, F. Mintert, A. Gabriel, B. C. Hiesmayr,more » Phys. Rev. Lett. 104, 210501 (2010)] to detect certain genuine n-partite entanglement between the communication parties. In particular, we present a simple inequality which tests the security.« less

MIX and match: mobile T6SS MIX-effectors enhance bacterial fitness

PubMed Central

Salomon, Dor

2016-01-01

ABSTRACT Protein secretion systems that mediate interbacterial competition secret a wide repertoire of antibacterial toxins. A major player in these competitions is the newly discovered bacterial type VI secretion system (T6SS). We recently found that a subset of polymorphic MIX-effectors, which are a widespread class of effectors secreted by T6SSs, are horizontally shared between marine bacteria and are used to diversify their T6SS effector repertoires, thus enhancing their environmental fitness. In this commentary, I expand on the ideas that were introduced in the previous report, and further speculate on the possible mobility of other MIX-effectors. In addition, I discuss the possible role of horizontal gene transfer in the dissemination of MIX-effectors through bacterial genomes, as well as its possible role in diversifying the T6SS effector repertoire. PMID:27066305

Deterministic MDI QKD with two secret bits per shared entangled pair

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zebboudj, Sofia; Omar, Mawloud

2018-03-01

Although quantum key distribution schemes have been proven theoretically secure, they are based on assumptions about the devices that are not yet satisfied with today's technology. The measurement-device-independent scheme has been proposed to shorten the gap between theory and practice by removing all detector side-channel attacks. On the other hand, two-way quantum key distribution schemes have been proposed to raise the secret key generation rate. In this paper, we propose a new quantum key distribution scheme able to achieve a relatively high secret key generation rate based on two-way quantum key distribution that also inherits the robustness of the measurement-device-independent scheme against detector side-channel attacks.

"In search of a tale they can live with": about loss, family secrets, and selective disclosure.

PubMed

Rober, Peter; Walravens, Geertje; Versteynen, Leen

2012-07-01

Several authors have written about family secrets in the family therapy literature in interesting ways. According to these authors, the questions "who knows the secret?" and "who does not know the secret?" are central. In the present study, we have qualitatively analyzed the documentary film Familiegeheim (Family Secret) by the Dutch director Jaap van Hoewijk. The film shows van Hoewijk's investigation into the death of his father in 1974 and tells the story of a family in which the suicide of the father is kept secret from the three children. Our analysis of the film highlights the complex ways in which families deal with sensitive issues like loss, grief, and suicide. The concept of family secrets seems to poorly capture this complexity, focusing one-sidedly on the destructive effects of withholding delicate information. The concept of selective disclosure is proposed as an alternative. Selective disclosure refers to the complex processes involved in dealing with the dialectic tension between sharing information and keeping it secret. The concept is not only focused on the destructiveness of secrecy but, in addition, also makes room for an appreciation of the caution with which family members deal with sensitive family issues. © 2011 American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy.

Containing the secret of child sexual abuse.

PubMed

McElvaney, Rosaleen; Greene, Sheila; Hogan, Diane

2012-04-01

This study reports a grounded theory study of the process of how children tell of their experiences of child sexual abuse from the perspectives of young people and their parents. Individual interviews were conducted with 22 young people aged 8 to 18, and 14 parents. A theoretical model was developed that conceptualises the process of disclosure as one of containing the secret of child sexual abuse. Three key dynamics were identified: the active withholding of the secret on the part of the child, the experience of a 'pressure cooker effect' reflecting a conflict between the wish to tell and the wish to keep the secret, and the confiding itself which often occurs in the context of an intimacy being shared. Children's experiences of disclosure were multidetermined and suggest the need for multifaceted and multisystemic approaches to prevention and intervention. The need for the secret to be contained, individually and interpersonally in appropriate safeguarding and therapeutic contexts needs to be respected in helping children tell.

The Precategorical Nature of Visual Short-Term Memory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Quinlan, Philip T.; Cohen, Dale J.

2016-01-01

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

Childhood Obesity: Common Misconceptions

MedlinePlus

... Issues Listen Español Text Size Email Print Share Childhood Obesity: Common Misconceptions Page Content Article Body Everyone, it ... for less than 1% of the cases of childhood obesity. Yes, hypothyroidism (a deficit in thyroid secretion) and ...

Finding the Secret of Image Saliency in the Frequency Domain.

PubMed

Li, Jia; Duan, Ling-Yu; Chen, Xiaowu; Huang, Tiejun; Tian, Yonghong

2015-12-01

There are two sides to every story of visual saliency modeling in the frequency domain. On the one hand, image saliency can be effectively estimated by applying simple operations to the frequency spectrum. On the other hand, it is still unclear which part of the frequency spectrum contributes the most to popping-out targets and suppressing distractors. Toward this end, this paper tentatively explores the secret of image saliency in the frequency domain. From the results obtained in several qualitative and quantitative experiments, we find that the secret of visual saliency may mainly hide in the phases of intermediate frequencies. To explain this finding, we reinterpret the concept of discrete Fourier transform from the perspective of template-based contrast computation and thus develop several principles for designing the saliency detector in the frequency domain. Following these principles, we propose a novel approach to design the saliency detector under the assistance of prior knowledge obtained through both unsupervised and supervised learning processes. Experimental results on a public image benchmark show that the learned saliency detector outperforms 18 state-of-the-art approaches in predicting human fixations.

Use of nontraditional flight displays for the reduction of central visual overload in the cockpit

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Weinstein, Lisa F.; Wickens, Christopher D.

1992-01-01

The use of nontraditional flight displays to reduce visual overload in the cockpit was investigated in a dual-task paradigm. Three flight displays (central, peripheral, and ecological) were used between subjects for the primary tasks, and the type of secondary task (object identification or motion judgment) and the presentation of the location of the task in the visual field (central or peripheral) were manipulated with groups. The two visual-spatial tasks were time-shared to study the possibility of a compatibility mapping between task type and task location. The ecological display was found to allow for the most efficient time-sharing.

Visual Imagery without Visual Perception?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bertolo, Helder

2005-01-01

The question regarding visual imagery and visual perception remain an open issue. Many studies have tried to understand if the two processes share the same mechanisms or if they are independent, using different neural substrates. Most research has been directed towards the need of activation of primary visual areas during imagery. Here we review…

SLC26 anion exchangers of guinea pig pancreatic duct: molecular cloning and functional characterization

PubMed Central

Stewart, Andrew K.; Shmukler, Boris E.; Vandorpe, David H.; Reimold, Fabian; Heneghan, John F.; Nakakuki, M.; Akhavein, Arash; Ko, Shigeru; Ishiguro, Hiroshi

2011-01-01

The secretin-stimulated human pancreatic duct secretes HCO3−-rich fluid essential for normal digestion. Optimal stimulation of pancreatic HCO3− secretion likely requires coupled activities of the cystic fibrosis transmembrane regulator (CFTR) anion channel and apical SLC26 Cl−/HCO3− exchangers. However, whereas stimulated human and guinea pig pancreatic ducts secrete ∼140 mM HCO3− or more, mouse and rat ducts secrete ∼40–70 mM HCO3−. Moreover, the axial distribution and physiological roles of SLC26 anion exchangers in pancreatic duct secretory processes remain controversial and may vary among mammalian species. Thus the property of high HCO3− secretion shared by human and guinea pig pancreatic ducts prompted us to clone from guinea pig pancreatic duct cDNAs encoding Slc26a3, Slc26a6, and Slc26a11 polypeptides. We then functionally characterized these anion transporters in Xenopus oocytes and human embryonic kidney (HEK) 293 cells. In Xenopus oocytes, gpSlc26a3 mediated only Cl−/Cl− exchange and electroneutral Cl−/HCO3− exchange. gpSlc26a6 in Xenopus oocytes mediated Cl−/Cl− exchange and bidirectional exchange of Cl− for oxalate and sulfate, but Cl−/HCO3− exchange was detected only in HEK 293 cells. gpSlc26a11 in Xenopus oocytes exhibited pH-dependent Cl−, oxalate, and sulfate transport but no detectable Cl−/HCO3− exchange. The three gpSlc26 anion transporters exhibited distinct pharmacological profiles of 36Cl− influx, including partial sensitivity to CFTR inhibitors Inh-172 and GlyH101, but only Slc26a11 was inhibited by PPQ-102. This first molecular and functional assessment of recombinant SLC26 anion transporters from guinea pig pancreatic duct enhances our understanding of pancreatic HCO3− secretion in species that share a high HCO3− secretory output. PMID:21593449

Quantum-noise randomized data encryption for wavelength-division-multiplexed fiber-optic networks

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

Corndorf, Eric; Liang Chuang; Kanter, Gregory S.

2005-06-15

We demonstrate high-rate randomized data-encryption through optical fibers using the inherent quantum-measurement noise of coherent states of light. Specifically, we demonstrate 650 Mbit/s data encryption through a 10 Gbit/s data-bearing, in-line amplified 200-km-long line. In our protocol, legitimate users (who share a short secret key) communicate using an M-ry signal set while an attacker (who does not share the secret key) is forced to contend with the fundamental and irreducible quantum-measurement noise of coherent states. Implementations of our protocol using both polarization-encoded signal sets as well as polarization-insensitive phase-keyed signal sets are experimentally and theoretically evaluated. Different from the performancemore » criteria for the cryptographic objective of key generation (quantum key-generation), one possible set of performance criteria for the cryptographic objective of data encryption is established and carefully considered.« less

Authentication Based on Non-Interactive Zero-Knowledge Proofs for the Internet of Things.

PubMed

Martín-Fernández, Francisco; Caballero-Gil, Pino; Caballero-Gil, Cándido

2016-01-07

This paper describes the design and analysis of a new scheme for the authenticated exchange of confidential information in insecure environments within the Internet of Things, which allows a receiver of a message to authenticate the sender and compute a secret key shared with it. The proposal is based on the concept of a non-interactive zero-knowledge proof, so that in a single communication, relevant data may be inferred to verify the legitimacy of the sender. Besides, the new scheme uses the idea under the Diffie-Hellman protocol for the establishment of a shared secret key. The proposal has been fully developed for platforms built on the Android Open Source Project, so it can be used in any device or sensor with this operating system. This work provides a performance study of the implementation and a comparison between its promising results and others obtained with similar schemes.

Fast implementation of length-adaptive privacy amplification in quantum key distribution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Chun-Mei; Li, Mo; Huang, Jing-Zheng; Patcharapong, Treeviriyanupab; Li, Hong-Wei; Li, Fang-Yi; Wang, Chuan; Yin, Zhen-Qiang; Chen, Wei; Keattisak, Sripimanwat; Han, Zhen-Fu

2014-09-01

Post-processing is indispensable in quantum key distribution (QKD), which is aimed at sharing secret keys between two distant parties. It mainly consists of key reconciliation and privacy amplification, which is used for sharing the same keys and for distilling unconditional secret keys. In this paper, we focus on speeding up the privacy amplification process by choosing a simple multiplicative universal class of hash functions. By constructing an optimal multiplication algorithm based on four basic multiplication algorithms, we give a fast software implementation of length-adaptive privacy amplification. “Length-adaptive” indicates that the implementation of privacy amplification automatically adapts to different lengths of input blocks. When the lengths of the input blocks are 1 Mbit and 10 Mbit, the speed of privacy amplification can be as fast as 14.86 Mbps and 10.88 Mbps, respectively. Thus, it is practical for GHz or even higher repetition frequency QKD systems.

Authentication Based on Non-Interactive Zero-Knowledge Proofs for the Internet of Things

PubMed Central

Martín-Fernández, Francisco; Caballero-Gil, Pino; Caballero-Gil, Cándido

2016-01-01

This paper describes the design and analysis of a new scheme for the authenticated exchange of confidential information in insecure environments within the Internet of Things, which allows a receiver of a message to authenticate the sender and compute a secret key shared with it. The proposal is based on the concept of a non-interactive zero-knowledge proof, so that in a single communication, relevant data may be inferred to verify the legitimacy of the sender. Besides, the new scheme uses the idea under the Diffie–Hellman protocol for the establishment of a shared secret key. The proposal has been fully developed for platforms built on the Android Open Source Project, so it can be used in any device or sensor with this operating system. This work provides a performance study of the implementation and a comparison between its promising results and others obtained with similar schemes. PMID:26751454

A no-key-exchange secure image sharing scheme based on Shamir's three-pass cryptography protocol and the multiple-parameter fractional Fourier transform.

PubMed

Lang, Jun

2012-01-30

In this paper, we propose a novel secure image sharing scheme based on Shamir's three-pass protocol and the multiple-parameter fractional Fourier transform (MPFRFT), which can safely exchange information with no advance distribution of either secret keys or public keys between users. The image is encrypted directly by the MPFRFT spectrum without the use of phase keys, and information can be shared by transmitting the encrypted image (or message) three times between users. Numerical simulation results are given to verify the performance of the proposed algorithm.

Resource-sharing between internal maintenance and external selection modulates attentional capture by working memory content.

PubMed

Kiyonaga, Anastasia; Egner, Tobias

2014-01-01

It is unclear why and under what circumstances working memory (WM) and attention interact. Here, we apply the logic of the time-based resource-sharing (TBRS) model of WM (e.g., Barrouillet et al., 2004) to explore the mixed findings of a separate, but related, literature that studies the guidance of visual attention by WM contents. Specifically, we hypothesize that the linkage between WM representations and visual attention is governed by a time-shared cognitive resource that alternately refreshes internal (WM) and selects external (visual attention) information. If this were the case, WM content should guide visual attention (involuntarily), but only when there is time for it to be refreshed in an internal focus of attention. To provide an initial test for this hypothesis, we examined whether the amount of unoccupied time during a WM delay could impact the magnitude of attentional capture by WM contents. Participants were presented with a series of visual search trials while they maintained a WM cue for a delayed-recognition test. WM cues could coincide with the search target, a distracter, or neither. We varied both the number of searches to be performed, and the amount of available time to perform them. Slowing of visual search by a WM matching distracter-and facilitation by a matching target-were curtailed when the delay was filled with fast-paced (refreshing-preventing) search trials, as was subsequent memory probe accuracy. WM content may, therefore, only capture visual attention when it can be refreshed, suggesting that internal (WM) and external attention demands reciprocally impact one another because they share a limited resource. The TBRS rationale can thus be applied in a novel context to explain why WM contents capture attention, and under what conditions that effect should be observed.

Resource-sharing between internal maintenance and external selection modulates attentional capture by working memory content

PubMed Central

Kiyonaga, Anastasia; Egner, Tobias

2014-01-01

It is unclear why and under what circumstances working memory (WM) and attention interact. Here, we apply the logic of the time-based resource-sharing (TBRS) model of WM (e.g., Barrouillet et al., 2004) to explore the mixed findings of a separate, but related, literature that studies the guidance of visual attention by WM contents. Specifically, we hypothesize that the linkage between WM representations and visual attention is governed by a time-shared cognitive resource that alternately refreshes internal (WM) and selects external (visual attention) information. If this were the case, WM content should guide visual attention (involuntarily), but only when there is time for it to be refreshed in an internal focus of attention. To provide an initial test for this hypothesis, we examined whether the amount of unoccupied time during a WM delay could impact the magnitude of attentional capture by WM contents. Participants were presented with a series of visual search trials while they maintained a WM cue for a delayed-recognition test. WM cues could coincide with the search target, a distracter, or neither. We varied both the number of searches to be performed, and the amount of available time to perform them. Slowing of visual search by a WM matching distracter—and facilitation by a matching target—were curtailed when the delay was filled with fast-paced (refreshing-preventing) search trials, as was subsequent memory probe accuracy. WM content may, therefore, only capture visual attention when it can be refreshed, suggesting that internal (WM) and external attention demands reciprocally impact one another because they share a limited resource. The TBRS rationale can thus be applied in a novel context to explain why WM contents capture attention, and under what conditions that effect should be observed. PMID:25221499

Eavesdropping on counterfactual quantum key distribution with finite resources

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Xingtong; Zhang, Bo; Wang, Jian; Tang, Chaojing; Zhao, Jingjing; Zhang, Sheng

2014-08-01

A striking scheme called "counterfactual quantum cryptography" gives a conceptually new approach to accomplish the task of key distribution. It allows two legitimate parties to share a secret even though a particle carrying secret information is not, in fact, transmitted through the quantum channel. Since an eavesdropper cannot directly access the entire quantum system of each signal particle, the protocol seems to provide practical security advantages. However, here we propose an eavesdropping method which works on the scheme in a finite key scenario. We show that, for practical systems only generating a finite number of keys, the eavesdropping can obtain all of the secret information without being detected. We also present a improved protocol as a countermeasure against this attack.

Thyrotropin-secreting pituitary adenomas: biological and molecular features, diagnosis and therapy.

PubMed

Losa, M; Fortunato, M; Molteni, L; Peretti, E; Mortini, P

2008-12-01

Central hyperthyroidism due to a thyrotropin (TSH)-secreting pituitary adenoma is a rare cause of hyperthyroidism, representing 0.5-1.0% of all pituitary adenomas. The etiopathogenesis of TSH-secreting-adenomas is unknown and no definite role for various oncogenes has been proven. Patients with TSH-secreting adenoma usually present with signs and symptoms of hyperthyroidism milder than those in patients with hyperthyroidism of thyroid origin, in addition to symptoms secondary to mass effects of the pituitary tumour. Mixed pituitary tumours co-secrete growth hormone and prolactin. The characteristic biochemical abnormalities are normal or high serum TSH concentrations in the presence of elevated total and/or free thyroid hormones concentrations. Measurement of markers of peripheral thyroid hormone action and dynamic tests may aid in the differential diagnosis with the syndrome of resistance to thyroid hormone. Neuroimaging is fundamental to visualize the pituitary tumor. Therapy of TSH-secreting adenomas can be accomplished by surgery, radiation therapies, and medical treatment with somatostatin analogs or dopamine agonists. Nowadays, and in contrast with the first reports on this rare disease, most patients are well controlled by current therapies.

Adjuvant or radical fractionated stereotactic radiotherapy for patients with pituitary functional and nonfunctional macroadenoma

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Purpose To evaluate the efficacy and toxicity of stereotactic fractionated radiotherapy (SFRT) for patients with pituitary macroadenoma (PMA). Methods and Materials Between March 2000 and March 2009, 27 patients (male to female ratio, 1.25) with PMA underwent SFRT (median dose, 50.4 Gy). Mean age of the patients was 56.5 years (range, 20.3 - 77.4). In all but one patient, SFRT was administered for salvage treatment after surgical resection (transphenoidal resection in 23, transphenoidal resection followed by craniotomy in 2 and multiple transphenoidal resections in another patient). In 10 (37%) patients, the PMAs were functional (3 ACTH-secreting, 3 prolactinomas, 2 growth hormone-secreting and 2 multiple hormone-secretion). Three (11.1%) and 9 (33.3%) patients had PMA abutting and compressing the optic chiasm, respectively. Mean tumor volume was 2.9 ± 4.6 cm3. Eighteen (66.7%) patients had hypopituitarism prior to SFRT. The mean follow-up period after SFRT was 72.4 ± 37.2 months. Results Tumor size decreased for 6 (22.2%) patients and remained unchanged for 19 (70.4%) other patients. Two (7.4%) patients had tumor growth inside the prescribed treatment volume. The estimated 5-year tumor growth control was 95.5% after SFRT. Biochemical remission occurred in 3 (30%) patients with functional PMA. Two patients with normal anterior pituitary function before SFRT developed new deficits 25 and 65 months after treatment. The 5-year survival without new anterior pituitary deficit was thus 95.8%. Five patients with visual field defect had improved visual function and 1 patient with no visual defect prior to SFRT, but an optic chiasm abutting tumor, had a decline in visual function. The estimated 5-year vision and pituitary function preservation rates were 93.2% and 95.8%, respectively. Conclusions SFRT is a safe and effective treatment for patients with PMA, although longer follow-up is needed to evaluate long-term outcomes. In this study, approximately 1 patient with visual field defect out of two had an improved visual function. PMID:22152397

On Hierarchical Threshold Access Structures

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-11-01

One of the recent generalizations of (t, n) secret sharing for hierarchical threshold access structures is given by Tassa, where he answers the...of theoretical background. We give a conceptually simpler alternative for the understanding of the realization of hierarchical threshold access

Accurate prediction of secreted substrates and identification of a conserved putative secretion signal for type III secretion systems

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

Samudrala, Ram; Heffron, Fred; McDermott, Jason E.

2009-04-24

The type III secretion system is an essential component for virulence in many Gram-negative bacteria. Though components of the secretion system apparatus are conserved, its substrates, effector proteins, are not. We have used a machine learning approach to identify new secreted effectors. The method integrates evolutionary measures, such as the pattern of homologs in a range of other organisms, and sequence-based features, such as G+C content, amino acid composition and the N-terminal 30 residues of the protein sequence. The method was trained on known effectors from Salmonella typhimurium and validated on a corresponding set of effectors from Pseudomonas syringae, aftermore » eliminating effectors with detectable sequence similarity. The method was able to identify all of the known effectors in P. syringae with a specificity of 84% and sensitivity of 82%. The reciprocal validation, training on P. syringae and validating on S. typhimurium, gave similar results with a specificity of 86% when the sensitivity level was 87%. These results show that type III effectors in disparate organisms share common features. We found that maximal performance is attained by including an N-terminal sequence of only 30 residues, which agrees with previous studies indicating that this region contains the secretion signal. We then used the method to define the most important residues in this putative secretion signal. Finally, we present novel predictions of secreted effectors in S. typhimurium, some of which have been experimentally validated, and apply the method to predict secreted effectors in the genetically intractable human pathogen Chlamydia trachomatis. This approach is a novel and effective way to identify secreted effectors in a broad range of pathogenic bacteria for further experimental characterization and provides insight into the nature of the type III secretion signal.« less

Efficiency of primary saliva secretion: an analysis of parameter dependence in dynamic single-cell and acinus models, with application to aquaporin knockout studies

PubMed Central

Maclaren, Oliver J.; Sneyd, James; Crampin, Edmund J.

2012-01-01

Secretion from the salivary glands is driven by osmosis following the establishment of osmotic gradients between the lumen, the cell and the interstitium by active ion transport. We consider a dynamic model of osmotically-driven primary saliva secretion, and use singular perturbation approaches and scaling assumptions to reduce the model. Our analysis shows that isosmotic secretion is the most efficient secretion regime, and that this holds for single isolated cells and for multiple cells assembled into an acinus. For typical parameter variations, we rule out any significant synergistic effect on total water secretion of an acinar arrangement of cells about a single shared lumen. Conditions for the attainment of isosmotic secretion are considered, and we derive an expression for how the concentration gradient between the interstitium and the lumen scales with water and chloride transport parameters. Aquaporin knockout studies are interpreted in the context of our analysis and further investigated using simulations of transport efficiency with different membrane water permeabilities. We conclude that recent claims that aquaporin knockout studies can be interpreted as evidence against a simple osmotic mechanism are not supported by our work. Many of the results that we obtain are independent of specific transporter details, and our analysis can be easily extended to apply to models that use other proposed ionic mechanisms of saliva secretion. PMID:22258315

Mutations in ppe38 block PE_PGRS secretion and increase virulence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

PubMed

Ates, Louis S; Dippenaar, Anzaan; Ummels, Roy; Piersma, Sander R; van der Woude, Aniek D; van der Kuij, Kim; Le Chevalier, Fabien; Mata-Espinosa, Dulce; Barrios-Payán, Jorge; Marquina-Castillo, Brenda; Guapillo, Carolina; Jiménez, Connie R; Pain, Arnab; Houben, Edith N G; Warren, Robin M; Brosch, Roland; Hernández-Pando, Rogelio; Bitter, Wilbert

2018-02-01

Mycobacterium tuberculosis requires a large number of secreted and exported proteins for its virulence, immune modulation and nutrient uptake. Most of these proteins are transported by the different type VII secretion systems 1,2 . The most recently evolved type VII secretion system, ESX-5, secretes dozens of substrates belonging to the PE and PPE families, which are named for conserved proline and glutamic acid residues close to the amino terminus 3,4 . However, the role of these proteins remains largely elusive 1 . Here, we show that mutations of ppe38 completely block the secretion of two large subsets of ESX-5 substrates, that is, PPE-MPTR and PE_PGRS, together comprising >80 proteins. Importantly, hypervirulent clinical M. tuberculosis strains of the Beijing lineage have such a mutation and a concomitant loss of secretion 5 . Restoration of PPE38-dependent secretion partially reverted the hypervirulence phenotype of a Beijing strain, and deletion of ppe38 in moderately virulent M. tuberculosis increased virulence. This indicates that these ESX-5 substrates have an important role in virulence attenuation. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that deletion of ppe38 occurred at the branching point of the 'modern' Beijing sublineage and is shared by Beijing outbreak strains worldwide, suggesting that this deletion may have contributed to their success and global distribution 6,7 .

What Drives Memory-Driven Attentional Capture? The Effects of Memory Type, Display Type, and Search Type

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Olivers, Christian N. L.

2009-01-01

An important question is whether visual attention (the ability to select relevant visual information) and visual working memory (the ability to retain relevant visual information) share the same content representations. Some past research has indicated that they do: Singleton distractors interfered more strongly with a visual search task when they…

46 CFR 298.3 - Applications.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION VESSEL FINANCING ASSISTANCE OBLIGATION GUARANTEES Introduction § 298... if you are not a well established firm with strong financial qualifications and strong market shares... attachments, contains information you consider to be trade secrets or commercial or financial information and...

Infants' visual and auditory communication when a partner is or is not visually attending.

PubMed

Liszkowski, Ulf; Albrecht, Konstanze; Carpenter, Malinda; Tomasello, Michael

2008-04-01

In the current study we investigated infants' communication in the visual and auditory modalities as a function of the recipient's visual attention. We elicited pointing at interesting events from thirty-two 12-month olds and thirty-two 18-month olds in two conditions: when the recipient either was or was not visually attending to them before and during the point. The main result was that infants initiated more pointing when the recipient's visual attention was on them than when it was not. In addition, when the recipient did not respond by sharing interest in the designated event, infants initiated more repairs (repeated pointing) than when she did, again, especially when the recipient was visually attending to them. Interestingly, accompanying vocalizations were used intentionally and increased in both experimental conditions when the recipient did not share attention and interest. However, there was little evidence that infants used their vocalizations to direct attention to their gestures when the recipient was not attending to them.

SCSODC: Integrating Ocean Data for Visualization Sharing and Application

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu, C.; Li, S.; Wang, D.; Xie, Q.

2014-02-01

The South China Sea Ocean Data Center (SCSODC) was founded in 2010 in order to improve collecting and managing of ocean data of the South China Sea Institute of Oceanology (SCSIO). The mission of SCSODC is to ensure the long term scientific stewardship of ocean data, information and products - collected through research groups, monitoring stations and observation cruises - and to facilitate the efficient use and distribution to possible users. However, data sharing and applications were limited due to the characteristics of distribution and heterogeneity that made it difficult to integrate the data. To surmount those difficulties, the Data Sharing System has been developed by the SCSODC using the most appropriate information management and information technology. The Data Sharing System uses open standards and tools to promote the capability to integrate ocean data and to interact with other data portals or users and includes a full range of processes such as data discovery, evaluation and access combining C/S and B/S mode. It provides a visualized management interface for the data managers and a transparent and seamless data access and application environment for users. Users are allowed to access data using the client software and to access interactive visualization application interface via a web browser. The architecture, key technologies and functionality of the system are discussed briefly in this paper. It is shown that the system of SCSODC is able to implement web visualization sharing and seamless access to ocean data in a distributed and heterogeneous environment.

Pituitary-hormone secretion by thyrotropinomas.

PubMed

Roelfsema, Ferdinand; Kok, Simon; Kok, Petra; Pereira, Alberto M; Biermasz, Nienke R; Smit, Jan W; Frolich, Marijke; Keenan, Daniel M; Veldhuis, Johannes D; Romijn, Johannes A

2009-01-01

Hormone secretion by somatotropinomas, corticotropinomas and prolactinomas exhibits increased pulse frequency, basal and pulsatile secretion, accompanied by greater disorderliness. Increased concentrations of growth hormone (GH) or prolactin (PRL) are observed in about 30% of thyrotropinomas leading to acromegaly or disturbed sexual functions beyond thyrotropin (TSH)-induced hyperthyroidism. Regulation of non-TSH pituitary hormones in this context is not well understood. We there therefore evaluated TSH, GH and PRL secretion in 6 patients with up-to-date analytical and mathematical tools by 24-h blood sampling at 10-min intervals in a clinical research laboratory. The profiles were analyzed with a new deconvolution method, approximate entropy, cross-approximate entropy, cross-correlation and cosinor regression. TSH burst frequency and basal and pulsatile secretion were increased in patients compared with controls. TSH secretion patterns in patients were more irregular, but the diurnal rhythm was preserved at a higher mean with a 2.5 h phase delay. Although only one patient had clinical acromegaly, GH secretion and IGF-I levels were increased in two other patients and all three had a significant cross-correlation between the GH and TSH. PRL secretion was increased in one patient, but all patients had a significant cross-correlation with TSH and showed decreased PRL regularity. Cross-ApEn synchrony between TSH and GH did not differ between patients and controls, but TSH and PRL synchrony was reduced in patients. We conclude that TSH secretion by thyrotropinomas shares many characteristics of other pituitary hormone-secreting adenomas. In addition, abnormalities in GH and PRL secretion exist ranging from decreased (joint) regularity to overt hypersecretion, although not always clinically obvious, suggesting tumoral transformation of thyrotrope lineage cells.

DBSecSys: a database of Burkholderia mallei secretion systems.

PubMed

Memišević, Vesna; Kumar, Kamal; Cheng, Li; Zavaljevski, Nela; DeShazer, David; Wallqvist, Anders; Reifman, Jaques

2014-07-16

Bacterial pathogenicity represents a major public health concern worldwide. Secretion systems are a key component of bacterial pathogenicity, as they provide the means for bacterial proteins to penetrate host-cell membranes and insert themselves directly into the host cells' cytosol. Burkholderia mallei is a Gram-negative bacterium that uses multiple secretion systems during its host infection life cycle. To date, the identities of secretion system proteins for B. mallei are not well known, and their pathogenic mechanisms of action and host factors are largely uncharacterized. We present the Database of Burkholderia malleiSecretion Systems (DBSecSys), a compilation of manually curated and computationally predicted bacterial secretion system proteins and their host factors. Currently, DBSecSys contains comprehensive experimentally and computationally derived information about B. mallei strain ATCC 23344. The database includes 143 B. mallei proteins associated with five secretion systems, their 1,635 human and murine interacting targets, and the corresponding 2,400 host-B. mallei interactions. The database also includes information about 10 pathogenic mechanisms of action for B. mallei secretion system proteins inferred from the available literature. Additionally, DBSecSys provides details about 42 virulence attenuation experiments for 27 B. mallei secretion system proteins. Users interact with DBSecSys through a Web interface that allows for data browsing, querying, visualizing, and downloading. DBSecSys provides a comprehensive, systematically organized resource of experimental and computational data associated with B. mallei secretion systems. It provides the unique ability to study secretion systems not only through characterization of their corresponding pathogen proteins, but also through characterization of their host-interacting partners.The database is available at https://applications.bhsai.org/dbsecsys.

Distributed visualization of gridded geophysical data: the Carbon Data Explorer, version 0.2.3

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Endsley, K. A.; Billmire, M. G.

2016-01-01

Due to the proliferation of geophysical models, particularly climate models, the increasing resolution of their spatiotemporal estimates of Earth system processes, and the desire to easily share results with collaborators, there is a genuine need for tools to manage, aggregate, visualize, and share data sets. We present a new, web-based software tool - the Carbon Data Explorer - that provides these capabilities for gridded geophysical data sets. While originally developed for visualizing carbon flux, this tool can accommodate any time-varying, spatially explicit scientific data set, particularly NASA Earth system science level III products. In addition, the tool's open-source licensing and web presence facilitate distributed scientific visualization, comparison with other data sets and uncertainty estimates, and data publishing and distribution.

Time-Sharing-Based Synchronization and Performance Evaluation of Color-Independent Visual-MIMO Communication.

PubMed

Kwon, Tae-Ho; Kim, Jai-Eun; Kim, Ki-Doo

2018-05-14

In the field of communication, synchronization is always an important issue. The communication between a light-emitting diode (LED) array (LEA) and a camera is known as visual multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO), for which the data transmitter and receiver must be synchronized for seamless communication. In visual-MIMO, LEDs generally have a faster data rate than the camera. Hence, we propose an effective time-sharing-based synchronization technique with its color-independent characteristics providing the key to overcome this synchronization problem in visual-MIMO communication. We also evaluated the performance of our synchronization technique by varying the distance between the LEA and camera. A graphical analysis is also presented to compare the symbol error rate (SER) at different distances.

Toward a Shared Vocabulary for Visual Analysis: An Analytic Toolkit for Deconstructing the Visual Design of Graphic Novels

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Connors, Sean P.

2012-01-01

Literacy educators might advocate using graphic novels to develop students' visual literacy skills, but teachers who lack a vocabulary for engaging in close analysis of visual texts may be reluctant to teach them. Recognizing this, teacher educators should equip preservice teachers with a vocabulary for analyzing visual texts. This article…

Visual Literacy in Bloom: Using Bloom's Taxonomy to Support Visual Learning Skills

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Arneson, Jessie B.; Offerdahl, Erika G.

2018-01-01

"Vision and Change" identifies science communication as one of the core competencies in undergraduate biology. Visual representations are an integral part of science communication, allowing ideas to be shared among and between scientists and the public. As such, development of scientific visual literacy should be a desired outcome of…

Dual-Level Security based Cyclic18 Steganographic Method and its Application for Secure Transmission of Keyframes during Wireless Capsule Endoscopy.

PubMed

Muhammad, Khan; Sajjad, Muhammad; Baik, Sung Wook

2016-05-01

In this paper, the problem of secure transmission of sensitive contents over the public network Internet is addressed by proposing a novel data hiding method in encrypted images with dual-level security. The secret information is divided into three blocks using a specific pattern, followed by an encryption mechanism based on the three-level encryption algorithm (TLEA). The input image is scrambled using a secret key, and the encrypted sub-message blocks are then embedded in the scrambled image by cyclic18 least significant bit (LSB) substitution method, utilizing LSBs and intermediate LSB planes. Furthermore, the cover image and its planes are rotated at different angles using a secret key prior to embedding, deceiving the attacker during data extraction. The usage of message blocks division, TLEA, image scrambling, and the cyclic18 LSB method results in an advanced security system, maintaining the visual transparency of resultant images and increasing the security of embedded data. In addition, employing various secret keys for image scrambling, data encryption, and data hiding using the cyclic18 LSB method makes the data recovery comparatively more challenging for attackers. Experimental results not only validate the effectiveness of the proposed framework in terms of visual quality and security compared to other state-of-the-art methods, but also suggest its feasibility for secure transmission of diagnostically important keyframes to healthcare centers and gastroenterologists during wireless capsule endoscopy.

Shared Decision-Making for Nursing Practice: An Integrative Review.

PubMed

Truglio-Londrigan, Marie; Slyer, Jason T

2018-01-01

Shared decision-making has received national and international interest by providers, educators, researchers, and policy makers. The literature on shared decision-making is extensive, dealing with the individual components of shared decision-making rather than a comprehensive process. This view of shared decision-making leaves healthcare providers to wonder how to integrate shared decision-making into practice. To understand shared decision-making as a comprehensive process from the perspective of the patient and provider in all healthcare settings. An integrative review was conducted applying a systematic approach involving a literature search, data evaluation, and data analysis. The search included articles from PubMed, CINAHL, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, and PsycINFO from 1970 through 2016. Articles included quantitative experimental and non-experimental designs, qualitative, and theoretical articles about shared decision-making between all healthcare providers and patients in all healthcare settings. Fifty-two papers were included in this integrative review. Three categories emerged from the synthesis: (a) communication/ relationship building; (b) working towards a shared decision; and (c) action for shared decision-making. Each major theme contained sub-themes represented in the proposed visual representation for shared decision-making. A comprehensive understanding of shared decision-making between the nurse and the patient was identified. A visual representation offers a guide that depicts shared decision-making as a process taking place during a healthcare encounter with implications for the continuation of shared decisions over time offering patients an opportunity to return to the nurse for reconsiderations of past shared decisions.

An alpha-numeric code for representing N-linked glycan structures in secreted glycoproteins.

PubMed

Yusufi, Faraaz Noor Khan; Park, Wonjun; Lee, May May; Lee, Dong-Yup

2009-01-01

Advances in high-throughput techniques have led to the creation of increasing amounts of glycome data. The storage and analysis of this data would benefit greatly from a compact notation for describing glycan structures that can be easily stored and interpreted by computers. Towards this end, we propose a fixed-length alpha-numeric code for representing N-linked glycan structures commonly found in secreted glycoproteins from mammalian cell cultures. This code, GlycoDigit, employs a pre-assigned alpha-numeric index to represent the monosaccharides attached in different branches to the core glycan structure. The present branch-centric representation allows us to visualize the structure while the numerical nature of the code makes it machine readable. In addition, a difference operator can be defined to quantitatively differentiate between glycan structures for further analysis. The usefulness and applicability of GlycoDigit were demonstrated by constructing and visualizing an N-linked glycosylation network.

Modified Multi Prime RSA Cryptosystem

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ghazali Kamardan, M.; Aminudin, N.; Che-Him, Norziha; Sufahani, Suliadi; Khalid, Kamil; Roslan, Rozaini

2018-04-01

RSA [1] is one of the mostly used cryptosystem in securing data and information. Though, it has been recently discovered that RSA has some weaknesses and in advance technology, RSA is believed to be inefficient especially when it comes to decryption. Thus, a new algorithm called Multi prime RSA, an extended version of the standard RSA is studied. Then, a modification is made to the Multi prime RSA where another keys is shared secretly between the receiver and the sender to increase the securerity. As in RSA, the methodology used for modified Multi-prime RSA also consists of three phases; 1. Key Generation in which the secret and public keys are generated and published. In this phase, the secrecy is improved by adding more prime numbers and addition of secret keys. 2. Encryption of the message using the public and secret keys given. 3. Decryption of the secret message using the secret key generated. For the decryption phase, a method called Chinese Remainder Theorem is used which helps to fasten the computation. Since Multi prime RSA use more than two prime numbers, the algorithm is more efficient and secure when compared to the standard RSA. Furthermore, in modified Multi prime RSA another secret key is introduced to increase the obstacle to the attacker. Therefore, it is strongly believed that this new algorithm is better and can be an alternative to the RSA.

Semantic and visual determinants of face recognition in a prosopagnosic patient.

PubMed

Dixon, M J; Bub, D N; Arguin, M

1998-05-01

Prosopagnosia is the neuropathological inability to recognize familiar people by their faces. It can occur in isolation or can coincide with recognition deficits for other nonface objects. Often, patients whose prosopagnosia is accompanied by object recognition difficulties have more trouble identifying certain categories of objects relative to others. In previous research, we demonstrated that objects that shared multiple visual features and were semantically close posed severe recognition difficulties for a patient with temporal lobe damage. We now demonstrate that this patient's face recognition is constrained by these same parameters. The prosopagnosic patient ELM had difficulties pairing faces to names when the faces shared visual features and the names were semantically related (e.g., Tonya Harding, Nancy Kerrigan, and Josee Chouinard -three ice skaters). He made tenfold fewer errors when the exact same faces were associated with semantically unrelated people (e.g., singer Celine Dion, actress Betty Grable, and First Lady Hillary Clinton). We conclude that prosopagnosia and co-occurring category-specific recognition problems both stem from difficulties disambiguating the stored representations of objects that share multiple visual features and refer to semantically close identities or concepts.

