WorldWideScience

Sample records for intelihealth featuring harvard

  1. 75 FR 9276 - Harvard Illinois Bancorp, Inc., Harvard, Illinois; Approval of Conversion Application

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-03-01

    ... DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY Office of Thrift Supervision [AC-35: OTS No. H-4649] Harvard Illinois Bancorp, Inc., Harvard, Illinois; Approval of Conversion Application Notice is hereby given that on February 12, 2010, the Office of Thrift Supervision approved the application of Harvard Savings Bank...

  2. Internationalization at Harvard

    Science.gov (United States)

    Strong, Ned

    2013-01-01

    The aim of this essay is to describe internationalization at Harvard University. Founded by European colonists in 17th century New England, Harvard has historic international roots. By the mid 1900's it had become an international powerhouse attracting top students, academics and scientists from around the world. Yet, the University is…

  3. Harvard's Historic Choice

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wilson, Robin

    2007-01-01

    In this article, the author profiles Drew Gilpin Faust, a career academic who has risen to the top job at Harvard University and has been named president of Harvard after six years as leader of its small Radcliffe Institute. Ms. Faust, who is 59, grew up in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, raised by a father who bred Thoroughbred horses and a…

  4. The Harvard angiogenesis story.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Miller, Joan W

    2014-01-01

    I shall discuss the work of researchers at Harvard Medical School who came together in the early 1990s. Scattered across various Harvard-affiliated hospitals and research centers, these individuals were unified by their interest in ocular neovascularization. Together and separately, they investigated models of ocular neovascularization, exploring tumor angiogenesis in eye development and disease. Copyright © 2014 The Author. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  5. The Hidden Rule: A Critical Discussion of Harvard University's Governing Structure. [A Harvard Watch Report].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weissman, Robert

    The governing structure of Harvard University is reviewed, and the findings include the following: (1) Harvard's present administrative and governance structure utilize corporate techniques of management that allow the president to diffuse administrative tasks without diffusing power--the difficulty of locating responsibility in the decentralized…

  6. How Did You Get to Harvard?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hehir, Thomas

    2017-01-01

    The author, a professor and former student at Harvard, was intrigued by how much the percentage of students with disabilities at that college has increased in recent decades. He began simply asking certain students, "How did you get here?" Drawing from in-depth interviews conducted with 16 Harvard attendees who had disabilities that…

  7. Internationalization at Harvard

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ned Strong

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available The aim of this essay is to describe internationalization at Harvard University. Founded by European colonists in 17th century New England, Harvard has historic international roots. By the mid 1900’s it had become an international powerhouse attracting top students, academics and scientists from around the world. Yet, the University is international almost by default as it has reacted to world affairs. Looking toward the future, President Drew Faust has outlined a strategy to become “intentionally global”. One model, begun ten years ago, serves as an example for the future. In 2002 the University established its first overseas office designed to represent the entire institution. The theory was that a modest local infrastructure would encourage students and faculty to expand international collaborations and make a difference in the region benefiting from this presence. The results have been highly successful. The Regional Office in Santiago Chile, representing Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Peru, and Uruguay, has catalyzed engagement of over 3000 faculty and students in the last ten years. Over 50 significant collaborative research programs have benefitted thousands of preschool children, pioneered new approaches to disaster relief, improved health care, revolutionized public housing, and led to scientific breakthroughs. This model of a small physical footprint exerting large academic influence will be one of the central strategies as Harvard looks toward the future. DOI: 10.18870/hlrc.v3i2.117

  8. The High Citadel: The Influence of Harvard Law School.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Seligman, Joel

    The history of Harvard Law School, a modern critique, and a proposed new model for American legal education are covered in this book by a Harvard Law graduate. Harvard Law School is called the "high citadel" of American legal education. Its admissions procedures, faculty selection, curriculum, teaching methods, and placement practices…

  9. Referencing handbook: Harvard

    OpenAIRE

    Elkin, Judith; Ortega, Marishona; Williams, Helen

    2016-01-01

    University of Lincoln approved guide to Harvard referencing. Providing guidelines on how to reference 75 sources of information. The second edition includes extended guidance on how to reference, all new examples, additional annotated diagrams and an index to help you locate sources.

  10. Imagining Harvard: Changing Visions of Harvard in Fiction, 1890-1940

    Science.gov (United States)

    Anderson, Christian K.; Clark, Daniel A.

    2012-01-01

    Harvard is easily the most recognizable American institution of higher education, freighted with rich associations to the nation's leaders. This article provides an opportunity to examine the history of higher education through a lens often overlooked--fiction. By doing so, the authors provide a richer understanding of a particular institution and…

  11. Harvard Education Letter. Volume 26, Number 4, July-August 2010

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chauncey, Caroline T., Ed.

    2010-01-01

    "Harvard Education Letter" is published bimonthly at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. This issue of "Harvard Education Letter" contains the following articles: (1) Learning Progressions in Science: A New Approach Emphasizes Sustained Instruction in Big Ideas (Patti Hartigan); (2) Putting the "Boy Crisis" in…

  12. Harvard Education Letter. Volume 23, Number 1, January-February 2007

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chauncey, Caroline, Ed.

    2007-01-01

    "Harvard Education Letter" is published bimonthly at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. This issue of "Harvard Education Letter" contains the following articles: (1) Response to Intervention: A New Approach to Reading Instruction Aims to Catch Struggling Readers Early (Nancy Walser); (2) Getting Advisory Right: Focus and…

  13. Harvard Education Letter. Volume 26, Number 2, March-April 2010

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chauncey, Caroline T., Ed.

    2010-01-01

    "Harvard Education Letter" is published bimonthly at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. This issue of "Harvard Education Letter" contains the following articles: (1) Online Testing, Version 1.0: Oregon's Adaptive Computer-Based Accountability Test Offers a Peek at a Brave New Future (Robert Rothman); (2) Beyond…

  14. Harvard Education Letter. Volume 26, Number 5, September-October 2010

    Science.gov (United States)

    Walser, Nancy, Ed.

    2010-01-01

    "Harvard Education Letter" is published bimonthly at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. This issue of "Harvard Education Letter" contains the following articles: (1) Scenes from the School Turnaround Movement: Passion, Frustration, Mid-Course Corrections Mark Rapid Reforms (Laura Pappano); (2) The Media Savvy Educator:…

  15. Harvard Education Letter. Volume 28, Number 2, March-April 2012

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chauncey, Caroline T., Ed.

    2012-01-01

    "Harvard Education Letter" is published bimonthly at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. This issue of "Harvard Education Letter" contains the following articles: (1) Course Credits on the Quick: Controversial Online Recovery Programs Speed the Path to Graduation (Andrew Brownstein); (2) Collaborating to Make Schools More Inclusive…

  16. Harvard Education Letter. Volume 27, Number 4, July-August 2011

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chauncey, Caroline T., Ed.

    2011-01-01

    "Harvard Education Letter" is published bimonthly at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. This issue of "Harvard Education Letter" contains the following articles: (1) Integrated Data Systems Link Schools and Communities: Researchers Combine School and Non-School Data to Inform Interventions and Policy (Patti Hartigan);…

  17. Harvard Education Letter. Volume 25, Number 3, May-June 2009

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chauncey, Caroline T., Ed.

    2009-01-01

    "Harvard Education Letter" is published bimonthly by the Harvard Graduate School of Education. This issue of "Harvard Education Letter" contains the following articles: (1) Improving Teaching and Learning through Instructional Rounds (Lee Teitel); (2) Developmentally Appropriate Practice in the Age of Testing: New Reports Outline Key Principles…

  18. Harvard Education Letter. Volume 25, Number 6, November-December 2009

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chauncey, Caroline T., Ed.

    2009-01-01

    "Harvard Education Letter" is published bimonthly by the Harvard Graduate School of Education. This issue of "Harvard Education Letter" contains the following articles: (1) "Platooning" Instruction: Districts Weigh Pros and Cons of Departmentalizing Elementary Schools (Lucy Hood); (2) Behind the Classroom Door: A Rare Glimpse Indicates the…

  19. Harvard Education Letter. Volume 24, Number 4, July-August 2008

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chauncey, Caroline, Ed.

    2008-01-01

    "Harvard Education Letter" is published bimonthly by the Harvard Graduate School of Education. This issue of "Harvard Education Letter" contains the following articles: (1) Taking the Measure of New Teachers: California Shifts from Standardized Tests to Performance-Based Assessment as a Condition of Licensure (Robert Rothman);…

  20. Harvard Education Letter. Volume 27, Number 1, January-February 2011

    Science.gov (United States)

    Walser, Caroline T., Ed.

    2011-01-01

    "Harvard Education Letter" is published bimonthly at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. This issue of "Harvard Education Letter" contains the following articles: (1) The Greening of Environmental Ed: Teachers Focus on Complexity, Evidence, and Letting Students Draw Their Own Conclusions (Lucy Hood); (2) Like Teacher,…

  1. Harvard Education Letter. Volume 27, Number 3, May-June 2011

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chauncey, Caroline T., Ed.

    2011-01-01

    "Harvard Education Letter" is published bimonthly at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. This issue of "Harvard Education Letter" contains the following articles: (1) Bringing Art into School, Byte by Byte: Innovative Programs Use Technology to Expand Access to the Arts (Patti Hartigan); (2) Differentiated Instruction…

  2. Harvard Education Letter. Volume 25, Number 4, July-August 2009

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chauncey, Caroline T., Ed.

    2009-01-01

    "Harvard Education Letter" is published bimonthly by the Harvard Graduate School of Education. This issue of "Harvard Education Letter" contains the following articles: (1) Putting the Brakes on "Summer Slide": Modified School Calendars Build in Time to Enrich Learning and Sustain Gains (Brigid Schulte); (2) Closing…

  3. Harvard Education Letter. Volume 25, Number 1, January-February 2009

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chauncey, Caroline, Ed.

    2009-01-01

    "Harvard Education Letter" is published bimonthly by the Harvard Graduate School of Education. This issue of "Harvard Education Letter" contains the following articles: (1) Learning Across Distance: Virtual-Instruction Programs Are Growing Rapidly, but the Impact on "Brick-and-Mortar" Classrooms Is Still up in the Air…

  4. Harvard Education Letter. Volume 22, Number 6, November-December 2006

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chauncey, Caroline, Ed.

    2006-01-01

    "Harvard Education Letter" is published bimonthly at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. This issue of "Harvard Education Letter" contains the following articles: (1) (In)formative Assessments: New Tests and Activities Can Help Teachers Guide Student Learning (Robert Rothman); (2) Recent Research on the Achievement Gap: How Lifestyle…

  5. Harvard Education Letter. Volume 25, Number 5, September-October 2009

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chauncey, Caroline T., Ed.

    2009-01-01

    "Harvard Education Letter" is published bimonthly by the Harvard Graduate School of Education. This issue of "Harvard Education Letter" contains the following articles: (1) The Invisible Hand in Education Policy: Behind the Scenes, Economists Wield Unprecedented Influence (David McKay Wilson); (2) Bonding and Bridging: Schools Open Doors for…

  6. Harvard Education Letter. Volume 26, Number 1, January-February 2010

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chauncey, Caroline T., Ed.

    2010-01-01

    "Harvard Education Letter" is published bimonthly at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. This issue of "Harvard Education Letter" contains the following articles: (1) Charters and Unions: What's the Future for This Unorthodox Relationship? (Alexander Russo); (2) From Special Ed to Higher Ed: Transition Planning for Disabled Students Focuses…

  7. Harvard Education Letter. Volume 24, Number 3, May-June 2008

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chauncey, Caroline, Ed.

    2008-01-01

    "Harvard Education Letter" is published bimonthly by the Harvard Graduate School of Education. This issue of "Harvard Education Letter" contains the following articles: (1) "Equity, Access, and Opportunity": Despite Challenges, More Districts Adopt One-to-One Laptop Programs (Colleen Gillard); (2) Small Kids, Big Words: Research-Based Strategies…

  8. Harvard Education Letter. Volume 26, Number 6, November-December 2010

    Science.gov (United States)

    Walser, Nancy, Ed.

    2010-01-01

    "Harvard Education Letter" is published bimonthly at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. This issue of "Harvard Education Letter" contains the following articles: (1) Video Games Take Testing to the Next Level: Researchers See Promise in Game-Like Assessments That Measure Complex Skills (Robert Rothman); (2) An Academic…

  9. Harvard Education Letter. Volume 28, Number 1, January-February 2012

    Science.gov (United States)

    Walser, Nancy, Ed.

    2012-01-01

    "Harvard Education Letter" is published bimonthly at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. This issue of "Harvard Education Letter" contains the following articles: (1) Using Theater to Teach Social Skills: Researchers Document Improvements for Children with Autism (Patti Hartigan); (2) The Family Model of Schooling Revisited: Few Teachers,…

  10. Harvard Education Letter. Volume 23, Number 5, September-October 2007

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chauncey, Caroline, Ed.

    2007-01-01

    "Harvard Education Letter" is published bimonthly by the Harvard Graduate School of Education. This issue of "Harvard Education Letter" contains the following articles: (1) Confronting the Autism Epidemic: New Expectations for Children with Autism Means a New Role for Public Schools (Kate McKenna); (2) Internet Research 101:…

  11. Derek Bok after 20 Years at Harvard's Helm: An Interview.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chronicle of Higher Education, 1990

    1990-01-01

    The interview with Derek Bok addresses his reasons for stepping down from the Harvard presidency; cost-cutting efforts at Harvard; "selective excellence" as a planning principle; current needs of Harvard; corruption of higher education by corporate ties; the changing college presidency; and the role of ethical considerations in decision…

  12. Harvard Education Letter. Volume 21, Number 6, November-December 2005

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chauncey, Caroline, Ed.

    2005-01-01

    "Harvard Education Letter" is published bimonthly at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. This issue of "Harvard Education Letter" contains the following articles: (1) Is History... History?: Standards, Accountability, and the Future of Our Nation's Past (Robert Rothman); (2) Curriculum Access for All: How Teachers Can Use Universal Design…

  13. Harvard Education Letter. Volume 27, Number 2, March-April 2011

    Science.gov (United States)

    Walser, Nancy, Ed.

    2011-01-01

    "Harvard Education Letter" is published bimonthly at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. This issue of "Harvard Education Letter" contains the following articles: (1) Hybrid Schools for the iGeneration: New Schools Combine "Bricks" and "Clicks" (Brigid Schulte); (2) Dual Language Programs on the Rise: "Enrichment" Model Puts Content Learning…

  14. Harvard Education Letter. Volume 26, Number 3, May-June 2010

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chauncey, Caroline T., Ed.

    2010-01-01

    "Harvard Education Letter" is published bimonthly at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. This issue of "Harvard Education Letter" contains the following articles: (1) Unleashing the "Brain Power" of Groups in the Classroom: The Neuroscience behind Collaborative Work (Nancy Walser); (2) Putting AP to the Test: New Research Assesses the…

  15. Harvard Education Letter. Volume 25, Number 2, March-April 2009

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chauncey, Caroline, Ed.

    2009-01-01

    "Harvard Education Letter" is published bimonthly by the Harvard Graduate School of Education. This issue of "Harvard Education Letter" contains the following articles: (1) Money and Motivation: New Initiatives Rekindle Debate over the Link between Rewards and Student Achievement (David McKay Wilson); (2) An Inexact Science: What Are the Technical…

  16. Harvard Education Letter. Volume 24, Number 6, November-December 2008

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chauncey, Caroline, Ed.

    2008-01-01

    "Harvard Education Letter" is published bimonthly by the Harvard Graduate School of Education. This issue of "Harvard Education Letter" contains the following articles: (1) When Worlds Collide: Universal PreK Brings New Challenges for Public Elementary Schools (David McKay Wilson); (2) Answers and Questions: Schools Survey Their Students--and…

  17. Harvard Education Letter. Volume 23, Number 6, November-December 2007

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chauncey, Caroline, Ed.

    2007-01-01

    "Harvard Education Letter" is published bimonthly by the Harvard Graduate School of Education. This issue of "Harvard Education Letter" contains the following articles: (1) Charting a New Course toward Racial Integration: Districts Seek Legal Routes to Capture the Benefits of Diversity (Brigid Schulte); (2) Voluntary Integration: Two Views--(a)…

  18. Harvard Education Letter. Volume 27, Number 6, November-December 2011

    Science.gov (United States)

    Walser, Nancy, Ed.

    2011-01-01

    "Harvard Education Letter" is published bimonthly at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. This issue of "Harvard Education Letter" contains the following articles: (1) With Cheating on the Rise, Schools Respond (David McKay Wilson); (2) Waldorf Education in Public Schools: Educators Adopt--and Adapt--This Developmental, Arts-Rich Approach…

  19. Harvard Education Letter. Volume 24, Number 2, March-April 2008

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chauncey, Caroline, Ed.

    2008-01-01

    "Harvard Education Letter" is published bimonthly at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. This issue of "Harvard Education Letter" contains the following articles: (1) Educating Teenage Immigrants: High Schools Experiment with Ways to Group New English-Language Learners (Lucy Hood); (2) Hot Topics and Key Words: Pilot Project Brings Teachers…

  20. Historical contributions from the Harvard system to adult spine surgery.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schoenfeld, Andrew J

    2011-10-15

    Literature review. To document the historical contributions from the Harvard Medical School system to the field of adult spine surgery. Despite the fact that significant contributions to the discipline of spinal surgery have derived from the Harvard system, no prior study documents the history of the Harvard spine services in a cohesive narrative. This historical perspective reviews the history of adult spine surgery within the Harvard system and outlines the significant contributions made by orthopedic and neurosurgical practitioners to the field. Literature reviews were performed from historical works, as well as scientific publications to fashion a cohesive review covering the history of spine surgery at Harvard from the early 19th century to the present. The development of the spine surgical services at the three main Harvard hospitals, and significant spine surgical personalities within the system, are discussed, including W. Jason Mixter, MD, Joseph S. Barr Sr., MD, and Marius N. Smith-Petersen, MD. Substantial developments that have arisen from the Harvard teaching hospitals include the recognition of disc herniation as the cause of radicular symptoms in the lower extremities, the description of lumbar discectomy as a surgical treatment for radicular pain, osteotomy for the correction of spinal deformity, and the first attempt to create a systematic algorithm capable of informing treatment for cervical spine trauma. Despite humble beginnings, the surgeons and scientists at Harvard have influenced nearly every facet of spine surgery over the course of the last two centuries.

  1. Harvard Education Letter. Volume 24, Number 1, January-February 2008

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chauncey, Caroline, Ed.

    2008-01-01

    "Harvard Education Letter" is published bimonthly at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. This issue of "Harvard Education Letter" contains the following articles: (1) Leadership Lessons From Schools Becoming "Data Wise" (Jennifer L. Steele and Kathryn Parker Boudett); (2) A Guide on the Side: Mentors Help New Leaders Prepare for Life in the…

  2. Harvard Education Letter. Volume 27, Number 5, September-October 2011

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chauncey, Caroline T., Ed.

    2011-01-01

    "Harvard Education Letter" is published bimonthly at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. This issue of "Harvard Education Letter" contains the following articles: (1) Teaching Students to Ask Their Own Questions: One Small Change Can Yield Big Results (Dan Rothstein and Luz Santana); (2) Voice of Experience: Jerry Weast--Leading a System…

  3. Harvard Education Letter. Volume 23, Number 2, March-April 2007

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chauncey, Caroline, Ed.

    2007-01-01

    "Harvard Education Letter" is published bimonthly at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. This issue of "Harvard Education Letter" contains the following articles: (1) More Than "Making Nice": Getting Teachers to (Truly) Collaborate (Laura Pappano); (2) "Doing the Critical Things First": An Aligned Approach to PreK and Early Elementary Math;…

  4. Harvard Education Letter. Volume 24, Number 5, September-October 2008

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chauncey, Caroline, Ed.

    2008-01-01

    "Harvard Education Letter" is published bimonthly by the Harvard Graduate School of Education. This issue of "Harvard Education Letter" contains the following articles: (1) Teaching 21st Century Skills: What Does It Look Like in Practice? (Nancy Walser); (2) Getting and Spending: Schools and Districts Share Lessons on the Effective Uses of…

  5. Harvard Education Letter. Volume 23, Number 3, May-June 2007

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chauncey, Caroline, Ed.

    2007-01-01

    "Harvard Education Letter" is published bimonthly by the Harvard Graduate School of Education. This issue of "Harvard Education Letter" contains the following articles: (1) The Road to School Improvement: It's Hard, It's Bumpy, and It Takes as Long as It Takes (Richard F. Elmore and Elizabeth A. City); (2) Better Teaching with Web Tools: How…

  6. Harvard Education Letter. Volume 23, Number 4, July-August 2007

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chauncey, Caroline, Ed.

    2007-01-01

    "Harvard Education Letter" is published bimonthly by the Harvard Graduate School of Education. This issue of "Harvard Education Letter" contains the following articles: (1) Meeting of the Minds: The Parent-Teacher Conference Is the Cornerstone of School-Home Relations. How Can It Work for All Families? (Laura Pappano); (2) In Search of That "Third…

  7. The watershed years of 1958-1962 in the Harvard Pigeon Lab.

    OpenAIRE

    Catania, A Charles

    2002-01-01

    During the years 1958-1962, the final years of support by the National Science Foundation for B. F. Skinner's Pigeon Lab in Memorial Hall at Harvard University, 20 or so pigeon experiments (plus some with other organisms) ran concurrently 7 days a week. The research style emphasized experimental analyses, exploratory procedures, and the parametric exploration of variables. This reminiscence describes some features of the laboratory, the context within which it operated, and the activities of ...

  8. Citing & Referencing Using the Harvard Style: Examples

    OpenAIRE

    Cullen, John G.

    2016-01-01

    This teaching resource supplements 2 videos which are available online on YouTube. These videos are titled: • ‘Citing and referencing using the Harvard Style (Part 1)’ - Available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9X1UjtfgTU8 • Citing and referencing using the Harvard Style (Part 2)’ - Available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hj_EXIFviZA

  9. K-12 Professional Development at the Harvard Forest LTER

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bennett, K.

    2012-12-01

    As part of the Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) program, the Harvard Forest in Petersham, Massachusetts seeks to train the next generation of researchers, by involving K-12 grade students and their teachers in hands-on, field-based, ecological research in their own schoolyard and community. Students learn to collect data on important long-term ecological issues and processes. Student data are then shared on the Harvard Forest website. To prepare teachers for project protocols, teachers are given direct access to Harvard ecologists with professional development workshops and on-line resources. With the Harvard Forest Schoolyard LTER program, students can participate in three different research projects focusing on phenology, invasive insects, and vernal pools. Teachers attend the Summer Institute for Teachers to learn project content and methods. They return in fall to participate in one of three levels of data workshops to learn how to input, manage, and analyze project data. In the spring, teachers again meet with the Harvard ecologists about project protocols, and to share, through a series of teacher presentations, the ways these project themes are being integrated into class curricula. These professional development opportunities result in long term collaborative partnerships with local schools and the Harvard Forest LTER. In addition to the LTER Schoolyard Ecology Program, the Harvard Forest has supported a successful Research Experience for Teachers (RET) program for the last six years. Throughout the summer, teachers work on research projects alongside Harvard Forest and affiliated scientists, post-docs, graduate students, and REU's (Research Experience for Undergraduates). The RET program provides teachers with the opportunity to build scientific knowledge, develop an understanding of research methods, and translate their new knowledge and experiences into cutting edge classroom lessons. The past two summers I have worked with Dr. Andrew Richardson

  10. When Harvard said no to eugenics: the J. Ewing Mears Bequest, 1927.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lombardo, Paul A

    2014-01-01

    James Ewing Mears (1838-1919) was a founding member of the Philadelphia Academy of Surgery. His 1910 book, The Problem of Race Betterment, laid the groundwork for later authors to explore the uses of surgical sterilization as a eugenic measure. Mears left $60,000 in his will to Harvard University to support the teaching of eugenics. Although numerous eugenic activists were on the Harvard faculty, and two of its Presidents were also associated with the eugenics movement, Harvard refused the Mears gift. The bequest was eventually awarded to Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia. This article explains why Harvard turned its back on a donation that would have supported instruction in a popular subject. Harvard's decision illustrates the range of opinion that existed on the efficacy of eugenic sterilization at the time. The Mears case also highlights a powerful irony: the same week Harvard turned down the Mears legacy, the U.S. Supreme Court endorsed eugenic sterilization in the landmark case of Buck v. Bell. Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., graduate of Harvard and former member of its law faculty wrote the opinion in that case, including the famous conclusion: "Three generations of imbeciles are enough."