Visual and spatial working memory are not that dissociated after all: a time-based resource-sharing account.

PubMed

Vergauwe, Evie; Barrouillet, Pierre; Camos, Valérie

2009-07-01

Examinations of interference between visual and spatial materials in working memory have suggested domain- and process-based fractionations of visuo-spatial working memory. The present study examined the role of central time-based resource sharing in visuo-spatial working memory and assessed its role in obtained interference patterns. Visual and spatial storage were combined with both visual and spatial on-line processing components in computer-paced working memory span tasks (Experiment 1) and in a selective interference paradigm (Experiment 2). The cognitive load of the processing components was manipulated to investigate its impact on concurrent maintenance for both within-domain and between-domain combinations of processing and storage components. In contrast to both domain- and process-based fractionations of visuo-spatial working memory, the results revealed that recall performance was determined by the cognitive load induced by the processing of items, rather than by the domain to which those items pertained. These findings are interpreted as evidence for a time-based resource-sharing mechanism in visuo-spatial working memory.

Implicit Object Naming in Visual Search: Evidence from Phonological Competition

PubMed Central

Walenchok, Stephen C.; Hout, Michael C.; Goldinger, Stephen D.

2016-01-01

During visual search, people are distracted by objects that visually resemble search targets; search is impaired when targets and distractors share overlapping features. In this study, we examined whether a nonvisual form of similarity, overlapping object names, can also affect search performance. In three experiments, people searched for images of real-world objects (e.g., a beetle) among items whose names either all shared the same phonological onset (/bi/), or were phonologically varied. Participants either searched for one or three potential targets per trial, with search targets designated either visually or verbally. We examined standard visual search (Experiments 1 and 3) and a self-paced serial search task wherein participants manually rejected each distractor (Experiment 2). We hypothesized that people would maintain visual templates when searching for single targets, but would rely more on object names when searching for multiple items and when targets were verbally cued. This reliance on target names would make performance susceptible to interference from similar-sounding distractors. Experiments 1 and 2 showed the predicted interference effect in conditions with high memory load and verbal cues. In Experiment 3, eye-movement results showed that phonological interference resulted from small increases in dwell time to all distractors. The results suggest that distractor names are implicitly activated during search, slowing attention disengagement when targets and distractors share similar names. PMID:27531018

Diverse CLE peptides from cyst nematode species

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Plant CLAVATA3/ESR (CLE)-like peptides play diverse roles in plant growth and development including maintenance of the stem cell population in the root meristem. Small secreted peptides sharing similarity to plant CLE signaling peptides have been isolated from several cyst nematode species including...

Sharing the Secrets

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Good, Rebecca

2008-01-01

Instructional leadership is defined in a broader yet more intense definition today than it was 20 years ago. Originally, the role involved traditional tasks such as setting clear goals, allocating resources to instruction, managing the curriculum, monitoring lesson plans, and evaluating teachers. Today it includes much deeper involvement in the…

Sharing Teaching Ideas.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mathematics Teacher, 1985

1985-01-01

Discusses: (1) use of matrix techniques to write secret codes (includes ready-to-duplicate worksheets); (2) a method of multiplication and division of polynomials in one variable that is not tedius, time-consuming, or dependent on guesswork; and (3) adding and subtracting rational expressions and solving rational equations. (JN)

Role of nematode peptides and other small molecules in plant parasitism

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Molecular, genetic, and biochemical studies are demonstrating an increasingly important role of peptide signaling in nematode parasitism of plants. To date, the majority of nematode-secreted peptides identified share similarity with plant CLAVATA3/ESR (CLE) peptides, but bioinformatics analyses of n...

Defense Acquisition Review Journal. Volume 15, Number 3, Issue 49, December 2008

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-12-01

objectives (Bennis & Biederman , 1997). The Defense Acquisition University and many of its external corporate university partners share the belief that an... Biederman , P. W. (1997). Organizing genius: The secrets of creative collaboration. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley. Beyerlein, M. (1995). Measuring

Smart Grid Privacy through Distributed Trust

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lipton, Benjamin

Though the smart electrical grid promises many advantages in efficiency and reliability, the risks to consumer privacy have impeded its deployment. Researchers have proposed protecting privacy by aggregating user data before it reaches the utility, using techniques of homomorphic encryption to prevent exposure of unaggregated values. However, such schemes generally require users to trust in the correct operation of a single aggregation server. We propose two alternative systems based on secret sharing techniques that distribute this trust among multiple service providers, protecting user privacy against a misbehaving server. We also provide an extensive evaluation of the systems considered, comparing their robustness to privacy compromise, error handling, computational performance, and data transmission costs. We conclude that while all the systems should be computationally feasible on smart meters, the two methods based on secret sharing require much less computation while also providing better protection against corrupted aggregators. Building systems using these techniques could help defend the privacy of electricity customers, as well as customers of other utilities as they move to a more data-driven architecture.

A secure data outsourcing scheme based on Asmuth-Bloom secret sharing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Idris Muhammad, Yusuf; Kaiiali, Mustafa; Habbal, Adib; Wazan, A. S.; Sani Ilyasu, Auwal

2016-11-01

Data outsourcing is an emerging paradigm for data management in which a database is provided as a service by third-party service providers. One of the major benefits of offering database as a service is to provide organisations, which are unable to purchase expensive hardware and software to host their databases, with efficient data storage accessible online at a cheap rate. Despite that, several issues of data confidentiality, integrity, availability and efficient indexing of users' queries at the server side have to be addressed in the data outsourcing paradigm. Service providers have to guarantee that their clients' data are secured against internal (insider) and external attacks. This paper briefly analyses the existing indexing schemes in data outsourcing and highlights their advantages and disadvantages. Then, this paper proposes a secure data outsourcing scheme based on Asmuth-Bloom secret sharing which tries to address the issues in data outsourcing such as data confidentiality, availability and order preservation for efficient indexing.

Gaussian private quantum channel with squeezed coherent states

PubMed Central

Jeong, Kabgyun; Kim, Jaewan; Lee, Su-Yong

2015-01-01

While the objective of conventional quantum key distribution (QKD) is to secretly generate and share the classical bits concealed in the form of maximally mixed quantum states, that of private quantum channel (PQC) is to secretly transmit individual quantum states concealed in the form of maximally mixed states using shared one-time pad and it is called Gaussian private quantum channel (GPQC) when the scheme is in the regime of continuous variables. We propose a GPQC enhanced with squeezed coherent states (GPQCwSC), which is a generalization of GPQC with coherent states only (GPQCo) [Phys. Rev. A 72, 042313 (2005)]. We show that GPQCwSC beats the GPQCo for the upper bound on accessible information. As a subsidiary example, it is shown that the squeezed states take an advantage over the coherent states against a beam splitting attack in a continuous variable QKD. It is also shown that a squeezing operation can be approximated as a superposition of two different displacement operations in the small squeezing regime. PMID:26364893

Spacetime Replication of Quantum Information Using (2 , 3) Quantum Secret Sharing and Teleportation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, Yadong; Khalid, Abdullah; Davijani, Masoud; Sanders, Barry

The aim of this work is to construct a protocol to replicate quantum information in any valid configuration of causal diamonds and assess resources required to physically realize spacetime replication. We present a set of codes to replicate quantum information along with a scheme to realize these codes using continuous-variable quantum optics. We use our proposed experimental realizations to determine upper bounds on the quantum and classical resources required to simulate spacetime replication. For four causal diamonds, our implementation scheme is more efficient than the one proposed previously. Our codes are designed using a decomposition algorithm for complete directed graphs, (2 , 3) quantum secret sharing, quantum teleportation and entanglement swapping. These results show the simulation of spacetime replication of quantum information is feasible with existing experimental methods. Alberta Innovates, NSERC, China's 1000 Talent Plan and the Institute for Quantum Information and Matter, which is an NSF Physics Frontiers Center (NSF Grant PHY-1125565) with support of the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation (GBMF-2644).

Gaussian private quantum channel with squeezed coherent states.

PubMed

Jeong, Kabgyun; Kim, Jaewan; Lee, Su-Yong

2015-09-14

While the objective of conventional quantum key distribution (QKD) is to secretly generate and share the classical bits concealed in the form of maximally mixed quantum states, that of private quantum channel (PQC) is to secretly transmit individual quantum states concealed in the form of maximally mixed states using shared one-time pad and it is called Gaussian private quantum channel (GPQC) when the scheme is in the regime of continuous variables. We propose a GPQC enhanced with squeezed coherent states (GPQCwSC), which is a generalization of GPQC with coherent states only (GPQCo) [Phys. Rev. A 72, 042313 (2005)]. We show that GPQCwSC beats the GPQCo for the upper bound on accessible information. As a subsidiary example, it is shown that the squeezed states take an advantage over the coherent states against a beam splitting attack in a continuous variable QKD. It is also shown that a squeezing operation can be approximated as a superposition of two different displacement operations in the small squeezing regime.

Visualizing Qualitative Information

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Slone, Debra J.

2009-01-01

The abundance of qualitative data in today's society and the need to easily scrutinize, digest, and share this information calls for effective visualization and analysis tools. Yet, no existing qualitative tools have the analytic power, visual effectiveness, and universality of familiar quantitative instruments like bar charts, scatter-plots, and…

Escher: A Web Application for Building, Sharing, and Embedding Data-Rich Visualizations of Biological Pathways

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

King, Zachary A.; Drager, Andreas; Ebrahim, Ali

Escher is a web application for visualizing data on biological pathways. Three key features make Escher a uniquely effective tool for pathway visualization. First, users can rapidly design new pathway maps. Escher provides pathway suggestions based on user data and genome-scale models, so users can draw pathways in a semi-automated way. Second, users can visualize data related to genes or proteins on the associated reactions and pathways, using rules that define which enzymes catalyze each reaction. Thus, users can identify trends in common genomic data types (e.g. RNA-Seq, proteomics, ChIP)—in conjunction with metabolite- and reaction-oriented data types (e.g. metabolomics, fluxomics).more » Third, Escher harnesses the strengths of web technologies (SVG, D3, developer tools) so that visualizations can be rapidly adapted, extended, shared, and embedded. This paper provides examples of each of these features and explains how the development approach used for Escher can be used to guide the development of future visualization tools.« less

Escher: A Web Application for Building, Sharing, and Embedding Data-Rich Visualizations of Biological Pathways

PubMed Central

King, Zachary A.; Dräger, Andreas; Ebrahim, Ali; Sonnenschein, Nikolaus; Lewis, Nathan E.; Palsson, Bernhard O.

2015-01-01

Escher is a web application for visualizing data on biological pathways. Three key features make Escher a uniquely effective tool for pathway visualization. First, users can rapidly design new pathway maps. Escher provides pathway suggestions based on user data and genome-scale models, so users can draw pathways in a semi-automated way. Second, users can visualize data related to genes or proteins on the associated reactions and pathways, using rules that define which enzymes catalyze each reaction. Thus, users can identify trends in common genomic data types (e.g. RNA-Seq, proteomics, ChIP)—in conjunction with metabolite- and reaction-oriented data types (e.g. metabolomics, fluxomics). Third, Escher harnesses the strengths of web technologies (SVG, D3, developer tools) so that visualizations can be rapidly adapted, extended, shared, and embedded. This paper provides examples of each of these features and explains how the development approach used for Escher can be used to guide the development of future visualization tools. PMID:26313928

Escher: A Web Application for Building, Sharing, and Embedding Data-Rich Visualizations of Biological Pathways

DOE PAGES

King, Zachary A.; Drager, Andreas; Ebrahim, Ali; ...

2015-08-27

Escher is a web application for visualizing data on biological pathways. Three key features make Escher a uniquely effective tool for pathway visualization. First, users can rapidly design new pathway maps. Escher provides pathway suggestions based on user data and genome-scale models, so users can draw pathways in a semi-automated way. Second, users can visualize data related to genes or proteins on the associated reactions and pathways, using rules that define which enzymes catalyze each reaction. Thus, users can identify trends in common genomic data types (e.g. RNA-Seq, proteomics, ChIP)—in conjunction with metabolite- and reaction-oriented data types (e.g. metabolomics, fluxomics).more » Third, Escher harnesses the strengths of web technologies (SVG, D3, developer tools) so that visualizations can be rapidly adapted, extended, shared, and embedded. This paper provides examples of each of these features and explains how the development approach used for Escher can be used to guide the development of future visualization tools.« less

Joint Remote State Preparation of a Single-Atom Qubit State via a GHZ Entangled State

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xiao, Xiao-Qi; Yao, Fengwei; Lin, Xiaochen; Gong, Lihua

2018-04-01

We proposed a physical protocol for the joint remote preparation of a single-atom qubit state via a three-atom entangled GHZ-type state previously shared by the two senders and one receiver. Only rotation operations of single-atom, which can be achieved though the resonant interaction between the two-level atom and the classical field, are required in the scheme. It shows that the splitting way of the classical information of the secret qubit not only determines the success of reconstruction of the secret qubit, but also influences the operations of the senders.

Deconstructing The Bomb: Confessions of a Nuclear Archeologist

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Coster-Mullen, John

2017-01-01

I am the author of the groundbreaking book Atom Bombs: The Top Secret Inside Story of Little Boy and Fat Man. I will be sharing some of my quarter century of research and methodology that has allowed me to be the first researcher ever to unravel with an unprecedented level of accuracy, the most closely-guarded secrets of the first two Atomic Bombs (``Little Boy'' and ``Fat Man'') created by the Manhattan Project that were used to end WWII. I refer to this methodology as ``Nuclear Archeology'' and will demonstrate that this was done using entirely ``Open Sources'' of information.

Molecular Cloning of Secreted Luciferases from Marine Planktonic Copepods.

PubMed

Takenaka, Yasuhiro; Ikeo, Kazuho; Shigeri, Yasushi

2016-01-01

Secreted luciferases isolated from copepod crustaceans are frequently used for nondisruptive reporter-gene assays, such as the continuous, automated and/or high-throughput monitoring of gene expression in living cells. All known copepod luciferases share highly conserved amino acid residues in two similar, repeated domains in the sequence. The similarity in the domains are ideal nature for designing PCR primers to amplify cDNA fragments of unidentified copepod luciferases from bioluminescent copepod crustaceans. Here, we introduce how to establish a cDNA encoding novel copepod luciferases from a copepod specimen by PCR with degenerated primers.

Pituitary tumors. Current concepts in diagnosis and management.

PubMed Central

Aron, D C; Tyrrell, J B; Wilson, C B

1995-01-01

Diagnostic advances have resulted in earlier and more frequent recognition of pituitary tumors. Pituitary tumors cause problems owing to the hormones they secrete or the effects of an expanding sellar mass--hypopituitarism, visual field abnormalities, and neurologic deficits. Prolactin-secreting tumors (prolactinomas), which cause amenorrhea, galactorrhea, and hypogonadism, constitute the most common type of primary pituitary tumors, followed by growth hormone-secreting tumors, which cause acromegaly, and corticotropin-secreting tumors, which cause Cushing's syndrome. Hypersecretion of thyroid-stimulating hormone, the gonadotrophins, or alpha-subunits is unusual. Nonfunctional tumors currently represent only 10% of all clinically diagnosed pituitary adenomas, and some of these are alpha-subunit-secreting adenomas. Insights into the pathogenesis and biologic behavior of these usually benign tumors have been gained from genetic studies. We review some of the recent advances and salient features of the diagnosis and management of pituitary tumors, including biochemical and radiologic diagnosis, transsphenoidal surgery, radiation therapy, and medical therapy. Each type of lesion requires a comprehensive but individualized treatment approach, and regardless of the mode of therapy, careful follow-up is essential. Images PMID:7747500

Shared sensory estimates for human motion perception and pursuit eye movements.

PubMed

Mukherjee, Trishna; Battifarano, Matthew; Simoncini, Claudio; Osborne, Leslie C

2015-06-03

Are sensory estimates formed centrally in the brain and then shared between perceptual and motor pathways or is centrally represented sensory activity decoded independently to drive awareness and action? Questions about the brain's information flow pose a challenge because systems-level estimates of environmental signals are only accessible indirectly as behavior. Assessing whether sensory estimates are shared between perceptual and motor circuits requires comparing perceptual reports with motor behavior arising from the same sensory activity. Extrastriate visual cortex both mediates the perception of visual motion and provides the visual inputs for behaviors such as smooth pursuit eye movements. Pursuit has been a valuable testing ground for theories of sensory information processing because the neural circuits and physiological response properties of motion-responsive cortical areas are well studied, sensory estimates of visual motion signals are formed quickly, and the initiation of pursuit is closely coupled to sensory estimates of target motion. Here, we analyzed variability in visually driven smooth pursuit and perceptual reports of target direction and speed in human subjects while we manipulated the signal-to-noise level of motion estimates. Comparable levels of variability throughout viewing time and across conditions provide evidence for shared noise sources in the perception and action pathways arising from a common sensory estimate. We found that conditions that create poor, low-gain pursuit create a discrepancy between the precision of perception and that of pursuit. Differences in pursuit gain arising from differences in optic flow strength in the stimulus reconcile much of the controversy on this topic. Copyright © 2015 the authors 0270-6474/15/358515-16$15.00/0.

Shared Sensory Estimates for Human Motion Perception and Pursuit Eye Movements

PubMed Central

Mukherjee, Trishna; Battifarano, Matthew; Simoncini, Claudio

2015-01-01

Are sensory estimates formed centrally in the brain and then shared between perceptual and motor pathways or is centrally represented sensory activity decoded independently to drive awareness and action? Questions about the brain's information flow pose a challenge because systems-level estimates of environmental signals are only accessible indirectly as behavior. Assessing whether sensory estimates are shared between perceptual and motor circuits requires comparing perceptual reports with motor behavior arising from the same sensory activity. Extrastriate visual cortex both mediates the perception of visual motion and provides the visual inputs for behaviors such as smooth pursuit eye movements. Pursuit has been a valuable testing ground for theories of sensory information processing because the neural circuits and physiological response properties of motion-responsive cortical areas are well studied, sensory estimates of visual motion signals are formed quickly, and the initiation of pursuit is closely coupled to sensory estimates of target motion. Here, we analyzed variability in visually driven smooth pursuit and perceptual reports of target direction and speed in human subjects while we manipulated the signal-to-noise level of motion estimates. Comparable levels of variability throughout viewing time and across conditions provide evidence for shared noise sources in the perception and action pathways arising from a common sensory estimate. We found that conditions that create poor, low-gain pursuit create a discrepancy between the precision of perception and that of pursuit. Differences in pursuit gain arising from differences in optic flow strength in the stimulus reconcile much of the controversy on this topic. PMID:26041919

Working memory resources are shared across sensory modalities.

PubMed

Salmela, V R; Moisala, M; Alho, K

2014-10-01

A common assumption in the working memory literature is that the visual and auditory modalities have separate and independent memory stores. Recent evidence on visual working memory has suggested that resources are shared between representations, and that the precision of representations sets the limit for memory performance. We tested whether memory resources are also shared across sensory modalities. Memory precision for two visual (spatial frequency and orientation) and two auditory (pitch and tone duration) features was measured separately for each feature and for all possible feature combinations. Thus, only the memory load was varied, from one to four features, while keeping the stimuli similar. In Experiment 1, two gratings and two tones-both containing two varying features-were presented simultaneously. In Experiment 2, two gratings and two tones-each containing only one varying feature-were presented sequentially. The memory precision (delayed discrimination threshold) for a single feature was close to the perceptual threshold. However, as the number of features to be remembered was increased, the discrimination thresholds increased more than twofold. Importantly, the decrease in memory precision did not depend on the modality of the other feature(s), or on whether the features were in the same or in separate objects. Hence, simultaneously storing one visual and one auditory feature had an effect on memory precision equal to those of simultaneously storing two visual or two auditory features. The results show that working memory is limited by the precision of the stored representations, and that working memory can be described as a resource pool that is shared across modalities.

SeeDB: Efficient Data-Driven Visualization Recommendations to Support Visual Analytics

PubMed Central

Vartak, Manasi; Rahman, Sajjadur; Madden, Samuel; Parameswaran, Aditya; Polyzotis, Neoklis

2015-01-01

Data analysts often build visualizations as the first step in their analytical workflow. However, when working with high-dimensional datasets, identifying visualizations that show relevant or desired trends in data can be laborious. We propose SeeDB, a visualization recommendation engine to facilitate fast visual analysis: given a subset of data to be studied, SeeDB intelligently explores the space of visualizations, evaluates promising visualizations for trends, and recommends those it deems most “useful” or “interesting”. The two major obstacles in recommending interesting visualizations are (a) scale: evaluating a large number of candidate visualizations while responding within interactive time scales, and (b) utility: identifying an appropriate metric for assessing interestingness of visualizations. For the former, SeeDB introduces pruning optimizations to quickly identify high-utility visualizations and sharing optimizations to maximize sharing of computation across visualizations. For the latter, as a first step, we adopt a deviation-based metric for visualization utility, while indicating how we may be able to generalize it to other factors influencing utility. We implement SeeDB as a middleware layer that can run on top of any DBMS. Our experiments show that our framework can identify interesting visualizations with high accuracy. Our optimizations lead to multiple orders of magnitude speedup on relational row and column stores and provide recommendations at interactive time scales. Finally, we demonstrate via a user study the effectiveness of our deviation-based utility metric and the value of recommendations in supporting visual analytics. PMID:26779379

SeeDB: Efficient Data-Driven Visualization Recommendations to Support Visual Analytics.

PubMed

Vartak, Manasi; Rahman, Sajjadur; Madden, Samuel; Parameswaran, Aditya; Polyzotis, Neoklis

2015-09-01

Data analysts often build visualizations as the first step in their analytical workflow. However, when working with high-dimensional datasets, identifying visualizations that show relevant or desired trends in data can be laborious. We propose SeeDB, a visualization recommendation engine to facilitate fast visual analysis: given a subset of data to be studied, SeeDB intelligently explores the space of visualizations, evaluates promising visualizations for trends, and recommends those it deems most "useful" or "interesting". The two major obstacles in recommending interesting visualizations are (a) scale : evaluating a large number of candidate visualizations while responding within interactive time scales, and (b) utility : identifying an appropriate metric for assessing interestingness of visualizations. For the former, SeeDB introduces pruning optimizations to quickly identify high-utility visualizations and sharing optimizations to maximize sharing of computation across visualizations. For the latter, as a first step, we adopt a deviation-based metric for visualization utility, while indicating how we may be able to generalize it to other factors influencing utility. We implement SeeDB as a middleware layer that can run on top of any DBMS. Our experiments show that our framework can identify interesting visualizations with high accuracy. Our optimizations lead to multiple orders of magnitude speedup on relational row and column stores and provide recommendations at interactive time scales. Finally, we demonstrate via a user study the effectiveness of our deviation-based utility metric and the value of recommendations in supporting visual analytics.

Influencing and Exploiting Behavioral Norms in Cyberspace to Promote Ethical and Moral Conduct of Cyberwarfare

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-06-01

child pornography, copyright infringement, or aiding and abetting in any infraction.32 26...research, but now that it is being used to share everything from porn to state secrets the trust is no longer warranted. 68 Other authors have

Shared Decision-Making for Nursing Practice: An Integrative Review

PubMed Central

Truglio-Londrigan, Marie; Slyer, Jason T.

2018-01-01

Background: Shared decision-making has received national and international interest by providers, educators, researchers, and policy makers. The literature on shared decision-making is extensive, dealing with the individual components of shared decision-making rather than a comprehensive process. This view of shared decision-making leaves healthcare providers to wonder how to integrate shared decision-making into practice. Objective: To understand shared decision-making as a comprehensive process from the perspective of the patient and provider in all healthcare settings. Methods: An integrative review was conducted applying a systematic approach involving a literature search, data evaluation, and data analysis. The search included articles from PubMed, CINAHL, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, and PsycINFO from 1970 through 2016. Articles included quantitative experimental and non-experimental designs, qualitative, and theoretical articles about shared decision-making between all healthcare providers and patients in all healthcare settings. Results: Fifty-two papers were included in this integrative review. Three categories emerged from the synthesis: (a) communication/ relationship building; (b) working towards a shared decision; and (c) action for shared decision-making. Each major theme contained sub-themes represented in the proposed visual representation for shared decision-making. Conclusion: A comprehensive understanding of shared decision-making between the nurse and the patient was identified. A visual representation offers a guide that depicts shared decision-making as a process taking place during a healthcare encounter with implications for the continuation of shared decisions over time offering patients an opportunity to return to the nurse for reconsiderations of past shared decisions. PMID:29456779

Sinonasal outcomes following endoscopic anterior skull base surgery with nasoseptal flap reconstruction: a prospective study.

PubMed

Hanson, M; Patel, P M; Betz, C; Olson, S; Panizza, B; Wallwork, B

2015-07-01

To assess nasal morbidity resulting from nasoseptal flap use in the repair of skull base defects in endoscopic anterior skull base surgery. Thirty-six patients awaiting endoscopic anterior skull base surgery were prospectively recruited. A nasoseptal flap was used for reconstruction in all cases. Patients were assessed pre-operatively and 90 days post-operatively via the Sino-Nasal Outcome Test 20 questionnaire and visual analogue scales for nasal obstruction, pain, secretions and smell; endoscopic examination findings and mucociliary clearance times were also recorded. Sino-Nasal Outcome Test 20 questionnaire data and visual analogue scale scores for pain, smell and secretions showed no significant differences between pre- and post-operative outcomes, with visual analogue scale scores for nasal obstruction actually showing a significant improvement (p = 0.0007). A significant deterioration for both flap and non-flap sides was demonstrated post-operatively on endoscopic examination (p = 0.002 and p = 0.02 respectively). Whilst elevation of a nasoseptal flap in endoscopic surgery of the anterior skull base engendered significant clinical deterioration on examination post-operatively, quality of life outcomes showed that no such deterioration was subjectively experienced by the patient. In fact, there was significant nasal airway improvement following nasoseptal flap reconstruction.

A Trusted Platform for Transportation Data Sharing & Stakeholder Engagement

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2018-03-01

Information sharing to support critical transportation systems presents numerous challenges given the diversity of information sources and visual representations typically used to portray system performance and characteristics12. This research projec...

Neuro-Ophthalmological Disorders in Cerebral Palsy: Ophthalmological, Oculomotor, and Visual Aspects

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fazzi, Elisa; Signorini, Sabrina G.; La Piana, Roberta; Bertone, Chiara; Misefari, Walter; Galli, Jessica; Balottin, Umberto; Bianchi, Paolo Emilio

2012-01-01

Aim: Cerebral visual impairment (CVI) is a disorder caused by damage to the retrogeniculate visual pathways. Cerebral palsy (CP) and CVI share a common origin: 60 to 70% of children with CP also have CVI. We set out to describe visual dysfunction in children with CP. A further aim was to establish whether different types of CP are associated with…

Visual Literacy for Libraries: A Practical, Standards­-Based Guide

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brown, Nicole E.; Bussert, Kaila; Hattwig, Denise; Medaille, Ann

2016-01-01

The importance of images and visual media in today's culture is changing what it means to be literate in the 21st century. Digital technologies have made it possible for almost anyone to create and share visual media. Yet the pervasiveness of images and visual media does not necessarily mean that individuals are able to critically view, use, and…

Cellulolytic Streptomyces Strains Associated with Herbivorous Insects Share a Phylogenetically Linked Capacity To Degrade Lignocellulose

PubMed Central

Book, Adam J.; Lewin, Gina R.; McDonald, Bradon R.; Takasuka, Taichi E.; Doering, Drew T.; Adams, Aaron S.; Blodgett, Joshua A. V.; Clardy, Jon; Raffa, Kenneth F.; Fox, Brian G.

2014-01-01

Actinobacteria in the genus Streptomyces are critical players in microbial communities that decompose complex carbohydrates in the soil, and these bacteria have recently been implicated in the deconstruction of plant polysaccharides for some herbivorous insects. Despite the importance of Streptomyces to carbon cycling, the extent of their plant biomass-degrading ability remains largely unknown. In this study, we compared four strains of Streptomyces isolated from insect herbivores that attack pine trees: DpondAA-B6 (SDPB6) from the mountain pine beetle, SPB74 from the southern pine beetle, and SirexAA-E (SACTE) and SirexAA-G from the woodwasp, Sirex noctilio. Biochemical analysis of secreted enzymes demonstrated that only two of these strains, SACTE and SDPB6, were efficient at degrading plant biomass. Genomic analyses indicated that SACTE and SDPB6 are closely related and that they share similar compositions of carbohydrate-active enzymes. Genome-wide proteomic and transcriptomic analyses revealed that the major exocellulases (GH6 and GH48), lytic polysaccharide monooxygenases (AA10), and mannanases (GH5) were conserved and secreted by both organisms, while the secreted endocellulases (GH5 and GH9 versus GH9 and GH12) were from diverged enzyme families. Together, these data identify two phylogenetically related insect-associated Streptomyces strains with high biomass-degrading activity and characterize key enzymatic similarities and differences used by these organisms to deconstruct plant biomass. PMID:24837391

Visual Links: Discovery in Art and Science.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dake, Dennis M.

Some specific aspects of the process of discovery are explored as they are experienced in the visual arts and the physical sciences. Both fields use the same visual/brain processing system, and both disciplines share an imaginative and productive interest in the disciplined use of imagistic thinking. Many productive interactions between visual…

Microreact: visualizing and sharing data for genomic epidemiology and phylogeography

PubMed Central

Argimón, Silvia; Abudahab, Khalil; Goater, Richard J. E.; Fedosejev, Artemij; Bhai, Jyothish; Glasner, Corinna; Feil, Edward J.; Holden, Matthew T. G.; Yeats, Corin A.; Grundmann, Hajo; Spratt, Brian G.

2016-01-01

Visualization is frequently used to aid our interpretation of complex datasets. Within microbial genomics, visualizing the relationships between multiple genomes as a tree provides a framework onto which associated data (geographical, temporal, phenotypic and epidemiological) are added to generate hypotheses and to explore the dynamics of the system under investigation. Selected static images are then used within publications to highlight the key findings to a wider audience. However, these images are a very inadequate way of exploring and interpreting the richness of the data. There is, therefore, a need for flexible, interactive software that presents the population genomic outputs and associated data in a user-friendly manner for a wide range of end users, from trained bioinformaticians to front-line epidemiologists and health workers. Here, we present Microreact, a web application for the easy visualization of datasets consisting of any combination of trees, geographical, temporal and associated metadata. Data files can be uploaded to Microreact directly via the web browser or by linking to their location (e.g. from Google Drive/Dropbox or via API), and an integrated visualization via trees, maps, timelines and tables provides interactive querying of the data. The visualization can be shared as a permanent web link among collaborators, or embedded within publications to enable readers to explore and download the data. Microreact can act as an end point for any tool or bioinformatic pipeline that ultimately generates a tree, and provides a simple, yet powerful, visualization method that will aid research and discovery and the open sharing of datasets. PMID:28348833

Construction of Shared Knowledge in Face-to-Face and Computer-Mediated Cooperation.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fischer, Frank; Mandl, Heinz

This study examined how learners constructed and used shared knowledge in computer-mediated and face-to-face cooperative learning, investigating how to facilitate the construction and use of shared knowledge through dynamic visualization. Forty-eight college students were separated into dyads and assigned to one of four experimental conditions…

Increasing Comprehension of Students with Significant Intellectual Disabilities and Visual Impairments during Shared Stories

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mims, Pamela J.; Browder, Diane M.; Baker, Joshua N.; Lee, Angel; Spooner, Fred

2009-01-01

Shared stories have been shown to help increase emerging literacy skills in students with significant intellectual disabilities. One important literacy skill is the development of listening comprehension. In this study, least-to-most prompt system was used to promote listening comprehension during shared stories for two students with significant…

A Metric to Quantify Shared Visual Attention in Two-Person Teams

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gontar, Patrick; Mulligan, Jeffrey B.

2015-01-01

Critical tasks in high-risk environments are often performed by teams, the members of which must work together efficiently. In some situations, the team members may have to work together to solve a particular problem, while in others it may be better for them to divide the work into separate tasks that can be completed in parallel. We hypothesize that these two team strategies can be differentiated on the basis of shared visual attention, measured by gaze tracking.

Multimodal sexual signals in male ocellated lizards Lacerta lepida: vitamin E in scent and green coloration may signal male quality in different sensory channels

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Martín, José; López, Pilar

2010-06-01

The mechanisms that confer honesty to multiple sexual signals of vertebrates remain less known. We suggest that vitamin E in the scent (femoral secretions) and carotenoids in coloration of Lacerta lepida lizards might advertise quality because they are relevant in metabolism as major antioxidants and have a dietary origin. Results showed that there may be similar trade-offs between immunity and both chemical and visual signaling, as males with more vitamin E in secretions and those with more greenish, darker, and saturated carotenoid-dependent colorations had a higher immune response. This suggests that only high-quality males can divert from metabolism and allocate enough vitamin E to secretions and enough carotenoids to coloration. Therefore, information provided by visual and chemical signals is congruent. The use of multiple sensory channels may allow signaling a male quality under different circumstances or reinforce the reliability of the signal when both signals are perceived simultaneously. However, we also found that characteristics of carotenoid-dependent coloration mirror the amounts of vitamin E in secretions. This might support that carotenoids, which are not true antioxidants in the organism, would just reflect and “inform” on the actual contents of metabolic antioxidant vitamin E, which is part of the true system that prevent oxidation. We suggest that the metabolic roles of vitamins might be the actual basis of honesty of many sexual displays, and that carotenoid-based signals might be just the visible part of the whole system.

[Effects of the verbal loading on laterality difference in visual field (author's transl)].

PubMed

Kawai, M

1980-02-01

In connection with the Kinsbourne's attention-model, the relation between the level of hemisphere sharing of loading task and the visual-laterality difference was examined under verbal loading conditions. The subjects were 13 (8 male and 5 female) right-handed college students. The loading tasks in Exp. I were the "same-different" judgment of Japanese hiragana alphabets and of triliteral hiragana words, and "true-false" judgment of short statements. In Exp. II, a procedure to eliminate configurational matching of the letters was followed. The results of the two experiments suggest that the visual-laterality effect occurs only when the level of hemisphere sharing of the loading task exceeds a certain lower bound.

Different Worlds: Same Secret.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Springfield City Library, MA.

The "Brightwood New Authors Project" brought together a group of ten adults from many different ethnic and educational backgrounds to share in the experience of writing and publishing a book. The prose and poetry that resulted from weekly writing workshops featured guest humanities scholars and teachers. Titles include "I Remember When I Met...";…

Rigor Made Easy: Getting Started

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Blackburn, Barbara R.

2012-01-01

Bestselling author and noted rigor expert Barbara Blackburn shares the secrets to getting started, maintaining momentum, and reaching your goals. Learn what rigor looks like in the classroom, understand what it means for your students, and get the keys to successful implementation. Learn how to use rigor to raise expectations, provide appropriate…

A Shared Secret

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lyngstad, Idar

2014-01-01

This article is based on an interview with a Norwegian physical education (PE) teacher on the social contact she had with pupils when teaching them PE. The article examines a two-dimensional aspect of a teaching situation relating to swimming instruction in PE, especially focusing on pupils' positive experiences of learning to swim and the…

Cloned Erwinia chrysanthemi out genes enable Escherichia coli to selectively secrete a diverse family of heterologous proteins to its milieu.

PubMed

He, S Y; Lindeberg, M; Chatterjee, A K; Collmer, A

1991-02-01

The out genes of the enterobacterial plant pathogen Erwinia chrysanthemi are responsible for the efficient extracellular secretion of multiple plant cell wall-degrading enzymes, including four isozymes of pectate lyase, exo-poly-alpha-D-galacturonosidase, pectin methylesterase, and cellulase. Out- mutants of Er. chrysanthemi are unable to export any of these proteins beyond the periplasm and are severely reduced in virulence. We have cloned out genes from Er. chrysanthemi in the stable, low-copy-number cosmid pCPP19 by complementing several transposon-induced mutations. The cloned out genes were clustered in a 12-kilobase chromosomal DNA region, complemented all existing out mutations in Er. chrysanthemi EC16, and enabled Escherichia coli strains to efficiently secrete the extracellular pectic enzymes produced from cloned Er. chrysanthemi genes, while retaining the periplasmic marker protein beta-lactamase. DNA sequencing of a 2.4-kilobase EcoRI fragment within the out cluster revealed four genes arranged colinearly and sharing substantial similarity with the Klebsiella pneumoniae genes pulH, pulI, pulJ, and pulK, which are necessary for pullulanase secretion. However, K. pneumoniae cells harboring the cloned Er. chrysanthemi pelE gene were unable to secrete the Erwinia pectate lyase. Furthermore, the Er. chrysanthemi Out system was unable to secrete an extracellular pectate lyase encoded by a gene from a closely related plant pathogen. Erwinia carotovora ssp. carotovora. The results suggest that these enterobacteria secrete polysaccharidases by a conserved mechanism whose protein-recognition capacities have diverged.

Engaging Audiences in Planetary Science Through Visualizations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shupla, C. B.; Mason, T.; Peticolas, L. M.; Hauck, K.

2017-12-01

One way to share compelling stories is through visuals. The Lunar and Planetary Institute (LPI), in collaboration with Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) and Space Science Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley, has been working with planetary scientists to reach and engage audiences in their research through the use of visualizations. We will share how images and animations have been used in multiple mediums, including the planetarium, Science on a Sphere, the hyperwall, and within apps. Our objectives are to provide a tool that planetary scientists can use to tell their stories, as well as to increase audience awareness of and interest in planetary science. While scientists are involved in the selection of topics and the development of the visuals, LPI and partners seek to increase the planetary science community's awareness of these resources and their ability to incorporate them into their own public engagement efforts. This presentation will share our own resources and efforts, as well as the input received from scientists on how education and public engagement teams can best assist them in developing and using these resources, and disseminating them to both scientists and to informal science education venues.

The role of shared visual information for joint action coordination.

PubMed

Vesper, Cordula; Schmitz, Laura; Safra, Lou; Sebanz, Natalie; Knoblich, Günther

2016-08-01

Previous research has identified a number of coordination processes that enable people to perform joint actions. But what determines which coordination processes joint action partners rely on in a given situation? The present study tested whether varying the shared visual information available to co-actors can trigger a shift in coordination processes. Pairs of participants performed a movement task that required them to synchronously arrive at a target from separate starting locations. When participants in a pair received only auditory feedback about the time their partner reached the target they held their movement duration constant to facilitate coordination. When they received additional visual information about each other's movements they switched to a fundamentally different coordination process, exaggerating the curvature of their movements to communicate their arrival time. These findings indicate that the availability of shared perceptual information is a major factor in determining how individuals coordinate their actions to obtain joint outcomes. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Visual Analytics and Storytelling through Video

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

Wong, Pak C.; Perrine, Kenneth A.; Mackey, Patrick S.