  11. 33 CFR 100.101 - Harvard-Yale Regatta, Thames River, New London, CT.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... 33 Navigation and Navigable Waters 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Harvard-Yale Regatta, Thames... OF HOMELAND SECURITY REGATTAS AND MARINE PARADES SAFETY OF LIFE ON NAVIGABLE WATERS § 100.101 Harvard... passed their positions. At that time, spectator vessels located south of the Harvard Boathouse may...

  12. Alliances in Human Biology: The Harvard Committee on Industrial Physiology, 1929-1939.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oakes, Jason

    2015-08-01

    In 1929 the newly-reorganized Rockefeller Foundation funded the work of a cross-disciplinary group at Harvard University called the Committee on Industrial Physiology (CIP). The committee's research and pedagogical work was oriented towards different things for different members of the alliance. The CIP program included a research component in the Harvard Fatigue Laboratory and Elton May's interpretation of the Hawthorne Studies; a pedagogical aspect as part of Wallace Donham's curriculum for Harvard Business School; and Lawrence Henderson's work with the Harvard Pareto Circle, his course Sociology 23, and the Harvard Society of Fellows. The key actors within the CIP alliance shared a concern with training men for elite careers in government service, business leadership, and academic prominence. But the first communications between the CIP and the Rockefeller Foundation did not emphasize training in human biology. Instead, the CIP presented itself as a coordinating body that would be able to organize all the varied work going on at Harvard that did not fit easily into one department, and it was on this basis that the CIP became legible to the President of Harvard, A. Lawrence Lowell, and to Rockefeller's Division of Social Sciences. The members of the CIP alliance used the term human biology for this project of research, training and institutional coordination.

  13. Buying Access to Ivy--A Way to Revive Harvard

    Science.gov (United States)

    Halfond, Jay A.

    2010-01-01

    Of the many, many articles written on Harvard University's endowment woes, the author has yet to read one actually sympathetic with Harvard. Perhaps this reflects one's gleeful voyeurism when the high-and-mighty fall, or sense of justice that the reckless should pay for their recklessness, or belief that no university truly needs or deserves such…

  14. Harvard Business Schoolis töötav ainus eestlane Toomas Laarits / intervjueerinud Luise Savik

    Index Scriptorium Estoniae

    Laarits, Toomas

    2011-01-01

    Intervjuu Harvard College'i bakalaureuseõppe lõpetanud ja Harvard Business Schoolis kahe õppejõu assistendina töötava eestlase Toomas Laaritsaga Harvard Business Schooli magistriõppest ja elust tudengina Harvardis

  15. Conference Scene: Personalized Medicine comes to Harvard.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Greenberg, Tarryn

    2012-01-01

    The Seventh Annual Harvard Personalized Medicine Conference was held at The Joseph B Martin Conference Center at the Harvard Medical School in Boston, MA, USA on the 9-10 November 2011. The 2-day conference program was designed to highlight the impact that personalized medicine is currently making clinically as it enters the healthcare delivery system. Going forward, policies, plans and actions of stakeholders including those from government, academia and the private sector need to be informed and guided by recent experience - all of which the conference program set out to explore. The conference attracted over 600 national and international thought leaders all involved in personalized healthcare.

  16. 75 FR 33328 - Notice of Inventory Completion: Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-06-11

    ... Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA; Correction AGENCY: National Park Service..., Harvard University, Cambridge, MA. The human remains and associated funerary objects were removed from... Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard [[Page 33329

  17. 77 FR 46120 - Notice of Inventory Completion: Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-08-02

    ... Inventory Completion: Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA... Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA. The human remains and associated..., Repatriation Coordinator, Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, 11 Divinity Avenue...

  18. 76 FR 62842 - Notice of Inventory Completion: Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-10-11

    ...: Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior. ACTION: Notice. SUMMARY: The Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard... the human remains may contact the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University...

  19. 75 FR 58431 - Notice of Inventory Completion: Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-09-24

    ... Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA; Correction AGENCY: National Park Service... in the possession of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, Cambridge... was a project of Harvard University faculty in 1972. No known individuals were identified. No...

  20. Bit by Bit: Innovating at the Periphery to Extend Harvard's Core

    Science.gov (United States)

    Laserna, Catalina; Leitner, Henry

    2008-01-01

    Faculty instructional time is a critical resource at all universities, but particularly in a major research institution like Harvard. Operating on the periphery of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Harvard's division of Continuing Education is often at a disadvantage when attempting to recruit senior faculty. However, through its distance…

  1. Space Radar Image of Harvard Forest

    Science.gov (United States)

    1999-01-01

    This is a radar image of the area surrounding the Harvard Forest in north-central Massachusetts that has been operated as a ecological research facility by Harvard University since 1907. At the center of the image is the Quabbin Reservoir, and the Connecticut River is at the lower left of the image. The Harvard Forest itself is just above the reservoir. Researchers are comparing the naturally occurring physical disturbances in the forest and the recent and projected chemical disturbances and their effects on the forest ecosystem. Agricultural land appears dark blue/purple, along with low shrub vegetation and some wetlands. Urban development is bright pink; the yellow to green tints are conifer-dominated vegetation with the pitch pine sand plain at the middle left edge of the image appearing very distinctive. The green tint may indicate pure pine plantation stands, and deciduous broadleaf trees appear gray/pink with perhaps wetter sites being pinker. This image was acquired by the Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C/X-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SIR-C/X-SAR) aboard the space shuttle Endeavour. SIR-C/X-SAR, a joint mission of the German, Italian and the United States space agencies, is part of NASA's Mission to Planet Earth. The image is centered at 42.50 degrees North latitude and 72.33 degrees West longitude and covers an area of 53 kilometers 63 by kilometers (33 miles by 39 miles). The colors in the image are assigned to different frequencies and polarizations of the radar as follows: red is L-band horizontally transmitted and horizontally received; green is L-band horizontally transmitted and vertically received; and blue is C-band horizontally transmitted and horizontally received.

  2. Harvard Aging Brain Study : Dataset and accessibility

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Dagley, Alexander; LaPoint, Molly; Huijbers, Willem; Hedden, Trey; McLaren, Donald G.; Chatwal, Jasmeer P.; Papp, Kathryn V.; Amariglio, Rebecca E.; Blacker, Deborah; Rentz, Dorene M.; Johnson, Keith A.; Sperling, Reisa A.; Schultz, Aaron P.

    2017-01-01

    The Harvard Aging Brain Study is sharing its data with the global research community. The longitudinal dataset consists of a 284-subject cohort with the following modalities acquired: demographics, clinical assessment, comprehensive neuropsychological testing, clinical biomarkers, and neuroimaging.

  3. The Harvard Project Physics Film Program

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bork, Alfred M.

    1970-01-01

    States the philosophy behind the Harvard Project Physics (HPP) film program. Describes the three long HPP films. Lists the 48 color film loops covering six broad topics, primarily motion and energy. The 8-mm silent loops are synchronized with the text materials. Explains some of the pedagogical possibilities of these film loops. (RR)

  4. Cummings/Ju - Harvard; Emory | Division of Cancer Prevention

    Science.gov (United States)

    Principal Investigator: Richard D Cummings, PhDInstitution: Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA Principal Investigator: Tongzhong Ju, MD, PhDInstitution: Emory University, Atlanta, GA |

  5. The Lowells of Boston and the Founding of University Extension at Harvard

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shinagel, Michael

    2009-01-01

    In this article, the author uses the occasion of the centennial of University Extension at Harvard to document how this unique educational institution came into being and why it became associated with Harvard University. He traces the prominent role played by the Lowell family in establishing the Lowell Institute of Boston in the late 1830s and…

  6. Harvard and the Academic Glass Ceiling

    Science.gov (United States)

    Drago, Robert

    2007-01-01

    Drew Gilpin Faust was recently appointed president of Harvard University, and is the first female to hold the position. Women now lead half of the eight institutions that make up the Ivy League. But focusing on highly accomplished women such as Faust misses a larger point. Women may be taking faculty positions in record numbers, but most of those…

  7. The Harvard organic photovoltaic dataset.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lopez, Steven A; Pyzer-Knapp, Edward O; Simm, Gregor N; Lutzow, Trevor; Li, Kewei; Seress, Laszlo R; Hachmann, Johannes; Aspuru-Guzik, Alán

    2016-09-27

    The Harvard Organic Photovoltaic Dataset (HOPV15) presented in this work is a collation of experimental photovoltaic data from the literature, and corresponding quantum-chemical calculations performed over a range of conformers, each with quantum chemical results using a variety of density functionals and basis sets. It is anticipated that this dataset will be of use in both relating electronic structure calculations to experimental observations through the generation of calibration schemes, as well as for the creation of new semi-empirical methods and the benchmarking of current and future model chemistries for organic electronic applications.

  8. Address by William J. Bennett, United States Secretary of Education. (Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bennett, William J.

    The extent to which U.S. colleges and universities contribute to the fulfillment of students' lives is discussed by Secretary of Education William Bennett in an address to Harvard University. Secretary Bennett's observations are based on his experiences as a law student, freshman proctor, and tutor at Harvard University, as well as his subsequent…

  9. Establishment of the Department of Anaesthesia at Harvard Medical School-1969.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mizrahi, Ilan; Desai, Sukumar P

    2016-02-01

    The first academic departments of anesthesia were established in the United States at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1927, with Ralph M. Waters named as chairman, and in the UK at Oxford University in 1937, with Robert Macintosh as chairman. Compared to these early departments, more than 3 decades would pass before Harvard Medical School decided it was time to establish a department of anaesthesia, in 1969. We examine the forces on both sides of the issue, for and against, and how they played out in the late 1960s. Published articles, books, interviews, and biographical and autobiographical notes as well as primary source documents such as reports of department and medical school committee meetings were examined to obtain information relevant to our investigation. The late 1960s were an ideal time for the chiefs of anesthesia at the various Harvard teaching hospitals to make a strong argument in favor of establishment of an independent department of anaesthesia. Although strongly opposed by Francis Daniels Moore, Chief of Surgery at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, an independent department at Harvard was established in 1969. The recognition of anesthesia as a distinctive specialty at universities across the country as well as the specific concerns over administration, hiring, and the future of the clinical service in the 1960s provided overwhelming support for the establishment of a separate, free-standing department of anaesthesia at one of the most tradition-bound universities in the United States-Harvard. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  10. Harvard Law School Proxy Access Roundtable

    OpenAIRE

    Bebchuk, Lucian Arye; Hirst, Scott

    2010-01-01

    This paper contains the proceedings of the Proxy Access Roundtable that was held by the Harvard Law School Program on Corporate Governance on October 7, 2009. The Roundtable brought together prominent participants in the debate - representing a range of perspectives and experiences - for a day of discussion on the subject. The day’s first two sessions focused on the question of whether the Securities and Exchange Commission should provide an access regime, or whether it should leave the adopt...

  11. The Harvard organic photovoltaic dataset

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lopez, Steven A.; Pyzer-Knapp, Edward O.; Simm, Gregor N.; Lutzow, Trevor; Li, Kewei; Seress, Laszlo R.; Hachmann, Johannes; Aspuru-Guzik, Alán

    2016-01-01

    The Harvard Organic Photovoltaic Dataset (HOPV15) presented in this work is a collation of experimental photovoltaic data from the literature, and corresponding quantum-chemical calculations performed over a range of conformers, each with quantum chemical results using a variety of density functionals and basis sets. It is anticipated that this dataset will be of use in both relating electronic structure calculations to experimental observations through the generation of calibration schemes, as well as for the creation of new semi-empirical methods and the benchmarking of current and future model chemistries for organic electronic applications. PMID:27676312

  12. Psychiatry in American Medical Education: The Case of Harvard's Medical School, 1900-1945.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abraham, Tara H

    2018-01-01

    As American psychiatrists moved from the asylum to the private clinic during the early twentieth century, psychiatry acquired a growing presence within medical school curricula. This shift in disciplinary status took place at a time when medical education itself was experiencing a period of reform. By examining medical school registers at Harvard University, records from the Dean's office of Harvard's medical school, and oral histories, this paper examines the rise in prominence of psychiatry in medical education. Three builders of Harvard psychiatry - Elmer E. Southard, C. Macfie Campbell, and Harry C. Solomon - simultaneously sought to mark territory for psychiatry and its relevance. In doing so, they capitalized on three related elements: the fluidity that existed between psychiatry and neurology, the new venues whereby medical students gained training in psychiatry, and the broader role of patrons, professional associations, and certification boards, which sought to expand psychiatry's influence in the social and cultural life of twentieth-century America.

  13. A guide to the Harvard referencing system.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dwyer, M

    This article explains how to reference an academic work using the Harvard system. Instructions comply with the relevant British standards, i.e. BS 5605:1990, BS 1629:1989 and BS 6371:1983. The importance of referencing in an approved manner is discussed and problem areas such as joint authors, corporate authorship and unpublished works are examined. The issue of second-hand references that are not addressed by the standards is also explained.

  14. Much Ado about Something? James Bryant Conant, Harvard University, and Nazi Germany in the 1930s

    Science.gov (United States)

    Urban, Wayne J.; Smith, Marybeth

    2015-01-01

    This paper discusses the actions of noted Harvard University president James Bryant Conant, taken in regard to the Nazi government in Germany, from the time of Conant's becoming president of Harvard University in 1933 to the time of the widespread pogrom in Germany of 9-10 November 1938, known as Kristallnacht. Conant's attitudes and actions…

  15. Harvard University High Energy Physics progress report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1992-01-01

    The principal goals of this work are to carry out forefront programs in high energy physics research and to provide first rate educational opportunities for students. The experimental program supported through HEPL is carried out at the major accelerator centers in the world and addresses some of the most important questions in high energy physics. The program is based at Harvard's High Energy Physics Laboratory, which has offices, computing facilities, and engineering support, and both electronics and machine shops

  16. Harvard Boycott Turns out to Be Referendum on Affirmative Action.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Manners, Bernadette

    1982-01-01

    Discusses the controversy that arose at Harvard Law School as a proposed course on civil rights and racial discrimination, to be taught by Black and White lawyers, led to a boycott movement by minority students who demanded more Black faculty members at the school.(MJL)

  17. Implementation of the Harvard Case Method through a Plan-Do-Check-Act Framework in a University Course

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shieh, Ruey S.; Lyu, Jr Jung; Cheng, Yun-Yao

    2012-01-01

    In 2005, the Harvard Business School began to promote the Harvard case method (HCM) within the Asian region. Because of differences in classroom culture between Asian and Western countries, Asian participants' reaction to the HCM implementation is of interest. This study explores how the western initiated method was implemented in one of the Asian…

  18. Harvard University High Energy Physics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1993-01-01

    The mainly experimental research program in high energy physics at Harvard is summarized in a descriptive fashion according to the following outline: Proton endash antiproton colliding beam program at Fermilab -- CDF (forward/backward electromagnetic calorimeters -- FEM, central muon extension -- CMX, gas calorimetry and electronics development, front-end electronics upgrades, software development, physics analysis, timetable), electron -- positron collisions in the upsilon region -- CLEO (the hardware projects including CLEO II barrel TOF system and silicon drift detector R ampersand D, physics analysis), search for ν μ to ν τ oscillations with the NOMAD experiment at CERN, the solenoidal detector collaboration at the SSC, muon scattering at FNAL -- E665, the L3 experiment, and phenomenological analysis of high-energy bar pp cross sections. 149 refs

  19. Crimson Tide: The Harvard Books on Astronomy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lindner, R. P.

    2001-12-01

    The Harvard Books on Astronomy, a series of crimson clad, fully illustrated volumes, cornered, for more than a generation, the market of readers interested in astronomy. A large number of astronomers owe their first serious initiation to the literature of astronomy to these books. Their style, presentation, design, and tone marked a clear departure from the inherited traditions in the field. Each summed up a field, awarded points for merit, and staked out paths for future study. No doubt each of the more mature readers of this abstract has his or her favorite volume, and even his or her own favorite edition of a particular volume. How the volumes evolved and what happened to the series with Harlow Shapley's retirement are not only questions in the history of the book but also form a commentary on the standards of scientific writing for the educated public. For this the major evidence comes from the volumes by Shapley himself, Leo Goldberg and Lawrence Aller, and the Boks. This paper discusses the origins of the series, the purpose of the works, the varying successes of the volumes, and the impact they had on the future astronomical community. In part, this is a contribution to the impact of Harlow Shapley upon the wider field and the role of Harvard in the American astronomical community. It is also a meditation upon the ways of recruitment into the field and forming ways of looking at research problems.

  20. Framework for Sustaining Innovation at Baker Library, Harvard Business School

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dolan, Meghan; Hemment, Michael; Oliver, Stephanie

    2017-01-01

    Baker Library at Harvard Business School is increasingly asked by the school's faculty to create custom digital information products to enhance course assignments and to find novel ways of electronically disseminating faculty research. In order to prioritize these requests, as well as facilitate, manage, and track the resulting projects, the…

  1. Exceptional Portable Sundials at Harvard

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schechner, Sara

    2014-06-01

    The Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments at Harvard University has the largest assemblage of sundials in North America. The dials date from the 16th to the 19th centuries, and most are designed to be carried in one’s pocket or put on a window sill. They take advantage of the sun’s changing altitude, azimuth, hour angle, or a combination of the foregoing in order to find the time. Many are also usable at a wide range of latitudes, and therefore are suitable tools for travelers. Fashioned of wood, paper, ivory, brass, and silver, the sundials combine mathematical projections of the sun’s apparent motion with artistry, fashion, and exquisite craftsmanship. This paper will explore the wide variety of sundials and what they tell us about the people who made and used them.

  2. Black Faculty at Harvard: Does the Pipeline Defense Hold Water?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cross, Theodore

    1994-01-01

    The hiring practices of Harvard University are examined as they relate to the argument that black college faculty members are not available because there are no blacks in the "pipeline" of Ph.D.s. This spurious defense is an anachronism that must be reexamined in considering racial diversity at America's universities. (SLD)

  3. The Harvard Automated Phone Task: new performance-based activities of daily living tests for early Alzheimer's disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marshall, Gad A; Dekhtyar, Maria; Bruno, Jonathan M; Jethwani, Kamal; Amariglio, Rebecca E; Johnson, Keith A; Sperling, Reisa A; Rentz, Dorene M

    2015-12-01

    Impairment in activities of daily living is a major burden for Alzheimer's disease dementia patients and caregivers. Multiple subjective scales and a few performance-based instruments have been validated and proven to be reliable in measuring instrumental activities of daily living in Alzheimer's disease dementia but less so in amnestic mild cognitive impairment and preclinical Alzheimer's disease. To validate the Harvard Automated Phone Task, a new performance-based activities of daily living test for early Alzheimer's disease, which assesses high level tasks that challenge seniors in daily life. In a cross-sectional study, the Harvard Automated Phone Task was associated with demographics and cognitive measures through univariate and multivariate analyses; ability to discriminate across diagnostic groups was assessed; test-retest reliability with the same and alternate versions was assessed in a subset of participants; and the relationship with regional cortical thickness was assessed in a subset of participants. Academic clinical research center. One hundred and eighty two participants were recruited from the community (127 clinically normal elderly and 45 young normal participants) and memory disorders clinics at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital (10 participants with mild cognitive impairment). As part of the Harvard Automated Phone Task, participants navigated an interactive voice response system to refill a prescription (APT-Script), select a new primary care physician (APT-PCP), and make a bank account transfer and payment (APT-Bank). The 3 tasks were scored based on time, errors, and repetitions from which composite z-scores were derived, as well as a separate report of correct completion of the task. We found that the Harvard Automated Phone Task discriminated well between diagnostic groups (APT-Script: p=0.002; APT-PCP: pHarvard Automated Phone Task and executive function (APT-PCP: pHarvard Automated Phone Task, which

  4. Harvard Air Pollution Health Study in six cites in the USA

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Spengler, J D; Ferris, Jr, B G

    1985-08-01

    The Harvard Air Pollution Health Study has been a ten year prospective study of respiratory symptoms and pulmonary function of children and adults living in six US communities. Indices of acute and chronic effects of air pollution exposures have been studied. Evidence is presented for adverse effects of ambient and indoor air pollution on children. Relationships between ambient TSP concentrations and hospital emergency room admissions, temporary decreases in pulmonary functions and prevalence of community bronchitis all indicate a slight adverse effect. Refinements of these relationships will occur when fine fraction and acid sulfate aerosol concentrations are incorporated into the health analysis. Exposures to cigarette smoke at home are associated with increased reported respiratory symptoms in children. There is a negative relationship between maternal smoking and age and sex adjusted height for children. Results from indoor and personal exposure studies have lead to the design of an acute symptoms and indoor air pollution study. Between 1985 and 1988 1800 children will be tracked for a year while respirable particles, nitrogen dioxide, water vapor and air exchange will be measured in their homes. Using continuous sulfate/sulfuric acid monitors built at Harvard, we are characterizing the magnitude, duration and frequency of acid aerosol events in each of our study cities. This information will be utilized in the analysis of the respiratory symptom data. The Harvard Air Pollution Health Study is providing information on the relationship among health variables and air pollutant exposures. In addition, this study will add to our understanding of lung growth and aging and the risk factors associated with chronic respiratory disabilities.

  5. "He sees the development of children's concepts upon a background of sociology": Jean Piaget's honorary degree at Harvard University in 1936.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hsueh, Yeh

    2004-02-01

    In the recent memory, Jean Piaget has been known as a cognitive developmental psychologist. But in 1936 when Harvard gave him his first honorary degree, he was recognized mainly as a sociologist. Why did Harvard honor him in 1936? Who knew his work well enough to nominate him? This article will address these questions by exploring archival documents from different sources. Evidence draws our attention to a broad social and intellectual endeavor in philanthropy, other social sciences, and especially industrial research that brought Piaget across the water. This article also attempts to interpret the circumstances of the nomination process inside and outside of Harvard University by using a theory of institutional design. It suggests that embodied in Harvard's honor of Piaget in 1936 was an idealistic act in social designing for a future society.

  6. Harvard Aging Brain Study: Dataset and accessibility.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dagley, Alexander; LaPoint, Molly; Huijbers, Willem; Hedden, Trey; McLaren, Donald G; Chatwal, Jasmeer P; Papp, Kathryn V; Amariglio, Rebecca E; Blacker, Deborah; Rentz, Dorene M; Johnson, Keith A; Sperling, Reisa A; Schultz, Aaron P

    2017-01-01

    The Harvard Aging Brain Study is sharing its data with the global research community. The longitudinal dataset consists of a 284-subject cohort with the following modalities acquired: demographics, clinical assessment, comprehensive neuropsychological testing, clinical biomarkers, and neuroimaging. To promote more extensive analyses, imaging data was designed to be compatible with other publicly available datasets. A cloud-based system enables access to interested researchers with blinded data available contingent upon completion of a data usage agreement and administrative approval. Data collection is ongoing and currently in its fifth year. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  7. The two (quality) faces of HCHP (Harvard Community Health Plan).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Burda, D

    1991-03-18

    When it comes to total quality management, Harvard Community Health Plan has two personalities. It's using the principles espoused by such TQM gurus as Joseph Juran to reduce costs and improve quality in its clinics and offices. But HCHP also is enhancing its image in the healthcare industry by teaching TQM principles to others for big bucks.

  8. Harvard Project Physics Newsletter 10. The Project Physics Course, Text.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Harvard Univ., Cambridge, MA. Harvard Project Physics.

    A short description of the availability of Harvard Project Physics course components is given as is a discussion of the growth of the use of Project Physics in schools, including some enrollment data and survey results. Locations of the 1970 and 1971 Summer Institutes are listed. Adaptations of Project Physics course outside the United States are…

  9. Activities of daily living measured by the Harvard Automated Phone Task track with cognitive decline over time in non-demented elderly

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marshall, Gad A.; Aghjayan, Sarah L.; Dekhtyar, Maria; Locascio, Joseph J.; Jethwani, Kamal; Amariglio, Rebecca E.; Johnson, Keith A.; Sperling, Reisa A.; Rentz, Dorene M.

    2017-01-01

    Background Impairment in activities of daily living is a major burden to both patients and caregivers. Mild impairment in instrumental activities of daily living is often seen at the stage of mild cognitive impairment. The field of Alzheimer’s disease is moving toward earlier diagnosis and intervention and more sensitive and ecologically valid assessments of instrumental or complex activities of daily living are needed. The Harvard Automated Phone Task, a novel performance-based activities of daily living instrument, has the potential to fill this gap. Objective To further validate the Harvard Automated Phone Task by assessing its longitudinal relationship to global cognition and specific cognitive domains in clinically normal elderly and individuals with mild cognitive impairment. Design In a longitudinal study, the Harvard Automated Phone Task was associated with cognitive measures using mixed effects models. The Harvard Automated Phone Task’s ability to discriminate across diagnostic groups at baseline was also assessed. Setting Academic clinical research center. Participants Two hundred and seven participants (45 young normal, 141 clinically normal elderly, and 21 mild cognitive impairment) were recruited from the community and the memory disorders clinics at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital. Measurements Participants performed the three tasks of the Harvard Automated Phone Task, which consist of navigating an interactive voice response system to refill a prescription (APT-Script), select a new primary care physician (APT-PCP), and make a bank account transfer and payment (APT-Bank). The 3 tasks were scored based on time, errors, repetitions, and correct completion of the task. The primary outcome measure used for each of the tasks was total time adjusted for correct completion. Results The Harvard Automated Phone Task discriminated well between young normal, clinically normal elderly, and mild cognitive impairment

  10. Program Spotlight: Dana Farber/Harvard Cancer Center Partnership Receives $8 Million Grant

    Science.gov (United States)

    The UMass Boston and Dana Farber/Harvard Cancer Center PACHE Partnership received a grant to start-up a Center for Personalized Cancer Therapy on the UMass Boston campus. The center is deigned to train underrepresented students to work in cancer research.

  11. The "nuts and bolts" of implementing shared medical appointments: the Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates experience.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Berger-Fiffy, Jill

    2012-01-01

    Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates (Harvard Vanguard) decided to develop a Shared Medical Appointment (SMA) program in 2007 for a variety of reasons. The program has launched 86 SMAs in 17 specialties at 12 sites and has exceeded 13 000 patient visits. Currently, the practice offers 54 SMAs and is believed to be the largest program in the country. This article provides an overview regarding staffing, space and equipment, project planning, promotional materials, training programs, workflow development, and the use of quality improvement (ie, LEAN) tools used to monitor the work to be completed and the metrics to date.

  12. The Harvard Automated Phone Task: new performance-based activities of daily living tests for early Alzheimer’s disease

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marshall, Gad A.; Dekhtyar, Maria; Bruno, Jonathan M.; Jethwani, Kamal; Amariglio, Rebecca E.; Johnson, Keith A.; Sperling, Reisa A.; Rentz, Dorene M.

    2015-01-01

    Background Impairment in activities of daily living is a major burden for Alzheimer’s disease dementia patients and caregivers. Multiple subjective scales and a few performance-based instruments have been validated and proven to be reliable in measuring instrumental activities of daily living in Alzheimer’s disease dementia but less so in amnestic mild cognitive impairment and preclinical Alzheimer’s disease. Objective To validate the Harvard Automated Phone Task, a new performance-based activities of daily living test for early Alzheimer’s disease, which assesses high level tasks that challenge seniors in daily life. Design In a cross-sectional study, the Harvard Automated Phone Task was associated with demographics and cognitive measures through univariate and multivariate analyses; ability to discriminate across diagnostic groups was assessed; test-retest reliability with the same and alternate versions was assessed in a subset of participants; and the relationship with regional cortical thickness was assessed in a subset of participants. Setting Academic clinical research center. Participants One hundred and eighty two participants were recruited from the community (127 clinically normal elderly and 45 young normal participants) and memory disorders clinics at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital (10 participants with mild cognitive impairment). Measurements As part of the Harvard Automated Phone Task, participants navigated an interactive voice response system to refill a prescription (APT-Script), select a new primary care physician (APT-PCP), and make a bank account transfer and payment (APT-Bank). The 3 tasks were scored based on time, errors, and repetitions from which composite z-scores were derived, as well as a separate report of correct completion of the task. Results We found that the Harvard Automated Phone Task discriminated well between diagnostic groups (APT-Script: p=0.002; APT-PCP: pHarvard Automated Phone

  13. College Board Response to "Harvard Educational Review" Article by Santelices and Wilson

    Science.gov (United States)

    College Board, 2010

    2010-01-01

    This is the College Board's response to a research article by Drs. Maria Veronica Santelices and Mark Wilson in the Harvard Educational Review, entitled "Unfair Treatment? The Case of Freedle, the SAT, and the Standardization Approach to Differential Item Functioning" (see EJ930622).

  14. Harvard-MIT research program in short-lived radiopharmaceuticals. Progress report, March 1, 1985-February 28, 1986

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1986-03-01

    The Harvard-MIT Research Program in Short-Lived Radiopharmaceuticals was established in 1977 to foster interaction among groups working at Harvard Medical School, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Massachusetts General Hospital in fields related to radiopharmaceutical chemistry. From these collaborations and building upon the special, but different, strengths of the participating individuals, laboratories and institutions, it was hoped that original approaches would be found for the design of new, clinically useful, labeled compounds. We believe that examination of the record demonstrates that this has been a fruitful alliance

  15. Newspaper Coverage of the Harvard Medicare Project: Regional Distinctions/Discreet Disregard?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Payne, J. Gregory

    A study examined American newspaper coverage of the Harvard Medicare Project proposal of 1986, a major health policy proposal calling for comprehensive reforms in the national health program. Using Burrelle's news clipping service which includes every daily newspaper (over 1500) in the United States, all 75 newspaper articles on the project from…

  16. Searching Harvard Business Review Online. . . Lessons in Searching a Full Text Database.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tenopir, Carol

    1985-01-01

    This article examines the Harvard Business Review Online (HBRO) database (bibliographic description fields, abstracts, extracted information, full text, subject descriptors) and reports on 31 sample HBRO searches conducted in Bibliographic Retrieval Services to test differences between searching full text and searching bibliographic record. Sample…

  17. A distributed model: redefining a robust research subject advocacy program at the Harvard Clinical and Translational Science Center.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Winkler, Sabune J; Cagliero, Enrico; Witte, Elizabeth; Bierer, Barbara E

    2014-08-01

    The Harvard Clinical and Translational Science Center ("Harvard Catalyst") Research Subject Advocacy (RSA) Program has reengineered subject advocacy, distributing the delivery of advocacy functions through a multi-institutional, central platform rather than vesting these roles and responsibilities in a single individual functioning as a subject advocate. The program is process-oriented and output-driven, drawing on the strengths of participating institutions to engage local stakeholders both in the protection of research subjects and in advocacy for subjects' rights. The program engages stakeholder communities in the collaborative development and distributed delivery of accessible and applicable educational programming and resources. The Harvard Catalyst RSA Program identifies, develops, and supports the sharing and distribution of expertise, education, and resources for the benefit of all institutions, with a particular focus on the frontline: research subjects, researchers, research coordinators, and research nurses. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  18. Proton beam therapy: reliability of the synchrocyclotron at the Harvard Cyclotron Laboratory

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sisterson, J.M.; Cascio, E.; Koehler, A.M.; Johnson, K.N.

    1991-01-01

    The reliability of the synchrocyclotron at Harvard Cyclotron Laboratory has been studied over the period 1980-1989 to see if proton beam therapy can compare in reliability to linear accelerators used in radiation therapy departments. Breakdowns in relation to patient load are reviewed in outline. (U.K.)

  19. Can Ethics Be Taught? Perspectives, Challenges, and Approaches at Harvard Business School.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Piper, Thomas R.; And Others

    This book describes in five chapters how the Harvard Business School has redeveloped its curriculum to place leadership, ethics, and corporate responsibility at the center of its mission. Chapter 1, "Rediscovery of Purpose: The Genesis of the Leadership, Ethics, and Corporate Responsibility Initiative," (Thomas R. Piper) describes the…

  20. Political Activity at Harvard College Observatory in the Shapley ERA (1921-1952): Controversy and Consequences.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Welther, Barbara L.

    1993-12-01

    Soon after Harlow Shapley became director of HCO in 1921, he established himself as a scientist who would speak out and take action on national and international issues. Recognizing the importance of international cooperation in astronomy, he frequently traveled abroad and in turn invited foreign scientists to visit and work at HCO. By the mid-1930s, Shapley was actively rescuing refugee scientists in war-torn Europe and placing them in American universities. Both Harvard and the FBI took note of his activities. Shapley feared intervention of any kind from either academia or the government. Desperate for funding, however, he finally went to Washington and lobbied Congress to set up the NSF. Through 1945, when Truman succeeded Roosevelt, Shapley pursued his political activities freely. That year he travelled to Moscow to represent Harvard at the 220th anniversary celebration of the Academy of Sciences. In Moscow he advocated international cooperation between Soviet and American scientists. Consequently, Shapley was subpoenaed for interrogation in 1946 by John Rankin, who served during the Truman administration as a one-man committee to investigate un-American activities. The ordeal infuriated Shapley. Headlines about it infuriated some Harvard alumni who urged the university to fire him. Although Shapley was nearing retirement, President Conant stood by his right to keep his job. By 1950, when Senator Joseph McCarthy was compiling a list of Communist sympathizers in the State Department, the FBI had a dossier on Shapley. McCarthy subpoenaed Shapley, but could not intimidate him. The Senator continued the witch hunt with Shapley's associates. First he harassed Martha Betz Shapley, then Donald Menzel. Both cleared themselves. Other associates, such as Bart Bok, were spared. Ultimately, the interrogation worked in Menzel's favor. It disassociated him from Shapley's ideology and political activities. When the Harvard Corporation sought the next director of HCO, Menzel

  1. Science at Harvard University: Historical Perspectives, edited by Clark A. Elliott and Margaret W. Rossiter. Lehigh University Press, Bethlehem, 1992

    OpenAIRE

    Christenson, Andrew L.

    1992-01-01

    This volume contains historical studies of several sciences as practiced at Harvard University. Two of these studies have relevance to the history of archaeology. A chapter by Toby Appel focuses upon the scientific career of Jeffries Wyman, first curator of Harvard's Peabody Museum. She contrasts Wyman's unassuming character with the dominating personality of his mentor and contemporary Louis Agassiz. Trained as a medi...

  2. Physiological effects of bioceramic material: harvard step, resting metabolic rate and treadmill running assessments.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leung, Ting-Kai; Kuo, Chia-Hua; Lee, Chi-Ming; Kan, Nai-Wen; Hou, Chien-Wen

    2013-12-31

    Previous biomolecular and animal studies have shown that a room-temperature far-infrared-rayemitting ceramic material (bioceramic) demonstrates physical-biological effects, including the normalization of psychologically induced stress-conditioned elevated heart rate in animals. In this clinical study, the Harvard step test, the resting metabolic rate (RMR) assessment and the treadmill running test were conducted to evaluate possible physiological effects of the bioceramic material in human patients. The analysis of heart rate variability (HRV) during the Harvard step test indicated that the bioceramic material significantly increased the high-frequency (HF) power spectrum. In addition, the results of RMR analysis suggest that the bioceramic material reduced oxygen consumption (VO2). Our results demonstrate that the bioceramic material has the tendency to stimulate parasympathetic responses, which may reduce resting energy expenditure and improve cardiorespiratory recovery following exercise.

  3. Harvard University Program on Technology and Society 1964-1972. A Final Review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Harvard Univ., Cambridge, MA. Program on Technology and Society.

    Eight years of research by the Harvard University's Program on Technology and Society are summarized. Lengthy abstracts of the 29 books and 164 articles that resulted from the Program, as well as interim accounts of projects not yet completed are presented. The report is divided into four parts; institutions (including business, education, and…

  4. The 1951 Harvard student uprising against the intern match.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nakayama, Don K; Hendren, W Hardy

    2017-06-01

    In the fall of 1951, a group of Harvard medical students led by W. Hardy Hendren, III organized a national movement against the newly instituted match that would assign graduating seniors to hospital internship programs. Before then, hospitals with intern positions to fill rushed to secure commitments from students, who in turn accepted the first decent offer that came their way. Knowing that students could not risk waiting for a better offer, hospitals pushed them into making early commitments. When some students began getting offers in their junior and sophomore years, medical schools, professional groups, and hospitals organized the National Inter-association Committee on Internships to deal with the issue. The intern match was thus organized and scheduled to take place in 1952. When the plan was announced in mid-October 1951, Hendren recognized that the proposed algorithm placed students at a disadvantage if they did not get their first choice of hospitals. Facing resistance at every step from the National Inter-association Committee on Internships and putting his standing at Harvard Medical School at risk, Hendren led a nationwide movement of medical students to change the procedure to one that favored students' choices. Their success <1 month later established in the inaugural match the fundamental ethic of today's National Resident Matching Program to favor students' preferences at every step of the process. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  5. DIGITAL ACCESS TO A SKY CENTURY AT HARVARD: INITIAL PHOTOMETRY AND ASTROMETRY

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Laycock, S.; Tang, S.; Grindlay, J.; Los, E.; Simcoe, R.; Mink, D.

    2010-01-01

    Digital Access to a Sky Century at Harvard (DASCH) is a project to digitize the collection of ∼500,000 glass photographic plates held at Harvard College Observatory. The collection spans the time period from 1880 to 1985, during which time every point on the sky was been observed from 500 to 1000 times. In this paper, we describe the DASCH commissioning run, during which we developed the data-reduction pipeline, characterized the plates and fine-tuned the digitizer's performance and operation. This initial run consisted of 500 plates taken from a variety of different plate series, all containing the open cluster Praeseppe (M44). We report that accurate photometry at the 0.1 mag level is possible on the majority of plates, and demonstrate century-long light curves of various types of variable stars in and around M44. DASCH will generate a public online archive of the entire plate collection, including images, source catalogs, and light curves for nearly all astronomical objects brighter than about 17th magnitude.

  6. Digital Access to a Sky Century at Harvard: Initial Photometry and Astrometry

    Science.gov (United States)

    Laycock, S.; Tang, S.; Grindlay, J.; Los, E.; Simcoe, R.; Mink, D.

    2010-10-01

    Digital Access to a Sky Century at Harvard (DASCH) is a project to digitize the collection of ~500,000 glass photographic plates held at Harvard College Observatory. The collection spans the time period from 1880 to 1985, during which time every point on the sky was been observed from 500 to 1000 times. In this paper, we describe the DASCH commissioning run, during which we developed the data-reduction pipeline, characterized the plates and fine-tuned the digitizer's performance and operation. This initial run consisted of 500 plates taken from a variety of different plate series, all containing the open cluster Praeseppe (M44). We report that accurate photometry at the 0.1 mag level is possible on the majority of plates, and demonstrate century-long light curves of various types of variable stars in and around M44. DASCH will generate a public online archive of the entire plate collection, including images, source catalogs, and light curves for nearly all astronomical objects brighter than about 17th magnitude.

  7. Harvard ER-2 OH laser-induced fluorescence instrument

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wennberg, Paul O.; Anderson, James G.

    1994-01-01

    The Harvard ER-2 OH instrument is scheduled to be integrated into the NASA ER-2 high altitude aircraft ozone payload in August 1992. Design and fabrication is presently underway. This experiment is a descendant of a balloon borne instrument designed and built in the mid-1980s. The ER-2 instrument is being designed to measure OH and HO2 as part of the NASA ozone payload for the investigation of processes controlling the concentration of stratospheric ozone. Although not specifically designed to do so, it is hoped that valid measurements of OH and HO2 can be made in the remote free troposphere with this instrument.

  8. The Flip Sides of Full-Text: Superindex and the Harvard Business Review/Online.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dadlez, Eva M.

    1984-01-01

    This article illustrates similarities between two different types of full-text databases--Superindex, Harvard Business Review/Online--and uses them as arena to demonstrate search and display applications of full-text. The selection of logical operators, full-text search strategies, and keywords and Bibliographic Retrieval Service's Occurrence…

  9. Harvard-MIT research program in short-lived radiopharmaceuticals. Final report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Adelstein, S.J.

    1995-02-01

    The Harvard-MIT Research Program in Short-lived Radiopharmaceuticals was established in 1977 to foster interaction among groups working in radiopharmaceutical chemistry at Harvard Medical School, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the Massachusetts General Hospital. To this was added a group at The Childrens Hospital. From these collaborations and building upon the special strengths of the participating individuals, laboratories and institutions, it was hoped that original approaches would be found for the design of new, clinically useful, radiolabeled compounds. The original thrust of this proposal included: (a) examination of the coordination chemistry of technetium as a basis for rational radiopharmaceutical design, (b) development of an ultrashort-lived radionuclide generator for the diagnosis of congenital heart disease in newborns, (c) synthesis of receptor-site-directed halopharmaceuticals, (d) improved facile labeling of complex molecules with positron-emitting radionuclides. The authors' 1986 proposal was oriented toward organs and disease, emphasizing radiolabeled agents that delineate specific functions and the distribution of receptors in brain, heart, and tumors. In 1989, they further refined their purposes and focused on two major aims: (a) synthesis and utilization of neutral technetium and rhenium complexes of high specific activity, and (b) development of new approaches to the radiolabeling of proteins, peptides, immunoglobulins, and their fragments. In 1992, the authors amended this proposal to concentrate their efforts on biologically active peptides and proteins for targeted radiodiagnosis and therapy

  10. Harvard-MIT research program in short-lived radiopharmaceuticals. Final report

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Adelstein, S.J. [Massachusetts Inst. of Tech., Cambridge, MA (United States). Office of Sponsored Programs

    1995-02-01

    The Harvard-MIT Research Program in Short-lived Radiopharmaceuticals was established in 1977 to foster interaction among groups working in radiopharmaceutical chemistry at Harvard Medical School, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the Massachusetts General Hospital. To this was added a group at The Childrens Hospital. From these collaborations and building upon the special strengths of the participating individuals, laboratories and institutions, it was hoped that original approaches would be found for the design of new, clinically useful, radiolabeled compounds. The original thrust of this proposal included: (a) examination of the coordination chemistry of technetium as a basis for rational radiopharmaceutical design, (b) development of an ultrashort-lived radionuclide generator for the diagnosis of congenital heart disease in newborns, (c) synthesis of receptor-site-directed halopharmaceuticals, (d) improved facile labeling of complex molecules with positron-emitting radionuclides. The authors` 1986 proposal was oriented toward organs and disease, emphasizing radiolabeled agents that delineate specific functions and the distribution of receptors in brain, heart, and tumors. In 1989, they further refined their purposes and focused on two major aims: (a) synthesis and utilization of neutral technetium and rhenium complexes of high specific activity, and (b) development of new approaches to the radiolabeling of proteins, peptides, immunoglobulins, and their fragments. In 1992, the authors amended this proposal to concentrate their efforts on biologically active peptides and proteins for targeted radiodiagnosis and therapy.

  11. Stratigraphy, age, and depositional setting of the Miocene Barstow Formation at Harvard Hill, central Mojave Desert, California

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leslie, Shannon R.; Miller, David M.; Wooden, Joseph L.; Vazquez, Jorge A.

    2010-01-01

    New detailed geologic mapping and geochronology of the Barstow Formation at Harvard Hill, 30 km east of Barstow, CA, help to constrain Miocene paleogeography and tectonics of the central Mojave Desert. A northern strand of the Quaternary ENE-striking, sinistral Manix fault divides the Barstow Formation at Harvard Hill into two distinct lithologic assemblages. Strata north of the fault consist of: a green rhyolitic tuff, informally named the Shamrock tuff; lacustrine sandstone; partially silicified thin-bedded to massive limestone; and alluvial sandstone to pebble conglomerate. Strata south of the fault consist of: lacustrine siltstone and sandstone; a rhyolitic tuff dated at 19.1 Ma (U-Pb); rock-avalanche breccia deposits; partially silicified well-bedded to massive limestone; and alluvial sandstone and conglomerate. Our U-Pb zircon dating of the Shamrock tuff by SHRIMP-RG yields a peak probability age of 18.7 ± 0.1 Ma. Distinctive outcrop characteristics, mineralogy, remanent magnetization, and zircon geochemistry (Th/U) suggest that the Shamrock tuff represents a lacustrine facies of the regionally extensive Peach Spring Tuff (PST). Here we compare zircon age and geochemical analyses from the Shamrock tuff with those of the PST at Stoddard Wash and provide new insight into the age of zircon crystallization in the PST rhyolite. Results of our field studies show that Miocene strata at Harvard Hill mostly accumulated in a lacustrine environment, although depositional environments varied from a relatively deep lake to a very shallow lake or even onshore setting. Rock-avalanche breccias and alluvial deposits near the base of the exposed section indicate proximity to a steep basin margin and detrital studies suggest a southern source for coarse-grained deposits; therefore, we may infer a southern basin-margin setting at Harvard Hill during the early Miocene. Our geochronology demonstrates that deposition of the Barstow Formation at Harvard Hill extended from before

  12. "They Sweat for Science": The Harvard Fatigue Laboratory and Self-Experimentation in American Exercise Physiology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johnson, Andi

    2015-08-01

    In many scientific fields, the practice of self-experimentation waned over the course of the twentieth century. For exercise physiologists working today, however, the practice of self-experimentation is alive and well. This paper considers the role of the Harvard Fatigue Laboratory and its scientific director, D. Bruce Dill, in legitimizing the practice of self-experimentation in exercise physiology. Descriptions of self-experimentation are drawn from papers published by members of the Harvard Fatigue Lab. Attention is paid to the ethical and practical justifications for self-experimentation in both the lab and the field. Born out of the practical, immediate demands of fatigue protocols, self-experimentation performed the long-term, epistemological function of uniting physiological data across time and space, enabling researchers to contribute to a general human biology program.