2005-10-31

This paper supplements a video clip submitted to the Video Track of IEEE Symposium on Information Visualization 2005. The original video submission applies a two-way storytelling approach to demonstrate the visual analytics capabilities of a new visualization technique. The paper presents our video production philosophy, describes the plot of the video, explains the rationale behind the plot, and finally, shares our production experiences with our readers.

Finger force changes in the absence of visual feedback in patients with Parkinson’s disease

PubMed Central

Jo, Hang Jin; Ambike, Satyajit; Lewis, Mechelle M.; Huang, Xuemei; Latash, Mark L.

2015-01-01

Objectives We investigated the unintentional drift in total force and in sharing of the force between fingers in two-finger accurate force production tasks performed without visual feedback by patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) and healthy controls. In particular, we were testing a hypothesis that adaptation to the documented loss of action stability could lead to faster force drop in PD. Methods PD patients and healthy controls performed accurate constant force production tasks without visual feedback by different finger pairs, starting with different force levels and different sharing patterns of force between the two fingers. Results Both groups showed an exponential force drop with time and a drift of the sharing pattern towards 50:50. The PD group showed a significantly faster force drop without a change in speed of the sharing drift. These results were consistent across initial force levels, sharing patterns, and finger pairs. A pilot test of four subjects, two PD and two controls, showed no consistent effects of memory on the force drop. Conclusions We interpret the force drop as a consequence of back-coupling between the actual and referent finger coordinates that draws the referent coordinate towards the actual one. The faster force drop in the PD group is interpreted as adaptive to the loss of action stability in PD. The lack of group differences in the sharing drift suggests two potentially independent physiological mechanisms contributing to the force and sharing drifts. Significance The hypothesis on adaptive changes in PD with the purpose to ensure stability of steady states may have important implications for treatment of PD. The speed of force drop may turn into a useful tool to quantify such adaptive changes. PMID:26072437

A family of tissue-specific resistin-like molecules

PubMed Central

Steppan, Claire M.; Brown, Elizabeth J.; Wright, Christopher M.; Bhat, Savitha; Banerjee, Ronadip R.; Dai, Charlotte Y.; Enders, Gregory H.; Silberg, Debra G.; Wen, Xiaoming; Wu, Gary D.; Lazar, Mitchell A.

2001-01-01

We have identified a family of resistin-like molecules (RELMs) in rodents and humans. Resistin is a hormone produced by fat cells. RELMα is a secreted protein that has a restricted tissue distribution with highest levels in adipose tissue. Another family member, RELMβ, is a secreted protein expressed only in the gastrointestinal tract, particularly the colon, in both mouse and human. RELMβ gene expression is highest in proliferative epithelial cells and is markedly increased in tumors, suggesting a role in intestinal proliferation. Resistin and the RELMs share a cysteine composition and other signature features. Thus, the RELMs together with resistin comprise a class of tissue-specific signaling molecules. PMID:11209052

A family of tissue-specific resistin-like molecules.

PubMed

Steppan, C M; Brown, E J; Wright, C M; Bhat, S; Banerjee, R R; Dai, C Y; Enders, G H; Silberg, D G; Wen, X; Wu, G D; Lazar, M A

2001-01-16

We have identified a family of resistin-like molecules (RELMs) in rodents and humans. Resistin is a hormone produced by fat cells. RELMalpha is a secreted protein that has a restricted tissue distribution with highest levels in adipose tissue. Another family member, RELMbeta, is a secreted protein expressed only in the gastrointestinal tract, particularly the colon, in both mouse and human. RELMbeta gene expression is highest in proliferative epithelial cells and is markedly increased in tumors, suggesting a role in intestinal proliferation. Resistin and the RELMs share a cysteine composition and other signature features. Thus, the RELMs together with resistin comprise a class of tissue-specific signaling molecules.

Visual Journaling: Engaging Adolescents in Sketchbook Activities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cummings, Karen L.

2011-01-01

A wonderful way to engage high-school students in sketchbook activities is to have them create journals that combine images with words to convey emotions, ideas, and understandings. Visual journaling is a creative way for them to share their experiences and personal responses to life's events in visual and written form. Through selecting and…

Using Science Fiction To Teach Mainstream Literature.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fife, Ernelle

This paper illustrates several examples of visual science fiction use in teaching literary classics, and is based on the philosophy that students share a visual cultural literacy through movies and television, types of representation with which they are more familiar than with literary texts. It claims that visual science fiction can be utilized…

A web-portal for interactive data exploration, visualization, and hypothesis testing

PubMed Central

Bartsch, Hauke; Thompson, Wesley K.; Jernigan, Terry L.; Dale, Anders M.

2014-01-01

Clinical research studies generate data that need to be shared and statistically analyzed by their participating institutions. The distributed nature of research and the different domains involved present major challenges to data sharing, exploration, and visualization. The Data Portal infrastructure was developed to support ongoing research in the areas of neurocognition, imaging, and genetics. Researchers benefit from the integration of data sources across domains, the explicit representation of knowledge from domain experts, and user interfaces providing convenient access to project specific data resources and algorithms. The system provides an interactive approach to statistical analysis, data mining, and hypothesis testing over the lifetime of a study and fulfills a mandate of public sharing by integrating data sharing into a system built for active data exploration. The web-based platform removes barriers for research and supports the ongoing exploration of data. PMID:24723882

An amodal shared resource model of language-mediated visual attention

PubMed Central

Smith, Alastair C.; Monaghan, Padraic; Huettig, Falk

2013-01-01

Language-mediated visual attention describes the interaction of two fundamental components of the human cognitive system, language and vision. Within this paper we present an amodal shared resource model of language-mediated visual attention that offers a description of the information and processes involved in this complex multimodal behavior and a potential explanation for how this ability is acquired. We demonstrate that the model is not only sufficient to account for the experimental effects of Visual World Paradigm studies but also that these effects are emergent properties of the architecture of the model itself, rather than requiring separate information processing channels or modular processing systems. The model provides an explicit description of the connection between the modality-specific input from language and vision and the distribution of eye gaze in language-mediated visual attention. The paper concludes by discussing future applications for the model, specifically its potential for investigating the factors driving observed individual differences in language-mediated eye gaze. PMID:23966967

Inattentional Deafness: Visual Load Leads to Time-Specific Suppression of Auditory Evoked Responses

PubMed Central

Molloy, Katharine; Griffiths, Timothy D.; Lavie, Nilli

2015-01-01

Due to capacity limits on perception, conditions of high perceptual load lead to reduced processing of unattended stimuli (Lavie et al., 2014). Accumulating work demonstrates the effects of visual perceptual load on visual cortex responses, but the effects on auditory processing remain poorly understood. Here we establish the neural mechanisms underlying “inattentional deafness”—the failure to perceive auditory stimuli under high visual perceptual load. Participants performed a visual search task of low (target dissimilar to nontarget items) or high (target similar to nontarget items) load. On a random subset (50%) of trials, irrelevant tones were presented concurrently with the visual stimuli. Brain activity was recorded with magnetoencephalography, and time-locked responses to the visual search array and to the incidental presence of unattended tones were assessed. High, compared to low, perceptual load led to increased early visual evoked responses (within 100 ms from onset). This was accompanied by reduced early (∼100 ms from tone onset) auditory evoked activity in superior temporal sulcus and posterior middle temporal gyrus. A later suppression of the P3 “awareness” response to the tones was also observed under high load. A behavioral experiment revealed reduced tone detection sensitivity under high visual load, indicating that the reduction in neural responses was indeed associated with reduced awareness of the sounds. These findings support a neural account of shared audiovisual resources, which, when depleted under load, leads to failures of sensory perception and awareness. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT The present work clarifies the neural underpinning of inattentional deafness under high visual load. The findings of near-simultaneous load effects on both visual and auditory evoked responses suggest shared audiovisual processing capacity. Temporary depletion of shared capacity in perceptually demanding visual tasks leads to a momentary reduction in sensory processing of auditory stimuli, resulting in inattentional deafness. The dynamic “push–pull” pattern of load effects on visual and auditory processing furthers our understanding of both the neural mechanisms of attention and of cross-modal effects across visual and auditory processing. These results also offer an explanation for many previous failures to find cross-modal effects in experiments where the visual load effects may not have coincided directly with auditory sensory processing. PMID:26658858

Discrete-Slots Models of Visual Working-Memory Response Times

PubMed Central

Donkin, Christopher; Nosofsky, Robert M.; Gold, Jason M.; Shiffrin, Richard M.

2014-01-01

Much recent research has aimed to establish whether visual working memory (WM) is better characterized by a limited number of discrete all-or-none slots or by a continuous sharing of memory resources. To date, however, researchers have not considered the response-time (RT) predictions of discrete-slots versus shared-resources models. To complement the past research in this field, we formalize a family of mixed-state, discrete-slots models for explaining choice and RTs in tasks of visual WM change detection. In the tasks under investigation, a small set of visual items is presented, followed by a test item in 1 of the studied positions for which a change judgment must be made. According to the models, if the studied item in that position is retained in 1 of the discrete slots, then a memory-based evidence-accumulation process determines the choice and the RT; if the studied item in that position is missing, then a guessing-based accumulation process operates. Observed RT distributions are therefore theorized to arise as probabilistic mixtures of the memory-based and guessing distributions. We formalize an analogous set of continuous shared-resources models. The model classes are tested on individual subjects with both qualitative contrasts and quantitative fits to RT-distribution data. The discrete-slots models provide much better qualitative and quantitative accounts of the RT and choice data than do the shared-resources models, although there is some evidence for “slots plus resources” when memory set size is very small. PMID:24015956

Self-Chaperoning of the Type III Secretion System needle tip proteins IpaD and BipD

PubMed Central

Johnson, Steven; Roversi, Pietro; Espina, Marianela; Olive, Andrew; Deane, Janet E.; Birket, Susan; Field, Terry; Picking, William D.; Blocker, Ariel; Galyov, Edouard E.; Picking, Wendy L.; Lea, Susan M.

2007-01-01

Bacteria expressing type III secretion systems (T3SS) have been responsible for the deaths of millions worldwide, acting as key virulence elements in diseases ranging from plague to typhoid fever. The T3SS is composed of a basal body, which traverses both bacterial membranes, and an external needle through which effector proteins are secreted. We report multiple crystal structures of two proteins that sit at the tip of the needle and are essential for virulence; IpaD from Shigella flexneri and BipD from Burkholderia pseudomallei. The structures reveal that the N-terminal domains of the molecules are intra-molecular chaperones that prevent premature oligomerization, as well as sharing structural homology with proteins involved in eukaryotic actin rearrangement. Crystal packing has allowed us to construct a model for the tip complex that is supported by mutations designed using the structure. PMID:17077085

Self-chaperoning of the type III secretion system needle tip proteins IpaD and BipD.

PubMed

Johnson, Steven; Roversi, Pietro; Espina, Marianela; Olive, Andrew; Deane, Janet E; Birket, Susan; Field, Terry; Picking, William D; Blocker, Ariel J; Galyov, Edouard E; Picking, Wendy L; Lea, Susan M

2007-02-09

Bacteria expressing type III secretion systems (T3SS) have been responsible for the deaths of millions worldwide, acting as key virulence elements in diseases ranging from plague to typhoid fever. The T3SS is composed of a basal body, which traverses both bacterial membranes, and an external needle through which effector proteins are secreted. We report multiple crystal structures of two proteins that sit at the tip of the needle and are essential for virulence: IpaD from Shigella flexneri and BipD from Burkholderia pseudomallei. The structures reveal that the N-terminal domains of the molecules are intramolecular chaperones that prevent premature oligomerization, as well as sharing structural homology with proteins involved in eukaryotic actin rearrangement. Crystal packing has allowed us to construct a model for the tip complex that is supported by mutations designed using the structure.

Deterministic secure quantum communication using a single d-level system.

PubMed

Jiang, Dong; Chen, Yuanyuan; Gu, Xuemei; Xie, Ling; Chen, Lijun

2017-03-22

Deterministic secure quantum communication (DSQC) can transmit secret messages between two parties without first generating a shared secret key. Compared with quantum key distribution (QKD), DSQC avoids the waste of qubits arising from basis reconciliation and thus reaches higher efficiency. In this paper, based on data block transmission and order rearrangement technologies, we propose a DSQC protocol. It utilizes a set of single d-level systems as message carriers, which are used to directly encode the secret message in one communication process. Theoretical analysis shows that these employed technologies guarantee the security, and the use of a higher dimensional quantum system makes our protocol achieve higher security and efficiency. Since only quantum memory is required for implementation, our protocol is feasible with current technologies. Furthermore, Trojan horse attack (THA) is taken into account in our protocol. We give a THA model and show that THA significantly increases the multi-photon rate and can thus be detected.

Coordinating Cognition: The Costs and Benefits of Shared Gaze during Collaborative Search

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brennan, Susan E.; Chen, Xin; Dickinson, Christopher A.; Neider, Mark B.; Zelinsky, Gregory J.

2008-01-01

Collaboration has its benefits, but coordination has its costs. We explored the potential for remotely located pairs of people to collaborate during visual search, using shared gaze and speech. Pairs of searchers wearing eyetrackers jointly performed an O-in-Qs search task alone, or in one of three collaboration conditions: shared gaze (with one…

Lactobacilli require physical contact to reduce staphylococcal TSST-1 secretion and vaginal epithelial inflammatory response.

PubMed

Younes, Jessica A; Reid, Gregor; van der Mei, Henny C; Busscher, Henk J

2016-06-01

ITALIC! Staphylococcus aureusbiofilms can be found on vaginal epithelia, secreting toxins and causing inflammation. The co-vaginal species ITALIC! Lactobacilluscan alter staphylococcal-induced epithelial secretion of inflammatory cytokines and quench staphylococcal toxic shock syndrome toxin-1 secretion. It is hypothesized that these effects of lactobacilli require direct physical contact between lactobacilli, staphylococci and the epithelium. Indeed, lactobacilli only reduced ITALIC! S. aureus-induced inflammatory cytokine expression when allowed physical contact with vaginal epithelial cells. Furthermore, a reduction in toxic shock syndrome toxin-1 secretion only occurred when a probiotic ITALIC! Lactobacillusstrain was allowed contact, but not when being physically separated from ITALIC! S. aureus Bacterial-probe atomic force microscopy demonstrated that lactobacilli and staphylococci strongly adhere to epithelial cells, while lactobacilli adhere stronger to staphylococci than staphylococci to each other, giving lactobacilli opportunity to penetrate and reside in staphylococcal biofilms, as visualized using confocal laser scanning microscopy with fluorescence ITALIC! in situhybridization probes. These results identify that physical contact and biochemical signaling by lactobacilli are intrinsically linked mechanisms that reduce virulence of ITALIC! S. aureusbiofilm. © FEMS 2016. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Volume, distribution and acidity of gastric secretion on and off proton pump inhibitor treatment: a randomized double-blind controlled study in patients with gastro-esophageal reflux disease (GERD) and healthy subjects.

PubMed

Steingoetter, Andreas; Sauter, Matthias; Curcic, Jelena; Liu, Dian; Menne, Dieter; Fried, Michael; Fox, Mark; Schwizer, Werner

2015-09-02

Postprandial accumulation of gastric secretions in the proximal stomach above the meal adjacent to the esophagogastric junction (EGJ), referred to as the 'acid pocket', has been proposed as a pathophysiological factor in gastro-esophageal reflux disease (GERD) and as a target for GERD treatment. This study assessed the effect of proton pump inhibitor (PPI) therapy on the volume, distribution and acidity of gastric secretions in GERD and healthy subjects (HS). A randomized, double blind, cross-over study in 12 HS and 12 GERD patients pre-treated with 40 mg pantoprazole (PPI) or placebo b.i.d. was performed. Postprandial secretion volume (SV), formation of a secretion layer and contact between the layer and the EGJ were quantified by Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). Multi-channel pH-monitoring assessed intragastric pH. A distinct layer of undiluted acid secretion was present on top of gastric contents in almost all participants on and off high-dose acid suppression. PPI reduced SV (193 ml to 100 ml, in HS, 227 ml to 94 ml in GERD; p < 0.01) and thickness of the acid layer (26 mm to 7 mm, 36 mm to 9 mm respectively, p < 0.01). No differences in secretion volume or layer thickness were observed between groups; however, off treatment, contact time between the secretion layer and EGJ was 2.6 times longer in GERD compared to HS (p = 0.012). This was not the case on PPI. MRI can visualize and quantify the volume and distribution dynamics of gastric secretions that form a layer in the proximal stomach after ingestion of a liquid meal. The secretion volume and the secretion layer on top of gastric contents is similar in GERD patients and HS; however contact between the layer of undiluted secretion and the EGJ is prolonged in patients. High dose PPI reduced secretion volume by about 50% and reduced contact time between secretion and EGJ towards normal levels. NCT01212614.

Understanding Digital Note-Taking Practice for Visualization.

PubMed

Willett, Wesley; Goffin, Pascal; Isenberg, Petra

2015-05-13

We present results and design implications from a study of digital note-taking practice to examine how visualization can support revisitation, reflection, and collaboration around notes. As digital notebooks become common forms of external memory, keeping track of volumes of content is increasingly difficult. Information visualization tools can help give note-takers an overview of their content and allow them to explore diverse sets of notes, find and organize related content, and compare their notes with their collaborators. To ground the design of such tools, we conducted a detailed mixed-methods study of digital note-taking practice. We identify a variety of different editing, organization, and sharing methods used by digital note-takers, many of which result in notes becoming "lost in the pile''. These findings form the basis for our design considerations that examine how visualization can support the revisitation, organization, and sharing of digital notes.

Advancing Collaboration through Hydrologic Data and Model Sharing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tarboton, D. G.; Idaszak, R.; Horsburgh, J. S.; Ames, D. P.; Goodall, J. L.; Band, L. E.; Merwade, V.; Couch, A.; Hooper, R. P.; Maidment, D. R.; Dash, P. K.; Stealey, M.; Yi, H.; Gan, T.; Castronova, A. M.; Miles, B.; Li, Z.; Morsy, M. M.

2015-12-01

HydroShare is an online, collaborative system for open sharing of hydrologic data, analytical tools, and models. It supports the sharing of and collaboration around "resources" which are defined primarily by standardized metadata, content data models for each resource type, and an overarching resource data model based on the Open Archives Initiative's Object Reuse and Exchange (OAI-ORE) standard and a hierarchical file packaging system called "BagIt". HydroShare expands the data sharing capability of the CUAHSI Hydrologic Information System by broadening the classes of data accommodated to include geospatial and multidimensional space-time datasets commonly used in hydrology. HydroShare also includes new capability for sharing models, model components, and analytical tools and will take advantage of emerging social media functionality to enhance information about and collaboration around hydrologic data and models. It also supports web services and server/cloud based computation operating on resources for the execution of hydrologic models and analysis and visualization of hydrologic data. HydroShare uses iRODS as a network file system for underlying storage of datasets and models. Collaboration is enabled by casting datasets and models as "social objects". Social functions include both private and public sharing, formation of collaborative groups of users, and value-added annotation of shared datasets and models. The HydroShare web interface and social media functions were developed using the Django web application framework coupled to iRODS. Data visualization and analysis is supported through the Tethys Platform web GIS software stack. Links to external systems are supported by RESTful web service interfaces to HydroShare's content. This presentation will introduce the HydroShare functionality developed to date and describe ongoing development of functionality to support collaboration and integration of data and models.

Web-based visual analysis for high-throughput genomics

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background Visualization plays an essential role in genomics research by making it possible to observe correlations and trends in large datasets as well as communicate findings to others. Visual analysis, which combines visualization with analysis tools to enable seamless use of both approaches for scientific investigation, offers a powerful method for performing complex genomic analyses. However, there are numerous challenges that arise when creating rich, interactive Web-based visualizations/visual analysis applications for high-throughput genomics. These challenges include managing data flow from Web server to Web browser, integrating analysis tools and visualizations, and sharing visualizations with colleagues. Results We have created a platform simplifies the creation of Web-based visualization/visual analysis applications for high-throughput genomics. This platform provides components that make it simple to efficiently query very large datasets, draw common representations of genomic data, integrate with analysis tools, and share or publish fully interactive visualizations. Using this platform, we have created a Circos-style genome-wide viewer, a generic scatter plot for correlation analysis, an interactive phylogenetic tree, a scalable genome browser for next-generation sequencing data, and an application for systematically exploring tool parameter spaces to find good parameter values. All visualizations are interactive and fully customizable. The platform is integrated with the Galaxy (http://galaxyproject.org) genomics workbench, making it easy to integrate new visual applications into Galaxy. Conclusions Visualization and visual analysis play an important role in high-throughput genomics experiments, and approaches are needed to make it easier to create applications for these activities. Our framework provides a foundation for creating Web-based visualizations and integrating them into Galaxy. Finally, the visualizations we have created using the framework are useful tools for high-throughput genomics experiments. PMID:23758618

Pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide promotes eccrine gland sweat secretion.

PubMed

Sasaki, S; Watanabe, J; Ohtaki, H; Matsumoto, M; Murai, N; Nakamachi, T; Hannibal, J; Fahrenkrug, J; Hashimoto, H; Watanabe, H; Sueki, H; Honda, K; Miyazaki, A; Shioda, S

2017-02-01

Sweat secretion is the major function of eccrine sweat glands; when this process is disturbed (paridrosis), serious skin problems can arise. To elucidate the causes of paridrosis, an improved understanding of the regulation, mechanisms and factors underlying sweat production is required. Pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide (PACAP) exhibits pleiotropic functions that are mediated via its receptors [PACAP-specific receptor (PAC1R), vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) receptor type 1 (VPAC1R) and VPAC2R]. Although some studies have suggested a role for PACAP in the skin and several exocrine glands, the effects of PACAP on the process of eccrine sweat secretion have not been examined. To investigate the effect of PACAP on eccrine sweat secretion. Reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction and immunostaining were used to determine the expression and localization of PACAP and its receptors in mouse and human eccrine sweat glands. We injected PACAP subcutaneously into the footpads of mice and used the starch-iodine test to visualize sweat-secreting glands. Immunostaining showed PACAP and PAC1R expression by secretory cells from mouse and human sweat glands. PACAP immunoreactivity was also localized in nerve fibres around eccrine sweat glands. PACAP significantly promoted sweat secretion at the injection site, and this could be blocked by the PAC1R-antagonist PACAP6-38. VIP, an agonist of VPAC1R and VPAC2R, failed to induce sweat secretion. This is the first report demonstrating that PACAP may play a crucial role in sweat secretion via its action on PAC1R located in eccrine sweat glands. The mechanisms underlying the role of PACAP in sweat secretion may provide new therapeutic options to combat sweating disorders. © 2016 British Association of Dermatologists.

Our Roots Run Deep

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Steinkamp, Erin

2016-01-01

Valley Park Middle School (VPMS) in Valley Park, MO, has the unique designation of being a not-so-secret gem in St. Louis County. The middle school shares its campus with the elementary and high school, creating opportunities to collaborate and work together to build a school district that not only shines academically, but also focuses on…

Boys' Friendships during Adolescence: Intimacy, Desire, and Loss

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Way, Niobe

2013-01-01

Longitudinal, mixed method research on friendships, conducted over the past two decades with Black, Latino, Asian, and European American boys, reveals three themes: (1) the importance for boys of being able to share their secrets with their close friends; (2) the importance of close friendships for boys' mental health; and (3) the loss of but…

Launching a Wireless Laptop Program

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Grignano, Domenic

2007-01-01

In this article, the author, as a technology director for East Rock Magnet School in New Haven, Connecticut, a federal government test site for laptop learning, shares his secrets to a successful implementation of a wireless laptop program: (1) Build a wireless foundation; (2) Do not choose the cheapest model just because of budget; (3) A sturdy…

Essential Questions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wilhelm, Jeffrey D.

2012-01-01

The secret to teaching may be as simple as asking students good questions--and then giving them the opportunity to find the answers. The author shares how he uses essential questions that set the class off on an inquiry. Rather than consuming information that he distributes and then repeating it on a test, students carry out their own…

Let Me Share a Secret with You! Teaching with Computers.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

de Vasconcelos, Maria

The author describes her experiences teaching a computer-enhanced Modern Poetry course. The author argues that using computers enhances the concept of the classroom as learning community. It was the author's experience that students' postings on the discussion board created an atmosphere that encouraged student involvement, as opposed to the…

13 Tips for Virtual World Teaching

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Villano, Matt

2008-01-01

Multi-user virtual environments (MUVEs) are gaining momentum as the latest and greatest learning tool in the world of education technology. How does one get started with them? How do they work? This article shares 13 secrets from immersive education experts and educators on how to have success in implementing these new tools and technologies on…

CloudSat Preps for Launch at Vandenberg Air Force Base, CA

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2005-01-01

The CloudSat spacecraft sits encapsulated within its Boeing Delta launch vehicle dual payload attach fitting at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. CloudSat will share its ride to orbit late next month with NASA's CALIPSO spacecraft. The two spacecraft are designed to reveal the secrets of clouds and aerosols.

Deadly Lessons: School Shooters Tell Why. Sun-Times Exclusive Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chicago Sun-Times, IL.

This document represents a compilation of newspaper articles analyzing information shared by the Secret Service concerning 37 school shootings. The findings are presented to educate parents and teachers concerning what has been learned about violent students. It was determined that there is no profile of a typical youth who kills. The shooter is…

Mathematicians in Schools: Uncovering Maths' Beautiful Secrets

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Welch, Bronwyn

2016-01-01

Mathematics professionals are working with teachers revealing the reality and beauty that happens in the world of math and to show that this is essentially a "human endeavour," embedded in much of what people do and the ways in which they think. In this article, the author shares vignettes of primary classes working with mathematicians…

Changes at the National Geographic Society

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schwille, Kathleen

2016-01-01

For more than 125 years, National Geographic has explored the planet, unlocking its secrets and sharing them with the world. For almost thirty of those years, National Geographic has been committed to K-12 educators and geographic education through its Network of Alliances. As National Geographic begins a new chapter, they remain committed to the…

Secreted autoantibody repertoires in Sjögren's syndrome and systemic lupus erythematosus: A proteomic approach.

PubMed

Al Kindi, Mahmood A; Colella, Alex D; Chataway, Tim K; Jackson, Michael W; Wang, Jing J; Gordon, Tom P

2016-04-01

The structures of epitopes bound by autoantibodies against RNA-protein complexes have been well-defined over several decades, but little is known of the clonality, immunoglobulin (Ig) variable (V) gene usage and mutational status of the autoantibodies themselves at the level of the secreted (serum) proteome. A novel proteomic workflow is presented based on affinity purification of specific Igs from serum, high-resolution two-dimensional gel electrophoresis, and de novo and database-driven sequencing of V-region proteins by mass spectrometry. Analysis of anti-Ro52/Ro60/La proteomes in primary Sjögren's syndrome (SS) and anti-Sm and anti-ribosomal P proteomes in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) has revealed that these antibody responses are dominated by restricted sets of public (shared) clonotypes, consistent with common pathways of production across unrelated individuals. The discovery of shared sets of specific V-region peptides can be exploited for diagnostic biomarkers in targeted mass spectrometry platforms and for tracking and removal of pathogenic clones. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Interactive web-based identification and visualization of transcript shared sequences.

PubMed

Azhir, Alaleh; Merino, Louis-Henri; Nauen, David W

2018-05-12

We have developed TraC (Transcript Consensus), a web-based tool for detecting and visualizing shared sequences among two or more mRNA transcripts such as splice variants. Results including exon-exon boundaries are returned in a highly intuitive, data-rich, interactive plot that permits users to explore the similarities and differences of multiple transcript sequences. The online tool (http://labs.pathology.jhu.edu/nauen/trac/) is free to use. The source code is freely available for download (https://github.com/nauenlab/TraC). Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Structure of the Yersinia pestis type III secretion chaperone SycH in complex with a stable fragment of YscM2

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

Phan, Jason; Tropea, Joseph E.; Waugh, David S.

2010-11-16

Pathogenic Yersinia species use a type III secretion system to inject cytotoxic effector proteins directly into the cytosol of mammalian cells, where they neutralize the innate immune response by interfering with the signal-transduction pathways that control phagocytosis and inflammation. To be exported efficiently, some effectors must transiently associate with cognate cytoplasmic secretion chaperones. SycH is the chaperone for YopH, a potent eukaryotic-like protein tyrosine phosphatase that is essential for virulence. SycH also binds two negative regulators of type III secretion, YscM1 and YscM2, both of which share significant sequence homology with the chaperone-binding domain of YopH. Here, the structure ofmore » a complex between SycH and a stable fragment of YscM2 that was designed on the basis of limited proteolysis experiments is presented. The overall fold of SycH is very similar to the structures of other homodimeric secretion chaperones that have been determined to date. YscM2 wraps around SycH in an extended fashion, with some secondary but no tertiary structure, assuming a conformation distinct from the globular fold that it is predicted to adopt in the absence of SycH.« less

Developmental changes in the neural influence of sublexical information on semantic processing.

PubMed

Lee, Shu-Hui; Booth, James R; Chou, Tai-Li

2015-07-01

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to examine the developmental changes in a group of normally developing children (aged 8-12) and adolescents (aged 13-16) during semantic processing. We manipulated association strength (i.e. a global reading unit) and semantic radical (i.e. a local reading unit) to explore the interaction of lexical and sublexical semantic information in making semantic judgments. In the semantic judgment task, two types of stimuli were used: visually-similar (i.e. shared a semantic radical) versus visually-dissimilar (i.e. did not share a semantic radical) character pairs. Participants were asked to indicate if two Chinese characters, arranged according to association strength, were related in meaning. The results showed greater developmental increases in activation in left angular gyrus (BA 39) in the visually-similar compared to the visually-dissimilar pairs for the strong association. There were also greater age-related increases in angular gyrus for the strong compared to weak association in the visually-similar pairs. Both of these results suggest that shared semantics at the sublexical level facilitates the integration of overlapping features at the lexical level in older children. In addition, there was a larger developmental increase in left posterior middle temporal gyrus (BA 21) for the weak compared to strong association in the visually-dissimilar pairs, suggesting conflicting sublexical information placed greater demands on access to lexical representations in the older children. All together, these results suggest that older children are more sensitive to sublexical information when processing lexical representations. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Visual Thinking Routines: A Mixed Methods Approach Applied to Student Teachers at the American University in Dubai

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gholam, Alain

2017-01-01

Visual thinking routines are principles based on several theories, approaches, and strategies. Such routines promote thinking skills, call for collaboration and sharing of ideas, and above all, make thinking and learning visible. Visual thinking routines were implemented in the teaching methodology graduate course at the American University in…

Implementation of Unified English Braille by Teachers of Students with Visual Impairments in the United States

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hong, Sunggye; Rosenblum, L. Penny; Campbell, Amy Frank

2017-01-01

Introduction: This study analyzed survey responses from 141 teachers of students with visual impairments who shared their experiences about the implementation of Unified English Braille (UEB). Methods: Teachers of students with visual impairments in the United States completed an online survey during spring 2016. Results: Although most respondents…

Common neural substrates for visual working memory and attention.

PubMed

Mayer, Jutta S; Bittner, Robert A; Nikolić, Danko; Bledowski, Christoph; Goebel, Rainer; Linden, David E J

2007-06-01

Humans are severely limited in their ability to memorize visual information over short periods of time. Selective attention has been implicated as a limiting factor. Here we used functional magnetic resonance imaging to test the hypothesis that this limitation is due to common neural resources shared by visual working memory (WM) and selective attention. We combined visual search and delayed discrimination of complex objects and independently modulated the demands on selective attention and WM encoding. Participants were presented with a search array and performed easy or difficult visual search in order to encode one or three complex objects into visual WM. Overlapping activation for attention-demanding visual search and WM encoding was observed in distributed posterior and frontal regions. In the right prefrontal cortex and bilateral insula blood oxygen-level-dependent activation additively increased with increased WM load and attentional demand. Conversely, several visual, parietal and premotor areas showed overlapping activation for the two task components and were severely reduced in their WM load response under the condition with high attentional demand. Regions in the left prefrontal cortex were selectively responsive to WM load. Areas selectively responsive to high attentional demand were found within the right prefrontal and bilateral occipital cortex. These results indicate that encoding into visual WM and visual selective attention require to a high degree access to common neural resources. We propose that competition for resources shared by visual attention and WM encoding can limit processing capabilities in distributed posterior brain regions.

A comparative psychophysical approach to visual perception in primates.

PubMed

Matsuno, Toyomi; Fujita, Kazuo

2009-04-01

Studies on the visual processing of primates, which have well developed visual systems, provide essential information about the perceptual bases of their higher-order cognitive abilities. Although the mechanisms underlying visual processing are largely shared between human and nonhuman primates, differences have also been reported. In this article, we review psychophysical investigations comparing the basic visual processing that operates in human and nonhuman species, and discuss the future contributions potentially deriving from such comparative psychophysical approaches to primate minds.

Eye movements reveal the time-course of anticipating behaviour based on complex, conflicting desires.

PubMed

Ferguson, Heather J; Breheny, Richard

2011-05-01

The time-course of representing others' perspectives is inconclusive across the currently available models of ToM processing. We report two visual-world studies investigating how knowledge about a character's basic preferences (e.g. Tom's favourite colour is pink) and higher-order desires (his wish to keep this preference secret) compete to influence online expectations about subsequent behaviour. Participants' eye movements around a visual scene were tracked while they listened to auditory narratives. While clear differences in anticipatory visual biases emerged between conditions in Experiment 1, post-hoc analyses testing the strength of the relevant biases suggested a discrepancy in the time-course of predicting appropriate referents within the different contexts. Specifically, predictions to the target emerged very early when there was no conflict between the character's basic preferences and higher-order desires, but appeared to be relatively delayed when comprehenders were provided with conflicting information about that character's desire to keep a secret. However, a second experiment demonstrated that this apparent 'cognitive cost' in inferring behaviour based on higher-order desires was in fact driven by low-level features between the context sentence and visual scene. Taken together, these results suggest that healthy adults are able to make complex higher-order ToM inferences without the need to call on costly cognitive processes. Results are discussed relative to previous accounts of ToM and language processing. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

c-Mantic: A Cytoscape plugin for Semantic Web

EPA Science Inventory

Semantic Web tools can streamline the process of storing, analyzing and sharing biological information. Visualization is important for communicating such complex biological relationships. Here we use the flexibility and speed of the Cytoscape platform to interactively visualize s...

Cues to Deception in an Interview Situation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Harrison, Alberta A.; And Others

1978-01-01

Interviewees were secretly instructed to answer six questions honestly and six deceptively. Deceptive answers were hesitant and lengthy. Visual presence of the interviewer increased variability in verbal response time and decreased the length of response. Interviewers were able to discriminate between truth and falsehood. Increased hesitation and…

Cloned Erwinia chrysanthemi out genes enable Escherichia coli to selectively secrete a diverse family of heterologous proteins to its milieu.

PubMed Central

He, S Y; Lindeberg, M; Chatterjee, A K; Collmer, A

1991-01-01

The out genes of the enterobacterial plant pathogen Erwinia chrysanthemi are responsible for the efficient extracellular secretion of multiple plant cell wall-degrading enzymes, including four isozymes of pectate lyase, exo-poly-alpha-D-galacturonosidase, pectin methylesterase, and cellulase. Out- mutants of Er. chrysanthemi are unable to export any of these proteins beyond the periplasm and are severely reduced in virulence. We have cloned out genes from Er. chrysanthemi in the stable, low-copy-number cosmid pCPP19 by complementing several transposon-induced mutations. The cloned out genes were clustered in a 12-kilobase chromosomal DNA region, complemented all existing out mutations in Er. chrysanthemi EC16, and enabled Escherichia coli strains to efficiently secrete the extracellular pectic enzymes produced from cloned Er. chrysanthemi genes, while retaining the periplasmic marker protein beta-lactamase. DNA sequencing of a 2.4-kilobase EcoRI fragment within the out cluster revealed four genes arranged colinearly and sharing substantial similarity with the Klebsiella pneumoniae genes pulH, pulI, pulJ, and pulK, which are necessary for pullulanase secretion. However, K. pneumoniae cells harboring the cloned Er. chrysanthemi pelE gene were unable to secrete the Erwinia pectate lyase. Furthermore, the Er. chrysanthemi Out system was unable to secrete an extracellular pectate lyase encoded by a gene from a closely related plant pathogen. Erwinia carotovora ssp. carotovora. The results suggest that these enterobacteria secrete polysaccharidases by a conserved mechanism whose protein-recognition capacities have diverged. Images PMID:1992458

Uncoupling of Secretion From Growth in Some Hormone Secretory Tissues

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Context: Most syndromes with benign primary excess of a hormone show positive coupling of hormone secretion to size or proliferation in the affected hormone secretory tissue. Syndromes that lack this coupling seem rare and have not been examined for unifying features among each other. Evidence Acquisition: Selected clinical and basic features were analyzed from original reports and reviews. We examined indices of excess secretion of a hormone and indices of size of secretory tissue within the following three syndromes, each suggestive of uncoupling between these two indices: familial hypocalciuric hypercalcemia, congenital diazoxide-resistant hyperinsulinism, and congenital primary hyperaldosteronism type III (with G151E mutation of the KCNJ5 gene). Evidence Synthesis: Some unifying features among the three syndromes were different from features present among common tumors secreting the same hormone. The unifying and distinguishing features included: 1) expression of hormone excess as early as the first days of life; 2) normal size of tissue that oversecretes a hormone; 3) diffuse histologic expression in the hormonal tissue; 4) resistance to treatment by subtotal ablation of the hormone-secreting tissue; 5) causation by a germline mutation; 6) low potential of the same mutation to cause a tumor by somatic mutation; and 7) expression of the mutated molecule in a pathway between sensing of a serum metabolite and secretion of hormone regulating that metabolite. Conclusion: Some shared clinical and basic features of uncoupling of secretion from size in a hormonal tissue characterize three uncommon states of hormone excess. These features differ importantly from features of common hormonal neoplasm of that tissue. PMID:25004249

Secretomes of Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae and Mycoplasma flocculare reveal differences associated to pathogenesis.

PubMed

Paes, Jéssica A; Lorenzatto, Karina R; de Moraes, Sofia N; Moura, Hercules; Barr, John R; Ferreira, Henrique B

2017-02-10

Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae and Mycoplasma flocculare cohabit the porcine respiratory tract. However, M. hyopneumoniae causes the porcine enzootic pneumonia, while M. flocculare is a commensal bacterium. Comparative analyses demonstrated high similarity between these species, which includes the sharing of all predicted virulence factors. Nevertheless, studies related to soluble secretomes of mycoplasmas were little known, although they are important for bacterial-host interactions. The aim of this study was to perform a comparative analysis between the soluble secreted proteins repertoires of the pathogenic Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae and its closely related commensal Mycoplasma flocculare. For that, bacteria were cultured in medium with reduced serum concentration and secreted proteins were identified by a LC-MS/MS proteomics approach. Altogether, 62 and 26 proteins were identified as secreted by M. hyopneumoniae and M. flocculare, respectively, being just seven proteins shared between these bacteria. In M. hyopneumoniae secretome, 15 proteins described as virulence factors were found; while four putative virulence factors were identified in M. flocculare secretome. For the first time, clear differences related to virulence were found between these species, helping to elucidate the pathogenic nature of M. hyopneumoniae to swine hosts. For the first time, the secretomes of two porcine respiratory mycoplasmas, namely the pathogenic M. hyopneumoniae and the commensal M. flocculare were compared. The presented results revealed previously unknown differences between these two genetically related species, some of which are associated to the M. hyopneumoniae ability to cause porcine enzootic pneumonia. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The effects of Ramadan fasting on the health and function of the eye.