  13. The Harvard Catalyst Common Reciprocal IRB Reliance Agreement: an innovative approach to multisite IRB review and oversight.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Winkler, Sabune J; Witte, Elizabeth; Bierer, Barbara E

    2015-02-01

    Reduction of duplicative Institutional Review Board (IRB) review for multiinstitutional studies is a desirable goal to improve IRB efficiency while enhancing human subject protections. Here we describe the Harvard Catalyst Master Reciprocal Common IRB Reliance Agreement (MRA), a system that provides a legal framework for IRB reliance, with the potential to streamline IRB review processes and reduce administrative burden and barriers to collaborative, multiinstitutional research. The MRA respects the legal autonomy of the signatory institutions while offering a pathway to eliminate duplicative IRB review when appropriate. The Harvard Catalyst MRA provides a robust and flexible model for reciprocal reliance that is both adaptable and scalable. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  14. Psychiatry in the Harvard Medical School-Cambridge Integrated Clerkship: An Innovative, Year-Long Program

    Science.gov (United States)

    Griswold, Todd; Bullock, Christopher; Gaufberg, Elizabeth; Albanese, Mark; Bonilla, Pedro; Dvorak, Ramona; Epelbaum, Claudia; Givon, Lior; Kueppenbender, Karsten; Joseph, Robert; Boyd, J. Wesley; Shtasel, Derri

    2012-01-01

    Objective: The authors present what is to their knowledge the first description of a model for longitudinal third-year medical student psychiatry education. Method: A longitudinal, integrated psychiatric curriculum was developed, implemented, and sustained within the Harvard Medical School-Cambridge Integrated Clerkship. Curriculum elements…

  15. Psychiatry in the Harvard Medical School-Cambridge Integrated Clerkship: an innovative, year-long program.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Griswold, Todd; Bullock, Christopher; Gaufberg, Elizabeth; Albanese, Mark; Bonilla, Pedro; Dvorak, Ramona; Epelbaum, Claudia; Givon, Lior; Kueppenbender, Karsten; Joseph, Robert; Boyd, J Wesley; Shtasel, Derri

    2012-09-01

    The authors present what is to their knowledge the first description of a model for longitudinal third-year medical student psychiatry education. A longitudinal, integrated psychiatric curriculum was developed, implemented, and sustained within the Harvard Medical School-Cambridge Integrated Clerkship. Curriculum elements include longitudinal mentoring by attending physicians in an outpatient psychiatry clinic, exposure to the major psychotherapies, psychopharmacology training, acute psychiatry "immersion" experiences, and a variety of clinical and didactic teaching sessions. The longitudinal psychiatry curriculum has been sustained for 8 years to-date, providing effective learning as demonstrated by OSCE scores, NBME shelf exam scores, written work, and observed clinical work. The percentage of students in this clerkship choosing psychiatry as a residency specialty is significantly greater than those in traditional clerkships at Harvard Medical School and greater than the U.S. average. Longitudinal integrated clerkship experiences are effective and sustainable; they offer particular strengths and opportunities for psychiatry education, and may influence student choice of specialty.

  16. Harvard Catalyst | The Clinical Translational Science Center IND/IDE Consult Service: providing an IND/IDE consult service in a decentralized network of academic healthcare centers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Min J; Winkler, Sabune J; Bierer, Barbara E; Wolf, Delia

    2014-04-01

    The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations require sponsors of clinical investigations involving an investigational drug or device to submit an Investigational New Drug (IND) or Investigational Device Exemption (IDE) application. Strict adherence to applicable regulations is vital to the success of clinical research. Unlike most major pharmaceutical sponsors, investigator sponsors often do not fully appreciate their regulatory obligations nor have resources to ensure compliance. As a result they can place themselves and their institutions at risk. Nevertheless, investigator-initiated clinical trials are vital to the further development of innovative drugs, biologics, and medical devices. The IND/IDE Subcommittee under the Regulatory Knowledge and Support Program at Harvard Catalyst, The Harvard Clinical and Translational Science Center worked in collaboration with Harvard and Harvard affiliated institutions to create and launch an IND/IDE Consult Service in a decentralized network of collaborating Academic Healthcare Centers (AHC). The IND/IDE Consult Service offers expertise, resources, and shared experiences to assist sponsor-investigators and IRBs in meeting regulatory requirements for conducting and reviewing investigator-initiated IND/IDE studies. The scope of the services provided by the Harvard Catalyst IND/IDE Consult Service are described, including the specifics of the service, lessons learned, and challenges faced, in a scalable model that builds inter-institutional capacity. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  17. Harvard Catalyst | The Clinical Translational Science Center IND/IDE Consult Service: Providing an IND/IDE Consult Service in a Decentralized Network of Academic Healthcare Centers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Winkler, Sabune J.; Bierer, Barbara E.; Wolf, Delia

    2014-01-01

    Abstract The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations require sponsors of clinical investigations involving an investigational drug or device to submit an Investigational New Drug (IND) or Investigational Device Exemption (IDE) application. Strict adherence to applicable regulations is vital to the success of clinical research. Unlike most major pharmaceutical sponsors, investigator sponsors often do not fully appreciate their regulatory obligations nor have resources to ensure compliance. As a result they can place themselves and their institutions at risk. Nevertheless, investigator‐initiated clinical trials are vital to the further development of innovative drugs, biologics, and medical devices. The IND/IDE Subcommittee under the Regulatory Knowledge and Support Program at Harvard Catalyst, The Harvard Clinical and Translational Science Center worked in collaboration with Harvard and Harvard affiliated institutions to create and launch an IND/IDE Consult Service in a decentralized network of collaborating Academic Healthcare Centers (AHC). The IND/IDE Consult Service offers expertise, resources, and shared experiences to assist sponsor‐investigators and IRBs in meeting regulatory requirements for conducting and reviewing investigator‐initiated IND/IDE studies. The scope of the services provided by the Harvard Catalyst IND/IDE Consult Service are described, including the specifics of the service, lessons learned, and challenges faced, in a scalable model that builds inter‐institutional capacity. PMID:24455986

  18. Project PHaEDRA: Preserving Harvard's Early Data and Research in Astronomy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bouquin, Daina; Frey, Katie; Henneken, Edwin; McEachern, Maria; McGrath, Alex; Guarracino, Daniel; Koch, Jennifer; Damon, James; Brownell, Eric; Smith-Zrull, Lindsay; Daina Bouquin

    2018-01-01

    Material originally produced during 19th and early 20th century by researchers at the Harvard College Observatory (HCO) was recently re-discovered in the HCO Astronomical Plate Stacks collection. This material helps represent the history of the HCO and acts as an irreplaceable primary source on the evolution of observation methods and astronomy as a science. The material is also relevant to the history of women in science as the collection contains logbooks and notebooks produced by the Harvard Computers, women who have come back into the spotlight due to the recent release of books like "The Glass Universe," "Rise of the Rocket Girls," and movies like "Hidden Figures". To ensure that this remarkable set of items is as accessible and useful as possible Wolbach Library, in collaboration with the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS) and others, is working to catalog, digitize, and preserve the entire collection. The material is also being transcribed by volunteers through the Smithsonian Transcription Center in DC. The transcription will allow the collection to be full-text searchable in ADS and for the notebooks to eventually be linked to their original source material: 500,000 glass plate photographs representing the first ever picture of the visible universe. The novel workflow of this distributed repository and the significance of the PHaEDRA collection both stand to support the research of future generations.

  19. Stepping from Belgium to the United States and back: the conceptualization and impact of the Harvard Step Test, 1942-2012.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vangrunderbeek, Hans; Delheye, Pascal

    2013-06-01

    This article examines the contribution of the Belgian-American exercise physiologist Lucien Brouha in developing the Harvard Step Test (HST) at the'pioneering Harvard Fatigue Laboratory (HFL) during the Second World War and provides a better understanding of the importance of transnational relations concerning scientific progress. Analysis of sources in the University Archives of the State University in Liege (Belgium), the Archives and Documentation Centre of the Sportimonium at Hofstade (Belgium), the Harvard Business School Archives at Baker Library (Cambridge, MA), the Harvard Medical School Archives at Countway Library (Cambridge, MA), and the Brouha and Shaler private family archives (Sutton, VT). The outbreak of the Second World War shifted research at the interdisciplinary HFL toward the field of military physiology and resulted in the transfer of Brouha from Belgium to the HFL. Brouha's personal and academic experiences made him the right man in the right place to develop the HST in 1942. The HST--which has celebrated its 70th anniversary--was of immediate academic and practical significance during and after the war. Brouha' s case demonstrates the importance of personal experiences, transnational relations, and interdisciplinary research settings for the establishment of scientific (sub)disciplines. Studying internal scientific evolutions in relation to personal and work experiences of "mobile" and therefore often "forgotten" researchers like Brouha is necessary to better understand and interpret evolutions in science and corresponding processes of academic and social mobility.

  20. Harvard University: Green Loan Fund. Green Revolving Funds in Action: Case Study Series

    Science.gov (United States)

    Foley, Robert

    2011-01-01

    The Green Loan Fund at Harvard University has been an active source of capital for energy efficiency and waste reduction projects for almost a decade. This case study examines the revolving fund's history from its inception as a pilot project in the 1990s to its regeneration in the early 2000s to its current operations today. The green revolving…

  1. The rise of pathophysiologic research in the United States: the role of two Harvard hospitals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tishler, Peter V

    2013-01-01

    Pathophysiologic research, the major approach to understanding and treating disease, was created in the 20th century, and two Harvard-affiliated hospitals, the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital and Boston City Hospital, played a key role in its development. After the Flexner Report of 1910, medical students were assigned clinical clerkships in teaching hospitals. Rockefeller-trained Francis Weld Peabody, who was committed to investigative, pathophysiologic research, was a critical leader in these efforts. At the Brigham, Harvard medical students observed patients closely and asked provocative questions about their diseases. Additionally, physicians returned from World War I with questions concerning the pathophysiology of wartime injuries. At the Boston City Hospital's new Thorndike Memorial Laboratory, Peabody fostered investigative question-based research by physicians. These physicians expanded pathophysiologic investigation from the 1920s. Post-war, Watson and Crick's formulation of the structure of DNA led shortly to modern molecular biology and new research approaches that are being furthered at the Boston Hospitals.

  2. Melioration behaviour in the Harvard game is reduced by simplifying decision outcomes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stillwell, David J; Tunney, Richard J

    2009-11-01

    Self-control experiments have previously been highlighted as examples of suboptimal decision making. In one such experiment, the Harvard game, participants make repeated choices between two alternatives. One alternative has a higher immediate pay-off than the other, but with repeated choices results in a lower overall pay-off. Preference for the alternative with the higher immediate pay-off seems to be impulsive and will result in a failure to maximize pay-offs. We report an experiment that modifies the Harvard game, dividing the pay-off from each choice into two separate consequences-the immediate and the historic components. Choosing the alternative with the higher immediate pay-off ends the session prematurely, leading to a loss of opportunities to earn further pay-offs and ultimately to a reduced overall pay-off. This makes it easier for participants to learn the outcomes of their actions. It also provides the opportunity for a further test of normative decision making by means of one of its most specific and paradoxical predictions-that the truly rational agent should switch from self-control to impulsivity toward the end of the experimental sessions. The finding that participants maximize their expected utility by both overcoming impulsivity and learning to switch implies that melioration behaviour is not due to the lure of impulsivity, but due to the difficulty of learning which components are included in the pay-off schedules.

  3. BIS impulsivity and acute nicotine exposure are associated with discounting global consequences in the Harvard game.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hogarth, Lee; Stillwell, David J; Tunney, Richard J

    2013-01-01

    The Barratt Impulsivity Scale (BIS) provides a transdiagnostic marker for a number of psychiatric conditions and drug abuse, but the precise psychological trait(s) tapped by this questionnaire remain obscure. To address this, 51 smokers completed in counterbalanced order the BIS, a delay discounting task and a Harvard game that measured choice between a response that yielded a high immediate monetary payoff but decreased opportunity to earn money overall (local choice) versus a response that yielded a lower immediate payoff but afforded a greater opportunity to earn overall (global choice). Individual level of BIS impulsivity and self-elected smoking prior to the study were independently associated with increased preference for the local over the global choice in the Harvard game, but not delay discounting. BIS impulsivity and acute nicotine exposure reflect a bias in the governance of choice by immediate reward contingencies over global consequences, consistent with contemporary dual-process instrumental learning theories. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  4. The Ideological Profile of Harvard University Press: Categorizing 494 Books Published 2000-2010

    OpenAIRE

    David Gordon; Per Nilsson

    2011-01-01

    The principal author surveyed all Harvard University Press titles published (in first edition) between 2000 and well into 2010, making 10+ years of publication, in the subject areas of Business & Economics, History, Philosophy, Political Science, and Sociology, as well as a residual of Law titles. A large number of titles were initially removed from the survey because the book title suggested little connection or platform for political ideology. After making these removals, 494 titles remaine...

  5. The Multi-unit Assignment Problem: Theory and Evidence from Course Allocation at Harvard

    OpenAIRE

    Budish, Eric; Cantillon, Estelle

    2010-01-01

    This paper uses data consisting of students' strategically reported preferences and their underlying true preferences to study the course allocation mechanism used at Harvard Business School. We show that the mechanism is manipulable in theory, manipulated in practice, and that these manipulations cause meaningful welfare losses. However, we also find that ex-ante welfare is higher than under the strategyproof and ex-post efficient alternative, the Random Serial Dictatorship. We trace the poo...

  6. Cytotoxicity Comparison of Harvard Zinc Phosphate Cement Versus Panavia F2 and Rely X Plus Resin Cements on Rat L929-fibroblasts.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mahasti, Sahabi; Sattari, Mandana; Romoozi, Elham; Akbar-Zadeh Baghban, Alireza

    2011-01-01

    Resin cements, regardless of their biocompatibility, have been widely used in restorative dentistry during the recent years. These cements contain hydroxy ethyl methacrylate (HEMA) molecules which are claimed to penetrate into dentinal tubules and may affect dental pulp. Since tooth preparation for metal ceramic restorations involves a large surface of the tooth, cytotoxicity of these cements would be more important in fixed prosthodontic treatments. The purpose of this study was to compare the cytotoxicity of two resin cements (Panavia F2 and Rely X Plus) versus zinc phosphate cement (Harvard) using rat L929-fibroblasts in vitro. In this experimental study, ninety hollow glass cylinders (internal diameter 5-mm, height 2-mm) were made and divided into three groups. Each group was filled with one of three experimental cements; Harvard Zinc Phosphate cement, Panavia F2 resin cement and Rely X Plus resin cement. L929- Fibroblast were passaged and subsequently cultured in 6-well plates of 5×10(5) cells each. The culture medium was RPMI_ 1640. All samples were incubated in CO2. Using enzyme-linked immune-sorbent assay (ELISA) and (3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2, 5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide) (MTT) assay, the cytotoxicity of the cements was investigated at 1 hour, 24 hours and one week post exposure. Statistical analyses were performed via two-way ANOVA and honestly significant difference (HSD) Tukey tests. This study revealed significant differences between the three cements at the different time intervals. Harvard cement displayed the greatest cytotoxicity at all three intervals. After 1 hour Panavia F2 showed the next greatest cytotoxicity, but after 24-hours and oneweek intervals Rely X Plus showed the next greatest cytotoxicity. The results further showed that cytotoxicity decreased significantly in the Panavia F2 group with time (pHarvard cement group failed to showed no noticeable change in cytotoxicity with time. Although this study has limitations, it provides

  7. Playing with Quantum Toys: Julian Schwinger's Measurement Algebra and the Material Culture of Quantum Mechanics Pedagogy at Harvard in the 1960s

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gauvin, Jean-François

    2018-03-01

    In the early 1960s, a PhD student in physics, Costas Papaliolios, designed a simple—and playful—system of Polaroid polarizer filters with a specific goal in mind: explaining the core principles behind Julian Schwinger's quantum mechanical measurement algebra, developed at Harvard in the late 1940s and based on the Stern-Gerlach experiment confirming the quantization of electron spin. Papaliolios dubbed his invention "quantum toys." This article looks at the origins and function of this amusing pedagogical device, which landed half a century later in the Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments at Harvard University. Rendering the abstract tangible was one of Papaliolios's demonstration tactics in reforming basic teaching of quantum mechanics. This article contends that Papaliolios's motivation in creating the quantum toys came from a renowned endeavor aimed, inter alia, at reforming high-school physics training in the United States: Harvard Project Physics. The pedagogical study of these quantum toys, finally, compels us to revisit the central role playful discovery performs in pedagogy, at all levels of training and in all fields of knowledge.

  8. Cardiorespiratory endurance evaluation using heart rate analysis during ski simulator exercise and the Harvard step test in elementary school students.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Hyo Taek; Roh, Hyo Lyun; Kim, Yoon Sang

    2016-01-01

    [Purpose] Efficient management using exercise programs with various benefits should be provided by educational institutions for children in their growth phase. We analyzed the heart rates of children during ski simulator exercise and the Harvard step test to evaluate the cardiopulmonary endurance by calculating their post-exercise recovery rate. [Subjects and Methods] The subjects (n = 77) were categorized into a normal weight and an overweight/obesity group by body mass index. They performed each exercise for 3 minutes. The cardiorespiratory endurance was calculated using the Physical Efficiency Index formula. [Results] The ski simulator and Harvard step test showed that there was a significant difference in the heart rates of the 2 body mass index-based groups at each minute. The normal weight and the ski-simulator group had higher Physical Efficiency Index levels. [Conclusion] This study showed that a simulator exercise can produce a cumulative load even when performed at low intensity, and can be effectively utilized as exercise equipment since it resulted in higher Physical Efficiency Index levels than the Harvard step test. If schools can increase sport durability by stimulating students' interests, the ski simulator exercise can be used in programs designed to improve and strengthen students' physical fitness.

  9. Evolution of the New Pathway curriculum at Harvard Medical School: the new integrated curriculum.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dienstag, Jules L

    2011-01-01

    In 1985, Harvard Medical School adopted a "New Pathway" curriculum, based on active, adult learning through problem-based, faculty-facilitated small-group tutorials designed to promote lifelong skills of self-directed learning. Despite the successful integration of clinically relevant material in basic science courses, the New Pathway goals were confined primarily to the preclinical years. In addition, the shifting balance in the delivery of health care from inpatient to ambulatory settings limited the richness of clinical education in clinical clerkships, creating obstacles for faculty in their traditional roles as teachers. In 2006, Harvard Medical School adopted a more integrated curriculum based on four principles that emerged after half a decade of self-reflection and planning: (1) integrate the teaching of basic/population science and clinical medicine throughout the entire student experience; (2) reestablish meaningful and intensive faculty-student interactions and reengage the faculty; (3) develop a new model of clinical education that offers longitudinal continuity of patient experience, cross-disciplinary curriculum, faculty mentoring, and student evaluation; and (4) provide opportunities for all students to pursue an in-depth, faculty-mentored scholarly project. These principles of our New Integrated Curriculum reflect our vision for a curriculum that fosters a partnership between students and faculty in the pursuit of scholarship and leadership.

  10. "Teaching Physics as one of the humanities": The history of (harvard) project Physics, 1961-1970

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meshoulam, David

    In the United States after World War II, science had come to occupy a central place in the minds of policy makers, scientists, and the public. Negotiating different views between these groups proved a difficult task and spilled into debates over the role and scope of science education. To examine this process, this dissertation traces the history of Harvard Project Physics (HPP), a high-school physics curriculum from the 1960s that incorporated a humanistic and historical approach to teaching science. The narrative begins with the rise of General Education in the 1940s. Under the leadership of Harvard president James Conant, faculty at Harvard developed several Natural Science courses that connected science to history as a way to teach students about science and its relationship to culture. By the late 1950s this historical approach faced resistance from scientists who viewed it as misrepresenting their disciplines and called for students to learn specialized subject matter. With the support of the National Science Foundation (NSF), in the early 1960s scientists' vision of science education emerged in high-school classrooms across the country. By the mid 1960s, with the passage of the Civil Rights Act, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, and the Daddario Amendment to the NSF, the political and education landscape began to change. These laws transformed the goals of two of the NSF and the Office of Education (USOE). These organizations faced demands to work together to develop projects that would speak to domestic concerns over equity and diversity. Their first joint educational venture was HPP. In order to succeed, HPP had to speak to the needs of disciplinary-minded scientists at the NSF, equity-minded educators at the USOE, and results-focused politicians in Congress. This work argues that HPP succeeded because it met the needs of these various stakeholders regarding the roles of science and education in American society.

  11. Design and Implementation of the Harvard Fellowship in Patient Safety and Quality.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gandhi, Tejal K; Abookire, Susan A; Kachalia, Allen; Sands, Kenneth; Mort, Elizabeth; Bommarito, Grace; Gagne, Jane; Sato, Luke; Weingart, Saul N

    2016-01-01

    The Harvard Fellowship in Patient Safety and Quality is a 2-year physician-oriented training program with a strong operational orientation, embedding trainees in the quality departments of participating hospitals. It also integrates didactic and experiential learning and offers the option of obtaining a master's degree in public health. The program focuses on methodologically rigorous improvement and measurement, with an emphasis on the development and implementation of innovative practice. The operational orientation is intended to foster the professional development of future quality and safety leaders. The purpose of this article is to describe the design and development of the fellowship. © The Author(s) 2014.

  12. Measurements of canopy chemistry with 1992 AVIRIS data at Blackhawk Island and Harvard Forest

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martin, Mary E.; Aber, John D.

    1993-01-01

    The research described in this paper was designed to determine if high spectral resolution imaging spectrometer data can be used to measure the chemical composition of forest foliage, specifically nitrogen and lignin concentration. Information about the chemical composition of forest canopies can be used to determine nutrient cycling rates and carbon balances in forest ecosystems. This paper will describe the results relating data from the Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS) to field measured canopy chemistry at Blackhawk Island, WI and Harvard Forest, MA.

  13. The Harvard Medical School Academic Innovations Collaborative: transforming primary care practice and education.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bitton, Asaf; Ellner, Andrew; Pabo, Erika; Stout, Somava; Sugarman, Jonathan R; Sevin, Cory; Goodell, Kristen; Bassett, Jill S; Phillips, Russell S

    2014-09-01

    Academic medical centers (AMCs) need new approaches to delivering higher-quality care at lower costs, and engaging trainees in the work of high-functioning primary care practices. In 2012, the Harvard Medical School Center for Primary Care, in partnership with with local AMCs, established an Academic Innovations Collaborative (AIC) with the goal of transforming primary care education and practice. This novel two-year learning collaborative consisted of hospital- and community-based primary care teaching practices, committed to building highly functional teams, managing populations, and engaging patients. The AIC built on models developed by Qualis Health and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, optimized for the local AMC context. Foundational elements included leadership engagement and development, application of rapid-cycle process improvement, and the creation of teams to care for defined patient populations. Nineteen practices across six AMCs participated, with nearly 260,000 patients and 450 resident learners. The collaborative offered three 1.5-day learning sessions each year featuring shared learning, practice coaches, and improvement measures, along with monthly data reporting, webinars, and site visits. Validated self-reports by transformation teams showed that practices made substantial improvement across all areas of change. Important factors for success included leadership development, practice-level resources, and engaging patients and trainees. The AIC model shows promise as a path for AMCs to catalyze health system transformation through primary care improvement. In addition to further evaluating the impact of practice transformation, expansion will require support from AMCs and payers, and the application of similar approaches on a broader scale.

  14. Root phenology at Harvard Forest and beyond

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abramoff, R. Z.; Finzi, A.

    2013-12-01

    Roots are hidden from view and heterogeneously distributed making them difficult to study in situ. As a result, the causes and timing of root production are not well understood. Researchers have long assumed that above and belowground phenology is synchronous; for example, most parameterizations of belowground carbon allocation in terrestrial biosphere models are based on allometry and represent a fixed fraction of net C uptake. However, using results from metaanalysis as well as empirical data from oak and hemlock stands at Harvard Forest, we show that synchronous root and shoot growth is the exception rather than the rule. We collected root and shoot phenology measurements from studies across four biomes (boreal, temperate, Mediterranean, and subtropical). General patterns of root phenology varied widely with 1-5 production peaks in a growing season. Surprisingly, in 9 out of the 15 studies, the first root production peak was not the largest peak. In the majority of cases maximum shoot production occurred before root production (Offset>0 in 32 out of 47 plant sample means). The number of days offset between maximum root and shoot growth was negatively correlated with median annual temperature and therefore differs significantly across biomes (ANOVA, F3,43=9.47, pGrowth form (woody or herbaceous) also influenced the relative timing of root and shoot growth. Woody plants had a larger range of days between root and shoot growth peaks as well as a greater number of growth peaks. To explore the range of phenological relationships within woody plants in the temperate biome, we focused on above and belowground phenology in two common northeastern tree species, Quercus rubra and Tsuga canadensis. Greenness index, rate of stem growth, root production and nonstructural carbohydrate content were measured beginning in April 2012 through August 2013 at the Harvard Forest in Petersham, MA, USA. Greenness and stem growth were highest in late May and early June with one clear

  15. The Sociology of the Deceased Harvard Medical Unit at Boston City Hospital.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tishler, Peter V

    2015-12-01

    Many graduates of the Harvard Medical Unit (HMU) at Boston City Hospital, in either the clinical training/residency program or the research program at the Thorndike Memorial Laboratory, contributed in major ways to the HMU and constantly relived their HMU experiences. The HMU staff physicians, descending from founder and mentor physicians Francis W. Peabody, Soma Weiss, and George R. Minot, were dedicated to the teaching, development, and leadership of its clinical and research trainees, whose confidence and dedication to patient care as a result of their mentorship led many to lifelong achievements as clinicians, teachers, and mentors. Their experience also led to a lifelong love of the HMU (despite its loss), camaraderie, happiness, and intense friendships with their associates.