PubMed

Javadi, Mohammad Ali; Assadi, Mahsan; Einollahi, Bahram; Rabei, Hossein Mohammad; Afarid, Mehrdad; Assadi, Majid

2014-08-01

Ramadan fasting may alter a variety of physiological parameters which by themselves influence ocular system. Here, we review the effects of Ramadan fasting on the health and function of the eye. Literature records in PubMed/MEDLINE, Web of Science, EMBASE, Google Scholar, and Iran Medex databases as well as proceedings of related meetings from January 1986 to March 2014 were systematically reviewed. The search key words was based on the terms "Ramadan Fasting," "Ramadan," "Islamic Fasting," "Fasting in Ramadan" accompanied with one of the eye, tear drop, myopia, intraocular pressure (IOP), tear break up time, basal tear secretion, refractive error, and visual acuity. Predawn water loading and dehydration in the evening are shown to increase and decrease IOP and tear secretion, respectively. Ocular blood flow is changed in Ramadan fasting, and patients with ocular vein occlusion may experience more frequent attacks. There are no or minimal fluctuations in visual acuity and refractive errors, but most of them are decompensated after Ramadan. Although the influence of fasting in different eye parameters is evaluated in several studies, there are no or only limited studies conducted on patients suffering from glaucoma, damage to ophthalmic vasculature, tear dysfunction, and minimal visual acuity. Such studies are required to make a definite decision before fasting is declared harmless to these patients.

IMAGING MASS SPECTROMETRY OF A CORAL MICROBE INTERACTION WITH FUNGI

PubMed Central

ZHAO, XILING; LIU, WEI-TING; APARICIO, MARYSTELLA; ATENCIO, LIBRADA; BALLESTEROS, JAVIER; SÁNCHEZ, JOEL; GAVILÁN, RONNIE G.; GUTIÉRREZ, MARCELINO; DORRESTEIN, PIETER C.

2013-01-01

Fungal infections are increasing worldwide, including in the aquatic environment. Microbiota that coexist with marine life can provide protection against fungal infections by secretion of metabolites with antifungal properties. Our laboratory has developed mass spectrometric methodologies with the goal of improving our functional understanding of microbial metabolites and guiding the discovery process of anti-infective agents from natural sources. GA40, a Bacillus amyloliquefaciens strain isolated from an octocoral in Panama, displayed antifungal activity against various terrestrial and marine fungal strains. Using matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-imaging mass spectrometry (MALDI-IMS), the molecular species produced by this microbe were visualized in a side-by-side interaction with two representative fungal strains, Aspergillus fumigatus and Aspergillus niger. The visualization was performed directly on the agar without the need for extraction. By comparison of spatial distributions, relative intensities and m/z values of GA40 secreted metabolites in the fungal interactions versus singly grown control colonies, we obtained insight into the antifungal activity of secreted metabolites. Annotation of GA40 metabolites observed in MALDI-IMS was facilitated by MS/MS networking analysis, a mass spectrometric technique that clusters metabolites with similar MS/MS fragmentation patterns. This analysis established that the predominant GA40 metabolites belong to the iturin family. In a fungal inhibition assay of A. fumigatus, the GA40 iturin metabolites were found to be responsible for the antifungal properties of this Bacillus strain. PMID:23881443

Adapted shared reading at school for minimally verbal students with autism.

PubMed

Mucchetti, Charlotte A

2013-05-01

Almost nothing is known about the capacity of minimally verbal students with autism to develop literacy skills. Shared reading is a regular practice in early education settings and is widely thought to encourage language and literacy development. There is some evidence that children with severe disabilities can be engaged in adapted shared reading activities. The current study examines the impact of teacher-led adapted shared reading activities on engagement and story comprehension in minimally verbal 5-6-year-old children with autism using a multiple baseline/alternating treatment design. Four students and three teachers participated. Teachers conducted adapted shared reading activities with modified books (visual supports, three-dimensional objects, simplified text) and used specific strategies for increasing student engagement. Student performance during adapted activities was compared to performance during standard shared reading sessions. All four students showed increased story comprehension and engagement during adapted shared reading. Average percentage of session engaged was 87%-100% during adapted sessions, compared with 41%-52% during baseline. Average number of correct responses to story comprehension questions was 4.2-4.8 out of 6 during adapted sessions compared with 1.2-2 during baseline. Visual supports, tactile objects, and specific teaching strategies offer ways for minimally verbal students to meaningfully participate in literacy activities. Future research should investigate adapted shared reading activities implemented classroom-wide as well as joint engagement, language, and literacy outcomes after using such activities over time.

Rocinante, a virtual collaborative visualizer

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

McDonald, M.J.; Ice, L.G.

1996-12-31

With the goal of improving the ability of people around the world to share the development and use of intelligent systems, Sandia National Laboratories` Intelligent Systems and Robotics Center is developing new Virtual Collaborative Engineering (VCE) and Virtual Collaborative Control (VCC) technologies. A key area of VCE and VCC research is in shared visualization of virtual environments. This paper describes a Virtual Collaborative Visualizer (VCV), named Rocinante, that Sandia developed for VCE and VCC applications. Rocinante allows multiple participants to simultaneously view dynamic geometrically-defined environments. Each viewer can exclude extraneous detail or include additional information in the scene as desired.more » Shared information can be saved and later replayed in a stand-alone mode. Rocinante automatically scales visualization requirements with computer system capabilities. Models with 30,000 polygons and 4 Megabytes of texture display at 12 to 15 frames per second (fps) on an SGI Onyx and at 3 to 8 fps (without texture) on Indigo 2 Extreme computers. In its networked mode, Rocinante synchronizes its local geometric model with remote simulators and sensory systems by monitoring data transmitted through UDP packets. Rocinante`s scalability and performance make it an ideal VCC tool. Users throughout the country can monitor robot motions and the thinking behind their motion planners and simulators.« less

Shared vs. specific brain activation changes in dyslexia after training of phonology, attention, or reading.

PubMed

Heim, Stefan; Pape-Neumann, Julia; van Ermingen-Marbach, Muna; Brinkhaus, Moti; Grande, Marion

2015-07-01

Whereas the neurobiological basis of developmental dyslexia has received substantial attention, only little is known about the processes in the brain during remediation. This holds in particular in light of recent findings on cognitive subtypes of dyslexia which suggest interactions between individual profiles, training methods, and also the task in the scanner. Therefore, we trained three groups of German dyslexic primary school children in the domains of phonology, attention, or visual word recognition. We compared neurofunctional changes after 4 weeks of training in these groups to those in untrained normal readers in a reading task and in a task of visual attention. The overall reading improvement in the dyslexic children was comparable over groups. It was accompanied by substantial increase of the activation level in the visual word form area (VWFA) during a reading task inside the scanner. Moreover, there were activation increases that were unique for each training group in the reading task. In contrast, when children performed the visual attention task, shared training effects were found in the left inferior frontal sulcus and gyrus, which varied in amplitude between the groups. Overall, the data reveal that different remediation programmes matched to individual profiles of dyslexia may improve reading ability and commonly affect the VWFA in dyslexia as a shared part of otherwise distinct networks.

Distributed Visualization Project

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Craig, Douglas; Conroy, Michael; Kickbusch, Tracey; Mazone, Rebecca

2016-01-01

Distributed Visualization allows anyone, anywhere to see any simulation at any time. Development focuses on algorithms, software, data formats, data systems and processes to enable sharing simulation-based information across temporal and spatial boundaries without requiring stakeholders to possess highly-specialized and very expensive display systems. It also introduces abstraction between the native and shared data, which allows teams to share results without giving away proprietary or sensitive data. The initial implementation of this capability is the Distributed Observer Network (DON) version 3.1. DON 3.1 is available for public release in the NASA Software Store (https://software.nasa.gov/software/KSC-13775) and works with version 3.0 of the Model Process Control specification (an XML Simulation Data Representation and Communication Language) to display complex graphical information and associated Meta-Data.

Subsystems of sensory attention for skilled reaching: vision for transport and pre-shaping and somatosensation for grasping, withdrawal and release.

PubMed

Sacrey, Lori-Ann R; Whishaw, Ian Q

2012-06-01

Skilled reaching is a forelimb movement in which a subject reaches for a piece of food that is placed in the mouth for eating. It is a natural movement used by many animal species and is a routine, daily activity for humans. Its prominent features include transport of the hand to a target, shaping the digits in preparation for grasping, grasping, and withdrawal of the hand to place the food in the mouth. Studies on normal human adults show that skilled reaching is mediated by at least two sensory attention processes. Hand transport to the target and hand shaping are temporally coupled with visual fixation on the target. Grasping, withdrawal, and placing the food into the mouth are associated with visual disengagement and somatosensory guidance. Studies on nonhuman animal species illustrate that shared visual and somatosensory attention likely evolved in the primate lineage. Studies on developing infants illustrate that shared attention requires both experience and maturation. Studies on subjects with Parkinson's disease and Huntington's disease illustrate that decomposition of shared attention also features compensatory visual guidance. The evolutionary, developmental, and neural control of skilled reaching suggests that associative learning processes are importantly related to normal adult attention sharing and so can be used in remediation. The economical use of sensory attention in the different phases of skilled reaching ensures efficiency in eating, reduces sensory interference between sensory reference frames, and provides efficient neural control of the advance and withdrawal components of skilled reaching movements. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Audition and vision share spatial attentional resources, yet attentional load does not disrupt audiovisual integration.

PubMed

Wahn, Basil; König, Peter

2015-01-01

Humans continuously receive and integrate information from several sensory modalities. However, attentional resources limit the amount of information that can be processed. It is not yet clear how attentional resources and multisensory processing are interrelated. Specifically, the following questions arise: (1) Are there distinct spatial attentional resources for each sensory modality? and (2) Does attentional load affect multisensory integration? We investigated these questions using a dual task paradigm: participants performed two spatial tasks (a multiple object tracking task and a localization task), either separately (single task condition) or simultaneously (dual task condition). In the multiple object tracking task, participants visually tracked a small subset of several randomly moving objects. In the localization task, participants received either visual, auditory, or redundant visual and auditory location cues. In the dual task condition, we found a substantial decrease in participants' performance relative to the results of the single task condition. Importantly, participants performed equally well in the dual task condition regardless of the location cues' modality. This result suggests that having spatial information coming from different modalities does not facilitate performance, thereby indicating shared spatial attentional resources for the auditory and visual modality. Furthermore, we found that participants integrated redundant multisensory information similarly even when they experienced additional attentional load in the dual task condition. Overall, findings suggest that (1) visual and auditory spatial attentional resources are shared and that (2) audiovisual integration of spatial information occurs in an pre-attentive processing stage.

The Secret Life of Quarks, Final Report for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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

Fowler, Robert J.

This final report summarizes activities and results at the University of North Carolina as part of the the SciDAC-2 Project The Secret Life of Quarks: National Computational Infrastructure for Lattice Quantum Chromodynamics. The overall objective of the project is to construct the software needed to study quantum chromo- dynamics (QCD), the theory of the strong interactions of subatomic physics, and similar strongly coupled gauge theories anticipated to be of importance in the LHC era. It built upon the successful efforts of the SciDAC-1 project National Computational Infrastructure for Lattice Gauge Theory, in which a QCD Applications Programming Interface (QCD API)more » was developed that enables lat- tice gauge theorists to make effective use of a wide variety of massively parallel computers. In the SciDAC-2 project, optimized versions of the QCD API were being created for the IBM Blue- Gene/L (BG/L) and BlueGene/P (BG/P), the Cray XT3/XT4 and its successors, and clusters based on multi-core processors and Infiniband communications networks. The QCD API is being used to enhance the performance of the major QCD community codes and to create new applications. Software libraries of physics tools have been expanded to contain sharable building blocks for inclusion in application codes, performance analysis and visualization tools, and software for au- tomation of physics work flow. New software tools were designed for managing the large data sets generated in lattice QCD simulations, and for sharing them through the International Lattice Data Grid consortium. As part of the overall project, researchers at UNC were funded through ASCR to work in three general areas. The main thrust has been performance instrumentation and analysis in support of the SciDAC QCD code base as it evolved and as it moved to new computation platforms. In support of the performance activities, performance data was to be collected in a database for the purpose of broader analysis. Third, the UNC work was done at RENCI (Renaissance Computing Institute), which has extensive expertise and facilities for scientific data visualization, so we acted in an ongoing consulting and support role in that area.« less

Motor-cognitive dual-task performance: effects of a concurrent motor task on distinct components of visual processing capacity.

PubMed

Künstler, E C S; Finke, K; Günther, A; Klingner, C; Witte, O; Bublak, P

2018-01-01

Dual tasking, or the simultaneous execution of two continuous tasks, is frequently associated with a performance decline that can be explained within a capacity sharing framework. In this study, we assessed the effects of a concurrent motor task on the efficiency of visual information uptake based on the 'theory of visual attention' (TVA). TVA provides parameter estimates reflecting distinct components of visual processing capacity: perceptual threshold, visual processing speed, and visual short-term memory (VSTM) storage capacity. Moreover, goodness-of-fit values and bootstrapping estimates were derived to test whether the TVA-model is validly applicable also under dual task conditions, and whether the robustness of parameter estimates is comparable in single- and dual-task conditions. 24 subjects of middle to higher age performed a continuous tapping task, and a visual processing task (whole report of briefly presented letter arrays) under both single- and dual-task conditions. Results suggest a decline of both visual processing capacity and VSTM storage capacity under dual-task conditions, while the perceptual threshold remained unaffected by a concurrent motor task. In addition, goodness-of-fit values and bootstrapping estimates support the notion that participants processed the visual task in a qualitatively comparable, although quantitatively less efficient way under dual-task conditions. The results support a capacity sharing account of motor-cognitive dual tasking and suggest that even performing a relatively simple motor task relies on central attentional capacity that is necessary for efficient visual information uptake.

Reduced insulin secretion and glucose intolerance are involved in the fasting susceptibility of common vampire bats.

PubMed

Freitas, Mariella B; Queiroz, Joicy F; Dias Gomes, Carolinne I; Collares-Buzato, Carla B; Barbosa, Helena C; Boschero, Antonio C; Gonçalves, Carlos A; Pinheiro, Eliana C

2013-03-01

Susceptibility during fasting has been reported for the common vampire bat (Desmodus rotundus), to the point of untimely deaths after only 2-3 nights of fasting. To investigate the underlying physiology of this critical metabolic condition, we analyzed serum insulin levels, pancreatic islets morphometry and immunocytochemistry (ICC), static insulin secretion in pancreas fragments, and insulin signaling mechanism in male vampire bats. A glucose tolerance test (ipGTT) was also performed. Serum insulin was found to be lower in fed vampires compared to other mammals, and was significantly reduced after 24h fasting. Morphometrical analyses revealed small irregular pancreatic islets with reduced percentage of β-cell mass compared to other bats. Static insulin secretion analysis showed that glucose-stimulated insulin secretion was impaired, as insulin levels did not reach significance under high glucose concentrations, whereas the response to the amino acid leucin was preserved. Results from ipGTT showed a failure on glucose clearance, indicating glucose intolerance due to diminished pancreatic insulin secretion and/or decreased β-cell response to glucose. In conclusion, data presented here indicate lower insulinemia and impaired insulin secretion in D. rotundus, which is consistent with the limited ability to store body energy reserves, previously reported in these animals. Whether these metabolic and hormonal features are associated with their blood diet remains to be determined. The peculiar food sharing through blood regurgitation, reported to this species, might be an adaptive mechanism overcoming this metabolic susceptibility. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The general theory of three-party quantum secret sharing protocols over phase-damping channels

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Song, Ting-Ting; Wen, Qiao-Yan; Qin, Su-Juan; Zhang, Wei-Wei; Sun, Ying

2013-10-01

The general theory of three-party QSS protocols with the noisy quantum channels is discussed. When the particles are transmitted through the noisy quantum channels, the initial pure three-qubit tripartite entangled states would be changed into mixed states. We analyze the security of QSS protocols with the different kinds of three-qubit tripartite entangled states under phase-damping channels and figure out, for different kinds of initial states, the successful probabilities that Alice's secret can be recovered by legal agents are different. Comparing with one recent QSS protocol based on GHZ states, our scheme is secure, and has a little smaller key rate than that of the recent protocol.

37 CFR 211.5 - Deposit of identifying material.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... perceptible representation of each layer of the mask work consisting of: (i) Sets of plastic color overlay... photograph of each layer of the work fixed in a semiconductor chip product. The visually perceptible... chip product. (c) Trade secret protection. Where specific layers of a mask work fixed in a...

Aureobasidium pullulans morphology: two adapted polysaccharide stains.

PubMed

Oller, Anna R

2005-12-01

Morphological stages of Aureobasidium pullulans were investigated utilizing different media ingredients and were visualized by bright-field microscopy. A polysaccharide stain was developed to stain chlamydospores, cell walls, hyphae, and conidia, since current staining techniques do not reveal subcellular details to identify fungi, especially those that exhibit polysaccharide secretions.

Revelations: A Qualitative Inquiry on Visual Artistic Emergence, Common Triggers, Shared Perceptions, and Strategies for Perpetuation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kobylenski, Steven John

2009-01-01

This research proposal identifies those experiences that lead to the pursuit of visual art as sustained passion in life. In seeking the potential factors that contribute to an individual's continued interest in visual art at key points in their physical maturity and educational lives, strategies for success could be developed for the benefit of…

Conversational Pedagogy: Exploring Interactions between a Teaching Artist and Young Learners during Visual Arts Experiences

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Eckhoff, Angela

2013-01-01

In many early childhood classrooms, visual arts experiences occur around a communal arts table. A shared workspace allows for spontaneous conversation and exploration of the art-making process of peers and teachers. In this setting, conversation can play an important role in visual arts experiences as children explore new media, skills, and ideas.…

Project UNITY: Cross Domain Visualization Collaboration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moore, J.; Havig, P.

UNITY is an International Cooperative Research and Development (ICR&D) project between the United States and Great Britain under the Research and Development Projects (RDP) Memorandum of Agreement (MOA). UNITYs objectives are to develop and evaluate the operational concepts and requirements for undertaking combined operations: a) pursuant to the interests of mission partners, b) develop, experiment, and demonstrate, transitionable emergent technologies, capabilities, or concepts, which facilitate the sharing of information and products between mission partners, and c) identify and define additional emerging technologies that may need to be developed to support current and future military information sharing. Collaboration between coalition partners is essentially for accurate and timely decision making in the ever increasing nature and tempo of global security. The purpose for this project is to develop engineering solutions in order to further investigate the human factors issues that arise while sharing information in a collaborative environment where security is an issue. The biggest difference between existing available solutions are in the presentation and interaction with the interface on both ends of the collaboration in order to preserve the expressed intent of shared situation awareness while also enabling markups and content on one screen that the other collaborator does not see and vice versa. The UNITY project stresses collaboration differently than all known realtime collaboration software in production, aka groupware, on the market today. The tradition of What You See Is What I See (WYSIWIS) as in typical implementations of shared whiteboards simply do not address the need for local and private information to be displayed in context with shareable data. This paper addresses the concerns, problems, and some solutions for shared 3D visualization and 2D tabular visualizations which are explored and presented within the space situation awareness problem set.

ProXL (Protein Cross-Linking Database): A Platform for Analysis, Visualization, and Sharing of Protein Cross-Linking Mass Spectrometry Data

PubMed Central

2016-01-01

ProXL is a Web application and accompanying database designed for sharing, visualizing, and analyzing bottom-up protein cross-linking mass spectrometry data with an emphasis on structural analysis and quality control. ProXL is designed to be independent of any particular software pipeline. The import process is simplified by the use of the ProXL XML data format, which shields developers of data importers from the relative complexity of the relational database schema. The database and Web interfaces function equally well for any software pipeline and allow data from disparate pipelines to be merged and contrasted. ProXL includes robust public and private data sharing capabilities, including a project-based interface designed to ensure security and facilitate collaboration among multiple researchers. ProXL provides multiple interactive and highly dynamic data visualizations that facilitate structural-based analysis of the observed cross-links as well as quality control. ProXL is open-source, well-documented, and freely available at https://github.com/yeastrc/proxl-web-app. PMID:27302480

ProXL (Protein Cross-Linking Database): A Platform for Analysis, Visualization, and Sharing of Protein Cross-Linking Mass Spectrometry Data.

PubMed

Riffle, Michael; Jaschob, Daniel; Zelter, Alex; Davis, Trisha N

2016-08-05

ProXL is a Web application and accompanying database designed for sharing, visualizing, and analyzing bottom-up protein cross-linking mass spectrometry data with an emphasis on structural analysis and quality control. ProXL is designed to be independent of any particular software pipeline. The import process is simplified by the use of the ProXL XML data format, which shields developers of data importers from the relative complexity of the relational database schema. The database and Web interfaces function equally well for any software pipeline and allow data from disparate pipelines to be merged and contrasted. ProXL includes robust public and private data sharing capabilities, including a project-based interface designed to ensure security and facilitate collaboration among multiple researchers. ProXL provides multiple interactive and highly dynamic data visualizations that facilitate structural-based analysis of the observed cross-links as well as quality control. ProXL is open-source, well-documented, and freely available at https://github.com/yeastrc/proxl-web-app .

Human Connectome Project Informatics: quality control, database services, and data visualization

PubMed Central

Marcus, Daniel S.; Harms, Michael P.; Snyder, Abraham Z.; Jenkinson, Mark; Wilson, J Anthony; Glasser, Matthew F.; Barch, Deanna M.; Archie, Kevin A.; Burgess, Gregory C.; Ramaratnam, Mohana; Hodge, Michael; Horton, William; Herrick, Rick; Olsen, Timothy; McKay, Michael; House, Matthew; Hileman, Michael; Reid, Erin; Harwell, John; Coalson, Timothy; Schindler, Jon; Elam, Jennifer S.; Curtiss, Sandra W.; Van Essen, David C.

2013-01-01

The Human Connectome Project (HCP) has developed protocols, standard operating and quality control procedures, and a suite of informatics tools to enable high throughput data collection, data sharing, automated data processing and analysis, and data mining and visualization. Quality control procedures include methods to maintain data collection consistency over time, to measure head motion, and to establish quantitative modality-specific overall quality assessments. Database services developed as customizations of the XNAT imaging informatics platform support both internal daily operations and open access data sharing. The Connectome Workbench visualization environment enables user interaction with HCP data and is increasingly integrated with the HCP's database services. Here we describe the current state of these procedures and tools and their application in the ongoing HCP study. PMID:23707591

Secure steganographic communication algorithm based on self-organizing patterns.

PubMed

Saunoriene, Loreta; Ragulskis, Minvydas

2011-11-01

A secure steganographic communication algorithm based on patterns evolving in a Beddington-de Angelis-type predator-prey model with self- and cross-diffusion is proposed in this paper. Small perturbations of initial states of the system around the state of equilibrium result in the evolution of self-organizing patterns. Small differences between initial perturbations result in slight differences also in the evolving patterns. It is shown that the generation of interpretable target patterns cannot be considered as a secure mean of communication because contours of the secret image can be retrieved from the cover image using statistical techniques if only it represents small perturbations of the initial states of the system. An alternative approach when the cover image represents the self-organizing pattern that has evolved from initial states perturbed using the dot-skeleton representation of the secret image can be considered as a safe visual communication technique protecting both the secret image and communicating parties.

X‐linked retinoschisis: an update

PubMed Central

Sikkink, Stephen K; Biswas, Susmito; Parry, Neil R A; Stanga, Paulo E; Trump, Dorothy

2007-01-01

X‐linked retinoschisis is the leading cause of macular degeneration in males and leads to splitting within the inner retinal layers leading to visual deterioration. Many missense and protein truncating mutations have now been identified in the causative retinoschisis gene (RS1) which encodes a 224 amino acid secreting retinal protein, retinoschisin. Retinoschisin octamerises is implicated in cell–cell interactions and cell adhesion perhaps by interacting with β2 laminin. Mutations cause loss of retinoschisin function by one of the three mechanisms: by interfering with protein secretion, by preventing its octamerisation or by reducing function in the secreted octamerised protein. The development of retinoschisis mouse models have provided a model system that closely resembles the human disease. Recent reports of RS1 gene transfer to these models and the sustained restoration of some retinal function and morphology suggest gene replacement may be a possible future therapy for patients. PMID:17172462

Visual scanning with or without spatial uncertainty and time-sharing performance

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Liu, Yili; Wickens, Christopher D.

1989-01-01

An experiment is reported that examines the pattern of task interference between visual scanning as a sequential and selective attention process and other concurrent spatial or verbal processing tasks. A distinction is proposed between visual scanning with or without spatial uncertainty regarding the possible differential effects of these two types of scanning on interference with other concurrent processes. The experiment required the subject to perform a simulated primary tracking task, which was time-shared with a secondary spatial or verbal decision task. The relevant information that was needed to perform the decision tasks were displayed with or without spatial uncertainty. The experiment employed a 2 x 2 x 2 design with types of scanning (with or without spatial uncertainty), expected scanning distance (low/high), and codes of concurrent processing (spatial/verbal) as the three experimental factors. The results provide strong evidence that visual scanning as a spatial exploratory activity produces greater task interference with concurrent spatial tasks than with concurrent verbal tasks. Furthermore, spatial uncertainty in visual scanning is identified to be the crucial factor in producing this differential effect.

A wavelet domain adaptive image watermarking method based on chaotic encryption

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wei, Fang; Liu, Jian; Cao, Hanqiang; Yang, Jun

2009-10-01

A digital watermarking technique is a specific branch of steganography, which can be used in various applications, provides a novel way to solve security problems for multimedia information. In this paper, we proposed a kind of wavelet domain adaptive image digital watermarking method using chaotic stream encrypt and human eye visual property. The secret information that can be seen as a watermarking is hidden into a host image, which can be publicly accessed, so the transportation of the secret information will not attract the attention of illegal receiver. The experimental results show that the method is invisible and robust against some image processing.

Awakening Brilliance in the Writer's Workshop: Using Notebooks, Mentor Texts, and the Writing Process

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Morris, Lisa

2012-01-01

Master teacher Lisa Morris invites you to share her secrets of success with writer's workshops. After years of experimenting with the workshop model, she has developed the most effective ways to apply it in the classroom, yielding higher test scores and increased student engagement. Through practical, step-by-step instruction, Morris demonstrates…

Notes from the Delivery Room

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wasburn-Moses, Leah

2009-01-01

In this article, the author offers some success secrets of the stars for fitting into one's research again after the baby. The author has some experience to share, having had her first child as a high school teacher, her second as an ABD (all-but-dissertation) graduate student, and now her third as an assistant professor at a research-intensive…

The Rosenberg Trial: Uncovering the Layers of History

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ragsdale, Bruce A.

2013-01-01

The trial of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg on charges of conspiring to spy for the Soviet Union remains one of the defining moments of the Cold War era. The dramatic allegations of stolen atomic secrets and networks of Communist spies riveted the public's attention. The determination of government prosecutors reflected a widely shared belief that the…

Co-evolution of chitinases from maize and other cereals with secreted proteases from Pleosporineae fungi

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Plant class IV chitinases are composed of a carboxy-terminal chitinase domain that is attached, through a linker sequence, to a small amino-terminal domain that can be thought of as a structured peptide. While both the peptide-like domain and the chitinase domain share sequence homology throughout m...

Vision, Educational Level, and Empowering Work Relationships.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Johnson, G. M.

1995-01-01

Thirty-one machinists (blind, sighted, and visually impaired) answered questions about trust, resource sharing, and empowerment in work relationships. Employees with low vision were the least trusting and trusted, received the fewest shared resources, and reported proportionately more disempowering relationships. More educated employees saw more…

Department of Defense Training Technology Technical Group (T2TG) Minutes and Briefings of 6th Meeting

DTIC Science & Technology

1992-03-01

the Services or "What are the Research Issues in the use of Virtual Reality in Training?" 173 Visual Communication In Multi-Media Virtual Realities...This basic research project in visual communication examines how visual knowledge should be structured to take full advantage of advanced computer...theoretical framework to begin to analyze the comparative strengths of speech communication versus visual communication in the exchange of shared mental

Changes in visual perspective influence brain activity patterns during cognitive perspective-taking of other people's pain.

PubMed

Vistoli, Damien; Achim, Amélie M; Lavoie, Marie-Audrey; Jackson, Philip L

2016-05-01

Empathy refers to our capacity to share and understand the emotional states of others. It relies on two main processes according to existing models: an effortless affective sharing process based on neural resonance and a more effortful cognitive perspective-taking process enabling the ability to imagine and understand how others feel in specific situations. Until now, studies have focused on factors influencing the affective sharing process but little is known about those influencing the cognitive perspective-taking process and the related brain activations during vicarious pain. In the present fMRI study, we used the well-known physical pain observation task to examine whether the visual perspective can influence, in a bottom-up way, the brain regions involved in taking others' cognitive perspective to attribute their level of pain. We used a pseudo-dynamic version of this classic task which features hands in painful or neutral daily life situations while orthogonally manipulating: (1) the visual perspective with which hands were presented (first-person versus third-person conditions) and (2) the explicit instructions to imagine oneself or an unknown person in those situations (Self versus Other conditions). The cognitive perspective-taking process was investigated by comparing Other and Self conditions. When examined across both visual perspectives, this comparison showed no supra-threshold activation. Instead, the Other versus Self comparison led to a specific recruitment of the bilateral temporo-parietal junction when hands were presented according to a first-person (but not third-person) visual perspective. The present findings identify the visual perspective as a factor that modulates the neural activations related to cognitive perspective-taking during vicarious pain and show that this complex cognitive process can be influenced by perceptual stages of information processing. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Proteomic analysis of secreted proteins by human bronchial epithelial cells in response to cadmium toxicity.

PubMed

Chen, De-Ju; Xu, Yan-Ming; Zheng, Wei; Huang, Dong-Yang; Wong, Wing-Yan; Tai, William Chi-Shing; Cho, Yong-Yeon; Lau, Andy T Y

2015-09-01

For years, many studies have been conducted to investigate the intracellular response of cells challenged with toxic metal(s), yet, the corresponding secretome responses, especially in human lung cells, are largely unexplored. Here, we provide a secretome analysis of human bronchial epithelial cells (BEAS-2B) treated with cadmium chloride (CdCl2 ), with the aim of identifying secreted proteins in response to Cd toxicity. Proteins from control and spent media were separated by two-dimensional electrophoresis and visualized by silver staining. Differentially-secreted proteins were identified by MALDI-TOF-MS analysis and database searching. We characterized, for the first time, the extracellular proteome changes of BEAS-2B dosed with Cd. Our results unveiled that Cd treatment led to the marked upregulation of molecular chaperones, antioxidant enzymes, enzymes associated with glutathione metabolic process, proteins involved in cellular energy metabolism, as well as tumor-suppressors. Pretreatment of cells with the thiol antioxidant glutathione before Cd treatment effectively abrogated the secretion of these proteins and prevented cell death. Taken together, our results demonstrate that Cd causes oxidative stress-induced cytotoxicity; and the differentially-secreted protein signatures could be considered as targets for potential use as extracellular biomarkers upon Cd exposure. © 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Comparison of Object Recognition Behavior in Human and Monkey

PubMed Central

Rajalingham, Rishi; Schmidt, Kailyn

2015-01-01

Although the rhesus monkey is used widely as an animal model of human visual processing, it is not known whether invariant visual object recognition behavior is quantitatively comparable across monkeys and humans. To address this question, we systematically compared the core object recognition behavior of two monkeys with that of human subjects. To test true object recognition behavior (rather than image matching), we generated several thousand naturalistic synthetic images of 24 basic-level objects with high variation in viewing parameters and image background. Monkeys were trained to perform binary object recognition tasks on a match-to-sample paradigm. Data from 605 human subjects performing the same tasks on Mechanical Turk were aggregated to characterize “pooled human” object recognition behavior, as well as 33 separate Mechanical Turk subjects to characterize individual human subject behavior. Our results show that monkeys learn each new object in a few days, after which they not only match mean human performance but show a pattern of object confusion that is highly correlated with pooled human confusion patterns and is statistically indistinguishable from individual human subjects. Importantly, this shared human and monkey pattern of 3D object confusion is not shared with low-level visual representations (pixels, V1+; models of the retina and primary visual cortex) but is shared with a state-of-the-art computer vision feature representation. Together, these results are consistent with the hypothesis that rhesus monkeys and humans share a common neural shape representation that directly supports object perception. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT To date, several mammalian species have shown promise as animal models for studying the neural mechanisms underlying high-level visual processing in humans. In light of this diversity, making tight comparisons between nonhuman and human primates is particularly critical in determining the best use of nonhuman primates to further the goal of the field of translating knowledge gained from animal models to humans. To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first systematic attempt at comparing a high-level visual behavior of humans and macaque monkeys. PMID:26338324

Taking Attention Away from the Auditory Modality: Context-dependent Effects on Early Sensory Encoding of Speech.

PubMed

Xie, Zilong; Reetzke, Rachel; Chandrasekaran, Bharath

2018-05-24

Increasing visual perceptual load can reduce pre-attentive auditory cortical activity to sounds, a reflection of the limited and shared attentional resources for sensory processing across modalities. Here, we demonstrate that modulating visual perceptual load can impact the early sensory encoding of speech sounds, and that the impact of visual load is highly dependent on the predictability of the incoming speech stream. Participants (n = 20, 9 females) performed a visual search task of high (target similar to distractors) and low (target dissimilar to distractors) perceptual load, while early auditory electrophysiological responses were recorded to native speech sounds. Speech sounds were presented either in a 'repetitive context', or a less predictable 'variable context'. Independent of auditory stimulus context, pre-attentive auditory cortical activity was reduced during high visual load, relative to low visual load. We applied a data-driven machine learning approach to decode speech sounds from the early auditory electrophysiological responses. Decoding performance was found to be poorer under conditions of high (relative to low) visual load, when the incoming acoustic stream was predictable. When the auditory stimulus context was less predictable, decoding performance was substantially greater for the high (relative to low) visual load conditions. Our results provide support for shared attentional resources between visual and auditory modalities that substantially influence the early sensory encoding of speech signals in a context-dependent manner. Copyright © 2018 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Genetic Architecture Promotes the Evolution and Maintenance of Cooperation

PubMed Central

Frénoy, Antoine; Taddei, François; Misevic, Dusan

2013-01-01

When cooperation has a direct cost and an indirect benefit, a selfish behavior is more likely to be selected for than an altruistic one. Kin and group selection do provide evolutionary explanations for the stability of cooperation in nature, but we still lack the full understanding of the genomic mechanisms that can prevent cheater invasion. In our study we used Aevol, an agent-based, in silico genomic platform to evolve populations of digital organisms that compete, reproduce, and cooperate by secreting a public good for tens of thousands of generations. We found that cooperating individuals may share a phenotype, defined as the amount of public good produced, but have very different abilities to resist cheater invasion. To understand the underlying genetic differences between cooperator types, we performed bio-inspired genomics analyses of our digital organisms by recording and comparing the locations of metabolic and secretion genes, as well as the relevant promoters and terminators. Association between metabolic and secretion genes (promoter sharing, overlap via frame shift or sense-antisense encoding) was characteristic for populations with robust cooperation and was more likely to evolve when secretion was costly. In mutational analysis experiments, we demonstrated the potential evolutionary consequences of the genetic association by performing a large number of mutations and measuring their phenotypic and fitness effects. The non-cooperating mutants arising from the individuals with genetic association were more likely to have metabolic deleterious mutations that eventually lead to selection eliminating such mutants from the population due to the accompanying fitness decrease. Effectively, cooperation evolved to be protected and robust to mutations through entangled genetic architecture. Our results confirm the importance of second-order selection on evolutionary outcomes, uncover an important genetic mechanism for the evolution and maintenance of cooperation, and suggest promising methods for preventing gene loss in synthetically engineered organisms. PMID:24278000

Suppression of allo-human leucocyte antigen (HLA) antibodies secreted by B memory cells in vitro: intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg) versus a monoclonal anti-HLA-E IgG that mimics HLA-I reactivities of IVIg.

PubMed

Zhu, D; Ravindranath, M H; Terasaki, P I; Miyazaki, T; Pham, T; Jucaud, V

2014-08-01

B memory cells remain in circulation and secrete alloantibodies without antigen exposure > 20 years after alloimmunization postpartum or by transplantation. These long-lived B cells are resistant to cytostatic drugs. Therapeutically, intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg) is administered to reduce allo-human leucocyte antigen (HLA) antibodies pre- and post-transplantation, but the mechanism of reduction remains unclear. Recently, we reported that IVIg reacts with several HLA-I alleles and the HLA reactivity of IVIg is lost after its HLA-E reactivity is adsorbed out. Therefore, we have generated an anti-HLA-E monoclonal antibody that mimics the HLA-reactivity of IVIg to investigate whether this antibody suppresses IgG secretion, as does IVIg. B cells were purified from the blood of a woman in whose blood the B memory cells remained without antigen exposure > 20 years after postpartum alloimmunization. The B cells were stimulated with cytokines using a well-defined culture system. The anti-HLA-E monoclonal antibody (mAb) significantly suppressed the allo-HLA class-II IgG produced by the B cells, and that this suppression was far superior to that by IVIg. These findings were confirmed with HLA-I antibody secreted by the immortalized B cell line, developed from the blood of another alloimmunized woman. The binding affinity of the anti-HLA-E mAb for peptide sequences shared (i.e. shared epitopes) between HLA-E and other β2-microglobulin-free HLA heavy chains (open conformers) on the cell surface of B cells may act as a ligand and signal suppression of IgG production of activated B memory cells. We propose that anti-HLA-E monoclonal antibody may also be useful to suppress allo-HLA IgG production in vivo. © 2014 British Society for Immunology.

Grouping and binding in visual short-term memory.

PubMed

Quinlan, Philip T; Cohen, Dale J

2012-09-01

Findings of 2 experiments are reported that challenge the current understanding of visual short-term memory (VSTM). In both experiments, a single study display, containing 6 colored shapes, was presented briefly and then probed with a single colored shape. At stake is how VSTM retains a record of different objects that share common features: In the 1st experiment, 2 study items sometimes shared a common feature (either a shape or a color). The data revealed a color sharing effect, in which memory was much better for items that shared a common color than for items that did not. The 2nd experiment showed that the size of the color sharing effect depended on whether a single pair of items shared a common color or whether 2 pairs of items were so defined-memory for all items improved when 2 color groups were presented. In explaining performance, an account is advanced in which items compete for a fixed number of slots, but then memory recall for any given stored item is prone to error. A critical assumption is that items that share a common color are stored together in a slot as a chunk. The evidence provides further support for the idea that principles of perceptual organization may determine the manner in which items are stored in VSTM. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved.

Visual Narrative: A Technique to Enhance Secondary Students' Contribution to the Development of Inclusive, Socially Just School Environments--Lessons from a Box of Crayons

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Carrington, Suzanne; Allen, Kate; Osmolowski, Daniel

2007-01-01

This paper reports on a project that involved Australian secondary school students working as participatory researchers in collaboration with a researcher and two teachers. Research methodology using visual narrative techniques provided the students with a conceptual lens to view their school community. The examples of visual narrative shared in…

Policy summary: visualization and communication track

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gates, Harvey M.