  16. French Norms for the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility, Form A.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Anlló, Hernán; Becchio, Jean; Sackur, Jérôme

    2017-01-01

    The authors present French norms for the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility, Form A (HGSHS:A). They administered an adapted translation of Shor and Orne's original text (1962) to a group of 126 paid volunteers. Participants also rated their own responses following our translation of Kihlstrom's Scale of Involuntariness (2006). Item pass rates, score distributions, and reliability were calculated and compared with several other reference samples. Analyses show that the present French norms are congruous with the reference samples. Interestingly, the passing rate for some items drops significantly if "entirely voluntary" responses (as identified by Kihlstrom's scale) are scored as "fail." Copies of the translated scales and response booklet are available online.

  17. Excuse Me. Do You Speak Digital?: Harvard's John Palfrey Explores What It's Like to Be a Digital Native

    Science.gov (United States)

    Harris, Christopher

    2009-01-01

    John Palfrey is one busy guy, with an impressive gig. In 2008, he was named the Henry N. Ess III Professor of Law and Vice Dean for Library and Information Resources at Harvard Law School. And when he's not teaching courses on intellectual property and Internet law, there's a good chance he's overseeing the L school's research library. Palfrey,…

  18. Library Technology and Architecture; Report of a Conference Held at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, February 9, 1967.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Harvard Univ., Cambridge, MA. Graduate School of Education.

    The purpose of the conference was to investigate the implications of new technologies for library architecture and to use the findings in planning new Library Research Facility for the Harvard Graduate School of Education. The first half of this document consists of reports prepared by six consultants on such topics as microforms, computers,…

  19. The Sociology of the Deceased Harvard Medical Unit at Boston City Hospital

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tishler, Peter V.

    2015-01-01

    Many graduates of the Harvard Medical Unit (HMU) at Boston City Hospital, in either the clinical training/residency program or the research program at the Thorndike Memorial Laboratory, contributed in major ways to the HMU and constantly relived their HMU experiences. The HMU staff physicians, descending from founder and mentor physicians Francis W. Peabody, Soma Weiss, and George R. Minot, were dedicated to the teaching, development, and leadership of its clinical and research trainees, whose confidence and dedication to patient care as a result of their mentorship led many to lifelong achievements as clinicians, teachers, and mentors. Their experience also led to a lifelong love of the HMU (despite its loss), camaraderie, happiness, and intense friendships with their associates. PMID:26604868

  20. Hungarian norms for the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility, Form A.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Költő, András; Gősi-Greguss, Anna C; Varga, Katalin; Bányai, Éva I

    2015-01-01

    Hungarian norms for the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility, Form A (HGSHS:A) are presented. The Hungarian translation of the HGSHS:A was administered under standard conditions to 434 participants (190 males, 244 females) of several professions. In addition to the traditional self-scoring, hypnotic behavior was also recorded by trained observers. Female participants proved to be more hypnotizable than males and so were psychology students and professionals as compared to nonpsychologists. Hypnotizability varied across different group sizes. The normative data-including means, standard deviations, and indicators of reliability-are comparable with previously published results. The authors conclude that measuring observer-scores increases the ecological validity of the scale. The Hungarian version of the HGSHS:A seems to be a reliable and valid measure of hypnotizability.

  1. Findings from the Harvard Medical School Cambridge Integrated Clerkship, a Year-Long Longitudinal Psychiatry Experience.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cheng, Elisa; Hirsh, David; Gaufberg, Elizabeth; Griswold, Todd; Wesley Boyd, J

    2018-06-01

    The Harvard Medical School Cambridge Integrated Clerkship is a longitudinal integrated clerkship that has provided an alternative clinical model for medical education in psychiatry since its inception in 2004. This study was undertaken in an effort to better understand the student experience of the Cambridge Integrated Clerkship and how it may have impacted students' perceptions of and interest in psychiatry, as well as performance. Qualitative surveys were sent via e-mail to the first 11 student cohorts who had completed the Cambridge Integrated Clerkship (from 2004 to 2014) and for whom we had e-mail addresses (N = 100), and the free-text responses were coded thematically. All available standardized scoring data and residency match data for Cambridge Integrated Clerkship graduates were obtained. From 2006 to 2014, 12 out of 73 Cambridge Integrated Clerkship students who entered the match chose a psychiatry residency (16.4%), four times more than students in traditional clerkships at Harvard Medical School (3.8% of 1355 students) or the national average (4.1% of 146,066 US applicants). Thirty of the 100 surveyed Cambridge Integrated Clerkship graduates (30%) responded to the qualitative survey with free-text remarks on a number of themes. Cambridge Integrated Clerkship students compared positively to their classmates in terms of standardized test performance. Their fourfold higher match rate into psychiatry compared to other students raises intriguing questions as to what role a longitudinal clerkship might have played in developing interest in psychiatry as a career.

  2. UBV(RI)sub(c) photometry of some standard sequences in the Harvard F regions and in the Magellanic Clouds

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Menzies, J.W.; Laing, J.D.

    1988-01-01

    This paper presents the results of a photometric programme aimed at improving the UBV(RI)sub(c) standard sequences in the Harvard F regions and in the Small and Large Magellanic Clouds. Magnitudes and colours are given for 99 stars, and they are compared with the current values which were obtained or compiled by a previous author. (author)

  3. Norms of German adolescents for the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility, Form A.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peter, Burkhard; Geiger, Emilia; Prade, Tanja; Vogel, Sarah; Piesbergen, Christoph

    2015-01-01

    The Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility, Form A (HGSHS:A) has not been explicitly tested on an adolescent population. In this study, the German version of the HGSHS:A was administered to 99 German adolescents aged 15 to 19. In contrast to other studies, the gender distribution was relatively balanced: 57% female and 43% male. Results were comparable to 14 earlier studies with regard to distribution, mean, and standard deviation. Some peculiarities in contrast to the 14 previous studies are pointed out. It is concluded that the HGSHS:A can be used as a valid and reliable instrument to measure hypnotic suggestibility in adolescent samples.

  4. Economics Case Study: Harvard Business School Pedagogy Techniques: From Teaching Entrepreneurship to Influencing Business Policy through Research

    OpenAIRE

    Mamoon, Dawood

    2017-01-01

    Abstract. The case study explains the need for social entrepreneurship while remaining in the premise of mainstream economics. A detailed discussion is carried out on the vulnerabilities of economic policy making that has led to some of the new initiatives at Harvard Business School to promote such pedagogy practices at Business Schools that may eventually influence national and international policy making to the benefit of the society and not only the economies of developed and developing co...

  5. Comparison of Stem Map Developed from Crown Geometry Allometry Linked Census Data to Airborne and Terrestrial Lidar at Harvard Forest, MA

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sullivan, F.; Palace, M. W.; Ducey, M. J.; David, O.; Cook, B. D.; Lepine, L. C.

    2014-12-01

    Harvard Forest in Petersham, MA, USA is the location of one of the temperate forest plots established by the Center for Tropical Forest Science (CTFS) as a joint effort with Harvard Forest and the Smithsonian Institute's Forest Global Earth Observatory (ForestGEO) to characterize ecosystem processes and forest dynamics. Census of a 35 ha plot on Prospect Hill was completed during the winter of 2014 by researchers at Harvard Forest. Census data were collected according to CTFS protocol; measured variables included species, stem diameter, and relative X-Y locations. Airborne lidar data were collected over the censused plot using the high spatial resolution Goddard LiDAR, Hyperspectral, and Thermal sensor package (G-LiHT) during June 2012. As part of a separate study, 39 variable radius plots (VRPs) were randomly located and sampled within and throughout the Prospect Hill CTFS/ForestGEO plot during September and October 2013. On VRPs, biometric properties of trees were sampled, including species, stem diameter, total height, crown base height, crown radii, and relative location to plot centers using a 20 Basal Area Factor prism. In addition, a terrestrial-based lidar scanner was used to collect one lidar scan at plot center for 38 of the 39 VRPs. Leveraging allometric equations of crown geometry and tree height developed from 374 trees and 16 different species sampled on 39 VRPs, a 3-dimensional stem map will be created using the Harvard Forest ForestGEO Prospect Hill census. Vertical and horizontal structure of 3d field-based stem maps will be compared to terrestrial and airborne lidar scan data. Furthermore, to assess the quality of allometric equations, a 2d canopy height raster of the field-based stem map will be compared to a G-LiHT derived canopy height model for the 35 ha census plot. Our automated crown delineation methods will be applied to the 2d representation of the census stem map and the G-LiHT canopy height model. For future work related to this study

  6. The Harvard experiment on OSO-6 - Instrumentation, calibration, operation, and description of observations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huber, M. C. E.; Dupree, A. K.; Goldberg, L.; Parkinson, W. H.; Reeves, E. M.; Withbroe, G. L.; Noyes, R. W.

    1973-01-01

    The Harvard experiment carried by OSO-6 was an extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) spectrometer-spectroheliometer with a wavelength range of 285 to 1385 A, a spatial and spectral bandwidth of 35 x 35(arc sec) squared and 3 A, respectively. The instrument acquired data that have been deposited with the National Space Science Data Center and World Data Center A at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, and are now available in their entirety to the scientific community. Aspects of the experiment that are relevant to potential users of the data are described - namely, instrument configuration and parameters, laboratory and inflight calibrations, as well as operational capabilities and procedures. The observations obtained are reported, and the nature, number, and dates of observation, where relevant, are listed.

  7. Limited effect of ozone reductions on the 20-year photosynthesis trend at Harvard forest.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yue, Xu; Keenan, Trevor F; Munger, William; Unger, Nadine

    2016-11-01

    Ozone (O 3 ) damage to leaves can reduce plant photosynthesis, which suggests that declines in ambient O 3 concentrations ([O 3 ]) in the United States may have helped increase gross primary production (GPP) in recent decades. Here, we assess the effect of long-term changes in ambient [O 3 ] using 20 years of observations at Harvard forest. Using artificial neural networks, we found that the effect of the inclusion of [O 3 ] as a predictor was slight, and independent of O 3 concentrations, which suggests limited high-frequency O 3 inhibition of GPP at this site. Simulations with a terrestrial biosphere model, however, suggest an average long-term O 3 inhibition of 10.4% for 1992-2011. A decline of [O 3 ] over the measurement period resulted in moderate predicted GPP trends of 0.02-0.04 μmol C m -2  s -1  yr -1 , which is negligible relative to the total observed GPP trend of 0.41 μmol C m -2  s -1  yr -1 . A similar conclusion is achieved with the widely used AOT40 metric. Combined, our results suggest that ozone reductions at Harvard forest are unlikely to have had a large impact on the photosynthesis trend over the past 20 years. Such limited effects are mainly related to the slow responses of photosynthesis to changes in [O 3 ]. Furthermore, we estimate that 40% of photosynthesis happens in the shade, where stomatal conductance and thus [O 3 ] deposition is lower than for sunlit leaves. This portion of GPP remains unaffected by [O 3 ], thus helping to buffer the changes of total photosynthesis due to varied [O 3 ]. Our analyses suggest that current ozone reductions, although significant, cannot substantially alleviate the damages to forest ecosystems. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  8. Association of SNCA with Parkinson: replication in the Harvard NeuroDiscovery Center Biomarker Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ding, Hongliu; Sarokhan, Alison K.; Roderick, Sarah S.; Bakshi, Rachit; Maher, Nancy E.; Ashourian, Paymon; Kan, Caroline G.; Chang, Sunny; Santarlasci, Andrea; Swords, Kyleen E.; Ravina, Bernard M.; Hayes, Michael T.; Sohur, U. Shivraj; Wills, Anne-Marie; Flaherty, Alice W.; Unni, Vivek K.; Hung, Albert Y.; Selkoe, Dennis J.; Schwarzschild, Michael A.; Schlossmacher, Michael G.; Sudarsky, Lewis R.; Growdon, John H.; Ivinson, Adrian J.; Hyman, Bradley T.; Scherzer, Clemens R.

    2011-01-01

    Background Mutations in the α-synuclein gene (SNCA) cause autosomal dominant forms of Parkinson’s disease, but the substantial risk conferred by this locus to the common sporadic disease has only recently emerged from genome-wide association studies. Methods Here we genotyped a prioritized non-coding variant in SNCA intron-4 in 344 patients with Parkinson’s and 275 controls from the longitudinal Harvard NeuroDiscovery Center Biomarker Study. Results The common minor allele of rs2736990 was associated with elevated disease susceptibility (odds ratio = 1.40, P value = 0.0032). Conclusions This result increases confidence in the notion that in many clinically well-characterized patients genetic variation in SNCA contributes to “sporadic” disease. PMID:21953863

  9. Harvard Personal Genome Project: lessons from participatory public research

    Science.gov (United States)

    2014-01-01

    Background Since its initiation in 2005, the Harvard Personal Genome Project has enrolled thousands of volunteers interested in publicly sharing their genome, health and trait data. Because these data are highly identifiable, we use an ‘open consent’ framework that purposefully excludes promises about privacy and requires participants to demonstrate comprehension prior to enrollment. Discussion Our model of non-anonymous, public genomes has led us to a highly participatory model of researcher-participant communication and interaction. The participants, who are highly committed volunteers, self-pursue and donate research-relevant datasets, and are actively engaged in conversations with both our staff and other Personal Genome Project participants. We have quantitatively assessed these communications and donations, and report our experiences with returning research-grade whole genome data to participants. We also observe some of the community growth and discussion that has occurred related to our project. Summary We find that public non-anonymous data is valuable and leads to a participatory research model, which we encourage others to consider. The implementation of this model is greatly facilitated by web-based tools and methods and participant education. Project results are long-term proactive participant involvement and the growth of a community that benefits both researchers and participants. PMID:24713084

  10. Harvard Personal Genome Project: lessons from participatory public research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ball, Madeleine P; Bobe, Jason R; Chou, Michael F; Clegg, Tom; Estep, Preston W; Lunshof, Jeantine E; Vandewege, Ward; Zaranek, Alexander; Church, George M

    2014-02-28

    Since its initiation in 2005, the Harvard Personal Genome Project has enrolled thousands of volunteers interested in publicly sharing their genome, health and trait data. Because these data are highly identifiable, we use an 'open consent' framework that purposefully excludes promises about privacy and requires participants to demonstrate comprehension prior to enrollment. Our model of non-anonymous, public genomes has led us to a highly participatory model of researcher-participant communication and interaction. The participants, who are highly committed volunteers, self-pursue and donate research-relevant datasets, and are actively engaged in conversations with both our staff and other Personal Genome Project participants. We have quantitatively assessed these communications and donations, and report our experiences with returning research-grade whole genome data to participants. We also observe some of the community growth and discussion that has occurred related to our project. We find that public non-anonymous data is valuable and leads to a participatory research model, which we encourage others to consider. The implementation of this model is greatly facilitated by web-based tools and methods and participant education. Project results are long-term proactive participant involvement and the growth of a community that benefits both researchers and participants.

  11. Is detection of adverse events affected by record review methodology? an evaluation of the "Harvard Medical Practice Study" method and the "Global Trigger Tool".

    Science.gov (United States)

    Unbeck, Maria; Schildmeijer, Kristina; Henriksson, Peter; Jürgensen, Urban; Muren, Olav; Nilsson, Lena; Pukk Härenstam, Karin

    2013-04-15

    There has been a theoretical debate as to which retrospective record review method is the most valid, reliable, cost efficient and feasible for detecting adverse events. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the feasibility and capability of two common retrospective record review methods, the "Harvard Medical Practice Study" method and the "Global Trigger Tool" in detecting adverse events in adult orthopaedic inpatients. We performed a three-stage structured retrospective record review process in a random sample of 350 orthopaedic admissions during 2009 at a Swedish university hospital. Two teams comprised each of a registered nurse and two physicians were assigned, one to each method. All records were primarily reviewed by registered nurses. Records containing a potential adverse event were forwarded to physicians for review in stage 2. Physicians made an independent review regarding, for example, healthcare causation, preventability and severity. In the third review stage all adverse events that were found with the two methods together were compared and all discrepancies after review stage 2 were analysed. Events that had not been identified by one of the methods in the first two review stages were reviewed by the respective physicians. Altogether, 160 different adverse events were identified in 105 (30.0%) of the 350 records with both methods combined. The "Harvard Medical Practice Study" method identified 155 of the 160 (96.9%, 95% CI: 92.9-99.0) adverse events in 104 (29.7%) records compared with 137 (85.6%, 95% CI: 79.2-90.7) adverse events in 98 (28.0%) records using the "Global Trigger Tool". Adverse events "causing harm without permanent disability" accounted for most of the observed difference. The overall positive predictive value for criteria and triggers using the "Harvard Medical Practice Study" method and the "Global Trigger Tool" was 40.3% and 30.4%, respectively. More adverse events were identified using the "Harvard Medical Practice Study

  12. Educational outcomes of the Harvard Medical School-Cambridge integrated clerkship: a way forward for medical education.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hirsh, David; Gaufberg, Elizabeth; Ogur, Barbara; Cohen, Pieter; Krupat, Edward; Cox, Malcolm; Pelletier, Stephen; Bor, David

    2012-05-01

    The authors report data from the Harvard Medical School-Cambridge Integrated Clerkship (CIC), a model of medical education in which students' entire third year consists of a longitudinal, integrated curriculum. The authors compare the knowledge, skills, and attitudes of students completing the CIC with those of students completing traditional third-year clerkships. The authors compared 27 students completing the first three years of the CIC (2004-2007) with 45 students completing clerkships at other Harvard teaching hospitals during the same period. At baseline, no significant between-group differences existed (Medical College Admission Test and Step 1 scores, second-year objective structured clinical examination [OSCE] performance, attitudes toward patient-centered care, and plans for future practice) in any year. The authors compared students' National Board of Medical Examiners Subject and Step 2 Clinical Knowledge scores, OSCE performance, perceptions of the learning environment, and attitudes toward patient-centeredness. CIC students performed as well as or better than their traditionally trained peers on measures of content knowledge and clinical skills. CIC students expressed higher satisfaction with the learning environment, more confidence in dealing with numerous domains of patient care, and a stronger sense of patient-centeredness. CIC students are at least as well as and in several ways better prepared than their peers. CIC students also demonstrate richer perspectives on the course of illness, more insight into social determinants of illness and recovery, and increased commitment to patients. These data suggest that longitudinal integrated clerkships offer students important intellectual, professional, and personal benefits.

  13. Tropical veterinary parasites at Harvard University's Museum of Comparative Zoology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Conn, David Bruce

    2008-12-01

    Tropical veterinary parasites have been maintained by the Museum of Comparative Zoology (MCZ) at Harvard University since the mid 1800s. Most of these are maintained by the Department of Invertebrate Zoology, but many vectors and intermediate hosts are maintained by the Departments of Entomology and Malacology. The largest collections are of avian and mammalian ticks (Acarina) that are important as both parasites and vectors. Nematodes are second in numbers, followed by cestodes, trematodes, and several minor helminth groups, crustacean parasites of fish, and protozoan parasites of various hosts. The MCZ directed or participated in several major expeditions to tropical areas around the globe in the early 1900s. Many of these expeditions focused on human parasites, but hundreds of veterinary and zoonotic parasites were also collected from these and numerous, smaller, tropical expeditions. Host sources include companion animals, livestock, laboratory species, domestic fowl, reptiles, amphibians, exotics/zoo animals, commercially important fishes, and other wildlife. Specimens are curated, either fixed whole in vials or mounted on slides as whole mounts or histopathological sections. The primary emphasis of MCZ's current work with tropical veterinary parasites is on voucher specimens from epidemiological, experimental, and clinical research.

  14. Long-term trends of changes in pine and oak foliar nitrogen metabolism in response to chronic nitrogen amendments at Harvard Forest, MA

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rakesh Minocha; Swathi A. Turlapati; Stephanie Long; William H. McDowell; Subhash C. Minocha

    2015-01-01

    We evaluated the long-term (1995-2008) trends in foliar and sapwood metabolism, soil solution chemistry and tree mortality rates in response to chronic nitrogen (N) additions to pine and hardwood stands at the Harvard Forest Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) site. Common stress-related metabolites like polyamines (PAs), free amino acids (AAs) and inorganic elements...

  15. [Simulation of water and carbon fluxes in harvard forest area based on data assimilation method].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Ting-Long; Sun, Rui; Zhang, Rong-Hua; Zhang, Lei

    2013-10-01

    Model simulation and in situ observation are the two most important means in studying the water and carbon cycles of terrestrial ecosystems, but have their own advantages and shortcomings. To combine these two means would help to reflect the dynamic changes of ecosystem water and carbon fluxes more accurately. Data assimilation provides an effective way to integrate the model simulation and in situ observation. Based on the observation data from the Harvard Forest Environmental Monitoring Site (EMS), and by using ensemble Kalman Filter algorithm, this paper assimilated the field measured LAI and remote sensing LAI into the Biome-BGC model to simulate the water and carbon fluxes in Harvard forest area. As compared with the original model simulated without data assimilation, the improved Biome-BGC model with the assimilation of the field measured LAI in 1998, 1999, and 2006 increased the coefficient of determination R2 between model simulation and flux observation for the net ecosystem exchange (NEE) and evapotranspiration by 8.4% and 10.6%, decreased the sum of absolute error (SAE) and root mean square error (RMSE) of NEE by 17.7% and 21.2%, and decreased the SAE and RMSE of the evapotranspiration by 26. 8% and 28.3%, respectively. After assimilated the MODIS LAI products of 2000-2004 into the improved Biome-BGC model, the R2 between simulated and observed results of NEE and evapotranspiration was increased by 7.8% and 4.7%, the SAE and RMSE of NEE were decreased by 21.9% and 26.3%, and the SAE and RMSE of evapotranspiration were decreased by 24.5% and 25.5%, respectively. It was suggested that the simulation accuracy of ecosystem water and carbon fluxes could be effectively improved if the field measured LAI or remote sensing LAI was integrated into the model.

  16. Models of the quiet and active solar atmosphere from Harvard OSO data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Noyes, R. W.

    1971-01-01

    Review of some Harvard Observatory programs aimed at defining the physical conditions in quiet and active solar regions on the basis of data obtained from the OSO-IV and OSO-VI spacecraft. The spectral range covered is from 300 A to 1400 A. This spectral range consists of emission lines and continua from abundant elements such as hydrogen, helium, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, silicon, magnesium, aluminum, neon, iron, and calcium in various ionization states ranging from neutral to 15 times ionized. The structure is discussed of the quiet solar atmosphere as deduced from center-to-limb behavior of spectral lines and continua formed in the chromosphere and corona. In reviewing investigations of solar active regions, it is shown that the structure of these regions varies in a complicated manner from point to point. The local structure is influenced by factors such as the magnetic field configuration within the active region and the age or evolutionary state of the region.

  17. Producing physician-scientists: a survey of graduates from the Harvard--MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wilkerson, L; Abelmann, W H

    1993-03-01

    The Harvard-MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology (HST) is a flexible, preclinical curriculum, taught by members of the faculties of both Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, that stresses a rigorous, scientific, quantitative approach, small classes (usually fewer than 50 students), and student-faculty interaction. The program is aimed at students with strong backgrounds in quantitative and biological sciences who are interested in careers as physician-scientists. The first 234 students of the program, who graduated between 1975 and 1985, were asked to participate in a 1990 follow-up study by completing a four-page questionnaire and submitting curricula vitae and lists of publications, if available. Data were analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively. Of the 234 graduates, 211 (90%) responded. Sixty-three (30%) had received both MD and PhD degrees. The graduates were twice as likely to describe their primary professional roles as academic than as clinical practice; 94 held full-time faculty positions at 50 medical schools. The 154 (73%) in research spent an average of 51% of their time on this activity. According to the 179 graduates (85%) who stated that they would choose HST again, the most frequently mentioned reasons were the quantitative approach that emphasized integration of basic science and clinical practice (49%) and the small class size (37%). The HST MD curriculum, with its emphasis on basic science and research experience, has been successful in preparing carefully selected students for careers as physician-scientists, without necessarily requiring the completion of a PhD degree.