1994-03-01

The goal of visualization and graphics oriented scientists, engineers, and educators is to electronically share their products with colleagues around the United States and the world. Thus, these specialists have dubbed their communication requirement as `100 megabits (per second) to the desktop.' This simply means that these high technology specialists would like to transmit and receive visual products in real-time, unimpeded by the network speed and interconnection protocols.

In sílico identification and characterization of putative Dot/Icm secreted virulence effectors in the fish pathogen Piscirickettsia salmonis.

PubMed

Labra, Álvaro; Arredondo-Zelada, Oscar; Flores-Herrera, Patricio; Marshall, Sergio H; Gómez, Fernando A

2016-03-01

Piscirickettsia salmonis seriously affects the Chilean salmon industry. The bacterium is phylogenetically related to Legionella pneumophila and Coxiella burnetii, sharing a Dot/Icm secretion system with them. Although it is well documented that L. pneumophila and C. burnetii secrete different virulence effectors via this Dot/Icm system in order to attenuate host cell responses, to date there have been no reported virulence effectors secreted by the Dot/Icm system of P. salmonis. Using several annotations of P. salmonis genome, here we report an in silico analyses of 4 putative Dot/Icm effectors. Three of them contain ankyrin repeat domains and the typical conserved 3D structures of this protein family. The fourth one is highly similar to one of the Dot/Icm-dependent effectors of L. pneumophila. Additionally, all the potential P. salmonis effectors contain a classical Dot/Icm secretion signal in their C-terminus, consisting of: an E-Block, a hydrophobic residue in -3 or -4 and an electronegative charge. Finally, qPCR analysis demonstrated that these proteins are overexpressed early in infection, perhaps contributing to the generation of a replicative vacuole, a key step in the neutralizing strategy proposed for the Dot/Icm system. In summary, this report identifies four Dot/Icm-dependent effectors in P. salmonis. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

High-functioning autism patients share similar but more severe impairments in verbal theory of mind than schizophrenia patients.

PubMed

Tin, L N W; Lui, S S Y; Ho, K K Y; Hung, K S Y; Wang, Y; Yeung, H K H; Wong, T Y; Lam, S M; Chan, R C K; Cheung, E F C

2018-06-01

Evidence suggests that autism and schizophrenia share similarities in genetic, neuropsychological and behavioural aspects. Although both disorders are associated with theory of mind (ToM) impairments, a few studies have directly compared ToM between autism patients and schizophrenia patients. This study aimed to investigate to what extent high-functioning autism patients and schizophrenia patients share and differ in ToM performance. Thirty high-functioning autism patients, 30 schizophrenia patients and 30 healthy individuals were recruited. Participants were matched in age, gender and estimated intelligence quotient. The verbal-based Faux Pas Task and the visual-based Yoni Task were utilised to examine first- and higher-order, affective and cognitive ToM. The task/item difficulty of two paradigms was examined using mixed model analyses of variance (ANOVAs). Multiple ANOVAs and mixed model ANOVAs were used to examine group differences in ToM. The Faux Pas Task was more difficult than the Yoni Task. High-functioning autism patients showed more severely impaired verbal-based ToM in the Faux Pas Task, but shared similar visual-based ToM impairments in the Yoni Task with schizophrenia patients. The findings that individuals with high-functioning autism shared similar but more severe impairments in verbal ToM than individuals with schizophrenia support the autism-schizophrenia continuum. The finding that verbal-based but not visual-based ToM was more impaired in high-functioning autism patients than schizophrenia patients could be attributable to the varied task/item difficulty between the two paradigms.

Secrets and disclosure in donor conception.

PubMed

Frith, Lucy; Blyth, Eric; Crawshaw, Marilyn; van den Akker, Olga

2018-01-01

This article considers the disclosure, sharing and exchange of information on being donor conceived within families, drawing on data from a study undertaken with donor-conceived adults registered with UK Donor Link (a voluntary DNA-linking register). This paper considers the narratives of how respondents found out they were donor-conceived and what events triggered disclosure of this information. This paper then goes on to examine the role secrecy played in their family life and uses the concept of 'display' to explore how secrecy affected their relationships with their immediate and extended family. Secrets are notoriously 'leaky' and we found complex patterns of knowing and uncertainty about whom in the family knew that the person was donor-conceived. We argue that what is kept secret and from whom provides insights into the multifaceted web of social relationships that can be created by donor-conception, and how knowledge can be managed and controlled in attempts to display and maintain family narratives of biogenetic connection. © 2017 Foundation for the Sociology of Health & Illness.

Deterministic secure quantum communication using a single d-level system

PubMed Central

Jiang, Dong; Chen, Yuanyuan; Gu, Xuemei; Xie, Ling; Chen, Lijun

2017-01-01

Deterministic secure quantum communication (DSQC) can transmit secret messages between two parties without first generating a shared secret key. Compared with quantum key distribution (QKD), DSQC avoids the waste of qubits arising from basis reconciliation and thus reaches higher efficiency. In this paper, based on data block transmission and order rearrangement technologies, we propose a DSQC protocol. It utilizes a set of single d-level systems as message carriers, which are used to directly encode the secret message in one communication process. Theoretical analysis shows that these employed technologies guarantee the security, and the use of a higher dimensional quantum system makes our protocol achieve higher security and efficiency. Since only quantum memory is required for implementation, our protocol is feasible with current technologies. Furthermore, Trojan horse attack (THA) is taken into account in our protocol. We give a THA model and show that THA significantly increases the multi-photon rate and can thus be detected. PMID:28327557

Data Presentation and Visualization (DPV) Interface Control Document

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mazzone, Rebecca A.; Conroy, Michael P.

2015-01-01

Data Presentation and Visualization (DPV) is a subset of the modeling and simulation (M&S) capabilities at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) that endeavors to address the challenges of how to present and share simulation output for analysts, stakeholders, decision makers, and other interested parties. DPV activities focus on the development and provision of visualization tools to meet the objectives identified above, as well as providing supporting tools and capabilities required to make its visualization products available and accessible across NASA.

It is the “starting over” part that is so hard

PubMed Central

Washington, Karla; Oliver, Debra Parker; Shaunfield, Sara; Gage, L. Ashley; Mooney, Megan; Lewis, Alexandria

2013-01-01

Although hospices are required to provide caregivers with formal bereavement support when their loved one passes, most bereavement interventions lack standardization and remain untested. The Dual Processing Model of Bereavement was used as a theoretical framework for assessing the potential of a Secret Facebook Group for bereaved hospice caregivers. Online communication was analyzed and reported outcome measures were compared pre and post intervention. Bereaved caregivers shared abrupt and anticipated triggers resulting in loss-orientation and shared restoration through storytelling, advising, and encouragement. Caregiver anxiety and depression were lower post intervention. This study highlights the promise of Facebook for hospice bereavement support. PMID:24559689

A Comprehensive Optimization Strategy for Real-time Spatial Feature Sharing and Visual Analytics in Cyberinfrastructure

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, W.; Shao, H.

2017-12-01

For geospatial cyberinfrastructure enabled web services, the ability of rapidly transmitting and sharing spatial data over the Internet plays a critical role to meet the demands of real-time change detection, response and decision-making. Especially for the vector datasets which serve as irreplaceable and concrete material in data-driven geospatial applications, their rich geometry and property information facilitates the development of interactive, efficient and intelligent data analysis and visualization applications. However, the big-data issues of vector datasets have hindered their wide adoption in web services. In this research, we propose a comprehensive optimization strategy to enhance the performance of vector data transmitting and processing. This strategy combines: 1) pre- and on-the-fly generalization, which automatically determines proper simplification level through the introduction of appropriate distance tolerance (ADT) to meet various visualization requirements, and at the same time speed up simplification efficiency; 2) a progressive attribute transmission method to reduce data size and therefore the service response time; 3) compressed data transmission and dynamic adoption of a compression method to maximize the service efficiency under different computing and network environments. A cyberinfrastructure web portal was developed for implementing the proposed technologies. After applying our optimization strategies, substantial performance enhancement is achieved. We expect this work to widen the use of web service providing vector data to support real-time spatial feature sharing, visual analytics and decision-making.

APNs taking the next step: disseminating practice information via effective poster presentations.

PubMed

Bischof, Janet

2013-02-10

Advanced practice nurses (APNs) have a responsibility to share information from projects and research with other professionals. Poster presentations offer a way to visually share the information to a wide audience. Key elements include title, objective/purpose, data collection, results, analysis, implications for nursing, and appropriate references.

Interhemispheric Resource Sharing: Decreasing Benefits with Increasing Processing Efficiency

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Maertens, M.; Pollmann, S.

2005-01-01

Visual matches are sometimes faster when stimuli are presented across visual hemifields, compared to within-field matching. Using a cued geometric figure matching task, we investigated the influence of computational complexity vs. processing efficiency on this bilateral distribution advantage (BDA). Computational complexity was manipulated by…

Window to the World

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cannon, Kama

2018-01-01

Although formal papers are typical, sometimes posters or other visual presentations are more useful tools for sharing visual-spatial information. By incorporating creativity and technology into the study of geographical science, STEM (the study of Science, Technology Engineering, and Mathematics) is changed to STEAM (the A stands for ART)! The…

DBSecSys 2.0: a database of Burkholderia mallei and Burkholderia pseudomallei secretion systems.

PubMed

Memišević, Vesna; Kumar, Kamal; Zavaljevski, Nela; DeShazer, David; Wallqvist, Anders; Reifman, Jaques

2016-09-20

Burkholderia mallei and B. pseudomallei are the causative agents of glanders and melioidosis, respectively, diseases with high morbidity and mortality rates. B. mallei and B. pseudomallei are closely related genetically; B. mallei evolved from an ancestral strain of B. pseudomallei by genome reduction and adaptation to an obligate intracellular lifestyle. Although these two bacteria cause different diseases, they share multiple virulence factors, including bacterial secretion systems, which represent key components of bacterial pathogenicity. Despite recent progress, the secretion system proteins for B. mallei and B. pseudomallei, their pathogenic mechanisms of action, and host factors are not well characterized. We previously developed a manually curated database, DBSecSys, of bacterial secretion system proteins for B. mallei. Here, we report an expansion of the database with corresponding information about B. pseudomallei. DBSecSys 2.0 contains comprehensive literature-based and computationally derived information about B. mallei ATCC 23344 and literature-based and computationally derived information about B. pseudomallei K96243. The database contains updated information for 163 B. mallei proteins from the previous database and 61 additional B. mallei proteins, and new information for 281 B. pseudomallei proteins associated with 5 secretion systems, their 1,633 human- and murine-interacting targets, and 2,400 host-B. mallei interactions and 2,286 host-B. pseudomallei interactions. The database also includes information about 13 pathogenic mechanisms of action for B. mallei and B. pseudomallei secretion system proteins inferred from the available literature or computationally. Additionally, DBSecSys 2.0 provides details about 82 virulence attenuation experiments for 52 B. mallei secretion system proteins and 98 virulence attenuation experiments for 61 B. pseudomallei secretion system proteins. We updated the Web interface and data access layer to speed-up users' search of detailed information for orthologous proteins related to secretion systems of the two pathogens. The updates of DBSecSys 2.0 provide unique capabilities to access comprehensive information about secretion systems of B. mallei and B. pseudomallei. They enable studies and comparisons of corresponding proteins of these two closely related pathogens and their host-interacting partners. The database is available at http://dbsecsys.bhsai.org .

Transsphenoidal surgery assisted by a new guidance device: results of a series of 747 cases.

PubMed

Tao, Yang; Jian-wen, Gu; Yong-qin, Kuang; Li-bin, Yang; Hai-dong, Huang; Wen-tao, Yang; Xue-min, Xing

2011-10-01

The objective of this study is to report the efficacy and safety of microsurgical transsphenoidal surgery using a frame for sella guidance in a series of patients with untreated pituitary adenoma. In this study, seven hundred and forty-seven patients undergoing transsphenoidal resection of a pituitary adenoma involving use of the frame were included. Follow-up of twelve to one hundred months was performed in all patients. During the procedures using the frame, pituitary adenomas were fully exposed, and no cavernous sinus haemorrhage due to anteroposterior displacement or internal carotid artery lesion due to right-and-left deviation occurred. The duration of the surgical procedure ranged from 28 min to 87 min with a mean of 44 min. The most frequent tumour type was prolactin-secreting adenoma (32.4%), followed by clinically non-functioning adenoma (NFPA) (28.5%), growth hormone-secreting adenoma (25.0%), and adrenocorticotropin-secreting adenoma (13.7%). Normalisation of visual defects occurred in 226 (42.2%) of the 535 patients with visual disturbances. Normalisation of hormone occurred in 458 of 551 patients with endocrine-active tumour in the follow-up period. Two patients died as a consequence of surgery. The endonasal transsphenoidal technique is a safe, quick, and effective approach to pituitary adenomas. Our guidance frame allows the surgeon to open and close the wound rapidly, which avoids trajectory deviation and shortens the duration of the surgical procedure. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Quantum dense key distribution

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

Degiovanni, I.P.; Ruo Berchera, I.; Castelletto, S.

2004-03-01

This paper proposes a protocol for quantum dense key distribution. This protocol embeds the benefits of a quantum dense coding and a quantum key distribution and is able to generate shared secret keys four times more efficiently than the Bennet-Brassard 1984 protocol. We hereinafter prove the security of this scheme against individual eavesdropping attacks, and we present preliminary experimental results, showing its feasibility.

HIE sustainability secrets. NeHC report shares HIE success stories of alternate revenue streams and payer buy-in.

PubMed

Prestigiacomo, Jennifer

2011-11-01

Getting effective stakeholder engagement, including that of payers, and creating innovative value-added services that provide alternate revenue streams beyond basic subscription services, are just a couple of the common traits of the flourishing health information exchanges profiled in the sustainability report released in August by the National eHealth Collaborative.

A strategic plan for forest research and development in the south

Treesearch

Richard A. Harper; Cassandra Johnson; H. Michael Rauscher; Carol Whitlock

2007-01-01

In many ways, the southern region of the United States is our nation's best kept secret. Although each is unique, the 13 southern States from Virginia to Texas share several important attributes: long growing seasons and plentiful water, close-knit communities with strong ties to the land, terrains ranging from lush wetlands to rolling hills to sheltering...

Nonclassicality thresholds for multiqubit states: Numerical analysis

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

Gruca, Jacek; Zukowski, Marek; Laskowski, Wieslaw

2010-07-15

States that strongly violate Bell's inequalities are required in many quantum-informational protocols as, for example, in cryptography, secret sharing, and the reduction of communication complexity. We investigate families of such states with a numerical method which allows us to reveal nonclassicality even without direct knowledge of Bell's inequalities for the given problem. An extensive set of numerical results is presented and discussed.

Shared Genetic Control of Brain Activity During Sleep and Insulin Secretion: A Laboratory-Based Family Study.

PubMed

Morselli, Lisa L; Gamazon, Eric R; Tasali, Esra; Cox, Nancy J; Van Cauter, Eve; Davis, Lea K

2018-01-01

Over the past 20 years, a large body of experimental and epidemiologic evidence has linked sleep duration and quality to glucose homeostasis, although the mechanistic pathways remain unclear. The aim of the current study was to determine whether genetic variation influencing both sleep and glucose regulation could underlie their functional relationship. We hypothesized that the genetic regulation of electroencephalographic (EEG) activity during non-rapid eye movement sleep, a highly heritable trait with fingerprint reproducibility, is correlated with the genetic control of metabolic traits including insulin sensitivity and β-cell function. We tested our hypotheses through univariate and bivariate heritability analyses in a three-generation pedigree with in-depth phenotyping of both sleep EEG and metabolic traits in 48 family members. Our analyses accounted for age, sex, adiposity, and the use of psychoactive medications. In univariate analyses, we found significant heritability for measures of fasting insulin sensitivity and β-cell function, for time spent in slow-wave sleep, and for EEG spectral power in the delta, theta, and sigma ranges. Bivariate heritability analyses provided the first evidence for a shared genetic control of brain activity during deep sleep and fasting insulin secretion rate. © 2017 by the American Diabetes Association.

Quantum-secret-sharing scheme based on local distinguishability of orthogonal multiqudit entangled states

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Jingtao; Li, Lixiang; Peng, Haipeng; Yang, Yixian

2017-02-01

In this study, we propose the concept of judgment space to investigate the quantum-secret-sharing scheme based on local distinguishability (called LOCC-QSS). Because of the proposing of this conception, the property of orthogonal mutiqudit entangled states under restricted local operation and classical communication (LOCC) can be described more clearly. According to these properties, we reveal that, in the previous (k ,n )-threshold LOCC-QSS scheme, there are two required conditions for the selected quantum states to resist the unambiguous attack: (i) their k -level judgment spaces are orthogonal, and (ii) their (k -1 )-level judgment spaces are equal. Practically, if k

Convergence of the Insulin and Serotonin Programs in the Pancreatic β-Cell

PubMed Central

Ohta, Yasuharu; Kosaka, Yasuhiro; Kishimoto, Nina; Wang, Juehu; Smith, Stuart B.; Honig, Gerard; Kim, Hail; Gasa, Rosa M.; Neubauer, Nicole; Liou, Angela; Tecott, Laurence H.; Deneris, Evan S.; German, Michael S.

2011-01-01

OBJECTIVE Despite their origins in different germ layers, pancreatic islet cells share many common developmental features with neurons, especially serotonin-producing neurons in the hindbrain. Therefore, we tested whether these developmental parallels have functional consequences. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS We used transcriptional profiling, immunohistochemistry, DNA-binding analyses, and mouse genetic models to assess the expression and function of key serotonergic genes in the pancreas. RESULTS We found that islet cells expressed the genes encoding all of the products necessary for synthesizing, packaging, and secreting serotonin, including both isoforms of the serotonin synthetic enzyme tryptophan hydroxylase and the archetypal serotonergic transcription factor Pet1. As in serotonergic neurons, Pet1 expression in islets required homeodomain transcription factor Nkx2.2 but not Nkx6.1. In β-cells, Pet1 bound to the serotonergic genes but also to a conserved insulin gene regulatory element. Mice lacking Pet1 displayed reduced insulin production and secretion and impaired glucose tolerance. CONCLUSIONS These studies demonstrate that a common transcriptional cascade drives the differentiation of β-cells and serotonergic neurons and imparts the shared ability to produce serotonin. The interrelated biology of these two cell types has important implications for the pathology and treatment of diabetes. PMID:22013016

Convergence of the insulin and serotonin programs in the pancreatic β-cell.

PubMed

Ohta, Yasuharu; Kosaka, Yasuhiro; Kishimoto, Nina; Wang, Juehu; Smith, Stuart B; Honig, Gerard; Kim, Hail; Gasa, Rosa M; Neubauer, Nicole; Liou, Angela; Tecott, Laurence H; Deneris, Evan S; German, Michael S

2011-12-01

Despite their origins in different germ layers, pancreatic islet cells share many common developmental features with neurons, especially serotonin-producing neurons in the hindbrain. Therefore, we tested whether these developmental parallels have functional consequences. We used transcriptional profiling, immunohistochemistry, DNA-binding analyses, and mouse genetic models to assess the expression and function of key serotonergic genes in the pancreas. We found that islet cells expressed the genes encoding all of the products necessary for synthesizing, packaging, and secreting serotonin, including both isoforms of the serotonin synthetic enzyme tryptophan hydroxylase and the archetypal serotonergic transcription factor Pet1. As in serotonergic neurons, Pet1 expression in islets required homeodomain transcription factor Nkx2.2 but not Nkx6.1. In β-cells, Pet1 bound to the serotonergic genes but also to a conserved insulin gene regulatory element. Mice lacking Pet1 displayed reduced insulin production and secretion and impaired glucose tolerance. These studies demonstrate that a common transcriptional cascade drives the differentiation of β-cells and serotonergic neurons and imparts the shared ability to produce serotonin. The interrelated biology of these two cell types has important implications for the pathology and treatment of diabetes.

The effects of Ramadan fasting on the health and function of the eye

PubMed Central

Javadi, Mohammad Ali; Assadi, Mahsan; Einollahi, Bahram; Rabei, Hossein Mohammad; Afarid, Mehrdad; Assadi, Majid

2014-01-01

Background: Ramadan fasting may alter a variety of physiological parameters which by themselves influence ocular system. Here, we review the effects of Ramadan fasting on the health and function of the eye. Materials and Methods: Literature records in PubMed/MEDLINE, Web of Science, EMBASE, Google Scholar, and Iran Medex databases as well as proceedings of related meetings from January 1986 to March 2014 were systematically reviewed. The search key words was based on the terms “Ramadan Fasting,” “Ramadan,” “Islamic Fasting,” “Fasting in Ramadan” accompanied with one of the eye, tear drop, myopia, intraocular pressure (IOP), tear break up time, basal tear secretion, refractive error, and visual acuity. Results: Predawn water loading and dehydration in the evening are shown to increase and decrease IOP and tear secretion, respectively. Ocular blood flow is changed in Ramadan fasting, and patients with ocular vein occlusion may experience more frequent attacks. There are no or minimal fluctuations in visual acuity and refractive errors, but most of them are decompensated after Ramadan. Conclusion: Although the influence of fasting in different eye parameters is evaluated in several studies, there are no or only limited studies conducted on patients suffering from glaucoma, damage to ophthalmic vasculature, tear dysfunction, and minimal visual acuity. Such studies are required to make a definite decision before fasting is declared harmless to these patients. PMID:25422666

Finite key analysis for symmetric attacks in quantum key distribution

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

Meyer, Tim; Kampermann, Hermann; Kleinmann, Matthias

2006-10-15

We introduce a constructive method to calculate the achievable secret key rate for a generic class of quantum key distribution protocols, when only a finite number n of signals is given. Our approach is applicable to all scenarios in which the quantum state shared by Alice and Bob is known. In particular, we consider the six state protocol with symmetric eavesdropping attacks, and show that for a small number of signals, i.e., below n{approx}10{sup 4}, the finite key rate differs significantly from the asymptotic value for n{yields}{infinity}. However, for larger n, a good approximation of the asymptotic value is found.more » We also study secret key rates for protocols using higher-dimensional quantum systems.« less

Insecurity of position-based quantum-cryptography protocols against entanglement attacks

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

Lau, Hoi-Kwan; Lo, Hoi-Kwong

2011-01-15

Recently, position-based quantum cryptography has been claimed to be unconditionally secure. On the contrary, here we show that the existing proposals for position-based quantum cryptography are, in fact, insecure if entanglement is shared among two adversaries. Specifically, we demonstrate how the adversaries can incorporate ideas of quantum teleportation and quantum secret sharing to compromise the security with certainty. The common flaw to all current protocols is that the Pauli operators always map a codeword to a codeword (up to an irrelevant overall phase). We propose a modified scheme lacking this property in which the same cheating strategy used to underminemore » the previous protocols can succeed with a rate of at most 85%. We prove the modified protocol is secure when the shared quantum resource between the adversaries is a two- or three-level system.« less

iOS--Worthy of the Hype as Assistive Technology for Visual Impairments? A Phenomenological Study of iOS Device Use by Individuals with Visual Impairments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Scott, Shari

2013-01-01

This qualitative study sought to explore the shared essence of the lived experiences of early adopters of iOS devices as assistive technology by persons with visual impairments. The capstone question addressed the idea of whether any one device could fully meet the assistive technology needs of this population. Purposeful sampling methods were…

Recent Advances in Geospatial Visualization with the New Google Earth

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Anderson, J. C.; Poyart, E.; Yan, S.; Sargent, R.

2017-12-01

Google Earth's detailed, world-wide imagery and terrain data provide a rich backdrop for geospatial visualization at multiple scales, from global to local. The Keyhole Markup Language (KML) is an open standard that has been the primary way for users to author and share data visualizations in Google Earth. Despite its ease of use and flexibility for relatively small amounts of data, users can quickly run into difficulties and limitations working with large-scale or time-varying datasets using KML in Google Earth. Recognizing these challenges, we present our recent work toward extending Google Earth to be a more powerful data visualization platform. We describe a new KML extension to simplify the display of multi-resolution map tile pyramids - which can be created by analysis platforms like Google Earth Engine, or by a variety of other map tile production pipelines. We also describe how this implementation can pave the way to creating novel data visualizations by leveraging custom graphics shaders. Finally, we present our investigations into native support in Google Earth for data storage and transport formats that are well-suited for big raster and vector data visualization. Taken together, these capabilities make it easier to create and share new scientific data visualization experiences using Google Earth, and simplify the integration of Google Earth with existing map data products, services, and analysis pipelines.

The relation of object naming and other visual speech production tasks: a large scale voxel-based morphometric study.

PubMed

Lau, Johnny King L; Humphreys, Glyn W; Douis, Hassan; Balani, Alex; Bickerton, Wai-Ling; Rotshtein, Pia

2015-01-01

We report a lesion-symptom mapping analysis of visual speech production deficits in a large group (280) of stroke patients at the sub-acute stage (<120 days post-stroke). Performance on object naming was evaluated alongside three other tests of visual speech production, namely sentence production to a picture, sentence reading and nonword reading. A principal component analysis was performed on all these tests' scores and revealed a 'shared' component that loaded across all the visual speech production tasks and a 'unique' component that isolated object naming from the other three tasks. Regions for the shared component were observed in the left fronto-temporal cortices, fusiform gyrus and bilateral visual cortices. Lesions in these regions linked to both poor object naming and impairment in general visual-speech production. On the other hand, the unique naming component was potentially associated with the bilateral anterior temporal poles, hippocampus and cerebellar areas. This is in line with the models proposing that object naming relies on a left-lateralised language dominant system that interacts with a bilateral anterior temporal network. Neuropsychological deficits in object naming can reflect both the increased demands specific to the task and the more general difficulties in language processing.

Visualization Co-Processing of a CFD Simulation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Vaziri, Arsi

1999-01-01

OVERFLOW, a widely used CFD simulation code, is combined with a visualization system, pV3, to experiment with an environment for simulation/visualization co-processing on a SGI Origin 2000 computer(O2K) system. The shared memory version of the solver is used with the O2K 'pfa' preprocessor invoked to automatically discover parallelism in the source code. No other explicit parallelism is enabled. In order to study the scaling and performance of the visualization co-processing system, sample runs are made with different processor groups in the range of 1 to 254 processors. The data exchange between the visualization system and the simulation system is rapid enough for user interactivity when the problem size is small. This shared memory version of OVERFLOW, with minimal parallelization, does not scale well to an increasing number of available processors. The visualization task takes about 18 to 30% of the total processing time and does not appear to be a major contributor to the poor scaling. Improper load balancing and inter-processor communication overhead are contributors to this poor performance. Work is in progress which is aimed at obtaining improved parallel performance of the solver and removing the limitations of serial data transfer to pV3 by examining various parallelization/communication strategies, including the use of the explicit message passing.

Visual Tools as Mediational Means: A Methodological Investigation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hilppö, Jaakko; Lipponen, Lasse; Kumpulainen, Kristiina; Rajala, Antti

2017-01-01

In this study, we investigated how Finnish children used photographs and drawings to discuss their preschool day experiences in focus groups. Building on sociocultural perspectives on mediated action, we specifically focused on how these visual tools were used as mediational means in sharing experiences. The results of our embodied interaction…

VisSearch: A Collaborative Web Searching Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lee, Young-Jin

2005-01-01

VisSearch is a collaborative Web searching environment intended for sharing Web search results among people with similar interests, such as college students taking the same course. It facilitates students' Web searches by visualizing various Web searching processes. It also collects the visualized Web search results and applies an association rule…

Braille and Tactile Graphics: Youths with Visual Impairments Share Their Experiences

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rosenblum, L. Penny; Herzberg, Tina S.

2015-01-01

Introduction: Data were collected from youths with visual impairment about their experiences with tactile graphics and braille materials used in mathematics and science classes. Methods: Youths answered questions and explored four tactile graphics made using different production methods. They located specific information on each graphic and shared…

Two Dream Machines: Television and the Human Brain.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Deming, Caren J.

Research into brain physiology and dream psychology have helped to illuminate the biological purposes and processes of dreaming. Physical and functional characteristics shared by dreaming and television include the perception of visual and auditory images, operation in a binary mode, and the encoding of visual information. Research is needed in…

Why Visual Literacy: Consciousness and Convention

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rezabek, Landra L.

2005-01-01

In this article, the author discusses the intentions of the October 2005 Association for Educational Communications & Technology (AECT) conference. She explains that the conference will be a shared event between the AECT members and the participants of the 37th annual meeting of the International Visual Literacy Association (IVLA), a stalwart…

Maine's MOLLOCKET and METALLAK: Adherents of God's Secret Spirit Signal, SSS, Applied Physicists of the EMF/Manitou, Doctors, Reincarnationists, "Potlachers," Confidants of the Powerful, and, they Did Own the Land.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Andrade, Jennifer; Ferreira, Nadja; Mc Leod, Roger D.

2007-04-01

Northeastern ``Indians,'' reputed to ``make the weather,'' actually, from youth, observed earth phenomena, including SSS. These are subtle and barely detectable visual artifacts of the electromagnetic field, special information that led/leads to their spiritual belief in reincarnation, which came from the EMF/SSS communication, backward and forward, (up to) seven generations. It commands communal, democratic, ``potlatch'' redistribution of accumulated wealth, Mother Earth's bounty, from their land, gifted by ``The Great Spirit,'' Manitou, Peru's Ñari Huallac, ``Serpent God.'' Genetics established the non-Asian origins of 1/3 of North American Indians. Linguistics indicates a major impact westwards to us. MILLInocket is ``Adherent of God (Spirit-signal) monk Cathar.'' Katahdin, with a shared root, has Manitou. After 1820, Gov. E. Lincoln and at least one US senator went westward to MetALLAk; his biography is by a Rumford, ME Knight of Pythias. Why? MOLLOCKET frequently asserted ownership of western Maine. ``Great Council Fires,'' religious ``Law Things,'' were at Merrymeeting Bay in pre-Colonial times. ``Medicine men/priests'' often participated as their applied scientist-statesmen. To cite this abstract, use the following reference: http://meetings.aps.org/link/BAPS.2007.NES07.C2.1

Cross-modal attention influences auditory contrast sensitivity: Decreasing visual load improves auditory thresholds for amplitude- and frequency-modulated sounds.

PubMed

Ciaramitaro, Vivian M; Chow, Hiu Mei; Eglington, Luke G

2017-03-01

We used a cross-modal dual task to examine how changing visual-task demands influenced auditory processing, namely auditory thresholds for amplitude- and frequency-modulated sounds. Observers had to attend to two consecutive intervals of sounds and report which interval contained the auditory stimulus that was modulated in amplitude (Experiment 1) or frequency (Experiment 2). During auditory-stimulus presentation, observers simultaneously attended to a rapid sequential visual presentation-two consecutive intervals of streams of visual letters-and had to report which interval contained a particular color (low load, demanding less attentional resources) or, in separate blocks of trials, which interval contained more of a target letter (high load, demanding more attentional resources). We hypothesized that if attention is a shared resource across vision and audition, an easier visual task should free up more attentional resources for auditory processing on an unrelated task, hence improving auditory thresholds. Auditory detection thresholds were lower-that is, auditory sensitivity was improved-for both amplitude- and frequency-modulated sounds when observers engaged in a less demanding (compared to a more demanding) visual task. In accord with previous work, our findings suggest that visual-task demands can influence the processing of auditory information on an unrelated concurrent task, providing support for shared attentional resources. More importantly, our results suggest that attending to information in a different modality, cross-modal attention, can influence basic auditory contrast sensitivity functions, highlighting potential similarities between basic mechanisms for visual and auditory attention.

Supporting the Development and Adoption of Automatic Lameness Detection Systems in Dairy Cattle: Effect of System Cost and Performance on Potential Market Shares.

PubMed

Van De Gucht, Tim; Van Weyenberg, Stephanie; Van Nuffel, Annelies; Lauwers, Ludwig; Vangeyte, Jürgen; Saeys, Wouter

2017-10-08

Most automatic lameness detection system prototypes have not yet been commercialized, and are hence not yet adopted in practice. Therefore, the objective of this study was to simulate the effect of detection performance (percentage missed lame cows and percentage false alarms) and system cost on the potential market share of three automatic lameness detection systems relative to visual detection: a system attached to the cow, a walkover system, and a camera system. Simulations were done using a utility model derived from survey responses obtained from dairy farmers in Flanders, Belgium. Overall, systems attached to the cow had the largest market potential, but were still not competitive with visual detection. Increasing the detection performance or lowering the system cost led to higher market shares for automatic systems at the expense of visual detection. The willingness to pay for extra performance was €2.57 per % less missed lame cows, €1.65 per % less false alerts, and €12.7 for lame leg indication, respectively. The presented results could be exploited by system designers to determine the effect of adjustments to the technology on a system's potential adoption rate.

Diagnosis and treatment of pituitary adenomas.

PubMed

Chanson, P; Salenave, S

2004-12-01

Pituitary tumors cause symptoms by secreting hormones (prolactin, PRL, responsible for amenorrhea-galactorrhea in women and decreased libido in men; growth hormone, GH, responsible for acromegaly; adrenocorticotropic hormone, ACTH, responsible for Cushing's syndrome; thyroid-stimulating hormone, TSH, responsible for hyperthyroidism), depressing the secretion of hormones (hypopituitarism), or by mass-related effects (headaches, visual field abnormalities...). All patients with pituitary tumors should be evaluated for gonadal, thyroid and adrenal function as well as PRL and GH secretion. Specific stimulation and suppression tests for pituitary hormones are performed in selected situations for detecting the type of hypersecretion or the response to treatment. Imaging procedures (mainly magnetic resonance imaging, MRI, nowadays) determine the presence, size and extent of the lesion. The classification of pituitary tumors is based on the staining properties of the cell cytoplasm viewed by light microscopy and immunocytochemistry revealing the secretory pattern of the adenoma. Treatment of pituitary adenomas consists of surgery (performed in more than 99% of cases via a transphenoidal route) and radiotherapy, generally fractionated or, in selected cases, using stereotactic techniques such as gamma-knife. The availability of medical treatment (dopamine, DA, agonists, somatostatin analogs, GH-receptor antagonists...) has profoundly modified the indications of radiotherapy, drugs being now generally used as a second-line treatment, after surgery (or even as first-line treatment). Based on the results of the different treatment modalities for each type of pituitary adenoma, recommendations will be proposed. They may be summarized as follows. For treatment of GH-secreting adenomas, trans-sphenoidal surgery is the first-line therapy except when the macroadenoma is giant or if surgery is contra-indicated; postoperative radiation therapy (fractionated, or by gamma-knife) is performed for partially resected tumors or when GH levels remain elevated (eventually after a trial of somatostatin analog). Somatostatin analogs, now available in slow release form, are proposed when surgery is contra-indicated, or has failed to normalize GH levels, or in waiting for the delayed effects of radiation therapy. If the probability of surgical cure is low (e.g. in patients with very large and/or invasive tumors), then somatostatin analogs may be reasonable primary therapeutic modality provided that the tumor does not threaten vision or neurological function. Pegvisomant, the new GH-receptor antagonist, is indicated in case of resistance to somatostatin analogs. Patients with PRL-secreting microadenomas may be treated either with trans-sphenoidal surgery or medically with DA agonists. In patients with macroadenomas, even in the presence of chiasmatic syndrome, DA agonists are now proposed as primary treatment. Indeed, effects on visual disturbances are often very rapid (within a few hours or days) and tumoral shrinkage is usually very significant. For patients with ACTH-secreting adenomas, primary therapy is generally trans-sphenoidal surgery by a skilled surgeon, whether or not a microadenoma is visible on MRI. Radiotherapy is reserved for patients who are subtotally resected or remain hyper-secretory after surgery. In waiting for the effects of radiotherapy, adrenal steroidogenesis inhibitors (mitotane, ketoconazole) may be indicated. If drugs are not available or not tolerated, bilateral adrenalectomy may be proposed. For patients with clinically non functioning adenomas (generally gonadotropin-secreting adenomas on immunocytochemistry), trans-sphenoidal surgery with or without postoperative radiation therapy is performed for almost all patients whether or not they have visual consequences of their tumor. Selected patients with small, incidentally discovered microadenomas may be carefully followed without immediate therapy.

The HydroShare Collaborative Repository for the Hydrology Community

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tarboton, D. G.; Idaszak, R.; Horsburgh, J. S.; Ames, D. P.; Goodall, J. L.; Couch, A.; Hooper, R. P.; Dash, P. K.; Stealey, M.; Yi, H.; Bandaragoda, C.; Castronova, A. M.

2017-12-01

HydroShare is an online, collaboration system for sharing of hydrologic data, analytical tools, and models. It supports the sharing of, and collaboration around, "resources" which are defined by standardized content types for data formats and models commonly used in hydrology. With HydroShare you can: Share your data and models with colleagues; Manage who has access to the content that you share; Share, access, visualize and manipulate a broad set of hydrologic data types and models; Use the web services application programming interface (API) to program automated and client access; Publish data and models and obtain a citable digital object identifier (DOI); Aggregate your resources into collections; Discover and access data and models published by others; Use web apps to visualize, analyze and run models on data in HydroShare. This presentation will describe the functionality and architecture of HydroShare highlighting our approach to making this system easy to use and serving the needs of the hydrology community represented by the Consortium of Universities for the Advancement of Hydrologic Sciences, Inc. (CUAHSI). Metadata for uploaded files is harvested automatically or captured using easy to use web user interfaces. Users are encouraged to add or create resources in HydroShare early in the data life cycle. To encourage this we allow users to share and collaborate on HydroShare resources privately among individual users or groups, entering metadata while doing the work. HydroShare also provides enhanced functionality for users through web apps that provide tools and computational capability for actions on resources. HydroShare's architecture broadly is comprised of: (1) resource storage, (2) resource exploration website, and (3) web apps for actions on resources. System components are loosely coupled and interact through APIs, which enhances robustness, as components can be upgraded and advanced relatively independently. The full power of this paradigm is the extensibility it supports. Web apps are hosted on separate servers, which may be 3rd party servers. They are registered in HydroShare using a web app resource that configures the connectivity for them to be discovered and launched directly from resource types they are associated with.

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

PubMed

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

2014-02-01

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

Immunological multimetal deposition for rapid visualization of sweat fingerprints.

PubMed

He, Yayun; Xu, Linru; Zhu, Yu; Wei, Qianhui; Zhang, Meiqin; Su, Bin

2014-11-10

A simple method termed immunological multimetal deposition (iMMD) was developed for rapid visualization of sweat fingerprints with bare eyes, by combining the conventional MMD with the immunoassay technique. In this approach, antibody-conjugated gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) were used to specifically interact with the corresponding antigens in the fingerprint residue. The AuNPs serve as the nucleation sites for autometallographic deposition of silver particles from the silver staining solution, generating a dark ridge pattern for visual detection. Using fingerprints inked with human immunoglobulin G (hIgG), we obtained the optimal formulation of iMMD, which was then successfully applied to visualize sweat fingerprints through the detection of two secreted polypeptides, epidermal growth factor and lysozyme. In comparison with the conventional MMD, iMMD is faster and can provide additional information than just identification. Moreover, iMMD is facile and does not need expensive instruments. © 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Age-related change of the secretory flow of pancreatic juice in the main pancreatic duct: evaluation with cine-dynamic MRCP using spatially selective inversion recovery pulse.

PubMed

Torigoe, Teruyuki; Ito, Katsuyoshi; Yamamoto, Akira; Kanki, Akihiko; Yasokawa, Kazuya; Tamada, Tsutomu; Yoshida, Koji

2014-05-01

The purpose of this study is to evaluate age-related changes in the secretory flow of pancreatic juice in the main pancreatic duct noninvasively by means of nonpharmacologic cine-dynamic MRCP using spatially selective inversion recovery (IR) pulse. Fifty-three subjects without a history of pancreatic disease were included. Four-second breath-hold MRCP using spatially selective IR pulse was performed every 15 seconds during 5 minutes (acquiring a total of 20 images) in cine-dynamic fashion. The secretion grade was classified into five grades by the distance of pancreatic juice inflow within the tagged area. The mean secretion grade and the frequency of secretion in cine-dynamic MRCP were compared among three age-range groups (group 1, < 40 years; group 2, 40-70 years; and group 3, > 70 years). Statistical analysis was performed using Spearman rank correlation coefficient and Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney U tests. The secretion grade and the frequency of secretion were significantly reduced with aging (r = -0.77, p < 0.001; and r = -0.74, p < 0.001, respectively). The mean secretion grade and the frequency of secretion were significantly lower in group 3 than in group 2 (mean grade, 0.36 vs 1.48, p = 0.001; and 4.8 vs 11.9 times, p = 0.001) and were lower in group 2 than in group 1 (mean grade, 1.48 vs 2.48, p < 0.001; and 11.9 vs 16.2 times, p = 0.011). Cine-dynamic MRCP using spatially selective IR pulse was able to show the age-related decrease of the secretory flow of pancreatic juice in the main pancreatic duct visually and noninvasively.

Toward exploratory analysis of diversity unified across fields of study: an information visualization approach

Treesearch

Tuan Pham; Julia Jones; Ronald Metoyer; Frederick Colwell

2014-01-01

The study of the diversity of multivariate objects shares common characteristics and goals across disciplines, including ecology and organizational management. Nevertheless, subject-matter experts have adopted somewhat separate diversity concepts and analysis techniques, limiting the potential for sharing and comparing across disciplines. Moreover, while large and...

Collaborative Visualization Project: shared-technology learning environments for science learning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pea, Roy D.; Gomez, Louis M.

1993-01-01

Project-enhanced science learning (PESL) provides students with opportunities for `cognitive apprenticeships' in authentic scientific inquiry using computers for data-collection and analysis. Student teams work on projects with teacher guidance to develop and apply their understanding of science concepts and skills. We are applying advanced computing and communications technologies to augment and transform PESL at-a-distance (beyond the boundaries of the individual school), which is limited today to asynchronous, text-only networking and unsuitable for collaborative science learning involving shared access to multimedia resources such as data, graphs, tables, pictures, and audio-video communication. Our work creates user technology (a Collaborative Science Workbench providing PESL design support and shared synchronous document views, program, and data access; a Science Learning Resource Directory for easy access to resources including two-way video links to collaborators, mentors, museum exhibits, media-rich resources such as scientific visualization graphics), and refine enabling technologies (audiovisual and shared-data telephony, networking) for this PESL niche. We characterize participation scenarios for using these resources and we discuss national networked access to science education expertise.

To speak or not to speak - A multiple resource perspective

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tsang, P. S.; Hartzell, E. J.; Rothschild, R. A.

1985-01-01

The desirability of employing speech response in a dynamic dual task situation was discussed from a multiple resource perspective. A secondary task technique was employed to examine the time-sharing performance of five dual tasks with various degrees of resource overlap according to the structure-specific resource model of Wickens (1980). The primary task was a visual/manual tracking task which required spatial processing. The secondary task was either another tracking task or a spatial transformation task with one of four input (visual or auditory) and output (manual or speech) configurations. The results show that the dual task performance was best when the primary tracking task was paired with the visual/speech transformation task. This finding was explained by an interaction of the stimulus-central processing-response compatibility of the transformation task and the degree of resource competition between the time-shared tasks. Implications on the utility of speech response were discussed.

Prospective Evaluation of Mesopic Night Vision and Night Vision Goggle Visual Acuity After Photorefractive Keratectomy (PRK)

DTIC Science & Technology

2005-03-01

off-label use of custom wavefront-guided treatment has demonstrated potential for reducing some QoV problems; however, early custom- ablation LASIK ...10): 1934-40. 66. Lee JB, Ryu CH, Kim EK,, Kim HB. Comparison of tear secretion and tear film instability after PRK and LASIK . J Cataract Surg

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

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ferguson, Heather J.; Breheny, Richard

2011-01-01

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

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

Sewell, Christopher Meyer

This is a set of slides from a guest lecture for a class at the University of Texas, El Paso on visualization and data analysis for high-performance computing. The topics covered are the following: trends in high-performance computing; scientific visualization, such as OpenGL, ray tracing and volume rendering, VTK, and ParaView; data science at scale, such as in-situ visualization, image databases, distributed memory parallelism, shared memory parallelism, VTK-m, "big data", and then an analysis example.

Dipeptidyl peptidase IV inhibition potentiates amino acid- and bile acid-induced bicarbonate secretion in rat duodenum

PubMed Central

Inoue, Takuya; Wang, Joon-Ho; Higashiyama, Masaaki; Rudenkyy, Sergiy; Higuchi, Kazuhide; Guth, Paul H.; Engel, Eli; Kaunitz, Jonathan D.

2012-01-01

Intestinal endocrine cells release gut hormones, including glucagon-like peptides (GLPs), in response to luminal nutrients. Luminal l-glutamate (l-Glu) and 5′-inosine monophosphate (IMP) synergistically increases duodenal HCO3− secretion via GLP-2 release. Since L cells express the bile acid receptor TGR5 and dipeptidyl peptidase (DPP) IV rapidly degrades GLPs, we hypothesized that luminal amino acids or bile acids stimulate duodenal HCO3− secretion via GLP-2 release, which is enhanced by DPPIV inhibition. We measured HCO3− secretion with pH and CO2 electrodes using a perfused rat duodenal loop under isoflurane anesthesia. l-Glu (10 mM) and IMP (0.1 mM) were luminally coperfused with or without luminal perfusion (0.1 mM) or intravenous (iv) injection (3 μmol/kg) of the DPPIV inhibitor NVP728. The loop was also perfused with a selective TGR5 agonist betulinic acid (BTA, 10 μM) or the non-bile acid type TGR5 agonist 3-(2-chlorophenyl)-N-(4-chlorophenyl)-N,5-dimethylisoxazole-4-carboxamide (CCDC; 10 μM). DPPIV activity visualized by use of the fluorogenic substrate was present on the duodenal brush border and submucosal layer, both abolished by the incubation with NVP728 (0.1 mM). An iv injection of NVP728 enhanced l-Glu/IMP-induced HCO3− secretion, whereas luminal perfusion of NVP728 had no effect. BTA or CCDC had little effect on HCO3− secretion, whereas NVP728 iv markedly enhanced BTA- or CCDC-induced HCO3− secretion, the effects inhibited by a GLP-2 receptor antagonist. Coperfusion of the TGR5 agonist enhanced l-Glu/IMP-induced HCO3− secretion with the enhanced GLP-2 release, suggesting that TGR5 activation amplifies nutrient sensing signals. DPPIV inhibition potentiated luminal l-Glu/IMP-induced and TGR5 agonist-induced HCO3− secretion via a GLP-2 pathway, suggesting that the modulation of the local concentration of the endogenous secretagogue GLP-2 by luminal compounds and DPPIV inhibition helps regulate protective duodenal HCO3− secretion. PMID:22821947

Dipeptidyl peptidase IV inhibition potentiates amino acid- and bile acid-induced bicarbonate secretion in rat duodenum.

PubMed

Inoue, Takuya; Wang, Joon-Ho; Higashiyama, Masaaki; Rudenkyy, Sergiy; Higuchi, Kazuhide; Guth, Paul H; Engel, Eli; Kaunitz, Jonathan D; Akiba, Yasutada

2012-10-01

Intestinal endocrine cells release gut hormones, including glucagon-like peptides (GLPs), in response to luminal nutrients. Luminal L-glutamate (L-Glu) and 5'-inosine monophosphate (IMP) synergistically increases duodenal HCO3- secretion via GLP-2 release. Since L cells express the bile acid receptor TGR5 and dipeptidyl peptidase (DPP) IV rapidly degrades GLPs, we hypothesized that luminal amino acids or bile acids stimulate duodenal HCO3- secretion via GLP-2 release, which is enhanced by DPPIV inhibition. We measured HCO3- secretion with pH and CO2 electrodes using a perfused rat duodenal loop under isoflurane anesthesia. L-Glu (10 mM) and IMP (0.1 mM) were luminally coperfused with or without luminal perfusion (0.1 mM) or intravenous (iv) injection (3 μmol/kg) of the DPPIV inhibitor NVP728. The loop was also perfused with a selective TGR5 agonist betulinic acid (BTA, 10 μM) or the non-bile acid type TGR5 agonist 3-(2-chlorophenyl)-N-(4-chlorophenyl)-N,5-dimethylisoxazole-4-carboxamide (CCDC; 10 μM). DPPIV activity visualized by use of the fluorogenic substrate was present on the duodenal brush border and submucosal layer, both abolished by the incubation with NVP728 (0.1 mM). An iv injection of NVP728 enhanced L-Glu/IMP-induced HCO3- secretion, whereas luminal perfusion of NVP728 had no effect. BTA or CCDC had little effect on HCO3- secretion, whereas NVP728 iv markedly enhanced BTA- or CCDC-induced HCO3- secretion, the effects inhibited by a GLP-2 receptor antagonist. Coperfusion of the TGR5 agonist enhanced L-Glu/IMP-induced HCO3- secretion with the enhanced GLP-2 release, suggesting that TGR5 activation amplifies nutrient sensing signals. DPPIV inhibition potentiated luminal L-Glu/IMP-induced and TGR5 agonist-induced HCO3- secretion via a GLP-2 pathway, suggesting that the modulation of the local concentration of the endogenous secretagogue GLP-2 by luminal compounds and DPPIV inhibition helps regulate protective duodenal HCO3- secretion.

Rainbows, graticules, and logos…oh my!

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pisut, D.; MacIntosh, E.; McDougall, C.

2016-12-01

Data visualizations are meant to simplify the complex. However, visualizations in geosciences are often made more complex than need be. Color palettes that hide Earth system dynamics or even cannot be seen; annotations that clutter the display more than provide context; logos that only add meaningless acronyms and other visual distraction. We will share lessons learned on how tweaking these and other components of visualizations improve the usability and comprehension for multiple audiences - especially since the best practices for one audience (e.g., television) do not necessarily translate to other audiences (e.g., print, education, web, etc).

Provenance Storage, Querying, and Visualization in PBase

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

Kianmajd, Parisa; Ludascher, Bertram; Missier, Paolo

2015-01-01

We present PBase, a repository for scientific workflows and their corresponding provenance information that facilitates the sharing of experiments among the scientific community. PBase is interoperable since it uses ProvONE, a standard provenance model for scientific workflows. Workflows and traces are stored in RDF, and with the support of SPARQL and the tree cover encoding, the repository provides a scalable infrastructure for querying the provenance data. Furthermore, through its user interface, it is possible to: visualize workflows and execution traces; visualize reachability relations within these traces; issue SPARQL queries; and visualize query results.

Climate Odyssey: Communicating Coastal Change through Art, Science, and Sail

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Klos, P. Z.; Holtsnider, L.

2016-12-01

Climate Odyssey (climateodyssey.org) is a year-long sailing expedition and continuing collaboration aimed at using overlaps in science and visual art to communicate coastal climate change impacts and solutions. We, visual artist Lucy Holtsnider and climate scientist Zion Klos, are using our complimentary skills in art, science and communication to engage audiences both affectively and cognitively regarding the urgency of climate change through story and visualization. In July of 2015, we embarked on the sailing portion of Climate Odyssey, beginning in Lake Michigan, continuing along the Eastern Seaboard, and concluding in May 2016 in the tropics. Along the way we photographed climate change impacts and adaptation strategies, interviewed stakeholders, scientists, and artists. We are now sharing our photographs and documented encounters through a tangible artist's book, interactive digital map, and blog. Each of our images added to the artist's book and digital map are linked to relevant blog entries and other external scientific resources, making the map both an aesthetic piece of art and an engaging tool for sharing the science of climate change impacts and solutions. After completing the sailing component of the project, we are now working to finalize our media and share our pieces with the public via libraries, galleries, and classrooms in coastal communities. At AGU, we will share with our peers the completed version of the artist's book, digital map, and online blog so we can both discuss public engagement strategies and showcase this example of art-science outreach with the broader science communication community.

The Secret to Great Coaching: Inquiry Method Helps Teachers Take Ownership of Their Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Foltos, Les

2014-01-01

A common question raised by new coaches is: When can I share my experience and expertise with teachers I am coaching to help them improve? It is a logical question. Many coaches know that they were chosen for the role in part because their peers respect them as a teacher. They know the instructional strategies they have used give them credibility…

Volatile compounds released by disturbed and undisturbed adults of Anchomenus dorsalis (Coleoptera, Carabidae, Platynini) and structure of the pygidial gland

PubMed Central

Bonacci, Teresa; Brandmayr, Pietro; Zetto, Tullia; Perrotta, Ida Daniela; Guarino, Salvatore; Peri, Ezio; Colazza, Stefano

2011-01-01

Abstract Volatile compounds produced by adults of Anchomenus dorsalis under undisturbed and disturbed conditions were investigated with an all-glass aeration apparatus. GC-MS analysis of the crude extracts from undisturbed and disturbed adults highlighted four major volatile compounds, undecane, heneicosane, Z-9 tricosene and tricosane, of which significantly more undecane was released by disturbed adults compared to undisturbed beetles. The pygidial glands of adults of Anchomenus dorsalis were investigated using light and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM). Each gland showed dense aggregates of secretory cells organized into visually distinct lobes; a long collecting canal that drains the secretion towards the reservoir, a bean-shaped double lobed muscular reservoir in which secretion is stored and a short duct (efferent duct) through which the secretion is discharged. The function of the pygidial glands and the possible role played by undecane as a defensive allomone and/or chemical signalling molecule are discussed. PMID:21594158

Enhanced encrypted reversible data hiding algorithm with minimum distortion through homomorphic encryption

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bhardwaj, Rupali

2018-03-01

Reversible data hiding means embedding a secret message in a cover image in such a manner, to the point that in the midst of extraction of the secret message, the cover image and, furthermore, the secret message are recovered with no error. The goal of by far most of the reversible data hiding algorithms is to have improved the embedding rate and enhanced visual quality of stego image. An improved encrypted-domain-based reversible data hiding algorithm to embed two binary bits in each gray pixel of original cover image with minimum distortion of stego-pixels is employed in this paper. Highlights of the proposed algorithm are minimum distortion of pixel's value, elimination of underflow and overflow problem, and equivalence of stego image and cover image with a PSNR of ∞ (for Lena, Goldhill, and Barbara image). The experimental outcomes reveal that in terms of average PSNR and embedding rate, for natural images, the proposed algorithm performed better than other conventional ones.

Biochemical characterization and comparison of aspartylglucosaminidases secreted in venom of the parasitoid wasps Asobara tabida and Leptopilina heterotoma

PubMed Central

Coulette, Quentin; Lemauf, Séverine; Colinet, Dominique; Prévost, Geneviève; Anselme, Caroline; Poirié, Marylène

2017-01-01

Aspartylglucosaminidase (AGA) is a low-abundance intracellular enzyme that plays a key role in the last stage of glycoproteins degradation, and whose deficiency leads to human aspartylglucosaminuria, a lysosomal storage disease. Surprisingly, high amounts of AGA-like proteins are secreted in the venom of two phylogenetically distant hymenopteran parasitoid wasp species, Asobara tabida (Braconidae) and Leptopilina heterotoma (Cynipidae). These venom AGAs have a similar domain organization as mammalian AGAs. They share with them key residues for autocatalysis and activity, and the mature α- and β-subunits also form an (αβ)2 structure in solution. Interestingly, only one of these AGAs subunits (α for AtAGA and β for LhAGA) is glycosylated instead of the two subunits for lysosomal human AGA (hAGA), and these glycosylations are partially resistant to PGNase F treatment. The two venom AGAs are secreted as fully activated enzymes, they have a similar aspartylglucosaminidase activity and are both also efficient asparaginases. Once AGAs are injected into the larvae of the Drosophila melanogaster host, the asparaginase activity may play a role in modulating their physiology. Altogether, our data provide new elements for a better understanding of the secretion and the role of venom AGAs as virulence factors in the parasitoid wasps’ success. PMID:28742131

Immune Modulation by Human Secreted RNases at the Extracellular Space.

PubMed

Lu, Lu; Li, Jiarui; Moussaoui, Mohammed; Boix, Ester

2018-01-01

The ribonuclease A superfamily is a vertebrate-specific family of proteins that encompasses eight functional members in humans. The proteins are secreted by diverse innate immune cells, from blood cells to epithelial cells and their levels in our body fluids correlate with infection and inflammation processes. Recent studies ascribe a prominent role to secretory RNases in the extracellular space. Extracellular RNases endowed with immuno-modulatory and antimicrobial properties can participate in a wide variety of host defense tasks, from performing cellular housekeeping to maintaining body fluid sterility. Their expression and secretion are induced in response to a variety of injury stimuli. The secreted proteins can target damaged cells and facilitate their removal from the focus of infection or inflammation. Following tissue damage, RNases can participate in clearing RNA from cellular debris or work as signaling molecules to regulate the host response and contribute to tissue remodeling and repair. We provide here an overall perspective on the current knowledge of human RNases' biological properties and their role in health and disease. The review also includes a brief description of other vertebrate family members and unrelated extracellular RNases that share common mechanisms of action. A better knowledge of RNase mechanism of actions and an understanding of their physiological roles should facilitate the development of novel therapeutics.

Central Interleukin-1β Suppresses the Nocturnal Secretion of Melatonin

PubMed Central

Herman, A. P.; Bochenek, J.; Król, K.; Krawczyńska, A.; Antushevich, H.; Pawlina, B.; Herman, A.; Romanowicz, K.; Tomaszewska-Zaremba, D.

2016-01-01

In vertebrates, numerous processes occur in a rhythmic manner. The hormonal signal reliably reflecting the environmental light conditions is melatonin. Nocturnal melatonin secretion patterns could be disturbed in pathophysiological states, including inflammation, Alzheimer's disease, and depression. All of these states share common elements in their aetiology, including the overexpression of interleukin- (IL-) 1β in the central nervous system. Therefore, the present study was designed to determine the effect of the central injection of exogenous IL-1β on melatonin release and on the expression of the enzymes of the melatonin biosynthetic pathway in the pineal gland of ewe. It was found that intracerebroventricular injections of IL-1β (50 µg/animal) suppressed (P < 0.05) nocturnal melatonin secretion in sheep regardless of the photoperiod. This may have resulted from decreased (P < 0.05) synthesis of the melatonin intermediate serotonin, which may have resulted, at least partially, from a reduced expression of tryptophan hydroxylase. IL-1β also inhibited (P < 0.05) the expression of the melatonin rhythm enzyme arylalkylamine-N-acetyltransferase and hydroxyindole-O-methyltransferase. However, the ability of IL-1β to affect the expression of these enzymes was dependent upon the photoperiod. Our study may shed new light on the role of central IL-1β in the aetiology of disruptions in melatonin secretion. PMID:27212805

Diversification of non-visual photopigment parapinopsin in spectral sensitivity for diverse pineal functions.

PubMed

Koyanagi, Mitsumasa; Wada, Seiji; Kawano-Yamashita, Emi; Hara, Yuichiro; Kuraku, Shigehiro; Kosaka, Shigeaki; Kawakami, Koichi; Tamotsu, Satoshi; Tsukamoto, Hisao; Shichida, Yoshinori; Terakita, Akihisa

2015-09-15

Recent genome projects of various animals have uncovered an unexpectedly large number of opsin genes, which encode protein moieties of photoreceptor molecules, in most animals. In visual systems, the biological meanings of this diversification are clear; multiple types of visual opsins with different spectral sensitivities are responsible for color vision. However, the significance of the diversification of non-visual opsins remains uncertain, in spite of the importance of understanding the molecular mechanism and evolution of varied non-visual photoreceptions. Here, we investigated the diversification of the pineal photopigment parapinopsin, which serves as the UV-sensitive photopigment for the pineal wavelength discrimination in the lamprey, linking it with other pineal photoreception. Spectroscopic analyses of the recombinant pigments of the two teleost parapinopsins PP1 and PP2 revealed that PP1 is a UV-sensitive pigment, similar to lamprey parapinopsin, but PP2 is a blue-sensitive pigment, with an absorption maximum at 460-480 nm, showing the diversification of non-visual pigment with respect to spectral sensitivity. We also found that PP1 and PP2 exhibit mutually exclusive expressions in the pineal organs of three teleost species. By using transgenic zebrafish in which these parapinopsin-expressing cells are labeled, we found that PP1-expressing cells basically possess neuronal processes, which is consistent with their involvement in wavelength discrimination. Interestingly, however, PP2-expressing cells rarely possess neuronal processes, raising the possibility that PP2 could be involved in non-neural responses rather than neural responses. Furthermore, we found that PP2-expressing cells contain serotonin and aanat2, the key enzyme involved in melatonin synthesis from serotonin, whereas PP1-expressing cells do not contain either, suggesting that blue-sensitive PP2 is instead involved in light-regulation of melatonin secretion. In this paper, we have clearly shown the different molecular properties of duplicated non-visual opsins by demonstrating the diversification of parapinopsin with respect to spectral sensitivity. Moreover, we have shown a plausible link between the diversification and its physiological impact by discovering a strong candidate for the underlying pigment in light-regulated melatonin secretion in zebrafish; the diversification could generate a new contribution of parapinopsin to pineal photoreception. Current findings could also provide an opportunity to understand the "color" preference of non-visual photoreception.

Visual Hemispheric Specialization: A Computational Theory. Technical Report #7.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kosslyn, Stephen M.

Visual recognition, navigation, tracking, and imagery are posited to involve some of the same types of representations and processes. The first part of this paper develops a theory of some of the shared types of representations and processing modules. The theory is developed in light of neurophysiological and neuroanatomical data from non-human…

Inclusive Game Design Facilitating Shared Gaming Experience

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wilhelmsson, UIf; Engström, Henrik; Brusk, Jenny; Östblad, Per Anders

2017-01-01

This article presents the result from a study comparing the perception and understanding of a game story between sighted and visually impaired players playing the same game. In particular, whether sighted and visually impaired players could experience and recount the same story construed from the plot elements that are either manifested by audio…

MetaCoMET: a web platform for discovery and visualization of the core microbiome

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

A key component of the analysis of microbiome datasets is the identification of OTUs shared between multiple experimental conditions, commonly referred to as the core microbiome. Results: We present a web platform named MetaCoMET that enables the discovery and visualization of the core microbiome an...

Multidimensional Shape Similarity in the Development of Visual Object Classification

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mash, Clay

2006-01-01

The current work examined age differences in the classification of novel object images that vary in continuous dimensions of structural shape. The structural dimensions employed are two that share a privileged status in the visual analysis and representation of objects: the shape of discrete prominent parts and the attachment positions of those…

Performance drifts in two-finger cyclical force production tasks performed by one and two actors.

PubMed

Hasanbarani, Fariba; Reschechtko, Sasha; Latash, Mark L

2018-03-01

We explored changes in the cyclical two-finger force performance task caused by turning visual feedback off performed either by the index and middle fingers of the dominant hand or by two index fingers of two persons. Based on an earlier study, we expected drifts in finger force amplitude and midpoint without a drift in relative phase. The subjects performed two rhythmical tasks at 1 Hz while paced by an auditory metronome. One of the tasks required cyclical changes in total force magnitude without changes in the sharing of the force between the two fingers. The other task required cyclical changes in the force sharing without changing total force magnitude. Subjects were provided with visual feedback, which showed total force magnitude and force sharing via cursor motion along the vertical and horizontal axes, respectively. Further, visual feedback was turned off, first on the variable that was not required to change and then on both variables. Turning visual feedback off led to a mean force drift toward lower magnitudes while force amplitude increased. There was a consistent drift in the relative phase in the one-hand task with the index finger leading the middle finger. No consistent relative phase drift was seen in the two-person tasks. The shape of the force cycle changed without visual feedback reflected in the lower similarity to a perfect cosine shape and in the higher time spent at lower force magnitudes. The data confirm findings of earlier studies regarding force amplitude and midpoint changes, but falsify predictions of an earlier proposed model with respect to the relative phase changes. We discuss factors that could contribute to the observed relative phase drift in the one-hand tasks including the leader-follower pattern generalized for two-effector tasks performed by one person.

Visual and Olfactory Floral Cues of Campanula (Campanulaceae) and Their Significance for Host Recognition by an Oligolectic Bee Pollinator

PubMed Central

Milet-Pinheiro, Paulo; Ayasse, Manfred; Dötterl, Stefan

2015-01-01

Oligolectic bees collect pollen from a few plants within a genus or family to rear their offspring, and are known to rely on visual and olfactory floral cues to recognize host plants. However, studies investigating whether oligolectic bees recognize distinct host plants by using shared floral cues are scarce. In the present study, we investigated in a comparative approach the visual and olfactory floral cues of six Campanula species, of which only Campanula lactiflora has never been reported as a pollen source of the oligolectic bee Ch. rapunculi. We hypothesized that the flowers of Campanula species visited by Ch. rapunculi share visual (i.e. color) and/or olfactory cues (scents) that give them a host-specific signature. To test this hypothesis, floral color and scent were studied by spectrophotometric and chemical analyses, respectively. Additionally, we performed bioassays within a flight cage to test the innate color preference of Ch. rapunculi. Our results show that Campanula flowers reflect the light predominantly in the UV-blue/blue bee-color space and that Ch. rapunculi displays a strong innate preference for these two colors. Furthermore, we recorded spiroacetals in the floral scent of all Campanula species, but Ca. lactiflora. Spiroacetals, rarely found as floral scent constituents but quite common among Campanula species, were recently shown to play a key function for host-flower recognition by Ch. rapunculi. We conclude that Campanula species share some visual and olfactory floral cues, and that neurological adaptations (i.e. vision and olfaction) of Ch. rapunculi innately drive their foraging flights toward host flowers. The significance of our findings for the evolution of pollen diet breadth in bees is discussed. PMID:26060994

Synaptic noise is an information bottleneck in the inner retina during dynamic visual stimulation

PubMed Central

Freed, Michael A; Liang, Zhiyin

2014-01-01

In daylight, noise generated by cones determines the fidelity with which visual signals are initially encoded. Subsequent stages of visual processing require synapses from bipolar cells to ganglion cells, but whether these synapses generate a significant amount of noise was unknown. To characterize noise generated by these synapses, we recorded excitatory postsynaptic currents from mammalian retinal ganglion cells and subjected them to a computational noise analysis. The release of transmitter quanta at bipolar cell synapses contributed substantially to the noise variance found in the ganglion cell, causing a significant loss of fidelity from bipolar cell array to postsynaptic ganglion cell. Virtually all the remaining noise variance originated in the presynaptic circuit. Circuit noise had a frequency content similar to noise shared by ganglion cells but a very different frequency content from noise from bipolar cell synapses, indicating that these synapses constitute a source of independent noise not shared by ganglion cells. These findings contribute a picture of daylight retinal circuits where noise from cones and noise generated by synaptic transmission of cone signals significantly limit visual fidelity. PMID:24297850

A copyright protection scheme for digital images based on shuffled singular value decomposition and visual cryptography.

PubMed

Devi, B Pushpa; Singh, Kh Manglem; Roy, Sudipta

2016-01-01

This paper proposes a new watermarking algorithm based on the shuffled singular value decomposition and the visual cryptography for copyright protection of digital images. It generates the ownership and identification shares of the image based on visual cryptography. It decomposes the image into low and high frequency sub-bands. The low frequency sub-band is further divided into blocks of same size after shuffling it and then the singular value decomposition is applied to each randomly selected block. Shares are generated by comparing one of the elements in the first column of the left orthogonal matrix with its corresponding element in the right orthogonal matrix of the singular value decomposition of the block of the low frequency sub-band. The experimental results show that the proposed scheme clearly verifies the copyright of the digital images, and is robust to withstand several image processing attacks. Comparison with the other related visual cryptography-based algorithms reveals that the proposed method gives better performance. The proposed method is especially resilient against the rotation attack.

SensorDB: a virtual laboratory for the integration, visualization and analysis of varied biological sensor data.

PubMed

Salehi, Ali; Jimenez-Berni, Jose; Deery, David M; Palmer, Doug; Holland, Edward; Rozas-Larraondo, Pablo; Chapman, Scott C; Georgakopoulos, Dimitrios; Furbank, Robert T

2015-01-01

To our knowledge, there is no software or database solution that supports large volumes of biological time series sensor data efficiently and enables data visualization and analysis in real time. Existing solutions for managing data typically use unstructured file systems or relational databases. These systems are not designed to provide instantaneous response to user queries. Furthermore, they do not support rapid data analysis and visualization to enable interactive experiments. In large scale experiments, this behaviour slows research discovery, discourages the widespread sharing and reuse of data that could otherwise inform critical decisions in a timely manner and encourage effective collaboration between groups. In this paper we present SensorDB, a web based virtual laboratory that can manage large volumes of biological time series sensor data while supporting rapid data queries and real-time user interaction. SensorDB is sensor agnostic and uses web-based, state-of-the-art cloud and storage technologies to efficiently gather, analyse and visualize data. Collaboration and data sharing between different agencies and groups is thereby facilitated. SensorDB is available online at http://sensordb.csiro.au.

D Modelling and Visualization Based on the Unity Game Engine - Advantages and Challenges

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Buyuksalih, I.; Bayburt, S.; Buyuksalih, G.; Baskaraca, A. P.; Karim, H.; Rahman, A. A.

2017-11-01

3D City modelling is increasingly popular and becoming valuable tools in managing big cities. Urban and energy planning, landscape, noise-sewage modelling, underground mapping and navigation are among the applications/fields which really depend on 3D modelling for their effectiveness operations. Several research areas and implementation projects had been carried out to provide the most reliable 3D data format for sharing and functionalities as well as visualization platform and analysis. For instance, BIMTAS company has recently completed a project to estimate potential solar energy on 3D buildings for the whole Istanbul and now focussing on 3D utility underground mapping for a pilot case study. The research and implementation standard on 3D City Model domain (3D data sharing and visualization schema) is based on CityGML schema version 2.0. However, there are some limitations and issues in implementation phase for large dataset. Most of the limitations were due to the visualization, database integration and analysis platform (Unity3D game engine) as highlighted in this paper.

Optical hiding with visual cryptography

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shi, Yishi; Yang, Xiubo

2017-11-01

We propose an optical hiding method based on visual cryptography. In the hiding process, we convert the secret information into a set of fabricated phase-keys, which are completely independent of each other, intensity-detected-proof and image-covered, leading to the high security. During the extraction process, the covered phase-keys are illuminated with laser beams and then incoherently superimposed to extract the hidden information directly by human vision, without complicated optical implementations and any additional computation, resulting in the convenience of extraction. Also, the phase-keys are manufactured as the diffractive optical elements that are robust to the attacks, such as the blocking and the phase-noise. Optical experiments verify that the high security, the easy extraction and the strong robustness are all obtainable in the visual-cryptography-based optical hiding.

An algorithm for encryption of secret images into meaningful images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kanso, A.; Ghebleh, M.

2017-03-01

Image encryption algorithms typically transform a plain image into a noise-like cipher image, whose appearance is an indication of encrypted content. Bao and Zhou [Image encryption: Generating visually meaningful encrypted images, Information Sciences 324, 2015] propose encrypting the plain image into a visually meaningful cover image. This improves security by masking existence of encrypted content. Following their approach, we propose a lossless visually meaningful image encryption scheme which improves Bao and Zhou's algorithm by making the encrypted content, i.e. distortions to the cover image, more difficult to detect. Empirical results are presented to show high quality of the resulting images and high security of the proposed algorithm. Competence of the proposed scheme is further demonstrated by means of comparison with Bao and Zhou's scheme.

Classification of cognitive systems dedicated to data sharing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ogiela, Lidia; Ogiela, Marek R.

2017-08-01

In this paper will be presented classification of new cognitive information systems dedicated to cryptographic data splitting and sharing processes. Cognitive processes of semantic data analysis and interpretation, will be used to describe new classes of intelligent information and vision systems. In addition, cryptographic data splitting algorithms and cryptographic threshold schemes will be used to improve processes of secure and efficient information management with application of such cognitive systems. The utility of the proposed cognitive sharing procedures and distributed data sharing algorithms will be also presented. A few possible application of cognitive approaches for visual information management and encryption will be also described.

Visual improvements in vaginal mucosa correlate with symptoms of VVA: data from a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.

PubMed

Simon, James A; Archer, David F; Kagan, Risa; Bernick, Brian; Graham, Shelli; Constantine, Ginger D; Mirkin, Sebastian

2017-09-01

To evaluate the response of the vaginal mucosa with TX-004HR and its correlation with vulvar and vaginal atrophy (VVA) symptoms, and whether visual examination is a useful measure for assessing VVA. REJOICE was a 12-week, phase 3, multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study of a vaginal, muco-adhesive, 17β-estradiol softgel capsule (TX-004HR 4, 10, and 25 μg) in postmenopausal women with VVA and moderate-to-severe dyspareunia. Treatments were self-administered vaginally once per day for 2 weeks, then twice per week for 10 weeks. The vagina was visually examined at baseline and at weeks 2, 6, 8, and 12; changes were evaluated using a 4-item scale for vaginal color, vaginal epithelial integrity, vaginal epithelial surface thickness, and vaginal secretions. Significant improvements were observed with all three TX-004HR doses versus placebo in vaginal color (least square mean score changes of -0.96 to -1.06 for TX-004HR doses vs -0.60 for placebo at week 12), epithelial integrity (-0.97 to -1.07 vs -0.60), epithelial surface thickness (-0.94 to -1.03 vs -0.61), and secretions (-1.01 to -1.06 vs -0.64) (P < 0.001 for all comparisons at all time points). Both Pearson's correlations and logistic regression receiver-operating characteristic curve analyses significantly correlated the sum of the individual visual assessment scores with dyspareunia (P < 0.0001) and vaginal dryness (P < 0.0001) at 12 weeks. Greater improvements in the vaginal mucosa of postmenopausal women with VVA and moderate-to-severe dyspareunia were observed with TX-004HR versus placebo, and vaginal mucosa assessment scores correlated with vaginal symptoms of dyspareunia and dryness. Visual vaginal assessment by healthcare professionals is a useful measure for diagnosing VVA and assessing response to treatment.

Palmatine, a protoberberine alkaloid, inhibits both Ca2+- and cAMP-activated Cl− secretion in isolated rat distal colon

PubMed Central

Wu, D Z; Yuan, J Y; Shi, H L; Hu, Z B

2008-01-01

Background and purpose: The protoberberine alkaloid berberine has been reported to inhibit colonic Cl− secretion. However, it is not known if other protoberberine alkaloids share these effects. We have therefore selected another protoberberine alkaloid, palmatine, to assess its effects on active ion transport across rat colonic epithelium. Experimental approach: Rat colonic mucosa was mounted in Ussing chambers and short circuit current (I SC), apical Cl− current and basolateral K+ current were recorded. Intracellular cAMP content was determined by an enzyme immunoassay. Intracellular Ca2+ concentration was measured with Fura-2 AM. Key results: Palmatine inhibited carbachol-induced Ca2+-activated Cl− secretion and the carbachol-induced increase of intracellular Ca2+ concentration. Palmatine also inhibited cAMP-activated Cl− secretion induced by prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) or forskolin. Palmatine prevented the elevation of intracellular cAMP by forskolin. Determination of apical Cl− currents showed that palmatine suppressed the forskolin-stimulated, apical cAMP-activated Cl− current but not the carbachol-stimulated apical Ca2+-activated Cl− current. Following permeabilization of apical membranes with nystatin, we found that palmatine inhibited a carbachol-stimulated basolateral K+ current that was sensitive to charybdotoxin and resistant to chromanol 293B. However, the forskolin-stimulated basolateral K+ current inhibited by palmatine was specifically blocked by chromanol 293B and not by charybdotoxin. Conclusions and implications: Palmatine attenuated Ca2+-activated Cl− secretion through inhibiting basolateral charybdotoxin-sensitive, SK4 K+ channels, whereas it inhibited cAMP-activated Cl− secretion by inhibiting apical CFTR Cl− channels and basolateral chromanol 293B-sensitive, KvLQT1 K+ channels. PMID:18204477

Supporting the Development and Adoption of Automatic Lameness Detection Systems in Dairy Cattle: Effect of System Cost and Performance on Potential Market Shares

PubMed Central

Van Weyenberg, Stephanie; Van Nuffel, Annelies; Lauwers, Ludwig; Vangeyte, Jürgen

2017-01-01

Simple Summary Most prototypes of systems to automatically detect lameness in dairy cattle are still not available on the market. Estimating their potential adoption rate could support developers in defining development goals towards commercially viable and well-adopted systems. We simulated the potential market shares of such prototypes to assess the effect of altering the system cost and detection performance on the potential adoption rate. We found that system cost and lameness detection performance indeed substantially influence the potential adoption rate. In order for farmers to prefer automatic detection over current visual detection, the usefulness that farmers attach to a system with specific characteristics should be higher than that of visual detection. As such, we concluded that low system costs and high detection performances are required before automatic lameness detection systems become applicable in practice. Abstract Most automatic lameness detection system prototypes have not yet been commercialized, and are hence not yet adopted in practice. Therefore, the objective of this study was to simulate the effect of detection performance (percentage missed lame cows and percentage false alarms) and system cost on the potential market share of three automatic lameness detection systems relative to visual detection: a system attached to the cow, a walkover system, and a camera system. Simulations were done using a utility model derived from survey responses obtained from dairy farmers in Flanders, Belgium. Overall, systems attached to the cow had the largest market potential, but were still not competitive with visual detection. Increasing the detection performance or lowering the system cost led to higher market shares for automatic systems at the expense of visual detection. The willingness to pay for extra performance was €2.57 per % less missed lame cows, €1.65 per % less false alerts, and €12.7 for lame leg indication, respectively. The presented results could be exploited by system designers to determine the effect of adjustments to the technology on a system’s potential adoption rate. PMID:28991188

Full-field implementation of a perfect eavesdropper on a quantum cryptography system.

PubMed

Gerhardt, Ilja; Liu, Qin; Lamas-Linares, Antía; Skaar, Johannes; Kurtsiefer, Christian; Makarov, Vadim

2011-06-14

Quantum key distribution (QKD) allows two remote parties to grow a shared secret key. Its security is founded on the principles of quantum mechanics, but in reality it significantly relies on the physical implementation. Technological imperfections of QKD systems have been previously explored, but no attack on an established QKD connection has been realized so far. Here we show the first full-field implementation of a complete attack on a running QKD connection. An installed eavesdropper obtains the entire 'secret' key, while none of the parameters monitored by the legitimate parties indicate a security breach. This confirms that non-idealities in physical implementations of QKD can be fully practically exploitable, and must be given increased scrutiny if quantum cryptography is to become highly secure.