  18. Comprehensive MALDI-TOF biotyping of the non-redundant Harvard Pseudomonas aeruginosa PA14 transposon insertion mutant library.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oumeraci, Tonio; Jensen, Vanessa; Talbot, Steven R; Hofmann, Winfried; Kostrzewa, Markus; Schlegelberger, Brigitte; von Neuhoff, Nils; Häussler, Susanne

    2015-01-01

    Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a gram-negative bacterium that is ubiquitously present in the aerobic biosphere. As an antibiotic-resistant facultative pathogen, it is a major cause of hospital-acquired infections. Its rapid and accurate identification is crucial in clinical and therapeutic environments. In a large-scale MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry-based screen of the Harvard transposon insertion mutant library of P. aeruginosa strain PA14, intact-cell proteome profile spectra of 5547 PA14 transposon mutants exhibiting a plethora of different phenotypes were acquired and analyzed. Of all P. aeruginosa PA14 mutant profiles 99.7% were correctly identified as P. aeruginosa with the Biotyper software on the species level. On the strain level, 99.99% of the profiles were mapped to five different individual P. aeruginosa Biotyper database entries. A principal component analysis-based approach was used to determine the most important discriminatory mass features between these Biotyper groups. Although technical replicas were consistently categorized to specific Biotyper groups in 94.2% of the mutant profiles, biological replicas were not, indicating that the distinct proteotypes are affected by growth conditions. The PA14 mutant profile collection presented here constitutes the largest coherent P. aeruginosa MALDI-TOF spectral dataset publicly available today. Transposon insertions in thousands of different P. aeruginosa genes did not affect species identification from MALDI-TOF mass spectra, clearly demonstrating the robustness of the approach. However, the assignment of the individual spectra to sub-groups proved to be non-consistent in biological replicas, indicating that the differentiation between biotyper groups in this nosocomial pathogen is unassured.

  19. The Transgenic RNAi Project at Harvard Medical School: Resources and Validation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Perkins, Lizabeth A; Holderbaum, Laura; Tao, Rong; Hu, Yanhui; Sopko, Richelle; McCall, Kim; Yang-Zhou, Donghui; Flockhart, Ian; Binari, Richard; Shim, Hye-Seok; Miller, Audrey; Housden, Amy; Foos, Marianna; Randkelv, Sakara; Kelley, Colleen; Namgyal, Pema; Villalta, Christians; Liu, Lu-Ping; Jiang, Xia; Huan-Huan, Qiao; Wang, Xia; Fujiyama, Asao; Toyoda, Atsushi; Ayers, Kathleen; Blum, Allison; Czech, Benjamin; Neumuller, Ralph; Yan, Dong; Cavallaro, Amanda; Hibbard, Karen; Hall, Don; Cooley, Lynn; Hannon, Gregory J; Lehmann, Ruth; Parks, Annette; Mohr, Stephanie E; Ueda, Ryu; Kondo, Shu; Ni, Jian-Quan; Perrimon, Norbert

    2015-11-01

    To facilitate large-scale functional studies in Drosophila, the Drosophila Transgenic RNAi Project (TRiP) at Harvard Medical School (HMS) was established along with several goals: developing efficient vectors for RNAi that work in all tissues, generating a genome-scale collection of RNAi stocks with input from the community, distributing the lines as they are generated through existing stock centers, validating as many lines as possible using RT-qPCR and phenotypic analyses, and developing tools and web resources for identifying RNAi lines and retrieving existing information on their quality. With these goals in mind, here we describe in detail the various tools we developed and the status of the collection, which is currently composed of 11,491 lines and covering 71% of Drosophila genes. Data on the characterization of the lines either by RT-qPCR or phenotype is available on a dedicated website, the RNAi Stock Validation and Phenotypes Project (RSVP, http://www.flyrnai.org/RSVP.html), and stocks are available from three stock centers, the Bloomington Drosophila Stock Center (United States), National Institute of Genetics (Japan), and TsingHua Fly Center (China). Copyright © 2015 by the Genetics Society of America.

  20. The Transgenic RNAi Project at Harvard Medical School: Resources and Validation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Perkins, Lizabeth A.; Holderbaum, Laura; Tao, Rong; Hu, Yanhui; Sopko, Richelle; McCall, Kim; Yang-Zhou, Donghui; Flockhart, Ian; Binari, Richard; Shim, Hye-Seok; Miller, Audrey; Housden, Amy; Foos, Marianna; Randkelv, Sakara; Kelley, Colleen; Namgyal, Pema; Villalta, Christians; Liu, Lu-Ping; Jiang, Xia; Huan-Huan, Qiao; Wang, Xia; Fujiyama, Asao; Toyoda, Atsushi; Ayers, Kathleen; Blum, Allison; Czech, Benjamin; Neumuller, Ralph; Yan, Dong; Cavallaro, Amanda; Hibbard, Karen; Hall, Don; Cooley, Lynn; Hannon, Gregory J.; Lehmann, Ruth; Parks, Annette; Mohr, Stephanie E.; Ueda, Ryu; Kondo, Shu; Ni, Jian-Quan; Perrimon, Norbert

    2015-01-01

    To facilitate large-scale functional studies in Drosophila, the Drosophila Transgenic RNAi Project (TRiP) at Harvard Medical School (HMS) was established along with several goals: developing efficient vectors for RNAi that work in all tissues, generating a genome-scale collection of RNAi stocks with input from the community, distributing the lines as they are generated through existing stock centers, validating as many lines as possible using RT–qPCR and phenotypic analyses, and developing tools and web resources for identifying RNAi lines and retrieving existing information on their quality. With these goals in mind, here we describe in detail the various tools we developed and the status of the collection, which is currently composed of 11,491 lines and covering 71% of Drosophila genes. Data on the characterization of the lines either by RT–qPCR or phenotype is available on a dedicated website, the RNAi Stock Validation and Phenotypes Project (RSVP, http://www.flyrnai.org/RSVP.html), and stocks are available from three stock centers, the Bloomington Drosophila Stock Center (United States), National Institute of Genetics (Japan), and TsingHua Fly Center (China). PMID:26320097

  1. Developing methods of determining unknown roational periods of asteroids via observations of (3122) Florence by the Harvard Observing Project

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abrams, Natasha Sarah; Bieryla, Allyson; Gomez, Sebastian; Huang, Jane; Lewis, John; Todd, Zoe; Alam, Munazza; Carmichael, Theron; Garrison, Lehman H.; Weaver, Ian; Chen, Chen; McGruder, Chima; Medina, Amber

    2018-06-01

    (3122) Florence is an asteroid that made the headlines with its close approach to Earth in late 2017. It is one of the biggest and brightest near-Earth asteroids that has been discovered and it has recently been found to have two moons. By observing the light reflected off an asteroid, we can measure its brightness over time and determine the rotational period of the asteroid. An asteroid’s rotational period can reveal information about its physical characteristics, such as its shape, and further our knowledge about processes that contribute to asteroid rotation in general. The Harvard Observing Project (HOP) is an initiative that allows undergraduates to learn about observational astronomy and take part in formal data collection and analysis. Over the course of the fall 2017 semester, HOP obtained four multi-hour, continuous observations in the R-band of the asteroid using the Harvard University 16-inch Clay Telescope. In our analysis, we reduced the images and performed astrometry and photometry on the data. The asteroid’s light curve was produced using AstroImageJ and we used the Python package gatspy to determine its rotational period. We found the rotational period to be 2.22 hours +/- 0.25, which agrees with the known rotational period of 2.3580 hours +/- 0.0002. This spring 2018 semester we are applying our methods to data collected on asteroids with unknown rotational periods and plan to present our findings.

  2. Foliar free polyamine and inorganic ion content in relation to soil and soil solution chemistry in two fertilized forest stands at the Harvard Forest, Massachusetts

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rakesh Minocha; Stephanie Long; Alison H. Magill; John Aber; William H. McDowell

    2000-01-01

    Polyamines (putrescine, spermidine, and spermine) are low molecular weight, open-chained, organic polycations which are found in all organisms and have been linked with stress responses in plants. The objectives of our study were to investigate the effects of chronic N additions to pine and hardwood stands at Harvard Forest, Petersham, MA on foliar polyamine and...

  3. A model for training medical student innovators: the Harvard Medical School Center for Primary Care Abundance Agents of Change program.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Duong, David B; Sullivan, Erin E; Minter-Jordan, Myechia; Giesen, Lindsay; Ellner, Andrew L

    2016-01-01

    In 2013, the Harvard Medical School Center for Primary Care established the Abundance Agents of Change (AoC) program to promote interprofessional learning and innovation, increase partnership between 15 academic and community health centers (CHCs) in Boston's most under-served communities, and increase medical student interest in primary care careers. The AoC is modeled in the form of a 'grants challenge', offering $20,000 to interprofessional student teams to develop an innovative solution that addresses a healthcare delivery need identified by CHCs. The program's initial two years were characterized by a four-stage process which included working with CHCs and crafting a request for proposals, forming interprofessional 20 student teams comprising students from across and outside of Harvard University, training students using a systems-based innovation curriculum, and performing program evaluation. Our evaluation data from cohorts 1 and 2 of the AoC program demonstrate that we succeeded in training students as innovators and members of interprofessional teams. We also learned valuable lessons regarding creating better alignment with CHC priorities, extending the program cycle from 12 to 18 months, and changing the way funding is disbursed to 25 students, which will be incorporated in later versions of the program. Based on our experience and evaluation data, we believe that this program is a replicable way to train students as innovators and members of interprofessional teams to address the current complex healthcare environment.

  4. A phase-I clinical trial for cranial BNCT at Harvard-MIT

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Busse, P.M.; Palmer, M.R.; Harling, O.K.

    2000-01-01

    Phase I trial designed to determine the maximum tolerable dose to normal tissue for cranial BNCT (Boron Neutron Capture Therapy) irradiations was recently completed at Harvard Medical School and MIT. Twenty-two subjects diagnosed with either glioblastoma multiforme or intracranial melanoma were treated between 1996 and 1999. Subjects received either one or two administrations of boronophenylalanine intravenously at doses between 250 and 350 mg/kg body weight, then exposed in one, two or three fields to epithermal neutrons at the MIT Research Reactor in one or two fractions. Over the course of the study, the maximum normal tissue dose target was increased from 8.8 to 14.2 RBE (Relative Biological Effectiveness) Gy in 10% increments. Subjects have been followed clinically and radiographically. Of those patients surviving beyond six months, no MRI (Magnetic Resonance Image) white-matter changes were observed and no long-term complications attributable to BNCT were evident. Tumor responses were observed, particularly with the melanoma subjects. With increasing doses, difficulties arose from long irradiation times (approximately 3 hours) and the emergence of acute reactions in the skin and mucosa. The trial was stopped in May 1999. Future trials will be initiated with the new high intensity, low background fission converter beam at MIT. (author)

  5. Modification of Harvard step-test for assessment of students’ with health problems functional potentials

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    E.N. Kopeikina

    2016-08-01

    Full Text Available Purpose: to substantiate, work out and experimentally prove modified test for assessment of students’ with health problems functional potentials. Material: in the research students and girl students of 18-20 years’ age (n=522 participated. According to the worked out modification of test during 30 seconds student ascended on bench (h=43 cm and descended from it. Then pulse was measured three times. In total the test took 4 minutes. Results: For working out the scale for interpretation of the received results we assessed new 30 seconds’ modification of Harvard step-test for validity. First, for this purpose all students fulfilled modified step-test. Then after full restoration (after 20 minutes they fulfilled its three minutes’ variant. Correlation analysis of the received results showed the presence of average correlation between two samples (r=0.64. Conclusions: application of this modified variant permits for pedagogues to completely assess functional potentials of students with heath problems.

  6. Adaptation of Harvard Trauma questionnaire for working with refugees and asylum seekers in Serbia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vukčević Maša

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available The number of refugees and asylum seekers in Serbia is significantly increasing. Many have experienced traumatic events and suffer from posttraumatic stress disorder and depression. In order to provide them with adequate assistance, caregivers need adjusted assessment tools. The main goal of this research was the adaptation of the Harvard Trauma Questionnaire for working with refugees and asylum seekers in Serbia. A total of 16 focus groups were interviewed in two phases in order to create an adequate list of traumatic events for this population. The adapted list was subsequently administered to 226 persons seeking asylum in Serbia, along with the remaining parts of HTQ, HSCL-25 and BDI-II. Results show that the adapted list of traumatic events, as well as a shorter version, has good validity and other metric properties. The adaptation of the first assessment tool for working with refugees and asylum seekers in Serbia has significant practical implications.

  7. Oligotyping reveals stronger relationship of organic soil bacterial community structure with N-amendments and soil chemistry in comparison to that of mineral soil at Harvard Forest, MA, USA

    Science.gov (United States)

    Swathi A. Turlapati; Rakesh Minocha; Stephanie Long; Jordan Ramsdell; Subhash C. Minocha

    2015-01-01

    The impact of chronic nitrogen amendments on bacterial communities was evaluated at Harvard Forest, Petersham, MA, USA. Thirty soil samples (3 treatments × 2 soil horizons × 5 subplots) were collected in 2009 from untreated (control), low nitrogen-amended (LN; 50 kg NH4NO3ha-1yr

  8. Science at Harvard University: Historical Perspectives, edited by Clark A. Elliott and Margaret W. Rossiter. Lehigh University Press, Bethlehem, 1992

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andrew L. Christenson

    1992-05-01

    Full Text Available This volume contains historical studies of several sciences as practiced at Harvard University. Two of these studies have relevance to the history of archaeology. A chapter by Toby Appel focuses upon the scientific career of Jeffries Wyman, first curator of Harvard's Peabody Museum. She contrasts Wyman's unassuming character with the dominating personality of his mentor and contemporary Louis Agassiz. Trained as a medical doctor, Wyman's main love was zoology, particularly comparative anatomy. In his mid-40s, he encountered his first shell midden and was bitten by the archaeology bug. Soon he was doing pioneering excavation in both New England and Florida. In 1866, he was selected to be the curator of the Peabody Museum, primarily upon his strong museum background but also because of the high regard with which he was held by certain influential people. His selection to this position may have made him America's first professional archaeologist. His principal responsibilities were to collect and display archaeological and ethnological specimens and he made great steps in this direction prior to his death in 1874. Wyman's scientific work was poorly known or studied (he is best noted for having made the first scientific description of the gorilla, in part, Appel argues, because he did not seek acclaim or controversy. His greatest influence was locally through personal interactions with students and colleagues. His archaeological work is only briefly discussed in this and the following article, and there is still much to be written about this man of high character.

  9. New Features in the ADS Abstract Service

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eichhorn, G.; Accomazzi, A.; Grant, C. S.; Kurtz, M. J.; ReyBacaicoa, V.; Murray, S. S.

    2001-11-01

    The ADS Abstract Service contains over 2.3 million references in four databases: Astronomy/Astrophysics/Planetary Sciences, Instrumentation, Physics/Geophysics, and Preprints. We provide abstracts and articles free to the astronomical community for all major and many smaller astronomy journals, PhD theses, conference proceedings, and technical reports. These four databases can be queried either separately of jointly. The ADS also has scanned 1.3 million pages in 180,000 articles in the ADS Article Service. This literature archive contains all major Astronomy journals and many smaller journals, as well as conference proceedings, including the abstract books from all the LPSCs back to volume 2. A new feature gives our users the ability to see list of articles that were also read by the readers of a given article. This is a powerful tool to find out what current articles are relevant in a particular field of study. We have recently expanded the citation and reference query capabilities. It allows our users to select papers for which they want to see references or citations and then retrieve these citations/references. Another new capability is the ability to sort a list of articles by their citation count. As usual, users should be reminded that the citations in ADS are incomplete because we do not obtain reference lists from all publishers. In addition, we cannot match all references (e.g. in press, private communications, author errors, some conference papers, etc.). Anyone using the citations for analysis of publishing records should keep this in mind. More work on expanding the citation and reference features is planned over the next year. ADS Home Page http://ads.harvard.edu/

  10. Specific trauma subtypes improve the predictive validity of the Harvard Trauma Questionnaire in Iraqi refugees.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arnetz, Bengt B; Broadbridge, Carissa L; Jamil, Hikmet; Lumley, Mark A; Pole, Nnamdi; Barkho, Evone; Fakhouri, Monty; Talia, Yousif Rofa; Arnetz, Judith E

    2014-12-01

    Trauma exposure contributes to poor mental health among refugees, and exposure often is measured using a cumulative index of items from the Harvard Trauma Questionnaire (HTQ). Few studies, however, have asked whether trauma subtypes derived from the HTQ could be superior to this cumulative index in predicting mental health outcomes. A community sample of recently arrived Iraqi refugees (N = 298) completed the HTQ and measures of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression symptoms. Principal components analysis of HTQ items revealed a 5-component subtype model of trauma that accounted for more item variance than a 1-component solution. These trauma subtypes also accounted for more variance in PTSD and depression symptoms (12 and 10%, respectively) than did the cumulative trauma index (7 and 3%, respectively). Trauma subtypes provided more information than cumulative trauma in the prediction of negative mental health outcomes. Therefore, use of these subtypes may enhance the utility of the HTQ when assessing at-risk populations.

  11. Specific Trauma Subtypes Improve the Predictive Validity of the Harvard Trauma Questionnaire in Iraqi Refugees

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arnetz, Bengt B.; Broadbridge, Carissa L.; Jamil, Hikmet; Lumley, Mark A.; Pole, Nnamdi; Barkho, Evone; Fakhouri, Monty; Talia, Yousif Rofa; Arnetz, Judith E.

    2014-01-01

    Background Trauma exposure contributes to poor mental health among refugees, and exposure often is measured using a cumulative index of items from the Harvard Trauma Questionnaire (HTQ). Few studies, however, have asked whether trauma subtypes derived from the HTQ could be superior to this cumulative index in predicting mental health outcomes. Methods A community sample of recently arrived Iraqi refugees (N = 298) completed the HTQ and measures of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression symptoms. Results Principal components analysis of HTQ items revealed a 5-component subtype model of trauma that accounted for more item variance than a 1-component solution. These trauma subtypes also accounted for more variance in PTSD and depression symptoms (12% and 10%, respectively) than did the cumulative trauma index (7% and 3%, respectively). Discussion Trauma subtypes provided more information than cumulative trauma in the prediction of negative mental health outcomes. Therefore, use of these subtypes may enhance the utility of the HTQ when assessing at-risk populations. PMID:24549491

  12. [Activities of Harvard College Observatory

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dalgarno, A.; Smith, Peter L.; Stark, G.; Yoshino, K.

    2002-01-01

    With support from this grant, we have: 1) Developed techniques for improving wavelengths and f-values for singly and doubly charged ions of the iron group and have improved the accuracy of Fe III wavelengths by an order of magnitude. New Fe II f-values have also resulted from this work. 2) Measured line oscillator strengths and photoabsorption cross sections for UV molecular spectral feature that have been, or could be, used for searches for and detection of molecules in diffuse and translucent interstellar clouds and for determination of molecular column densities there. In addition, we have determined other molecular parameters -- line assignments, wavelengths, and line widths -- that are essential for theoretical descriptions of the abundance, fractionation, and excitation of interstellar molecules and for comparison of predictions with observations. 3) Measured A-values for spin-changing and other weak lines in low-Z ions. When A-values are available, these spectral features are useful for astrophysical plasma density and temperature diagnostics. Such lines are also used in interstellar abundance determinations in cases where the stronger allowed lines are saturated in astronomical spectra. 4) Taken an activist approach to ensuring that, (i), astronomers have ready access to our data, and, (ii), avenues of communication between data users and producers are strengthened.

  13. Clinical treatment planning for subjects undergoing boron neutron capture therapy at Harvard-MIT

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zamenhof, R.G.; Palmer, M.R.; Buse, P.M.

    2001-01-01

    Treatment planning is a crucial component of the Harvard-MIT boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) clinical trials. Treatment planning can be divided into five stages: (1) pre-planning, based on CT and MRI scans obtained when the subject arrives at the hospital and on assumed boron-10 distribution parameters; (2) subject set-up, or simulation, in the MITR-II medical therapy room to determine the boundary conditions for possible set-up configurations; (3) re-planning, following the subject simulation; (4) final localization of the subject in the medical therapy room for BNCT; and (5) final post facto recalculation of the doses delivered based on firm knowledge of the blood boron-10 concentration profiles and the neutron flux histories from precise online monitoring. The computer-assisted treatment planning is done using a specially written BNCT treatment planning code called MacNCTPLAN. The code uses the Los Alamos National Laboratory's Monte Carlo n-particle radiation transport code MCNPv.4b as the dose calculation engine and advanced anatomical model simulation based on an automatic evaluation of CT scan data. Results are displayed as isodose contours and dose-volume histograms, the latter correlated precisely with corresponding anatomical CT or MRI image planes. Examples of typical treatment planning scenarios will be presented. (author)

  14. Pilot Point-of-Care Ultrasound Curriculum at Harvard Medical School: Early Experience

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rempell, Joshua S.; Saldana, Fidencio; DiSalvo, Donald; Kumar, Navin; Stone, Michael B.; Chan, Wilma; Luz, Jennifer; Noble, Vicki E.; Liteplo, Andrew; Kimberly, Heidi; Kohler, Minna J.

    2016-01-01

    Introduction Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) is expanding across all medical specialties. As the benefits of US technology are becoming apparent, efforts to integrate US into pre-clinical medical education are growing. Our objective was to describe our process of integrating POCUS as an educational tool into the medical school curriculum and how such efforts are perceived by students. Methods This was a pilot study to introduce ultrasonography into the Harvard Medical School curriculum to first- and second-year medical students. Didactic and hands-on sessions were introduced to first-year students during gross anatomy and to second-year students in the physical exam course. Student-perceived attitudes, understanding, and knowledge of US, and its applications to learning the physical exam, were measured by a post-assessment survey. Results All first-year anatomy students (n=176) participated in small group hands-on US sessions. In the second-year physical diagnosis course, 38 students participated in four sessions. All students (91%) agreed or strongly agreed that additional US teaching should be incorporated throughout the four-year medical school curriculum. Conclusion POCUS can effectively be integrated into the existing medical school curriculum by using didactic and small group hands-on sessions. Medical students perceived US training as valuable in understanding human anatomy and in learning physical exam skills. This innovative program demonstrates US as an additional learning modality. Future goals include expanding on this work to incorporate US education into all four years of medical school. PMID:27833681

  15. Geologic map of the Harvard Lakes 7.5' quadrangle, Park and Chaffee Counties, Colorado

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kellogg, Karl S.; Lee, Keenan; Premo, Wayne R.; Cosca, Michael A.

    2013-01-01

    The Harvard Lakes 1:24,000-scale quadrangle spans the Arkansas River Valley in central Colorado, and includes the foothills of the Sawatch Range on the west and Mosquito Range on the east. The Arkansas River valley lies in the northern end of the Rio Grande rift and is structurally controlled by Oligocene and younger normal faults mostly along the west side of the valley. Five separate pediment surfaces were mapped, and distinctions were made between terraces formed by the Arkansas River and surfaces that formed from erosion and alluviation that emanated from the Sawatch Range. Three flood deposits containing boulders as long as 15 m were deposited from glacial breakouts just north of the quadrangle. Miocene and Pliocene basin-fill deposits of the Dry Union Formation are exposed beneath terrace or pediment deposits in several places. The southwestern part of the late Eocene Buffalo Peaks volcanic center, mostly andesitic breccias and flows and ash-flow tuffs, occupy the northeastern corner of the map. Dated Tertiary intrusive rocks include Late Cretaceous or early Paleocene hornblende gabbro and hornblende monzonite. Numerous rhyolite and dacite dikes of inferred early Tertiary or Late Cretaceous age also intrude the basement rocks. Basement rocks are predominantly Mesoproterozoic granites, and subordinately Paleoproterozoic biotite gneiss and granitic gneiss.