Position-based quantum cryptography over untrusted networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nadeem, Muhammad

2014-08-01

In this article, we propose quantum position verification (QPV) schemes where all the channels are untrusted except the position of the prover and distant reference stations of verifiers. We review and analyze the existing QPV schemes containing some pre-shared data between the prover and verifiers. Most of these schemes are based on non-cryptographic assumptions, i.e. quantum/classical channels between the verifiers are secure. It seems impractical in an environment fully controlled by adversaries and would lead to security compromise in practical implementations. However, our proposed formula for QPV is more robust, secure and according to the standard assumptions of cryptography. Furthermore, once the position of the prover is verified, our schemes establish secret keys in parallel and can be used for authentication and secret communication between the prover and verifiers.

Physics-based interactive volume manipulation for sharing surgical process.

PubMed

Nakao, Megumi; Minato, Kotaro

2010-05-01

This paper presents a new set of techniques by which surgeons can interactively manipulate patient-specific volumetric models for sharing surgical process. To handle physical interaction between the surgical tools and organs, we propose a simple surface-constraint-based manipulation algorithm to consistently simulate common surgical manipulations such as grasping, holding and retraction. Our computation model is capable of simulating soft-tissue deformation and incision in real time. We also present visualization techniques in order to rapidly visualize time-varying, volumetric information on the deformed image. This paper demonstrates the success of the proposed methods in enabling the simulation of surgical processes, and the ways in which this simulation facilitates preoperative planning and rehearsal.

Effect of perceptual load on conceptual processing: an extension of Vermeulen's theory.

PubMed

Xie, Jiushu; Wang, Ruiming; Sun, Xun; Chang, Song

2013-10-01

The effect of color and shape load on conceptual processing was studied. Perceptual load effects have been found in visual and auditory conceptual processing, supporting the theory of embodied cognition. However, whether different types of visual concepts, such as color and shape, share the same perceptual load effects is unknown. In the current experiment, 32 participants were administered simultaneous perceptual and conceptual tasks to assess the relation between perceptual load and conceptual processing. Keeping color load in mind obstructed color conceptual processing. Hence, perceptual processing and conceptual load shared the same resources, suggesting embodied cognition. Color conceptual processing was not affected by shape pictures, indicating that different types of properties within vision were separate.

KML Tours: A New Platform for Exploring and Sharing Geospatial Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barcay, D. P.; Weiss-Malik, M.

2009-12-01

Google Earth and other virtual globes have allowed millions of people to explore the world from their own home. This technology has also raised the bar for professional visualizations: enabling interactive 3D visualizations to be created from massive data-sets, and shared using the KML language. For academics and professionals alike, an engaging presentation of your geospatial data is generally expected and can be the most effective form of advertisement. To that end, we released 'Touring' in Google Earth 5.0: a new medium for cinematic expression, visualized in Google Earth and written as extensions to the KML language. In a KML tour, the author has fine-grained control over the entire visual experience: precisely moving the virtual camera through the world while dynamically modifying the content, style, position, and visibility of the displayed data. An author can synchronize audio to this experience, bringing further immersion to a visualization. KML tours can help engage a broad user-base and conveying subtle concepts that aren't immediately apparent in traditional geospatial content. Unlike a pre-rendered video, a KML Tour maintains the rich interactivity of Google Earth, allowing users to continue exploring your content, and to mash-up other content with your visualization. This session will include conceptual explanations of the Touring feature in Google Earth, the structure of the touring KML extensions, as well as examples of compelling tours.

Transposition cutaneous flap and split skin mesh graft as combined optimal treatment approach for Giant Neglected multicentric BCC of the Shoulder.

PubMed

Tchernev, Georgi; Pidakev, Ivan

2018-05-31

We report for a 70-year-old cachectic patient - 165 cm, 45 kg, who was admitted for the first time to the dematosurgical unit for a surgical removal of a tumor formation localized in the region of the back from more than 15 years (fig. 1a). In the last few months the lesion has increased significantly in size and causes burning sensation, mild pain and abundant secretion of bloody yellow secretions (fig. 1a). During the dermatological examination a tumor-like formation in the left scapular region was visualized, This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Glucocorticoid hormones are both a major circadian signal and major stress signal: How this shared signal contributes to a dynamic relationship between the circadian and stress systems.

PubMed

Spencer, Robert L; Chun, Lauren E; Hartsock, Matthew J; Woodruff, Elizabeth R

2018-04-01

Glucocorticoid hormones are a powerful mammalian systemic hormonal signal that exerts regulatory effects on almost every cell and system of the body. Glucocorticoids act in a circadian and stress-directed manner to aid in adaptation to an ever-changing environment. Circadian glucocorticoid secretion provides for a daily waxing and waning influence on target cell function. In addition, the daily circadian peak of glucocorticoid secretion serves as a timing signal that helps entrain intrinsic molecular clock phase in tissue cells distributed throughout the body. Stress-induced glucocorticoid secretion also modulates the state of these same cells in response to both physiological and psychological stressors. We review the strong functional interrelationships between glucocorticoids and the circadian system, and discuss how these interactions optimize the appropriate cellular and systems response to stress throughout the day. We also discuss clinical implications of this dual aspect of glucocorticoid signaling, especially for conditions of circadian and HPA axis dysregulation. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Accelerating Innovation Through Coopetition: The Innovation Learning Network Experience.

PubMed

McCarthy, Chris; Ford Carleton, Penny; Krumpholz, Elizabeth; Chow, Marilyn P

Coopetition, the simultaneous pursuit of cooperation and competition, is a growing force in the innovation landscape. For some organizations, the primary mode of innovation continues to be deeply secretive and highly competitive, but for others, a new style of shared challenges, shared purpose, and shared development has become a superior, more efficient way of working to accelerate innovation capabilities and capacity. Over the last 2 decades, the literature base devoted to coopetition has gradually expanded. However, the field is still in its infancy. The majority of coopetition research is qualitative, primarily consisting of case studies. Few studies have addressed the nonprofit sector or service industries such as health care. The authors believe that this article may offer a unique perspective on coopetition in the context of a US-based national health care learning alliance designed to accelerate innovation, the Innovation Learning Network or ILN. The mission of the ILN is to "Share the joy and pain of innovation," accelerating innovation by sharing solutions, teaching techniques, and cultivating friendships. These 3 pillars (sharing, teaching, and cultivating) form the foundation for coopetition within the ILN. Through the lens of coopetition, we examine the experience of the ILN over the last 10 years and provide case examples that illustrate the benefits and challenges of coopetition in accelerating innovation in health care.

A framework for inference about carnivore density from unstructured spatial sampling of scat using detector dogs

Treesearch

Craig M. Thompson; J. Andrew Royle; James D. Garner

2012-01-01

Wildlife management often hinges upon an accurate assessment of population density. Although undeniably useful, many of the traditional approaches to density estimation such as visual counts, livetrapping, or mark–recapture suffer from a suite of methodological and analytical weaknesses. Rare, secretive, or highly mobile species exacerbate these problems through the...

Visual imagery without visual perception: lessons from blind subjects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bértolo, Helder

2014-08-01

The question regarding visual imagery and visual perception remain an open issue. Many studies have tried to understand if the two processes share the same mechanisms or if they are independent, using different neural substrates. Most research has been directed towards the need of activation of primary visual areas during imagery. Here we review some of the works providing evidence for both claims. It seems that studying visual imagery in blind subjects can be used as a way of answering some of those questions, namely if it is possible to have visual imagery without visual perception. We present results from the work of our group using visual activation in dreams and its relation with EEG's spectral components, showing that congenitally blind have visual contents in their dreams and are able to draw them; furthermore their Visual Activation Index is negatively correlated with EEG alpha power. This study supports the hypothesis that it is possible to have visual imagery without visual experience.

The Selection of Tangible Symbols by Educators of Students with Visual Impairments and Additional Disabilities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Trief, Ellen; Bruce, Susan M.; Cascella, Paul W.

2010-01-01

Tangible symbols are objects or partial objects that can be physically manipulated and that share a perceptual relationship with what they represent, known as the referent. They make fewer demands on memory and representational ability, making them an appropriate expressive form of communication for individuals with visual impairments and…

Discrete Resource Allocation in Visual Working Memory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Barton, Brian; Ester, Edward F.; Awh, Edward

2009-01-01

Are resources in visual working memory allocated in a continuous or a discrete fashion? On one hand, flexible resource models suggest that capacity is determined by a central resource pool that can be flexibly divided such that items of greater complexity receive a larger share of resources. On the other hand, if capacity in working memory is…

Using Marketing Visuals for Product Talk in Business English Classes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Adamson, John

2005-01-01

One requirement often stressed by the author's Japanese business English students in sales and marketing positions is the need to talk about the product, or make presentations, in terms of its market growth and market share over time with the use of a visual representation. These requests have linguistic and conceptual elements that demand a lot…

Blind Childrens Center Annual Report, 2008-2009

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Blind Childrens Center, 2009

2009-01-01

When entering the Blind Childrens Center (BCC), what a person might not realize is that four of the five visually impaired children in a classroom share the same diagnosis of Optic Nerve Hypoplasia (OHN). ONH is the leading cause of blindness and visual impairment in young children. It is important that these children participate in an inclusive…

Talking Pictures: Exploiting the Potential of Visual Sources to Generate Productive Pupil Talk

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Card, Jane

2012-01-01

Jane Card has long been fascinated by the power of visual sources to stimulate pupil thought and discussion. In previous articles she has shared insights from her own expert practice, fusing deep subject knowledge with careful planning to generate highly skilful questioning. Here she presents another rich example of classroom practice, carefully…

Developing a Vocabulary Size Test Measuring Two Aspects of Receptive Vocabulary Knowledge: Visual versus Aural

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Aizawa, Kazumi; Iso, Tatsuo; Nadasdy, Paul

2017-01-01

Testing learners' English proficiency is central to university English classes in Japan. This study developed and implemented a set of parallel online receptive aural and visual vocabulary tests that would predict learners' English proficiency. The tests shared the same target words and choices--the main difference was the presentation of the…

Toward a "Topos" of Visual Rhetoric: Teaching Aesthetics through Color and Typography

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Welhausen, Candice A.

2018-01-01

This article proposes a heuristic that teachers and students can use together to create a vocabulary for discussing the aesthetic aspects of color and typography in document design work. By using this framework, teachers and students can generate a collection of shared "visual topoi" or commonplaces for describing the aesthetic value of…

Relative Effects of Visualized and Verbal Presentation Methods in Communicating Environmental Information among Stakeholders: Okavango Delta, Botswana

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thakadu, Olekae T.; Irani, Tracy; Telg, Ricky

2011-01-01

The present study examined the relative effectiveness of 2 public instructional communication methods in improving selected predictors of knowledge-sharing behaviors among communities in the Okavango Delta, Botswana. A total of 120 subjects took part in a quasiexperimental study, with 2 experimental treatments: (a) visualized PowerPoint…

Visual Modeling as a Motivation for Studying Mathematics and Art

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sendova, Evgenia; Grkovska, Slavica

2005-01-01

The paper deals with the possibility of enriching the curriculum in mathematics, informatics and art by means of visual modeling of abstract paintings. The authors share their belief that in building a computer model of a construct, one gains deeper insight into the construct, and is motivated to elaborate one's knowledge in mathematics and…

Application of Quantum Gauss-Jordan Elimination Code to Quantum Secret Sharing Code

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Diep, Do Ngoc; Giang, Do Hoang; Phu, Phan Huy

2017-12-01

The QSS codes associated with a MSP code are based on finding an invertible matrix V, solving the system vATMB (s a) = s. We propose a quantum Gauss-Jordan Elimination Procedure to produce such a pivotal matrix V by using the Grover search code. The complexity of solving is of square-root order of the cardinal number of the unauthorized set √ {2^{|B|}}.

Application of Quantum Gauss-Jordan Elimination Code to Quantum Secret Sharing Code

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Diep, Do Ngoc; Giang, Do Hoang; Phu, Phan Huy

2018-03-01

The QSS codes associated with a MSP code are based on finding an invertible matrix V, solving the system vATMB (s a)=s. We propose a quantum Gauss-Jordan Elimination Procedure to produce such a pivotal matrix V by using the Grover search code. The complexity of solving is of square-root order of the cardinal number of the unauthorized set √ {2^{|B|}}.

Information Operations: Putting the ’I’ Back Into Dime

DTIC Science & Technology

2006-02-01

Texas Early Warning Center 9. Create New York Corporate Warning Network 10. Digital Marshall Plan using residual capability in abandoned satellites... us , and that all raw information—secret, unclassified, operational, logistic—must be brought together across distributed “pits” that are able to...is overt, using methods that do not compromise the integrity or impartiality of the UN, when the information can be shared and become widely known

Sharing "Sex Secrets" on Facebook: A Content Analysis of Youth Peer Communication and Advice Exchange on Social Media about Sexual Health and Intimate Relations.

PubMed

Yeo, Tien Ee Dominic; Chu, Tsz Hang

2017-09-01

Social media present opportunities and challenges for sexual health communication among young people. This study is one of the first to examine the actual use of Facebook for peer communication of sexual health and intimate relations. Content analysis of 2186 anonymous posts in a "sex secrets" Facebook page unofficially affiliated with a Hong Kong University shows gender balance among posters, inclusiveness of sexual minorities, and frequent sharing of personal experiences in storytelling or advice seeking. The findings illuminate young people's health concerns regarding condom use, avoiding pain, birth control, sexually transmitted infections, and body appearance. Relational concerns found entailed sexual practices, expectations, and needs-predominantly within dating relationships and include not wanting to have sex. Supportive communication among users was prevalent. A majority of posts involved advice solicitation in the form of request for opinion or information (30.38%), request for advice (13.68%), situation comparison (5.40%), or problem disclosure (9.97%). Comments to the advice-seeking posts were mostly supportive (69.49%); nonsupportive responses (unsolicited messages and gratuitous humor) were concentrated with ambiguous advice solicitations. These findings hold implications for understanding self-disclosure of intimate concerns within social networks, and attuning sexual health intervention on social media to young people's actual needs and advice preferences.

An annotation system for 3D fluid flow visualization

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Loughlin, Maria M.; Hughes, John F.

1995-01-01

Annotation is a key activity of data analysis. However, current systems for data analysis focus almost exclusively on visualization. We propose a system which integrates annotations into a visualization system. Annotations are embedded in 3D data space, using the Post-it metaphor. This embedding allows contextual-based information storage and retrieval, and facilitates information sharing in collaborative environments. We provide a traditional database filter and a Magic Lens filter to create specialized views of the data. The system has been customized for fluid flow applications, with features which allow users to store parameters of visualization tools and sketch 3D volumes.

The Climate-G testbed: towards a large scale data sharing environment for climate change

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aloisio, G.; Fiore, S.; Denvil, S.; Petitdidier, M.; Fox, P.; Schwichtenberg, H.; Blower, J.; Barbera, R.

2009-04-01

The Climate-G testbed provides an experimental large scale data environment for climate change addressing challenging data and metadata management issues. The main scope of Climate-G is to allow scientists to carry out geographical and cross-institutional climate data discovery, access, visualization and sharing. Climate-G is a multidisciplinary collaboration involving both climate and computer scientists and it currently involves several partners such as: Centro Euro-Mediterraneo per i Cambiamenti Climatici (CMCC), Institut Pierre-Simon Laplace (IPSL), Fraunhofer Institut für Algorithmen und Wissenschaftliches Rechnen (SCAI), National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), University of Reading, University of Catania and University of Salento. To perform distributed metadata search and discovery, we adopted a CMCC metadata solution (which provides a high level of scalability, transparency, fault tolerance and autonomy) leveraging both on P2P and grid technologies (GRelC Data Access and Integration Service). Moreover, data are available through OPeNDAP/THREDDS services, Live Access Server as well as the OGC compliant Web Map Service and they can be downloaded, visualized, accessed into the proposed environment through the Climate-G Data Distribution Centre (DDC), the web gateway to the Climate-G digital library. The DDC is a data-grid portal allowing users to easily, securely and transparently perform search/discovery, metadata management, data access, data visualization, etc. Godiva2 (integrated into the DDC) displays 2D maps (and animations) and also exports maps for display on the Google Earth virtual globe. Presently, Climate-G publishes (through the DDC) about 2TB of data related to the ENSEMBLES project (also including distributed replicas of data) as well as to the IPCC AR4. The main results of the proposed work are: wide data access/sharing environment for climate change; P2P/grid metadata approach; production-level Climate-G DDC; high quality tools for data visualization; metadata search/discovery across several countries/institutions; open environment for climate change data sharing.

Invisible Mars: New Visuals for Communicating MAVEN's Story

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shupla, C. B.; Ali, N. A.; Jones, A. P.; Mason, T.; Schneider, N. M.; Brain, D. A.; Blackwell, J.

2016-12-01

Invisible Mars tells the story of Mars' evolving atmosphere, through a script and a series of visuals as a live presentation. Created for Science-On-A-Sphere, the presentation has also been made available to planetariums, and is being expanded to other platforms. The script has been updated to include results from the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution Mission (MAVEN), and additional visuals have been produced. This poster will share the current Invisible Mars resources available and the plans to further disseminate this presentation.

Global-local visual biases correspond with visual-spatial orientation.

PubMed

Basso, Michael R; Lowery, Natasha

2004-02-01

Within the past decade, numerous investigations have demonstrated reliable associations of global-local visual processing biases with right and left hemisphere function, respectively (cf. Van Kleeck, 1989). Yet the relevance of these biases to other cognitive functions is not well understood. Towards this end, the present research examined the relationship between global-local visual biases and perception of visual-spatial orientation. Twenty-six women and 23 men completed a global-local judgment task (Kimchi and Palmer, 1982) and the Judgment of Line Orientation Test (JLO; Benton, Sivan, Hamsher, Varney, and Spreen, 1994), a measure of visual-spatial orientation. As expected, men had better performance on JLO. Extending previous findings, global biases were related to better visual-spatial acuity on JLO. The findings suggest that global-local biases and visual-spatial orientation may share underlying cerebral mechanisms. Implications of these findings for other visually mediated cognitive outcomes are discussed.

Enabling the MLSpOC (Multi-Level Space Operations Center) of the Future

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Missal, D.

2012-09-01

The Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act, passed by Congress in 2004, established the expectation that the "vast intelligence enterprise" of the United States would become more unified, coordinated, and effective. This law charged the intelligence community and government agencies to integrate foreign intelligence and domestic US intelligence components to reduce gaps in understanding threats to our national security and to improve our reaction. This intelligence strategy — designed to provide more comprehensive and accurate intelligence analysis—substantially increases requirements for secure data sharing capabilities. An information system must be Certified & Accredited (C&A) by the appropriate Accreditation Authority in accordance with each Authority's prescribed compliance requirements and governance. Cross-Domain Solutions (CDSs) can provide the ability to share data between multiple operating domains (e.g. among users on Top Secret and Secret networks). However, sharing sensitive data across security domains and networks has been impeded by both technical and cultural challenges. A viable CDS requires a tremendous investment for initial C&A and many solutions are limited with respect to the integration of an organization's applications. As a result, most of today's highly secured systems have been designed to restrict access to entire user populations rather than implement data sharing on the basis of mandatory access controls and an individual's need-to-know. Most CDSs today are based on one-way replication through data transfer guards that copy data from one network to another. This model inherently builds in additional and extensive Operations and Maintenance (O&M) costs. Oracle's National Security Group challenged its top engineers and security architects to engineer the first Cross-Domain database providing a practical and robust solution to the Cross-Domain security problem. The result is the MLSpOC, which is deployed, fielded, and accredited today at multiple sites both CONUS and OCONUS. It is designed to assist information systems developers achieve DCID 6/3 Protection Level 4 or 5 (PL4 or PL5) or DoD SABI C&A for SECRET-to-UNCLASSIFIED systems (PL3). The product is on the DoD/DNI Unified Cross-domain Management Office's (UCDMO) Baseline of accredited solutions, and is the only solution on the Baseline which the Government considers to be an "All-in-One" approach to the Cross-domain Security challenge. Our solution is also the only PL-4 Cloud in existence and that is deployed and operational in the entire world today (at DIA). The Space marketplace is a very unique cross-domain challenge, as a need exists for Unclassified SSA Data Sharing at a deeper and more fundamental level than anywhere else in the IC or DoD. For instance, certain Agencies and/or Programs have a requirement to share information with Partner Nations that are not considered to be "friendly" (e.g. China). Our Solution is the ONLY solution in the world today that's achieved C&A, and that is uniquely positioned to enable the Multi-level Space Operations Center (MLSpOC) of the Future.

The Interaction of Child-Parent Shared Reading with an Augmented Reality (AR) Picture Book and Parents' Conceptions of AR Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cheng, Kun-Hung; Tsai, Chin-Chung

2016-01-01

Following a previous study (Cheng & Tsai, 2014. "Computers & Education"), this study aimed to probe the interaction of child-parent shared reading with the augmented reality (AR) picture book in more depth. A series of sequential analyses were thus conducted to infer the behavioral transition diagrams and visualize the continuity…

A QR Code Based Zero-Watermarking Scheme for Authentication of Medical Images in Teleradiology Cloud

PubMed Central

Seenivasagam, V.; Velumani, R.

2013-01-01

Healthcare institutions adapt cloud based archiving of medical images and patient records to share them efficiently. Controlled access to these records and authentication of images must be enforced to mitigate fraudulent activities and medical errors. This paper presents a zero-watermarking scheme implemented in the composite Contourlet Transform (CT)—Singular Value Decomposition (SVD) domain for unambiguous authentication of medical images. Further, a framework is proposed for accessing patient records based on the watermarking scheme. The patient identification details and a link to patient data encoded into a Quick Response (QR) code serves as the watermark. In the proposed scheme, the medical image is not subjected to degradations due to watermarking. Patient authentication and authorized access to patient data are realized on combining a Secret Share with the Master Share constructed from invariant features of the medical image. The Hu's invariant image moments are exploited in creating the Master Share. The proposed system is evaluated with Checkmark software and is found to be robust to both geometric and non geometric attacks. PMID:23970943

A QR code based zero-watermarking scheme for authentication of medical images in teleradiology cloud.

PubMed

Seenivasagam, V; Velumani, R

2013-01-01

Healthcare institutions adapt cloud based archiving of medical images and patient records to share them efficiently. Controlled access to these records and authentication of images must be enforced to mitigate fraudulent activities and medical errors. This paper presents a zero-watermarking scheme implemented in the composite Contourlet Transform (CT)-Singular Value Decomposition (SVD) domain for unambiguous authentication of medical images. Further, a framework is proposed for accessing patient records based on the watermarking scheme. The patient identification details and a link to patient data encoded into a Quick Response (QR) code serves as the watermark. In the proposed scheme, the medical image is not subjected to degradations due to watermarking. Patient authentication and authorized access to patient data are realized on combining a Secret Share with the Master Share constructed from invariant features of the medical image. The Hu's invariant image moments are exploited in creating the Master Share. The proposed system is evaluated with Checkmark software and is found to be robust to both geometric and non geometric attacks.

Attention stabilizes the shared gain of V4 populations

PubMed Central

Rabinowitz, Neil C; Goris, Robbe L; Cohen, Marlene; Simoncelli, Eero P

2015-01-01

Responses of sensory neurons represent stimulus information, but are also influenced by internal state. For example, when monkeys direct their attention to a visual stimulus, the response gain of specific subsets of neurons in visual cortex changes. Here, we develop a functional model of population activity to investigate the structure of this effect. We fit the model to the spiking activity of bilateral neural populations in area V4, recorded while the animal performed a stimulus discrimination task under spatial attention. The model reveals four separate time-varying shared modulatory signals, the dominant two of which each target task-relevant neurons in one hemisphere. In attention-directed conditions, the associated shared modulatory signal decreases in variance. This finding provides an interpretable and parsimonious explanation for previous observations that attention reduces variability and noise correlations of sensory neurons. Finally, the recovered modulatory signals reflect previous reward, and are predictive of subsequent choice behavior. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.08998.001 PMID:26523390

Forging partnerships between optometrists and ergonomists to improve visual comfort and productivity in the workplace.

PubMed

Long, Jennifer

2014-01-01

Ergonomists and optometrists often have mutual clients/patients with complex visual needs in the workplace but communication between the professionals is usually indirect through the client/patient. This paper describes a joint professional development meeting between optometrists and ergonomists in Canberra, Australia, which included a discussion to explore how to improve communication between the two professions. Optometrists and ergonomists reported they would prefer more information before conducting assessments and providing advice. Vision screening forms commonly in use for computer workers were viewed as inadequate to meet these needs. Communication between the two professions was hampered by absence of contact details of the optometrist/ergonomist, perceptions that the other profession is too busy to talk, privacy considerations in sharing information and funding issues for shared care arrangements. There are opportunities for increasing awareness of good vision in workplaces. Communication between optometrists and ergonomists can be improved by developing information-sharing documents relevant to modern workplaces.

Deformable L-shaped microwell array for trapping pairs of heterogeneous cells

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, Gi-Hun; Kim, Sung-Hwan; Kang, AhRan; Takayama, Shuichi; Lee, Sang-Hoon; Park, Joong Yull

2015-03-01

To study cell-to-cell interactions, there has been a continuous demand on developing microsystems for trapping pairs of two different cells in microwell arrays. Here, we propose an L-shaped microwell (L-microwell) array that relies on the elasticity of a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) substrate for trapping and pairing heterogeneous cells. We designed an L-microwell suitable for trapping single cell in each branch via stretching/releasing the PDMS substrate, and also performed 3D time-dependent diffusion simulations to visualize how cell-secreted molecules diffuse in the L-microwell and communicate with the partner cell. The computational results showed that the secreted molecule first contacted the partner cell after 35 min, and the secreted molecule fully covered the partner cell in 4 h (when referenced to 10% of the secreted molecular concentration). The molecules that diffused to the outside of the L-microwell were significantly diluted by the bulk solution, which prevented unwanted cellular communication between neighboring L-microwells. We produced over 5000 cell pairs in one 2.25 cm2 array with about 30 000 L-microwells. The proposed L-microwell array offers a versatile and convenient cell pairing method to investigate cell-to-cell interactions in, for example, cell fusion, immune reactions, and cancer metastasis.

Monomorphous Plurihormonal Pituitary Adenoma of Pit-1 Lineage in a Giant Adolescent with Central Hyperthyroidism.

PubMed

Pereira, Bernardo Dias; Raimundo, Luísa; Mete, Ozgur; Oliveira, Ana; Portugal, Jorge; Asa, Sylvia L

2016-03-01

Thyrotropin (TSH)-secreting pituitary adenomas are exceedingly rare at the pediatric age and no cases of co-secretion with other pituitary hormones in these tumors have been described in this age range. We present a case of a monomorphous plurihormonal pituitary adenoma that co-secreted TSH and GH in a pediatric patient. A 13-year-old male presented with increasing height velocity (17.75 cm/year, 9.55SD), weight loss, and visual impairment. Initial biochemical evaluations revealed secondary hyperthyroidism. A giant pituitary tumor compressing the surrounding structures was detected by magnetic resonance, and a transsphenoidal surgery was initially performed. Pathological examinations revealed an atypical, monomorphous plurihormonal Pit-1 lineage tumor with mixed features of silent subtype 3 adenoma and acidophil stem cell adenoma. In the postoperative period, secondary hyperthyroidism recurred with high levels of both GH and IGF1. In addition, due to tumor re-growth, a multimodality treatment plan was undertaken including surgery, somatostatin analogs, and radiotherapy. We report the first pediatric case of a plurihormonal TSH- and GH-secreting pituitary adenoma, further expanding the clinical manifestations of pediatric pituitary tumors. Comprehensive pathological evaluation and close follow-up surveillance are crucial to the prompt delivery of the best therapeutic options in the context of this particularly aggressive pituitary tumor.

Visual pathways from the perspective of cost functions and multi-task deep neural networks.

PubMed

Scholte, H Steven; Losch, Max M; Ramakrishnan, Kandan; de Haan, Edward H F; Bohte, Sander M

2018-01-01

Vision research has been shaped by the seminal insight that we can understand the higher-tier visual cortex from the perspective of multiple functional pathways with different goals. In this paper, we try to give a computational account of the functional organization of this system by reasoning from the perspective of multi-task deep neural networks. Machine learning has shown that tasks become easier to solve when they are decomposed into subtasks with their own cost function. We hypothesize that the visual system optimizes multiple cost functions of unrelated tasks and this causes the emergence of a ventral pathway dedicated to vision for perception, and a dorsal pathway dedicated to vision for action. To evaluate the functional organization in multi-task deep neural networks, we propose a method that measures the contribution of a unit towards each task, applying it to two networks that have been trained on either two related or two unrelated tasks, using an identical stimulus set. Results show that the network trained on the unrelated tasks shows a decreasing degree of feature representation sharing towards higher-tier layers while the network trained on related tasks uniformly shows high degree of sharing. We conjecture that the method we propose can be used to analyze the anatomical and functional organization of the visual system and beyond. We predict that the degree to which tasks are related is a good descriptor of the degree to which they share downstream cortical-units. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Federated Giovanni: A Distributed Web Service for Analysis and Visualization of Remote Sensing Data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lynnes, Chris

2014-01-01

The Geospatial Interactive Online Visualization and Analysis Interface (Giovanni) is a popular tool for users of the Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC) and has been in use for over a decade. It provides a wide variety of algorithms and visualizations to explore large remote sensing datasets without having to download the data and without having to write readers and visualizers for it. Giovanni is now being extended to enable its capabilities at other data centers within the Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS). This Federated Giovanni will allow four other data centers to add and maintain their data within Giovanni on behalf of their user community. Those data centers are the Physical Oceanography Distributed Active Archive Center (PO.DAAC), MODIS Adaptive Processing System (MODAPS), Ocean Biology Processing Group (OBPG), and Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center (LP DAAC). Three tiers are supported: Tier 1 (GES DISC-hosted) gives the remote data center a data management interface to add and maintain data, which are provided through the Giovanni instance at the GES DISC. Tier 2 packages Giovanni up as a virtual machine for distribution to and deployment by the other data centers. Data variables are shared among data centers by sharing documents from the Solr database that underpins Giovanni's data management capabilities. However, each data center maintains their own instance of Giovanni, exposing the variables of most interest to their user community. Tier 3 is a Shared Source model, in which the data centers cooperate to extend the infrastructure by contributing source code.

Analysis of eight out genes in a cluster required for pectic enzyme secretion by Erwinia chrysanthemi: sequence comparison with secretion genes from other gram-negative bacteria.

PubMed Central

Lindeberg, M; Collmer, A

1992-01-01

Many extracellular proteins produced by Erwinia chrysanthemi require the out gene products for transport across the outer membrane. In a previous report (S. Y. He, M. Lindeberg, A. K. Chatterjee, and A. Collmer, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 88:1079-1083, 1991) cosmid pCPP2006, sufficient for secretion of Erwinia chrysanthemi extracellular proteins by Escherichia coli, was partially sequenced, revealing four out genes sharing high homology with pulH through pulK from Klebsiella oxytoca. The nucleotide sequence of eight additional out genes reveals homology with pulC through pulG, pulL, pulM, pulO, and other genes involved in secretion by various gram-negative bacteria. Although signal sequences and hydrophobic regions are generally conserved between Pul and Out proteins, four out genes contain unique inserts, a pulN homolog is not present, and outO appears to be transcribed separately from outC through outM. The sequenced region was subcloned, and an additional 7.6-kb region upstream was identified as being required for secretion in E. coli. out gene homologs were found on Erwinia carotovora cosmid clone pAKC651 but were not detected in E. coli. The outC-through-outM operon is weakly induced by polygalacturonic acid and strongly expressed in the early stationary phase. The out and pul genes are highly similar in sequence, hydropathic properties, and overall arrangement but differ in both transcriptional organization and the nature of their induction. Images PMID:1429461

The neural basis of kinesthetic and visual imagery in sports: an ALE meta - analysis.

PubMed

Filgueiras, Alberto; Quintas Conde, Erick Francisco; Hall, Craig R

2017-12-19

Imagery is a widely spread technique in the sport sciences that entails the mental rehearsal of a given situation to improve an athlete's learning, performance and motivation. Two modalities of imagery are reported to tap into distinct brain structures, but sharing common components: kinesthetic and visual imagery. This study aimed to investigate the neural basis of those types of imagery with Activation Likelihood Estimation algorithm to perform a meta - analysis. A systematic search was used to retrieve only experimental studies with athletes or sportspersons. Altogether, nine studies were selected and an ALE meta - analysis was performed. Results indicated significant activation of the premotor, somatosensory cortex, supplementary motor areas, inferior and superior parietal lobule, caudate, cingulate and cerebellum in both imagery tasks. It was concluded that visual and kinesthetic imagery share similar neural networks which suggests that combined interventions are beneficial to athletes whereas separate use of those two modalities of imagery may seem less efficient from a neuropsychological approach.

Discrimination of Mediterranean mussel (Mytilus galloprovincialis) feces in deposited materials by fecal morphology.

PubMed

Akiyama, Yoshihiro B; Iseri, Erina; Kataoka, Tomoya; Tanaka, Makiko; Katsukoshi, Kiyonori; Moki, Hirotada; Naito, Ryoji; Hem, Ramrav; Okada, Tomonari

2017-02-15

In the present study, we determined the common morphological characteristics of the feces of Mytilus galloprovincialis to develop a method for visually discriminating the feces of this mussel in deposited materials. This method can be used to assess the effect of mussel feces on benthic environments. The accuracy of visual morphology-based discrimination of mussel feces in deposited materials was confirmed by DNA analysis. Eighty-nine percent of mussel feces shared five common morphological characteristics. Of the 372 animal species investigated, only four species shared all five of these characteristics. More than 96% of the samples were visually identified as M. galloprovincialis feces on the basis of morphology of the particles containing the appropriate mitochondrial DNA. These results suggest that mussel feces can be discriminated with high accuracy on the basis of their morphological characteristics. Thus, our method can be used to quantitatively assess the effect of mussel feces on local benthic environments. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Intergroup visual perspective-taking: Shared group membership impairs self-perspective inhibition but may facilitate perspective calculation.

PubMed

Simpson, Austin J; Todd, Andrew R

2017-09-01

Reasoning about what other people see, know, and want is essential for navigating social life. Yet, even neurodevelopmentally healthy adults make perspective-taking errors. Here, we examined how the group membership of perspective-taking targets (ingroup vs. outgroup) affects processes underlying visual perspective-taking. In three experiments using two bases of group identity (university affiliation and minimal groups), interference from one's own differing perspective (i.e., egocentric intrusion) was stronger when responding from an ingroup versus an outgroup member's perspective. Spontaneous perspective calculation, as indexed by interference from another's visual perspective when reporting one's own (i.e., altercentric intrusion), did not differ across target group membership in any of our experiments. Process-dissociation analyses, which aim to isolate automatic processes underlying altercentric-intrusion effects, further revealed negligible effects of target group membership on perspective calculation. Meta-analytically, however, there was suggestive evidence that shared group membership facilitates responding from others' perspectives when self and other perspectives are aligned. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

ChRIS--A web-based neuroimaging and informatics system for collecting, organizing, processing, visualizing and sharing of medical data.

PubMed

Pienaar, Rudolph; Rannou, Nicolas; Bernal, Jorge; Hahn, Daniel; Grant, P Ellen

2015-01-01

The utility of web browsers for general purpose computing, long anticipated, is only now coming into fruition. In this paper we present a web-based medical image data and information management software platform called ChRIS ([Boston] Children's Research Integration System). ChRIS' deep functionality allows for easy retrieval of medical image data from resources typically found in hospitals, organizes and presents information in a modern feed-like interface, provides access to a growing library of plugins that process these data - typically on a connected High Performance Compute Cluster, allows for easy data sharing between users and instances of ChRIS and provides powerful 3D visualization and real time collaboration.

Visualize Your Data with Google Fusion Tables

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brisbin, K. E.

2011-12-01

Google Fusion Tables is a modern data management platform that makes it easy to host, manage, collaborate on, visualize, and publish tabular data online. Fusion Tables allows users to upload their own data to the Google cloud, which they can then use to create compelling and interactive visualizations with the data. Users can view data on a Google Map, plot data in a line chart, or display data along a timeline. Users can share these visualizations with others to explore and discover interesting trends about various types of data, including scientific data such as invasive species or global trends in disease. Fusion Tables has been used by many organizations to visualize a variety of scientific data. One example is the California Redistricting Map created by the LA Times: http://goo.gl/gwZt5 The Pacific Institute and Circle of Blue have used Fusion Tables to map the quality of water around the world: http://goo.gl/T4SX8 The World Resources Institute mapped the threat level of coral reefs using Fusion Tables: http://goo.gl/cdqe8 What attendees will learn in this session: This session will cover all the steps necessary to use Fusion Tables to create a variety of interactive visualizations. Attendees will begin by learning about the various options for uploading data into Fusion Tables, including Shapefile, KML file, and CSV file import. Attendees will then learn how to use Fusion Tables to manage their data by merging it with other data and controlling the permissions of the data. Finally, the session will cover how to create a customized visualization from the data, and share that visualization with others using both Fusion Tables and the Google Maps API.

BrainBrowser: distributed, web-based neurological data visualization.

PubMed

Sherif, Tarek; Kassis, Nicolas; Rousseau, Marc-Étienne; Adalat, Reza; Evans, Alan C

2014-01-01

Recent years have seen massive, distributed datasets become the norm in neuroimaging research, and the methodologies used to analyze them have, in response, become more collaborative and exploratory. Tools and infrastructure are continuously being developed and deployed to facilitate research in this context: grid computation platforms to process the data, distributed data stores to house and share them, high-speed networks to move them around and collaborative, often web-based, platforms to provide access to and sometimes manage the entire system. BrainBrowser is a lightweight, high-performance JavaScript visualization library built to provide easy-to-use, powerful, on-demand visualization of remote datasets in this new research environment. BrainBrowser leverages modern web technologies, such as WebGL, HTML5 and Web Workers, to visualize 3D surface and volumetric neuroimaging data in any modern web browser without requiring any browser plugins. It is thus trivial to integrate BrainBrowser into any web-based platform. BrainBrowser is simple enough to produce a basic web-based visualization in a few lines of code, while at the same time being robust enough to create full-featured visualization applications. BrainBrowser can dynamically load the data required for a given visualization, so no network bandwidth needs to be waisted on data that will not be used. BrainBrowser's integration into the standardized web platform also allows users to consider using 3D data visualization in novel ways, such as for data distribution, data sharing and dynamic online publications. BrainBrowser is already being used in two major online platforms, CBRAIN and LORIS, and has been used to make the 1TB MACACC dataset openly accessible.

BrainBrowser: distributed, web-based neurological data visualization

PubMed Central

Sherif, Tarek; Kassis, Nicolas; Rousseau, Marc-Étienne; Adalat, Reza; Evans, Alan C.