  16. [Variations in the epidemiolgy of adverse events: methodology of the Harvard Medical Practice Design].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lessing, C; Schmitz, A; Schrappe, M

    2012-02-01

    The Harvard Medical Practice (HMP) Design is based on a multi-staged retrospective review of inpatient records and is used to assess the frequency of (preventable) adverse events ([P]AE) in large study populations. Up to now HMP studies have been conducted in 9 countries. Results differ largely from 2.9% to 3.7% of patients with AE in the USA up to 16.6% in Australia. In our analysis we systematically compare the methodology of 9 HMP studies published in the English language and discuss possible impacts on reported frequencies. Modifications in HMP studies can be individualised from each stage of planning, conducting, and reporting results. In doing so 2 studies from the USA with lowest rates of AE can be characterised by their context of liability and the absence of screening for nosocomial infections. Studies with a high proportion of AE are marked by an intense training of reviewers. Further conclusions are hindered by divergences in defining periods of observation, by presenting frequencies as cumulative prevalences, and differences in the reporting of study results. As a consequence future HMP studies should go for complete, consistent and transparent coverage. Further research should concentrate on advancing methods for collecting data on (P)AE. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

  17. Rethinking the Response to Emerging Microbes: Vaccines and Therapeutics in the Ebola Era--a Conference at Harvard Medical School.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Knipe, David M; Whelan, Sean P

    2015-08-01

    Harvard Medical School convened a meeting of biomedical and clinical experts on 5 March 2015 on the topic of "Rethinking the Response to Emerging Microbes: Vaccines and Therapeutics in the Ebola Era," with the goals of discussing the lessons from the recent Ebola outbreak and using those lessons as a case study to aid preparations for future emerging infections. The speakers and audience discussed the special challenges in combatting an infectious agent that causes sporadic outbreaks in resource-poor countries. The meeting led to a call for improved basic medical care for all and continued support of basic discovery research to provide the foundation for preparedness for future outbreaks in addition to the targeted emergency response to outbreaks and targeted research programs against Ebola virus and other specific emerging pathogens. Copyright © 2015, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

  18. Policies to increase the social value of science and the scientist satisfaction. An exploratory survey among Harvard bioscientists.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ballabeni, Andrea; Boggio, Andrea; Hemenway, David

    2014-01-01

    Basic research in the biomedical field generates both knowledge that has a value per se regardless of its possible practical outcome and knowledge that has the potential to produce more practical benefits. Policies can increase the benefit potential to society of basic biomedical research by offering various kinds of incentives to basic researchers. In this paper we argue that soft incentives or "nudges" are particularly promising. However, to be well designed, these incentives must take into account the motivations, goals and views of the basic scientists. In the paper we present the results of an investigation that involved more than 300 scientists at Harvard Medical School and affiliated institutes. The results of this study suggest that some soft incentives could be valuable tools to increase the transformative value of fundamental investigations without affecting the spirit of the basic research and scientists' work satisfaction. After discussing the findings, we discuss a few examples of nudges for basic researchers in the biomedical fields.

  19. Validation of a French adaptation of the Harvard Trauma Questionnaire among torture survivors from sub-Saharan African countries

    Science.gov (United States)

    de Fouchier, Capucine; Blanchet, Alain; Hopkins, William; Bui, Eric; Ait-Aoudia, Malik; Jehel, Louis

    2012-01-01

    Background To date no validated instrument in the French language exists to screen for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in survivors of torture and organized violence. Objective The aim of this study is to adapt and validate the Harvard Trauma Questionnaire (HTQ) to this population. Method The adapted version was administered to 52 French-speaking torture survivors, originally from sub-Saharan African countries, receiving psychological treatment in specialized treatment centers. A structured clinical interview for DSM was also conducted in order to assess if they met criteria for PTSD. Results Cronbach's alpha coefficient for the HTQ Part 4 was adequate (0.95). Criterion validity was evaluated using receiver operating characteristic curve analysis that generated good classification accuracy for PTSD (0.83). At the original cut-off score of 2.5, the HTQ demonstrated high sensitivity and specificity (0.87 and 0.73, respectively). Conclusion Results support the reliability and validity of the French version of the HTQ. PMID:23233870

  20. Policies to increase the social value of science and the scientist satisfaction. An exploratory survey among Harvard bioscientists.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ballabeni, Andrea; Boggio, Andrea; Hemenway, David

    2014-01-01

    Basic research in the biomedical field generates both knowledge that has a value per se regardless of its possible practical outcome and knowledge that has the potential to produce more practical benefits. Policies can increase the benefit potential to society of basic biomedical research by offering various kinds of incentives to basic researchers. In this paper we argue that soft incentives or “nudges” are particularly promising. However, to be well designed, these incentives must take into account the motivations, goals and views of the basic scientists. In the paper we present the results of an investigation that involved more than 300 scientists at Harvard Medical School and affiliated institutes. The results of this study suggest that some soft incentives could be valuable tools to increase the transformative value of fundamental investigations without affecting the spirit of the basic research and scientists’ work satisfaction. After discussing the findings, we discuss a few examples of nudges for basic researchers in the biomedical fields. PMID:24795807

  1. Validation of a French adaptation of the Harvard Trauma Questionnaire among torture survivors from sub-Saharan African countries

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Capucine de Fouchier

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available Background: To date no validated instrument in the French language exists to screen for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD in survivors of torture and organized violence. Objective: The aim of this study is to adapt and validate the Harvard Trauma Questionnaire (HTQ to this population. Method: The adapted version was administered to 52 French-speaking torture survivors, originally from sub-Saharan African countries, receiving psychological treatment in specialized treatment centers. A structured clinical interview for DSM was also conducted in order to assess if they met criteria for PTSD. Results: Cronbach's alpha coefficient for the HTQ Part 4 was adequate (0.95. Criterion validity was evaluated using receiver operating characteristic curve analysis that generated good classification accuracy for PTSD (0.83. At the original cut-off score of 2.5, the HTQ demonstrated high sensitivity and specificity (0.87 and 0.73, respectively. Conclusion: Results support the reliability and validity of the French version of the HTQ.

  2. Unrecognized vitamin D3 deficiency is common in Parkinson disease: Harvard Biomarker Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ding, Hongliu; Dhima, Kaltra; Lockhart, Kaitlin C; Locascio, Joseph J; Hoesing, Ashley N; Duong, Karen; Trisini-Lipsanopoulos, Ana; Hayes, Michael T; Sohur, U Shivraj; Wills, Anne-Marie; Mollenhauer, Brit; Flaherty, Alice W; Hung, Albert Y; Mejia, Nicte; Khurana, Vikram; Gomperts, Stephen N; Selkoe, Dennis J; Schwarzschild, Michael A; Schlossmacher, Michael G; Hyman, Bradley T; Sudarsky, Lewis R; Growdon, John H; Scherzer, Clemens R

    2013-10-22

    To conclusively test for a specific association between the biological marker 25-hydroxy-vitamin D3, a transcriptionally active hormone produced in human skin and liver, and the prevalence and severity of Parkinson disease (PD). We used liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry to establish an association specifically between deficiency of 25-hydroxy-vitamin D3 and PD in a cross-sectional and longitudinal case-control study of 388 patients (mean Hoehn and Yahr stage of 2.1 ± 0.6) and 283 control subjects free of neurologic disease nested in the Harvard Biomarker Study. Plasma levels of 25-hydroxy-vitamin D3 were associated with PD in both univariate and multivariate analyses with p values = 0.0034 and 0.047, respectively. Total 25-hydroxy-vitamin D levels, the traditional composite measure of endogenous and exogenous vitamin D, were deficient in 17.6% of patients with PD compared with 9.3% of controls. Low 25-hydroxy-vitamin D3 as well as total 25-hydroxy-vitamin D levels were correlated with higher total Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale scores at baseline and during follow-up. Our study reveals an association between 25-hydroxy-vitamin D3 and PD and suggests that thousands of patients with PD in North America alone may be vitamin D-deficient. This finding has immediate relevance for individual patients at risk of falls as well as public health, and warrants further investigation into the mechanism underlying this association.

  3. The psychopharmacology algorithm project at the Harvard South Shore Program: an update on schizophrenia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Osser, David N; Roudsari, Mohsen Jalali; Manschreck, Theo

    2013-01-01

    This article is an update of the algorithm for schizophrenia from the Psychopharmacology Algorithm Project at the Harvard South Shore Program. A literature review was conducted focusing on new data since the last published version (1999-2001). The first-line treatment recommendation for new-onset schizophrenia is with amisulpride, aripiprazole, risperidone, or ziprasidone for four to six weeks. In some settings the trial could be shorter, considering that evidence of clear improvement with antipsychotics usually occurs within the first two weeks. If the trial of the first antipsychotic cannot be completed due to intolerance, try another until one of the four is tolerated and given an adequate trial. There should be evidence of bioavailability. If the response to this adequate trial is unsatisfactory, try a second monotherapy. If the response to this second adequate trial is also unsatisfactory, and if at least one of the first two trials was with risperidone, olanzapine, or a first-generation (typical) antipsychotic, then clozapine is recommended for the third trial. If neither trial was with any these three options, a third trial prior to clozapine should occur, using one of those three. If the response to monotherapy with clozapine (with dose adjusted by using plasma levels) is unsatisfactory, consider adding risperidone, lamotrigine, or ECT. Beyond that point, there is little solid evidence to support further psychopharmacological treatment choices, though we do review possible options.

  4. Proton beam dosimetry for radiosurgery: implementation of the ICRU Report 59 at the Harvard Cyclotron Laboratory

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Newhauser, Wayne D.; Myers, Karla D.; Rosenthal, Stanley J.; Smith, Alfred R.

    2002-01-01

    Recent proton dosimetry intercomparisons have demonstrated that the adoption of a common protocol, e.g. ICRU Report 59, can lead to improved consistency in absorbed dose determinations. We compared absorbed dose values, measured in the 160 MeV proton radiosurgery beamline at the Harvard Cyclotron Laboratory, based on ionization chamber methods with those from a Faraday cup technique. The Faraday cup method is based on a proton fluence determination that allows the estimation of absorbed dose with the CEMA approximation, under which the dose is equal to the fluence times the mean mass stopping power. The ionization chamber technique employs an air-kerma calibration coefficient for 60 Co radiation and a calculated correction in order to take into account the differences in response to 60 Co and proton beam radiations. The absorbed dose to water, based on a diode measurement calibrated with a Faraday cup technique, is approximately 2% higher than was obtained from an ionization chamber measurement. At the Bragg peak depth, the techniques agree to within their respective uncertainties, which are both approximately 4% (1 standard deviation). The ionization chamber technique exhibited superior reproducibility and was adopted in our standard clinical practice for radiosurgery. (author)

  5. The Psychopharmacology Algorithm Project at the Harvard South Shore Program: An Algorithm for Generalized Anxiety Disorder.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abejuela, Harmony Raylen; Osser, David N

    2016-01-01

    This revision of previous algorithms for the pharmacotherapy of generalized anxiety disorder was developed by the Psychopharmacology Algorithm Project at the Harvard South Shore Program. Algorithms from 1999 and 2010 and associated references were reevaluated. Newer studies and reviews published from 2008-14 were obtained from PubMed and analyzed with a focus on their potential to justify changes in the recommendations. Exceptions to the main algorithm for special patient populations, such as women of childbearing potential, pregnant women, the elderly, and those with common medical and psychiatric comorbidities, were considered. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are still the basic first-line medication. Early alternatives include duloxetine, buspirone, hydroxyzine, pregabalin, or bupropion, in that order. If response is inadequate, then the second recommendation is to try a different SSRI. Additional alternatives now include benzodiazepines, venlafaxine, kava, and agomelatine. If the response to the second SSRI is unsatisfactory, then the recommendation is to try a serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor (SNRI). Other alternatives to SSRIs and SNRIs for treatment-resistant or treatment-intolerant patients include tricyclic antidepressants, second-generation antipsychotics, and valproate. This revision of the GAD algorithm responds to issues raised by new treatments under development (such as pregabalin) and organizes the evidence systematically for practical clinical application.

  6. Assessment of orientation practices for ethics consultation at Harvard Medical School-affiliated hospitals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zaidi, Danish; Kesselheim, Jennifer C

    2018-02-01

    Few studies have been conducted to assess the quality of orientation practices for ethics advisory committees that conduct ethics consultation. This survey study focused on several Harvard teaching hospitals, exploring orientation quality and committee members' self-evaluation in the American Society of Bioethics and Humanities (ASBH) ethics consultation competencies. We conducted a survey study that involved 116 members and 16 chairs of ethics advisory committees, respectively (52% and 62.5% response rates). Predictor variables included professional demographics, duration on committees and level of training. Outcome variables included familiarity with and preparedness in the ASBH competencies and satisfaction with orientations. We hypothesised that responses would be associated with both the aforementioned predictors and whether or not participants had encountered the ASBH competencies in training. A majority of respondents found their orientation curricula to be helpful (62%), although a significant portion of respondents did not receive any orientation (24%) or were unsatisfied with their orientation (14%). Familiarity with ASBH competencies was a statistically significant predictor of respondents' self-evaluation in particular categories (54% had heard of the competencies). Standard educational materials were reported as offered during orientation, such as readings (50%) and case studies (41%); different medium resources were less evidenced such as videos on ethics consultation (19%). Institutions should re-evaluate orientation practices for ethics committee members that perform ethics consultation. Integrating ASBH competencies and useful methods into a resourceful pedagogy will help improve both member satisfaction with orientation and preparation in consultation. © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2018. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.

  7. (2013) VOL. 1 ISSUE 1 On behalf of our Editorial Board, I am ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    OLAWUYI

    journal features research articles, book reviews and commentaries on matters of ... or nothing to show in terms of development, economic prosperity, social stability and ... Glasgow, Hull, Harvard, Oxford, Calgary, Liverpool, British Columbia,.

  8. The potential to characterize ecological data with terrestrial laser scanning in Harvard Forest, MA

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boucher, P.; Saenz, E.; Li, Z.

    2018-01-01

    Contemporary terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) is being used widely in forest ecology applications to examine ecosystem properties at increasing spatial and temporal scales. Harvard Forest (HF) in Petersham, MA, USA, is a long-term ecological research (LTER) site, a National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) location and contains a 35 ha plot which is part of Smithsonian Institution's Forest Global Earth Observatory (ForestGEO). The combination of long-term field plots, eddy flux towers and the detailed past historical records has made HF very appealing for a variety of remote sensing studies. Terrestrial laser scanners, including three pioneering research instruments: the Echidna Validation Instrument, the Dual-Wavelength Echidna Lidar and the Compact Biomass Lidar, have already been used both independently and in conjunction with airborne laser scanning data and forest census data to characterize forest dynamics. TLS approaches include three-dimensional reconstructions of a plot over time, establishing the impact of ice storm damage on forest canopy structure, and characterizing eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) canopy health affected by an invasive insect, the hemlock woolly adelgid (Adelges tsugae). Efforts such as those deployed at HF are demonstrating the power of TLS as a tool for monitoring ecological dynamics, identifying emerging forest health issues, measuring forest biomass and capturing ecological data relevant to other disciplines. This paper highlights various aspects of the ForestGEO plot that are important to current TLS work, the potential for exchange between forest ecology and TLS, and emphasizes the strength of combining TLS data with long-term ecological field data to create emerging opportunities for scientific study. PMID:29503723

  9. The potential to characterize ecological data with terrestrial laser scanning in Harvard Forest, MA.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Orwig, D A; Boucher, P; Paynter, I; Saenz, E; Li, Z; Schaaf, C

    2018-04-06

    Contemporary terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) is being used widely in forest ecology applications to examine ecosystem properties at increasing spatial and temporal scales. Harvard Forest (HF) in Petersham, MA, USA, is a long-term ecological research (LTER) site, a National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) location and contains a 35 ha plot which is part of Smithsonian Institution's Forest Global Earth Observatory (ForestGEO). The combination of long-term field plots, eddy flux towers and the detailed past historical records has made HF very appealing for a variety of remote sensing studies. Terrestrial laser scanners, including three pioneering research instruments: the Echidna Validation Instrument, the Dual-Wavelength Echidna Lidar and the Compact Biomass Lidar, have already been used both independently and in conjunction with airborne laser scanning data and forest census data to characterize forest dynamics. TLS approaches include three-dimensional reconstructions of a plot over time, establishing the impact of ice storm damage on forest canopy structure, and characterizing eastern hemlock ( Tsuga canadensis ) canopy health affected by an invasive insect, the hemlock woolly adelgid ( Adelges tsugae ). Efforts such as those deployed at HF are demonstrating the power of TLS as a tool for monitoring ecological dynamics, identifying emerging forest health issues, measuring forest biomass and capturing ecological data relevant to other disciplines. This paper highlights various aspects of the ForestGEO plot that are important to current TLS work, the potential for exchange between forest ecology and TLS, and emphasizes the strength of combining TLS data with long-term ecological field data to create emerging opportunities for scientific study.

  10. Evaluation of environmental filtration control of engineered nanoparticles using the Harvard Versatile Engineered Nanomaterial Generation System (VENGES)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Echevarría-Vega, Manuel E.; Sotiriou, Georgios A.; Santeufemio, Christopher; Schmidt, Daniel; Demokritou, Philip; Ellenbecker, Michael

    2013-01-01

    Applying engineering controls to airborne engineered nanoparticles (ENPs) is critical to prevent environmental releases and worker exposure. This study evaluated the effectiveness of two air sampling and six air cleaning fabric filters at collecting ENPs using industrially relevant flame-made engineered nanoparticles generated using a versatile engineered nanomaterial generation system (VENGES), recently designed and constructed at Harvard University. VENGES has the ability to generate metal and metal oxide exposure atmospheres while controlling important particle properties such as primary particle size, aerosol size distribution, and agglomeration state. For this study, amorphous SiO2 ENPs with a 15.4 nm primary particle size were generated and diluted with HEPA-filtered air. The aerosol was passed through the filter samples at two different filtration face velocities (2.3 and 3.5 m/min). Particle concentrations as a function of particle size were measured upstream and downstream of the filters using a specially designed filter test system to evaluate filtration efficiency. Real time instruments (FMPS and APS) were used to measure particle concentration for diameters from 5 to 20,000 nm. Membrane-coated fabric filters were found to have enhanced nanoparticle collection efficiency by 20–46 % points compared to non-coated fabric and could provide collection efficiency above 95 %. PMID:23412707

  11. Dosimetry for ocular proton beam therapy at the Harvard Cyclotron Laboratory based on the ICRU Report 59

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Newhauser, W.D.; Burns, J.; Smith, A.R.

    2002-01-01

    The Massachusetts General Hospital, the Harvard Cyclotron Laboratory (HCL), and the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary have treated almost 3000 patients with ocular disease using high-energy external-beam proton radiation therapy since 1975. The absorbed dose standard for ocular proton therapy beams at HCL was based on a fluence measurement with a Faraday cup (FC). A majority of proton therapy centers worldwide, however, use an absorbed dose standard that is based on an ionization chamber (IC) technique. The ion chamber calibration is deduced from a measurement in a reference 60 Co photon field together with a calculated correction factor that takes into account differences in a chamber's response in 60 Co and proton fields. In this work, we implemented an ionization chamber-based absolute dosimetry system for the HCL ocular beamline based on the recommendations given in Report 59 by the International Commission on Radiation Units and Measurements. Comparative measurements revealed that the FC system yields an absorbed dose to water value that is 1.1% higher than was obtained with the IC system. That difference is small compared with the experimental uncertainties and is clinically insignificant. In June of 1998, we adopted the IC-based method as our standard practice for the ocular beam

  12. Evaluation of environmental filtration control of engineered nanoparticles using the Harvard Versatile Engineered Nanomaterial Generation System (VENGES)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tsai, Candace S.-J.; Echevarría-Vega, Manuel E.; Sotiriou, Georgios A.; Santeufemio, Christopher; Schmidt, Daniel; Demokritou, Philip; Ellenbecker, Michael

    2012-01-01

    Applying engineering controls to airborne engineered nanoparticles (ENPs) is critical to prevent environmental releases and worker exposure. This study evaluated the effectiveness of two air sampling and six air cleaning fabric filters at collecting ENPs using industrially relevant flame-made engineered nanoparticles generated using a versatile engineered nanomaterial generation system (VENGES), recently designed and constructed at Harvard University. VENGES has the ability to generate metal and metal oxide exposure atmospheres while controlling important particle properties such as primary particle size, aerosol size distribution, and agglomeration state. For this study, amorphous SiO 2 ENPs with a 15.4 nm primary particle size were generated and diluted with HEPA-filtered air. The aerosol was passed through the filter samples at two different filtration face velocities (2.3 and 3.5 m/min). Particle concentrations as a function of particle size were measured upstream and downstream of the filters using a specially designed filter test system to evaluate filtration efficiency. Real time instruments (FMPS and APS) were used to measure particle concentration for diameters from 5 to 20,000 nm. Membrane-coated fabric filters were found to have enhanced nanoparticle collection efficiency by 20–46 % points compared to non-coated fabric and could provide collection efficiency above 95%.

  13. Online feature selection with streaming features.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Xindong; Yu, Kui; Ding, Wei; Wang, Hao; Zhu, Xingquan

    2013-05-01

    We propose a new online feature selection framework for applications with streaming features where the knowledge of the full feature space is unknown in advance. We define streaming features as features that flow in one by one over time whereas the number of training examples remains fixed. This is in contrast with traditional online learning methods that only deal with sequentially added observations, with little attention being paid to streaming features. The critical challenges for Online Streaming Feature Selection (OSFS) include 1) the continuous growth of feature volumes over time, 2) a large feature space, possibly of unknown or infinite size, and 3) the unavailability of the entire feature set before learning starts. In the paper, we present a novel Online Streaming Feature Selection method to select strongly relevant and nonredundant features on the fly. An efficient Fast-OSFS algorithm is proposed to improve feature selection performance. The proposed algorithms are evaluated extensively on high-dimensional datasets and also with a real-world case study on impact crater detection. Experimental results demonstrate that the algorithms achieve better compactness and higher prediction accuracy than existing streaming feature selection algorithms.

  14. Evidence for stagnation of the Harvard sublobe (Lake Michigan lobe) in Northeastern Illinois, U.S.A., from 24 000 to 17 600 BP and subsequent tundra-like ice-marginal paleoenvironments from 17 600 to 15 700 BP

    Science.gov (United States)

    Curry, B. Brandon; Yansa, C.H.

    2004-01-01

    Glacial deposits of the last glaciation associated with the Harvard sublobe (Lake Michigan lobe) in northeastern Illinois, U.S.A., occur between sediment with dateable organics. The lower organics include fragments of Picea sp. as young as 24 000 ?? 270 BP. The supraglacial organics occur sparsely in laminated silt and fine sand in landforms that are positioned relatively high on the landscape, such as deposits from ice-walled lakes. These terrestrial organics yield ages that are 2500 to 1300 14C years older than organics at the base of sediment successions in nearby kettle basins. Basal 14C ages from four upland sites range from 17 610 ?? 270 to 16 120 ?? 80 BP. Our revised time-distance diagram of the Harvard sublobe now reflects a period of stagnation from 24 000 to about 17 600 BP. The supraglacial lacustrine silt yielded plant macrofossil assemblages of primarily tundra plants, including Salix herbacea and Dryas integrifolia. These plants likely grew in supraglacial and ice-marginal environments. The ostracode fauna include Cytherissa lacustris and Limnocythere friabilis. Geomorphic relations and ostracode ecology indicate that more than 17 m of ice buttressed some of the supraglacial lakes.