2015-01-01

Recent years have seen massive, distributed datasets become the norm in neuroimaging research, and the methodologies used to analyze them have, in response, become more collaborative and exploratory. Tools and infrastructure are continuously being developed and deployed to facilitate research in this context: grid computation platforms to process the data, distributed data stores to house and share them, high-speed networks to move them around and collaborative, often web-based, platforms to provide access to and sometimes manage the entire system. BrainBrowser is a lightweight, high-performance JavaScript visualization library built to provide easy-to-use, powerful, on-demand visualization of remote datasets in this new research environment. BrainBrowser leverages modern web technologies, such as WebGL, HTML5 and Web Workers, to visualize 3D surface and volumetric neuroimaging data in any modern web browser without requiring any browser plugins. It is thus trivial to integrate BrainBrowser into any web-based platform. BrainBrowser is simple enough to produce a basic web-based visualization in a few lines of code, while at the same time being robust enough to create full-featured visualization applications. BrainBrowser can dynamically load the data required for a given visualization, so no network bandwidth needs to be waisted on data that will not be used. BrainBrowser's integration into the standardized web platform also allows users to consider using 3D data visualization in novel ways, such as for data distribution, data sharing and dynamic online publications. BrainBrowser is already being used in two major online platforms, CBRAIN and LORIS, and has been used to make the 1TB MACACC dataset openly accessible. PMID:25628562

The Effect of Perceptual Load on Attention-Induced Motion Blindness: The Efficiency of Selective Inhibition

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hay, Julia L.; Milders, Maarten M.; Sahraie, Arash; Niedeggen, Michael

2006-01-01

Recent visual marking studies have shown that the carry-over of distractor inhibition can impair the ability of singletons to capture attention if the singleton and distractors share features. The current study extends this finding to first-order motion targets and distractors, clearly separated in time by a visual cue (the letter X). Target…

Visualizing Progress

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2000-01-01

Reality Capture Technologies, Inc. is a spinoff company from Ames Research Center. Offering e-business solutions for optimizing management, design and production processes, RCT uses visual collaboration environments (VCEs) such as those used to prepare the Mars Pathfinder mission.The product, 4-D Reality Framework, allows multiple users from different locations to manage and share data. The insurance industry is one targeted commercial application for this technology.

An Action Sequence Withheld in Memory Can Delay Execution of Visually Guided Actions: The Generalization of Response Compatibility Interference

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wiediger, Matthew D.; Fournier, Lisa R.

2008-01-01

Withholding an action plan in memory for later execution can delay execution of another action, if the actions share a similar (compatible) action feature (i.e., response hand). This phenomenon, termed compatibility interference (CI), was found for identity-based actions that do not require visual guidance. The authors examined whether CI can…

Sublexical Processing in Visual Recognition of Chinese Characters: Evidence from Repetition Blindness for Subcharacter Components

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yeh, Su-Ling; Li, Jing-Ling

2004-01-01

Repetition blindness (RB) refers to the failure to detect the second occurrence of a repeated item in rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP). In two experiments using RSVP, the ability to report two critical characters was found to be impaired when these two characters were identical (Experiment 1) or similar by sharing one repeated component…

Targeting "Plan Colombia": A Critical Analysis of Ideological and Political Visual Narratives by the Beehive Collective and the Drug Enforcement Administration Museum

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Erler, Carolyn

2008-01-01

This article compares the Beehive Collective's "Plan Colombia" to a museum exhibition representing the official U.S. position on Plan Colombia. Through a dialectical (Kellner & Share, 2007; Greene, 1988) reading of "Plan Colombia" and "Target America," I examine how each uses visual narrative to promote a…

Learning representation hierarchies by sharing visual features: a computational investigation of Persian character recognition with unsupervised deep learning.

PubMed

Sadeghi, Zahra; Testolin, Alberto

2017-08-01

In humans, efficient recognition of written symbols is thought to rely on a hierarchical processing system, where simple features are progressively combined into more abstract, high-level representations. Here, we present a computational model of Persian character recognition based on deep belief networks, where increasingly more complex visual features emerge in a completely unsupervised manner by fitting a hierarchical generative model to the sensory data. Crucially, high-level internal representations emerging from unsupervised deep learning can be easily read out by a linear classifier, achieving state-of-the-art recognition accuracy. Furthermore, we tested the hypothesis that handwritten digits and letters share many common visual features: A generative model that captures the statistical structure of the letters distribution should therefore also support the recognition of written digits. To this aim, deep networks trained on Persian letters were used to build high-level representations of Persian digits, which were indeed read out with high accuracy. Our simulations show that complex visual features, such as those mediating the identification of Persian symbols, can emerge from unsupervised learning in multilayered neural networks and can support knowledge transfer across related domains.

ToxPi Graphical User Interface 2.0: Dynamic exploration, visualization, and sharing of integrated data models.

PubMed

Marvel, Skylar W; To, Kimberly; Grimm, Fabian A; Wright, Fred A; Rusyn, Ivan; Reif, David M

2018-03-05

Drawing integrated conclusions from diverse source data requires synthesis across multiple types of information. The ToxPi (Toxicological Prioritization Index) is an analytical framework that was developed to enable integration of multiple sources of evidence by transforming data into integrated, visual profiles. Methodological improvements have advanced ToxPi and expanded its applicability, necessitating a new, consolidated software platform to provide functionality, while preserving flexibility for future updates. We detail the implementation of a new graphical user interface for ToxPi (Toxicological Prioritization Index) that provides interactive visualization, analysis, reporting, and portability. The interface is deployed as a stand-alone, platform-independent Java application, with a modular design to accommodate inclusion of future analytics. The new ToxPi interface introduces several features, from flexible data import formats (including legacy formats that permit backward compatibility) to similarity-based clustering to options for high-resolution graphical output. We present the new ToxPi interface for dynamic exploration, visualization, and sharing of integrated data models. The ToxPi interface is freely-available as a single compressed download that includes the main Java executable, all libraries, example data files, and a complete user manual from http://toxpi.org .

Shared Neural Substrates of Emotionally Enhanced Perceptual and Mnemonic Vividness

PubMed Central

Todd, Rebecca M.; Schmitz, Taylor W.; Susskind, Josh; Anderson, Adam K.

2013-01-01

It is well-known that emotionally salient events are remembered more vividly than mundane ones. Our recent research has demonstrated that such memory vividness (Mviv) is due in part to the subjective experience of emotional events as more perceptually vivid, an effect we call emotionally enhanced vividness (EEV). The present study built on previously reported research in which fMRI data were collected while participants rated relative levels of visual noise overlaid on emotionally salient and neutral images. Ratings of greater EEV were associated with greater activation in the amygdala and visual cortex. In the present study, we measured BOLD activation that predicted recognition Mviv for these same images 1 week later. Results showed that, after controlling for differences between scenes in low-level objective features, hippocampus activation uniquely predicted subsequent Mviv. In contrast, amygdala and visual cortex regions that were sensitive to EEV were also modulated by subsequent ratings of Mviv. These findings suggest shared neural substrates for the influence of emotional salience on perceptual and mnemonic vividness, with amygdala and visual cortex activation at encoding contributing to the experience of both perception and subsequent memory. PMID:23653601

Membrane Fusion Proteins of Type I Secretion System and Tripartite Efflux Pumps Share a Binding Motif for TolC in Gram-Negative Bacteria

PubMed Central

Yoon, Bo-Young; Song, Saemee; Lee, Kangseok; Ha, Nam-Chul

2012-01-01

The Hly translocator complex of Escherichia coli catalyzes type I secretion of the toxin hemolysin A (HlyA). In this complex, HlyB is an inner membrane ABC (ATP Binding Cassette)-type transporter, TolC is an outer membrane channel protein, and HlyD is a periplasmic adaptor anchored in the inner membrane that bridges HlyB to TolC. This tripartite organization is reminiscent of that of drug efflux systems such as AcrA-AcrB-TolC and MacA-MacB-TolC of E. coli. We have previously shown the crucial role of conserved residues located at the hairpin tip region of AcrA and MacA adaptors during assembly of their cognate systems. In this study, we investigated the role of the putative tip region of HlyD using HlyD mutants with single amino acid substitutions at the conserved positions. In vivo and in vitro data show that all mutations abolished HlyD binding to TolC and resulted in the absence of HlyA secretion. Together, our results suggest that, similarly to AcrA and MacA, HlyD interacts with TolC in a tip-to-tip manner. A general model in which these conserved interactions induce opening of TolC during drug efflux and type I secretion is discussed. PMID:22792337

Polar Expansion Dynamics in the Plant Kingdom: A Diverse and Multifunctional Journey on the Path to Pollen Tubes

PubMed Central

Domozych, David S.; Fujimoto, Chelsea; LaRue, Therese

2013-01-01

Polar expansion is a widespread phenomenon in plants spanning all taxonomic groups from the Charophycean Green Algae to pollen tubes in Angiosperms and Gymnosperms. Current data strongly suggests that many common features are shared amongst cells displaying polar growth mechanics including changes to the structural features of localized regions of the cell wall, mobilization of targeted secretion mechanisms, employment of the actin cytoskeleton for directing secretion and in many cases, endocytosis and coordinated interaction of multiple signal transduction mechanisms prompted by external biotic and abiotic cues. The products of polar expansion perform diverse functions including delivery of male gametes to the egg, absorption, anchorage, adhesion and photo-absorption efficacy. A comparative analysis of polar expansion dynamics is provided with special emphasis on those found in early divergent plants. PMID:27137370

Images Encryption Method using Steganographic LSB Method, AES and RSA algorithm

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moumen, Abdelkader; Sissaoui, Hocine

2017-03-01

Vulnerability of communication of digital images is an extremely important issue nowadays, particularly when the images are communicated through insecure channels. To improve communication security, many cryptosystems have been presented in the image encryption literature. This paper proposes a novel image encryption technique based on an algorithm that is faster than current methods. The proposed algorithm eliminates the step in which the secrete key is shared during the encryption process. It is formulated based on the symmetric encryption, asymmetric encryption and steganography theories. The image is encrypted using a symmetric algorithm, then, the secret key is encrypted by means of an asymmetrical algorithm and it is hidden in the ciphered image using a least significant bits steganographic scheme. The analysis results show that while enjoying the faster computation, our method performs close to optimal in terms of accuracy.

Visual Characterization of VX Droplets on Plant Foliage

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-07-01

epicuticular waxes, which are complex lipophilic mixtures of primarily long-chain aliphatics, including primary alcohols (n-alkan-1-ols), aldehydes, fatty...2006). Trichomes act in a complex way relative to spread of herbicide solution and sorption of herbicide. Trichomes may cause reduced wetting and...Bicellular trichomes discharge a mucilage-type secretion that contains callose, a carbohydrate component (1,3-glucan) usually associated with “walling

Genuine multipartite Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen steering.

PubMed

He, Q Y; Reid, M D

2013-12-20

We develop the concept of genuine N-partite Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) steering. This nonlocality is the natural multipartite extension of the original EPR paradox. Useful properties emerge that are not guaranteed for genuine multipartite entangled states. In particular, there is a close link with the task of one-sided, device-independent quantum secret sharing. We derive inequalities to demonstrate multipartite EPR steering for Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger and Gaussian continuous variable states in loophole-free scenarios.

Genuine Multipartite Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen Steering

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

He, Q. Y.; Reid, M. D.

2013-12-01

We develop the concept of genuine N-partite Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) steering. This nonlocality is the natural multipartite extension of the original EPR paradox. Useful properties emerge that are not guaranteed for genuine multipartite entangled states. In particular, there is a close link with the task of one-sided, device-independent quantum secret sharing. We derive inequalities to demonstrate multipartite EPR steering for Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger and Gaussian continuous variable states in loophole-free scenarios.

Entangled state quantum cryptography: eavesdropping on the ekert protocol

PubMed

Naik; Peterson; White; Berglund; Kwiat

2000-05-15

Using polarization-entangled photons from spontaneous parametric down-conversion, we have implemented Ekert's quantum cryptography protocol. The near-perfect correlations of the photons allow the sharing of a secret key between two parties. The presence of an eavesdropper is continually checked by measuring Bell's inequalities. We investigated several possible eavesdropper strategies, including pseudo-quantum-nondemolition measurements. In all cases, the eavesdropper's presence was readily apparent. We discuss a procedure to increase her detectability.

Craniopharyngioma in a patient with acromegaly due to a pituitary macroadenoma

PubMed Central

El-Bilbeisi, Hazem; Ghannam, Mohammad; Nimri, Caramella F.; Ahmad, Azmi T.

2010-01-01

We present the first reported case of a craniopharyngioma as a second primary tumor in a patient with acromegaly due to a growth hormone (GH)-secreting pituitary adenoma. The patient was lost for follow-up for 18 years after trans-sphenoidal pituitary surgery for a GH-secreting pituitary adenoma. She presented with headaches and decreased visual acuity, and showed unsuppressed GH in an oral glucose load test with high IGF-1 levels. Brain MRI showed a suprasellar cystic mass and the patient underwent surgery for cyst drainage resulting in postoperative improvement in her vision. Biopsy of the mass confirmed the diagnosis of a craniopharyngioma. We stress the need for close follow-up of patients with acromegaly with adequate control of GH and IGF-1 levels. PMID:20864785

The Virginia Slims identity crisis: an inside look at tobacco industry marketing to women.

PubMed

Toll, B A; Ling, P M

2005-06-01

Because no prior studies have comprehensively analysed previously secret tobacco industry documents describing marketing female brands, the Virginia Slims brand was studied to explore how Philip Morris and competitors develop and adapt promotional campaigns targeting women. Analysis of previously secret tobacco industry documents. The majority of the documents used were from Philip Morris. The key to Virginia Slims advertising was creating an aspirational image which women associated with the brand. Virginia Slims co-opted women's liberation slogans to build a modern female image from 1968 through to the 1980s, and its market share grew from 0.24% to 3.16% during that time period. Ironically, the feminist image that worked very well for the brand was also the reason for its subsequent problems. Philip Morris experienced unprecedented losses in market share in the early 1990s, with a decline in market share for four consecutive years from 3.16% to 2.26%; they attributed this decline to both the fact that the brand's feminist image no longer appealed to young women aged 18-24 years, and increased competition from more contemporary and lower priced competitors. Throughout the 1990s, attempts to reacquire young women while retaining Virginia Slims loyal (now older) smokers were made using a "King Size" line extension, new slogans, and loyalty building promotions. Tobacco advertisers initially created distinct female brands with aspirational images; continued appeal to young women was critical for long term growth. The need for established brands to evolve to maintain relevance to young women creates an opportunity for tobacco counter-marketing, which should undermine tobacco brand imagery and promote aspirational smoke-free lifestyle images. Young women age 18-24 are extremely valuable to the tobacco industry and should be a focus for tobacco control programmes.

Teleradiology network system and computer-aided diagnosis workstation using the web medical image conference system with a new information security solution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Satoh, Hitoshi; Niki, Noboru; Eguchi, Kenji; Ohmatsu, Hironobu; Kaneko, Masahiro; Kakinuma, Ryutaru; Moriyama, Noriyuki

2011-03-01

We have developed the teleradiology network system with a new information security solution that provided with web medical image conference system. In the teleradiology network system, the security of information network is very important subjects. We are studying the secret sharing scheme as a method safely to store or to transmit the confidential medical information used with the teleradiology network system. The confidential medical information is exposed to the risk of the damage and intercept. Secret sharing scheme is a method of dividing the confidential medical information into two or more tallies. Individual medical information cannot be decoded by using one tally at all. Our method has the function of RAID. With RAID technology, if there is a failure in a single tally, there is redundant data already copied to other tally. Confidential information is preserved at an individual Data Center connected through internet because individual medical information cannot be decoded by using one tally at all. Therefore, even if one of the Data Centers is struck and information is damaged, the confidential medical information can be decoded by using the tallies preserved at the data center to which it escapes damage. We can safely share the screen of workstation to which the medical image of Data Center is displayed from two or more web conference terminals at the same time. Moreover, Real time biometric face authentication system is connected with Data Center. Real time biometric face authentication system analyzes the feature of the face image of which it takes a picture in 20 seconds with the camera and defends the safety of the medical information. We propose a new information transmission method and a new information storage method with a new information security solution.

Six- and 9-Month-Old Infants Discriminate between Goals Despite Similar Action Patterns

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Marsh, Heidi L.; Stavropoulos, Jennifer; Nienhuis, Tom; Legerstee, Maria

2010-01-01

Behne, Carpenter, Call, and Tomasello (2005) showed that 9- to 18-month-olds, but not 6-month-olds, differentiated between people who were unwilling and unable to share toys. As the outcome of the two tasks is the same (i.e., the toy is not shared), the infants must respond to the different goals of the actor. However, visual habituation paradigms…

An open-source software platform for data management, visualisation, model building and model sharing in water, energy and other resource modelling domains.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Knox, S.; Meier, P.; Mohammed, K.; Korteling, B.; Matrosov, E. S.; Hurford, A.; Huskova, I.; Harou, J. J.; Rosenberg, D. E.; Thilmant, A.; Medellin-Azuara, J.; Wicks, J.

2015-12-01

Capacity expansion on resource networks is essential to adapting to economic and population growth and pressures such as climate change. Engineered infrastructure systems such as water, energy, or transport networks require sophisticated and bespoke models to refine management and investment strategies. Successful modeling of such complex systems relies on good data management and advanced methods to visualize and share data.Engineered infrastructure systems are often represented as networks of nodes and links with operating rules describing their interactions. Infrastructure system management and planning can be abstracted to simulating or optimizing new operations and extensions of the network. By separating the data storage of abstract networks from manipulation and modeling we have created a system where infrastructure modeling across various domains is facilitated.We introduce Hydra Platform, a Free Open Source Software designed for analysts and modelers to store, manage and share network topology and data. Hydra Platform is a Python library with a web service layer for remote applications, called Apps, to connect. Apps serve various functions including network or results visualization, data export (e.g. into a proprietary format) or model execution. This Client-Server architecture allows users to manipulate and share centrally stored data. XML templates allow a standardised description of the data structure required for storing network data such that it is compatible with specific models.Hydra Platform represents networks in an abstract way and is therefore not bound to a single modeling domain. It is the Apps that create domain-specific functionality. Using Apps researchers from different domains can incorporate different models within the same network enabling cross-disciplinary modeling while minimizing errors and streamlining data sharing. Separating the Python library from the web layer allows developers to natively expand the software or build web-based apps in other languages for remote functionality. Partner CH2M is developing a commercial user-interface for Hydra Platform however custom interfaces and visualization tools can be built. Hydra Platform is available on GitHub while Apps will be shared on a central repository.

Cysteine peptidases from Phytomonas serpens: biochemical and immunological approaches.

PubMed

Elias, Camila G R; Aor, Ana Carolina; Valle, Roberta S; d'Avila-Levy, Claudia M; Branquinha, Marta H; Santos, André L S

2009-12-01

Phytomonas serpens, a phytoflagellate trypanosomatid, shares common antigens with Trypanosoma cruzi. In the present work, we compared the hydrolytic capability of cysteine peptidases in both trypanosomatids. Trypanosoma cruzi epimastigotes presented a 10-fold higher efficiency in hydrolyzing the cysteine peptidase substrate Z-Phe-Arg-AMC than P. serpens promastigotes. Moreover, two weak cysteine-type gelatinolytic activities were detected in P. serpens, while a strong 50-kDa cysteine peptidase was observed in T. cruzi. Cysteine peptidase activities were detected at twofold higher levels in the cytoplasmic fraction when compared with the membrane-rich or the content released from P. serpens. The cysteine peptidase secreted by P. serpens cleaved several proteinaceous substrates. Corroborating these findings, the cellular distribution of the cruzipain-like molecules in P. serpens was attested through immunocytochemistry analysis. Gold particles were observed in all cellular compartments, including the cytoplasm, plasma membrane, flagellum, flagellar membrane and flagellar pocket. Interestingly, some gold particles were visualized free in the flagellar pocket, suggesting the release of the cruzipain-like molecule. The antigenic properties of the cruzipain-like molecules of P. serpens were also analyzed. Interestingly, sera from chagasic patients recognized both cellular and extracellular antigens of P. serpens, including the cruzipain-like molecule. These results point to the use of P. serpens antigens, especially the cruzipain-like cysteine-peptidases, as an alternative vaccination approach to T. cruzi infection.

Molecular mechanism to recruit galectin-3 into multivesicular bodies for polarized exosomal secretion.

PubMed

Bänfer, Sebastian; Schneider, Dominik; Dewes, Jenny; Strauss, Maximilian T; Freibert, Sven-A; Heimerl, Thomas; Maier, Uwe G; Elsässer, Hans-Peter; Jungmann, Ralf; Jacob, Ralf

2018-05-08

The beta-galactoside binding lectin galectin-3 (Gal3) is found intracellularly and in the extracellular space. Secretion of this lectin is mediated independently of the secretory pathway by a not yet defined nonclassical mechanism. Here, we found Gal3 in the lumen of exosomes. Superresolution and electron microscopy studies visualized Gal3 recruitment and sorting into intraluminal vesicles. Exosomal Gal3 release depends on the endosomal sorting complex required for transport I (ESCRT-I) component Tsg101 and functional Vps4a. Either Tsg101 knockdown or expression of dominant-negative Vps4a E228Q causes an intracellular Gal3 accumulation at multivesicular body formation sites. In addition, we identified a highly conserved tetrapeptide P(S/T)AP motif in the amino terminus of Gal3 that mediates a direct interaction with Tsg101. Mutation of the P(S/T)AP motif results in a loss of interaction and a dramatic decrease in exosomal Gal3 secretion. We conclude that Gal3 is a member of endogenous non-ESCRT proteins which are P(S/T)AP tagged for exosomal release.

Suppression of melatonin secretion in some blind patients by exposure to bright light.

PubMed

Czeisler, C A; Shanahan, T L; Klerman, E B; Martens, H; Brotman, D J; Emens, J S; Klein, T; Rizzo, J F

1995-01-05

Complete blindness generally results in the loss of synchronization of circadian rhythms to the 24-hour day and in recurrent insomnia. However, some blind patients maintain circadian entrainment. We undertook this study to determine whether some blind patients' eyes convey sufficient photic information to entrain the hypothalamic circadian pacemaker and suppress melatonin secretion, despite an apparently complete loss of visual function. We evaluated the input of light to the circadian pacemaker by testing the ability of bright light to decrease plasma melatonin concentrations in 11 blind patients with no conscious perception of light and in 6 normal subjects. We also evaluated circadian entrainment over time in the blind patients. Plasma melatonin concentrations decreased during exposure to bright light in three sightless patients by an average (+/- SD) of 69 +/- 21 percent and in the normal subjects by an average of 66 +/- 15 percent. When two of these blind patients were tested with their eyes covered during exposure to light, plasma melatonin did not decrease. The three blind patients reported no difficulty sleeping and maintained apparent circadian entrainment to the 24-hour day. Plasma melatonin concentrations did not decrease during exposure to bright light in seven of the remaining blind patients; in the eighth, plasma melatonin was undetectable. These eight patients reported a history of insomnia, and in four the circadian temperature rhythm was not entrained to the 24-hour day. The visual subsystem that mediates light-induced suppression of melatonin secretion remains functionally intact in some sightless patients. The absence of photic input to the circadian system thus constitutes a distinct form of blindness, associated with periodic insomnia, that afflicts most but not all patients with no conscious perception of light.

Live-cell visualization of intracellular interaction between a nuclear migration protein (hNUDC) and the thrombopoietin receptor (Mpl).

PubMed

Zheng, Yuan-Bin; Xiao, Ying-Ying; Tan, Peng; Zhang, Qing; Xu, Peilin

2012-01-01

We previously demonstrated that endogenous hNUDC and Mpl co-localized in the perinuclear and cytoplasmic regions of megakaryocyte cells by indirect immunofluorescence. We further reported that hNUDC accumulated in the Golgi when NIH 3T3 cells were transfected with an hNUDC expression vector alone. However, co-transfection with hNUDC and Mpl expression vectors caused both proteins to co-localize predominantly in the cytosol. These observations led us to hypothesize that a complex containing hNUDC and Mpl may alter hNUDC subcellular location and induce its secretion. In the present study, we test this hypothesis by employing bimolecular fluorescence complementation (BiFC) to detect and visualize the complex formation of hNUDC/Mpl in living cells. We further examined in detail the subcellular locations of the hNUDC/Mpl complex by co-transfection of BiFC chimeras with known subcellular markers. The distribution of hNUDC/Mpl in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), Golgi and cell surface was determined. Furthermore, the N-terminal 159 amino acids of hNUDC, but not C-terminal half, bound to Mpl in vivo and exhibited a similar localization pattern to that of full-length hNUDC in Cos-1 cells. Adenovirus-mediated overexpression of hNUDC or its N-terminal 159 residues in a human megakaryocyte cell line (Dami) resulted in increased levels of hNUDC or hNUDC(1-159) secretion. In contrast, depletion of Mpl by transfecting Dami cells with adenovirus bearing Mpl-targeting siRNA significantly blocked hNUDC secretion. Thus, we provide the first evidence that the N-terminal region of hNUDC contains all of the necessary information to complex with Mpl and traffic through the secretory pathway.

Live-Cell Visualization of Intracellular Interaction between a Nuclear Migration Protein (hNUDC) and the Thrombopoietin Receptor (Mpl)

PubMed Central

Zheng, Yuan-Bin; Xiao, Ying-Ying; Tan, Peng; Zhang, Qing; Xu, Peilin

2012-01-01

We previously demonstrated that endogenous hNUDC and Mpl co-localized in the perinuclear and cytoplasmic regions of megakaryocyte cells by indirect immunofluorescence. We further reported that hNUDC accumulated in the Golgi when NIH 3T3 cells were transfected with an hNUDC expression vector alone. However, co-transfection with hNUDC and Mpl expression vectors caused both proteins to co-localize predominantly in the cytosol. These observations led us to hypothesize that a complex containing hNUDC and Mpl may alter hNUDC subcellular location and induce its secretion. In the present study, we test this hypothesis by employing bimolecular fluorescence complementation (BiFC) to detect and visualize the complex formation of hNUDC/Mpl in living cells. We further examined in detail the subcellular locations of the hNUDC/Mpl complex by co-transfection of BiFC chimeras with known subcellular markers. The distribution of hNUDC/Mpl in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), Golgi and cell surface was determined. Furthermore, the N-terminal 159 amino acids of hNUDC, but not C-terminal half, bound to Mpl in vivo and exhibited a similar localization pattern to that of full-length hNUDC in Cos-1 cells. Adenovirus-mediated overexpression of hNUDC or its N-terminal 159 residues in a human megakaryocyte cell line (Dami) resulted in increased levels of hNUDC or hNUDC(1-159) secretion. In contrast, depletion of Mpl by transfecting Dami cells with adenovirus bearing Mpl-targeting siRNA significantly blocked hNUDC secretion. Thus, we provide the first evidence that the N-terminal region of hNUDC contains all of the necessary information to complex with Mpl and traffic through the secretory pathway. PMID:23284788

Three-dimensional cell shapes and arrangements in human sweat glands as revealed by whole-mount immunostaining

PubMed Central

Kurata, Ryuichiro; Futaki, Sugiko; Nakano, Itsuko; Fujita, Fumitaka; Tanemura, Atsushi; Murota, Hiroyuki; Katayama, Ichiro; Okada, Fumihiro

2017-01-01

Because sweat secretion is facilitated by mechanical contraction of sweat gland structures, understanding their structure-function relationship could lead to more effective treatments for patients with sweat gland disorders such as heat stroke. Conventional histological studies have shown that sweat glands are three-dimensionally coiled tubular structures consisting of ducts and secretory portions, although their detailed structural anatomy remains unclear. To better understand the details of the three-dimensional (3D) coiled structures of sweat glands, a whole-mount staining method was employed to visualize 3D coiled gland structures with sweat gland markers for ductal luminal, ductal basal, secretory luminal, and myoepithelial cells. Imaging the 3D coiled gland structures demonstrated that the ducts and secretory portions were comprised of distinct tubular structures. Ductal tubules were occasionally bent, while secretory tubules were frequently bent and formed a self-entangled coiled structure. Whole-mount staining of complex coiled gland structures also revealed the detailed 3D cellular arrangements in the individual sweat gland compartments. Ducts were composed of regularly arranged cuboidal shaped cells, while secretory portions were surrounded by myoepithelial cells longitudinally elongated along entangled secretory tubules. Whole-mount staining was also used to visualize the spatial arrangement of blood vessels and nerve fibers, both of which facilitate sweat secretion. The blood vessels ran longitudinally parallel to the sweat gland tubules, while nerve fibers wrapped around secretory tubules, but not ductal tubules. Taken together, whole-mount staining of sweat glands revealed the 3D cell shapes and arrangements of complex coiled gland structures and provides insights into the mechanical contraction of coiled gland structures during sweat secretion. PMID:28636607

Visual perception and imagery: a new molecular hypothesis.

PubMed

Bókkon, I

2009-05-01

Here, we put forward a redox molecular hypothesis about the natural biophysical substrate of visual perception and visual imagery. This hypothesis is based on the redox and bioluminescent processes of neuronal cells in retinotopically organized cytochrome oxidase-rich visual areas. Our hypothesis is in line with the functional roles of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species in living cells that are not part of haphazard process, but rather a very strict mechanism used in signaling pathways. We point out that there is a direct relationship between neuronal activity and the biophoton emission process in the brain. Electrical and biochemical processes in the brain represent sensory information from the external world. During encoding or retrieval of information, electrical signals of neurons can be converted into synchronized biophoton signals by bioluminescent radical and non-radical processes. Therefore, information in the brain appears not only as an electrical (chemical) signal but also as a regulated biophoton (weak optical) signal inside neurons. During visual perception, the topological distribution of photon stimuli on the retina is represented by electrical neuronal activity in retinotopically organized visual areas. These retinotopic electrical signals in visual neurons can be converted into synchronized biophoton signals by radical and non-radical processes in retinotopically organized mitochondria-rich areas. As a result, regulated bioluminescent biophotons can create intrinsic pictures (depictive representation) in retinotopically organized cytochrome oxidase-rich visual areas during visual imagery and visual perception. The long-term visual memory is interpreted as epigenetic information regulated by free radicals and redox processes. This hypothesis does not claim to solve the secret of consciousness, but proposes that the evolution of higher levels of complexity made the intrinsic picture representation of the external visual world possible by regulated redox and bioluminescent reactions in the visual system during visual perception and visual imagery.

Correlated individual differences suggest a common mechanism underlying metacognition in visual perception and visual short-term memory.

PubMed

Samaha, Jason; Postle, Bradley R

2017-11-29

Adaptive behaviour depends on the ability to introspect accurately about one's own performance. Whether this metacognitive ability is supported by the same mechanisms across different tasks is unclear. We investigated the relationship between metacognition of visual perception and metacognition of visual short-term memory (VSTM). Experiments 1 and 2 required subjects to estimate the perceived or remembered orientation of a grating stimulus and rate their confidence. We observed strong positive correlations between individual differences in metacognitive accuracy between the two tasks. This relationship was not accounted for by individual differences in task performance or average confidence, and was present across two different metrics of metacognition and in both experiments. A model-based analysis of data from a third experiment showed that a cross-domain correlation only emerged when both tasks shared the same task-relevant stimulus feature. That is, metacognition for perception and VSTM were correlated when both tasks required orientation judgements, but not when the perceptual task was switched to require contrast judgements. In contrast with previous results comparing perception and long-term memory, which have largely provided evidence for domain-specific metacognitive processes, the current findings suggest that metacognition of visual perception and VSTM is supported by a domain-general metacognitive architecture, but only when both domains share the same task-relevant stimulus feature. © 2017 The Author(s).

Competing Distractors Facilitate Visual Search in Heterogeneous Displays.

PubMed

Kong, Garry; Alais, David; Van der Burg, Erik

2016-01-01

In the present study, we examine how observers search among complex displays. Participants were asked to search for a big red horizontal line among 119 distractor lines of various sizes, orientations and colours, leading to 36 different feature combinations. To understand how people search in such a heterogeneous display, we evolved the search display by using a genetic algorithm (Experiment 1). The best displays (i.e., displays corresponding to the fastest reaction times) were selected and combined to create new, evolved displays. Search times declined over generations. Results show that items sharing the same colour and orientation as the target disappeared over generations, implying they interfered with search, but items sharing the same colour and were 12.5° different in orientation only interfered if they were also the same size. Furthermore, and inconsistent with most dominant visual search theories, we found that non-red horizontal distractors increased over generations, indicating that these distractors facilitated visual search while participants were searching for a big red horizontally oriented target. In Experiments 2 and 3, we replicated these results using conventional, factorial experiments. Interestingly, in Experiment 4, we found that this facilitation effect was only present when the displays were very heterogeneous. While current models of visual search are able to successfully describe search in homogeneous displays, our results challenge the ability of these models to describe visual search in heterogeneous environments.

Protective effect of blue-light shield eyewear for adults against light pollution from self-luminous devices used at night.

PubMed

Ayaki, Masahiko; Hattori, Atsuhiko; Maruyama, Yusuke; Nakano, Masaki; Yoshimura, Michitaka; Kitazawa, Momoko; Negishi, Kazuno; Tsubota, Kazuo

2016-01-01

We investigated sleep quality and melatonin in 12 adults who wore blue-light shield or control eyewear 2 hours before sleep while using a self-luminous portable device, and assessed visual quality for the two eyewear types. Overnight melatonin secretion was significantly higher after using the blue-light shield (P < 0.05) than with the control eyewear. Sleep efficacy and sleep latency were significantly superior for wearers of the blue-light shield (P < 0.05 for both), and this group reported greater sleepiness during portable device use compared to those using the control eyewear. Participants rated the blue-light shield as providing acceptable visual quality.

Analysis of Actin-Based Intracellular Trafficking in Pollen Tubes.

PubMed

Jiang, Yuxiang; Zhang, Meng; Huang, Shanjin

2017-01-01

Underlying rapid and directional pollen tube growth is the active intracellular trafficking system that carries materials necessary for cell wall synthesis and membrane expansion to the expanding point of the pollen tube. The actin cytoskeleton has been shown to control various intracellular trafficking events in the pollen tube, but the underlying cellular and molecular mechanisms remain poorly understood. To better understand how the actin cytoskeleton is involved in the regulation of intracellular trafficking events, we need to establish assays to visualize and quantify the distribution and dynamics of organelles, vesicles, or secreted proteins. In this chapter, we introduce methods regarding the visualization and quantification of the distribution and dynamics of organelles or vesicles in pollen tubes.

Paradoxical visuomotor adaptation to reversed visual input is predicted by BDNF Val66Met polymorphism

PubMed Central

Barton, Brian; Treister, Andrew; Humphrey, Melanie; Abedi, Garen; Cramer, Steven C.; Brewer, Alyssa A.

2014-01-01

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is the most abundant neurotrophin in the brain, influencing neural development, plasticity, and repair (Chen et al., 2004; Thoenen, 1995). The BDNF gene contains a single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) called Val66Met. The Met allele interferes with intracellular BDNF-trafficking, decreases activity-dependent BDNF secretion, and consequently is often associated with a shift from plasticity to stability in neural circuits (Egan et al., 2003). We investigated the behavioral consequences of the presence of the Met allele by comparing how 40 heterozygous subjects with the Val/Met genotype and 35 homozygous subjects with the Val/Val genotype performed on visuomotor tasks (reaching and navigation) under two conditions: normal vision and completely left-right reversed vision. As expected, subjects did not differ in their short-term ability to learn the tasks with normal vision (p = 0.58). Intuitively, it would be expected that homozygous Val/Val subjects with a propensity for greater BDNF-induced activity-dependent plasticity would learn new tasks more quickly than heterozygous Val/Met subjects with decreased BDNF secretion (Gilbert, Li, & Piech, 2009). However, we found the opposite here. When short-term mechanisms of visuomotor adaptation were engaged to compensate for the misalignment of visual and somatomotor information created by the left-right reversal of vision, heterozygous Val/Met subjects learned significantly more quickly than their homozygous Val/Val counterparts (p = 0.027). Our results demonstrate the paradoxical finding that the presence of the Met allele, which is thought to promote cortical stability, here improves immediate visuomotor adaptation to left–right-reversed visual input. PMID:25104829

Contrasting effects of feature-based statistics on the categorisation and identification of visual objects

PubMed Central

Taylor, Kirsten I.; Devereux, Barry J.; Acres, Kadia; Randall, Billi; Tyler, Lorraine K.

2013-01-01

Conceptual representations are at the heart of our mental lives, involved in every aspect of cognitive functioning. Despite their centrality, a long-standing debate persists as to how the meanings of concepts are represented and processed. Many accounts agree that the meanings of concrete concepts are represented by their individual features, but disagree about the importance of different feature-based variables: some views stress the importance of the information carried by distinctive features in conceptual processing, others the features which are shared over many concepts, and still others the extent to which features co-occur. We suggest that previously disparate theoretical positions and experimental findings can be unified by an account which claims that task demands determine how concepts are processed in addition to the effects of feature distinctiveness and co-occurrence. We tested these predictions in a basic-level naming task which relies on distinctive feature information (Experiment 1) and a domain decision task which relies on shared feature information (Experiment 2). Both used large-scale regression designs with the same visual objects, and mixed-effects models incorporating participant, session, stimulus-related and feature statistic variables to model the performance. We found that concepts with relatively more distinctive and more highly correlated distinctive relative to shared features facilitated basic-level naming latencies, while concepts with relatively more shared and more highly correlated shared relative to distinctive features speeded domain decisions. These findings demonstrate that the feature statistics of distinctiveness (shared vs. distinctive) and correlational strength, as well as the task demands, determine how concept meaning is processed in the conceptual system. PMID:22137770

Visual system manifestations of Alzheimer's disease.

PubMed

Kusne, Yael; Wolf, Andrew B; Townley, Kate; Conway, Mandi; Peyman, Gholam A

2017-12-01

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is an increasingly common disease with massive personal and economic costs. While it has long been known that AD impacts the visual system, there has recently been an increased focus on understanding both pathophysiological mechanisms that may be shared between the eye and brain and how related biomarkers could be useful for AD diagnosis. Here, were review pertinent cellular and molecular mechanisms of AD pathophysiology, the presence of AD pathology in the visual system, associated functional changes, and potential development of diagnostic tools based on the visual system. Additionally, we discuss links between AD and visual disorders, including possible pathophysiological mechanisms and their relevance for improving our understanding of AD. © 2016 Acta Ophthalmologica Scandinavica Foundation. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Space Activities for the Visually Impaired

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ries, J. G.; Baguio, M.

2005-12-01

To a visually impaired person celestial objects or concepts of space exploration are likely to be more abstract than to other people, but they encounter news about the universe through their daily life. A partnership between Texas Space Grant Consortium, The University of Texas at Austin, and the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired provided the opportunity to assist visually impaired students increase their understanding of astronomy and space science. The activities helped visually impaired students activity engage in inquiry-based, hands-on astronomy activities. The experiences provided during the educator workshops, adapted instructional classroom activities, and tactile learning aids will be shared in the hopes that others may be able to incorporate these lessons into their regular teaching activities.

Multitask visual learning using genetic programming.

PubMed

Jaśkowski, Wojciech; Krawiec, Krzysztof; Wieloch, Bartosz

2008-01-01

We propose a multitask learning method of visual concepts within the genetic programming (GP) framework. Each GP individual is composed of several trees that process visual primitives derived from input images. Two trees solve two different visual tasks and are allowed to share knowledge with each other by commonly calling the remaining GP trees (subfunctions) included in the same individual. The performance of a particular tree is measured by its ability to reproduce the shapes contained in the training images. We apply this method to visual learning tasks of recognizing simple shapes and compare it to a reference method. The experimental verification demonstrates that such multitask learning often leads to performance improvements in one or both solved tasks, without extra computational effort.