  15. Understanding Legacy Features with Featureous

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Olszak, Andrzej; Jørgensen, Bo Nørregaard

    2011-01-01

    Java programs called Featureous that addresses this issue. Featureous allows a programmer to easily establish feature-code traceability links and to analyze their characteristics using a number of visualizations. Featureous is an extension to the NetBeans IDE, and can itself be extended by third...

  16. Building laboratory capacity to support HIV care in Nigeria: Harvard/APIN PEPFAR, 2004-2012.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hamel, Donald J; Sankalé, Jean-Louis; Samuels, Jay Osi; Sarr, Abdoulaye D; Chaplin, Beth; Ofuche, Eke; Meloni, Seema T; Okonkwo, Prosper; Kanki, Phyllis J

    From 2004-2012, the Harvard/AIDS Prevention Initiative in Nigeria, funded through the US President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief programme, scaled up HIV care and treatment services in Nigeria. We describe the methodologies and collaborative processes developed to improve laboratory capacity significantly in a resource-limited setting. These methods were implemented at 35 clinic and laboratory locations. Systems were established and modified to optimise numerous laboratory processes. These included strategies for clinic selection and management, equipment and reagent procurement, supply chains, laboratory renovations, equipment maintenance, electronic data management, quality development programmes and trainings. Over the eight-year programme, laboratories supported 160 000 patients receiving HIV care in Nigeria, delivering over 2.5 million test results, including regular viral load quantitation. External quality assurance systems were established for CD4+ cell count enumeration, blood chemistries and viral load monitoring. Laboratory equipment platforms were improved and standardised and use of point-of-care analysers was expanded. Laboratory training workshops supported laboratories toward increasing staff skills and improving overall quality. Participation in a World Health Organisation-led African laboratory quality improvement system resulted in significant gains in quality measures at five laboratories. Targeted implementation of laboratory development processes, during simultaneous scale-up of HIV treatment programmes in a resource-limited setting, can elicit meaningful gains in laboratory quality and capacity. Systems to improve the physical laboratory environment, develop laboratory staff, create improvements to reduce costs and increase quality are available for future health and laboratory strengthening programmes. We hope that the strategies employed may inform and encourage the development of other laboratories in resource-limited settings.

  17. The Harvard Beat Assessment Test (H-BAT): a battery for assessing beat perception and production and their dissociation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fujii, Shinya; Schlaug, Gottfried

    2013-01-01

    Humans have the abilities to perceive, produce, and synchronize with a musical beat, yet there are widespread individual differences. To investigate these abilities and to determine if a dissociation between beat perception and production exists, we developed the Harvard Beat Assessment Test (H-BAT), a new battery that assesses beat perception and production abilities. H-BAT consists of four subtests: (1) music tapping test (MTT), (2) beat saliency test (BST), (3) beat interval test (BIT), and (4) beat finding and interval test (BFIT). MTT measures the degree of tapping synchronization with the beat of music, whereas BST, BIT, and BFIT measure perception and production thresholds via psychophysical adaptive stair-case methods. We administered the H-BAT on thirty individuals and investigated the performance distribution across these individuals in each subtest. There was a wide distribution in individual abilities to tap in synchrony with the beat of music during the MTT. The degree of synchronization consistency was negatively correlated with thresholds in the BST, BIT, and BFIT: a lower degree of synchronization was associated with higher perception and production thresholds. H-BAT can be a useful tool in determining an individual's ability to perceive and produce a beat within a single session. PMID:24324421

  18. The Harvard Beat Assessment Test (H-BAT): a battery for assessing beat perception and production and their dissociation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fujii, Shinya; Schlaug, Gottfried

    2013-01-01

    Humans have the abilities to perceive, produce, and synchronize with a musical beat, yet there are widespread individual differences. To investigate these abilities and to determine if a dissociation between beat perception and production exists, we developed the Harvard Beat Assessment Test (H-BAT), a new battery that assesses beat perception and production abilities. H-BAT consists of four subtests: (1) music tapping test (MTT), (2) beat saliency test (BST), (3) beat interval test (BIT), and (4) beat finding and interval test (BFIT). MTT measures the degree of tapping synchronization with the beat of music, whereas BST, BIT, and BFIT measure perception and production thresholds via psychophysical adaptive stair-case methods. We administered the H-BAT on thirty individuals and investigated the performance distribution across these individuals in each subtest. There was a wide distribution in individual abilities to tap in synchrony with the beat of music during the MTT. The degree of synchronization consistency was negatively correlated with thresholds in the BST, BIT, and BFIT: a lower degree of synchronization was associated with higher perception and production thresholds. H-BAT can be a useful tool in determining an individual's ability to perceive and produce a beat within a single session.

  19. Posttraumatic stress disorder among refugees: Measurement invariance of Harvard Trauma Questionnaire scores across global regions and response patterns.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rasmussen, Andrew; Verkuilen, Jay; Ho, Emily; Fan, Yuyu

    2015-12-01

    Despite the central role of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in international humanitarian aid work, there has been little examination of the measurement invariance of PTSD measures across culturally defined refugee subgroups. This leaves mental health workers in disaster settings with little to support inferences made using the results of standard clinical assessment tools, such as the severity of symptoms and prevalence rates. We examined measurement invariance in scores from the most widely used PTSD measure in refugee populations, the Harvard Trauma Questionnaire (HTQ; Mollica et al., 1992), in a multinational and multilingual sample of asylum seekers from 81 countries of origin in 11 global regions. Clustering HTQ responses to justify grouping regional groups by response patterns resulted in 3 groups for testing measurement invariance: West Africans, Himalayans, and all others. Comparing log-likelihood ratios showed that while configural invariance seemed to hold, metric and scalar invariance did not. These findings call into question the common practice of using standard cut-off scores on PTSD measures across culturally dissimilar refugee populations. In addition, high correlation between factors suggests that the construct validity of scores from North American and European measures of PTSD may not hold globally. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

  20. Building laboratory capacity to support HIV care in Nigeria: Harvard/APIN PEPFAR, 2004–2012

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hamel, Donald J.; Sankalé, Jean-Louis; Samuels, Jay Osi; Sarr, Abdoulaye D.; Chaplin, Beth; Ofuche, Eke; Meloni, Seema T.; Okonkwo, Prosper; Kanki, Phyllis J.

    2015-01-01

    Introduction From 2004–2012, the Harvard/AIDS Prevention Initiative in Nigeria, funded through the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief programme, scaled up HIV care and treatment services in Nigeria. We describe the methodologies and collaborative processes developed to improve laboratory capacity significantly in a resource-limited setting. These methods were implemented at 35 clinic and laboratory locations. Methods Systems were established and modified to optimise numerous laboratory processes. These included strategies for clinic selection and management, equipment and reagent procurement, supply chains, laboratory renovations, equipment maintenance, electronic data management, quality development programmes and trainings. Results Over the eight-year programme, laboratories supported 160 000 patients receiving HIV care in Nigeria, delivering over 2.5 million test results, including regular viral load quantitation. External quality assurance systems were established for CD4+ cell count enumeration, blood chemistries and viral load monitoring. Laboratory equipment platforms were improved and standardised and use of point-of-care analysers was expanded. Laboratory training workshops supported laboratories toward increasing staff skills and improving overall quality. Participation in a World Health Organisation-led African laboratory quality improvement system resulted in significant gains in quality measures at five laboratories. Conclusions Targeted implementation of laboratory development processes, during simultaneous scale-up of HIV treatment programmes in a resource-limited setting, can elicit meaningful gains in laboratory quality and capacity. Systems to improve the physical laboratory environment, develop laboratory staff, create improvements to reduce costs and increase quality are available for future health and laboratory strengthening programmes. We hope that the strategies employed may inform and encourage the development of other

  1. Operational Ocean Modelling with the Harvard Ocean Prediction System

    Science.gov (United States)

    2008-11-01

    tno.nl TNO-rapportnummer TNO-DV2008 A417 Opdrachtnummer Datum november 2008 Auteur (s) dr. F.P.A. Lam dr. ir. M.W. Schouten dr. L.A. te Raa...area of theory and implementation of numerical schemes and parameterizations, ocean models have grown from experimental tools to full-blown ocean...sound propagation through mesoscale features using 3-D coupled mode theory , Thesis, Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, USA. 1992. [9] Robinson

  2. VALIDITATION OF A LIGHT QUESTIONNAIRE WITH REAL-LIFE PHOTOPIC ILLUMINANCE MEASUREMENTS: THE HARVARD LIGHT EXPOSURE ASSESSMENT QUESTIONNAIRE

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bajaj, Archna; Rosner, Bernard; Lockley, Steven; Schernhammer, Eva S.

    2011-01-01

    Background Light exposure at night is now considered a probable carcinogen. To study the effects of light on chronic diseases like cancer, methods to measure light exposure in large observational studies are needed. We aimed to investigate the validity of self-reported current light exposure. Methods We developed a self-administered semiquantitative light questionnaire, the Harvard Light Exposure Assessment (H-LEA) questionnaire, and compared photopic scores derived from this questionnaire with actual photopic and circadian measures obtained from a real-life 7-day light meter application among 132 women (85 rotating night shift workers and 47 day workers) participating in the Nurses' Health Study II. Results After adjustment for age, BMI, collection day, and night work status, the overall partial Spearman correlation between self-report of light exposure and actual photopic light measurements was 0.72 (P<0.001; Kendall τ =0.57) and 0.73 (P<0.0001; Kendall τ =0.58) when correlating circadian light measurements. There were only minimal differences in accuracy of self-report of light exposure and photopic or circadian light measurement between day (r=0.77 and 0.78, respectively) and rotating night shift workers (r=0.68 and 0.69, respectively). Conclusions The results of this study provide evidence of the criterion validity of self-reported light exposure using the H-LEA questionnaire. Impact: This questionnaire is a practical method of assessing light exposure in large scale epidemiologic studies. PMID:21737411

  3. The psychopharmacology algorithm project at the Harvard South Shore Program: an algorithm for acute mania.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mohammad, Othman; Osser, David N

    2014-01-01

    This new algorithm for the pharmacotherapy of acute mania was developed by the Psychopharmacology Algorithm Project at the Harvard South Shore Program. The authors conducted a literature search in PubMed and reviewed key studies, other algorithms and guidelines, and their references. Treatments were prioritized considering three main considerations: (1) effectiveness in treating the current episode, (2) preventing potential relapses to depression, and (3) minimizing side effects over the short and long term. The algorithm presupposes that clinicians have made an accurate diagnosis, decided how to manage contributing medical causes (including substance misuse), discontinued antidepressants, and considered the patient's childbearing potential. We propose different algorithms for mixed and nonmixed mania. Patients with mixed mania may be treated first with a second-generation antipsychotic, of which the first choice is quetiapine because of its greater efficacy for depressive symptoms and episodes in bipolar disorder. Valproate and then either lithium or carbamazepine may be added. For nonmixed mania, lithium is the first-line recommendation. A second-generation antipsychotic can be added. Again, quetiapine is favored, but if quetiapine is unacceptable, risperidone is the next choice. Olanzapine is not considered a first-line treatment due to its long-term side effects, but it could be second-line. If the patient, whether mixed or nonmixed, is still refractory to the above medications, then depending on what has already been tried, consider carbamazepine, haloperidol, olanzapine, risperidone, and valproate first tier; aripiprazole, asenapine, and ziprasidone second tier; and clozapine third tier (because of its weaker evidence base and greater side effects). Electroconvulsive therapy may be considered at any point in the algorithm if the patient has a history of positive response or is intolerant of medications.

  4. Building laboratory capacity to support HIV care in Nigeria: Harvard/APIN PEPFAR, 2004–2012

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Donald J. Hamel

    2015-05-01

    Full Text Available Introduction: From 2004–2012, the Harvard/AIDS Prevention Initiative in Nigeria, funded through the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief programme, scaled up HIV care and treatment services in Nigeria. We describe the methodologies and collaborative processes developed to improve laboratory capacity significantly in a resource-limited setting. These methods were implemented at 35 clinic and laboratory locations. Methods: Systems were established and modified to optimise numerous laboratory processes. These included strategies for clinic selection and management, equipment and reagent procurement, supply chains, laboratory renovations, equipment maintenance, electronic data management, quality development programmes and trainings. Results: Over the eight-year programme, laboratories supported 160 000 patients receiving HIV care in Nigeria, delivering over 2.5 million test results, including regular viral load quantitation. External quality assurance systems were established for CD4+ cell count enumeration, blood chemistries and viral load monitoring. Laboratory equipment platforms were improved and standardised and use of point-of-care analysers was expanded. Laboratory training workshops supported laboratories toward increasing staff skills and improving overall quality. Participation in a World Health Organisation-led African laboratory quality improvement system resulted in significant gains in quality measures at five laboratories. Conclusions: Targeted implementation of laboratory development processes, during simultaneous scale-up of HIV treatment programmes in a resource-limited setting, can elicit meaningful gains in laboratory quality and capacity. Systems to improve the physical laboratory environment, develop laboratory staff, create improvements to reduce costs and increase quality are available for future health and laboratory strengthening programmes. We hope that the strategies employed may inform

  5. The milestones in patient safety -The Harvard Medical Practice Study I , Study II and Study III

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Giuseppe La Torre

    2005-12-01

    Full Text Available

    Over the past decade there has been a steady increase in the number of malpractice claims brought against healthcare providers [1,2] and in the monetary damages awarded to plaintiffs [1,3]. This increase has precipitated numerous state programs designed to moderate the number of claims and encourage providers to develop quality of care initiatives [4,5].

    It is important to develop more reliable estimates of the incidence of adverse events and negligence in hospitalized patients.An adverse event is defined as an injury caused by medical management (rather than the underlying disease that prolongs the hospitalization and results in disability at the time of discharge, or both. Negligence is defined as care that has fallen below the standard expected of physicians in their community.

    The Harvard Medical Practice Study (HMPS was first published in 1991 and was based on 1984 case records of more than 30,000 randomly selected records from 51 randomly selected acute care, nonpsychiatric hospitals.The study attempts to measure the extent of medical malpractice in hospitals in the state of New York, and compare the resulting patterns with the negligence claims actually filed [6-8]. The HMPS reviews randomly selected records with disability injuries caused by medical treatment.To establish that an adverse event or negligence has occurred, it uses as a criterion an average confidence score of four or more (on a six point scale. Data identified are age, sex, and primary discharge diagnosis. The significance of the differences in rates of adverse events and negligence according to sex and age were tested.

  6. The Annie Jump Cannon Video Project at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lupfer, C.; Welther, B. L.; Griswold, A.

    1993-05-01

    The heart of this poster paper is the screening of the new 25-minute educational video, ``Annie and the Stars of Many Colors.'' It explores the life and work of Annie Jump Cannon through the eyes of sixth-grade students. A production of the Science Media Group at the CfA, the video was created to interest and inspire girls and minorities, in particular, to continue their study of history and physical science in high school. Recent studies show that science teachers are successfully using videotapes in the classroom to supplement traditional methods of teaching. Other reports show that capable girls and minority students tend to drop science in high school. Our goal, then, was to create a video to stimulate the curiosity and natural interest in science of these younger students. With the help of the Public Affairs Office at the CfA, we arranged to visit local schools to talk to sixth-grade science teachers and their students about the video project. Boys and girls were both eager to participate in it. By lottery, we chose a dozen youngsters of multi-cultural backgrounds to attend a three-day workshop, during which we videotaped them discovering facts about Cannon's childhood and career. Barbara Welther, historian and principal investigator, took the group to the Harvard University Archives to look at some Cannon memorabilia. To learn about spectra, each student assembled a spectroscope from a kit and observed solar lines. CfA astronomers then led the group in various activities to explore the types of stellar spectra that Cannon classified and published in The Henry Draper Catalogue 75 years ago.% and that astronomers still study today. ``Annie and the Stars of Many Colors'' shows young people actively engaged in the process of discovery and offers teachers a novel tool to stimulate discussion of topics in science, history, women's studies, and careers. It is intended for use in schools, libraries, museums, planetariums, as well as for personal interest. For more

  7. From the Harvard Medical Practice Study to the Luxembourg Declaration. Changes in the approach to patient safety. Closing remarks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gianfranco Damiani

    2005-12-01

    Full Text Available Since the Harvard Medical Practice Study was published in 1991 the growing mass of international literature has demonstrated that medical adverse events can cause iatrogenic illnesses, prolonged hospitalisations and increased costs. In 1999-2001, reports made by the Institute of Medicine (IOM in the USA, the Department of Health (DoH in the UK and the Australian Patient Safety Foundation (APSF stressed the necessity for creating a safer environment and a reporting culture throughout healthcare systems. They also emphasized the need for researchers to investigate means of turning policies into practice. Since their publication a lot of effort has gone into collecting data on adverse events and near misses. As a result, in 2001, the AHRQ published a Health Technology Assessment report on best practices for patient safety. While in Australia national meetings have been dedicated to address important issues across the whole spectrum of healthcare. In the UK the Audit Commission has published a report that is also focused on medication safety: “A spoonful of sugar”. In 2004 the World Health Organisation promoted a Patient Safety Alliance; while in April 2005the Standing Committee of European Doctors organised a Conference in Luxembourg called “Patient safety - Making it happen!”. The issue of patient safety is therefore seen as a priority by EU institutional bodies and by many European health stakeholders.

  8. Experiment list: SRX150684 [Chip-atlas[Archive

    Lifescience Database Archive (English)

    Full Text Available sue Diagnosis=Fibrocystic Disease 174026370,97.9,12.7,1654 GSM935605: Harvard ChipSeq MCF10A-Er-Src Input Harvard... Control source_name=MCF10A-Er-Src || biomaterial_provider=Struhl laboratory || lab=Harvard || lab description=Struhl - Harvard...before peaks are called. || control=Harvard_Control || control description=input library was prepared at Harvard. || control=Harvard..._Control || control description=input library was prepared at Harvard. || controlid=

  9. A prototype feature system for feature retrieval using relationships

    Science.gov (United States)

    Choi, J.; Usery, E.L.

    2009-01-01

    Using a feature data model, geographic phenomena can be represented effectively by integrating space, theme, and time. This paper extends and implements a feature data model that supports query and visualization of geographic features using their non-spatial and temporal relationships. A prototype feature-oriented geographic information system (FOGIS) is then developed and storage of features named Feature Database is designed. Buildings from the U.S. Marine Corps Base, Camp Lejeune, North Carolina and subways in Chicago, Illinois are used to test the developed system. The results of the applications show the strength of the feature data model and the developed system 'FOGIS' when they utilize non-spatial and temporal relationships in order to retrieve and visualize individual features.

  10. Stemcell Information: SKIP000915 [SKIP Stemcell Database[Archive

    Lifescience Database Archive (English)

    Full Text Available s Immunostaining ... Yes Teratoma formation ... Salvatore Iovino Salvatore Iovino Harvard... Medical School Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School C. Rona...ld Kahn C. Ronald Kahn Not Available Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School ... 26831110 10.1073/pna

  11. Stemcell Information: SKIP000914 [SKIP Stemcell Database[Archive

    Lifescience Database Archive (English)

    Full Text Available ining ... Yes Teratoma formation ... Salvatore Iovino Salvatore Iovino Harvard Medical School Harv...ard Medical School Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School C. Ronald Kahn C. ...Ronald Kahn Not Available Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School ... 26831110 10.1073/pnas.152566511

  12. Stemcell Information: SKIP000913 [SKIP Stemcell Database[Archive

    Lifescience Database Archive (English)

    Full Text Available unostaining ... Yes Teratoma formation ... Salvatore Iovino Salvatore Iovino Harvard... Medical School Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School C. Ronald Ka...hn C. Ronald Kahn Not Available Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School ... 26831110 10.1073/pnas.152

  13. Evaluation of statistical designs in phase I expansion cohorts: the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center experience.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dahlberg, Suzanne E; Shapiro, Geoffrey I; Clark, Jeffrey W; Johnson, Bruce E

    2014-07-01

    Phase I trials have traditionally been designed to assess toxicity and establish phase II doses with dose-finding studies and expansion cohorts but are frequently exceeding the traditional sample size to further assess endpoints in specific patient subsets. The scientific objectives of phase I expansion cohorts and their evolving role in the current era of targeted therapies have yet to be systematically examined. Adult therapeutic phase I trials opened within Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center (DF/HCC) from 1988 to 2012 were identified for sample size details. Statistical designs and study objectives of those submitted in 2011 were reviewed for expansion cohort details. Five hundred twenty-two adult therapeutic phase I trials were identified during the 25 years. The average sample size of a phase I study has increased from 33.8 patients to 73.1 patients over that time. The proportion of trials with planned enrollment of 50 or fewer patients dropped from 93.0% during the time period 1988 to 1992 to 46.0% between 2008 and 2012; at the same time, the proportion of trials enrolling 51 to 100 patients and more than 100 patients increased from 5.3% and 1.8%, respectively, to 40.5% and 13.5% (χ(2) test, two-sided P < .001). Sixteen of the 60 trials (26.7%) in 2011 enrolled patients to three or more sub-cohorts in the expansion phase. Sixty percent of studies provided no statistical justification of the sample size, although 91.7% of trials stated response as an objective. Our data suggest that phase I studies have dramatically changed in size and scientific scope within the last decade. Additional studies addressing the implications of this trend on research processes, ethical concerns, and resource burden are needed. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.

  14. Using the Everest Team Simulation to Teach Threshold Concepts

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nichols, Elizabeth; Wright, April L.

    2015-01-01

    This resource review focuses on "Leadership and Team Simulation: Everest V2" released by Harvard Business Publishing. The review describes the simulation's story line of a commercial team expedition climbing to the summit of Mount Everest along with the simulation's architecture and key features. Building on Wright and Gilmore's (2012)…

  15. Stemcell Information: SKIP000912 [SKIP Stemcell Database[Archive

    Lifescience Database Archive (English)

    Full Text Available ing ... Yes Teratoma formation ... Salvatore Iovino Salvatore Iovino Harvard Medical School Harvar...d Medical School Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School C. Ronald Kahn C. Ro...nald Kahn Information Only Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School ... 26831110 10.1073/pnas.15256651

  16. Enhancing facial features by using clear facial features

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rofoo, Fanar Fareed Hanna

    2017-09-01

    The similarity of features between individuals of same ethnicity motivated the idea of this project. The idea of this project is to extract features of clear facial image and impose them on blurred facial image of same ethnic origin as an approach to enhance a blurred facial image. A database of clear images containing 30 individuals equally divided to five different ethnicities which were Arab, African, Chines, European and Indian. Software was built to perform pre-processing on images in order to align the features of clear and blurred images. And the idea was to extract features of clear facial image or template built from clear facial images using wavelet transformation to impose them on blurred image by using reverse wavelet. The results of this approach did not come well as all the features did not align together as in most cases the eyes were aligned but the nose or mouth were not aligned. Then we decided in the next approach to deal with features separately but in the result in some cases a blocky effect was present on features due to not having close matching features. In general the available small database did not help to achieve the goal results, because of the number of available individuals. The color information and features similarity could be more investigated to achieve better results by having larger database as well as improving the process of enhancement by the availability of closer matches in each ethnicity.

  17. Spatial features register: toward standardization of spatial features

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cascio, Janette

    1994-01-01

    As the need to share spatial data increases, more than agreement on a common format is needed to ensure that the data is meaningful to both the importer and the exporter. Effective data transfer also requires common definitions of spatial features. To achieve this, part 2 of the Spatial Data Transfer Standard (SDTS) provides a model for a spatial features data content specification and a glossary of features and attributes that fit this model. The model provides a foundation for standardizing spatial features. The glossary now contains only a limited subset of hydrographic and topographic features. For it to be useful, terms and definitions must be included for other categories, such as base cartographic, bathymetric, cadastral, cultural and demographic, geodetic, geologic, ground transportation, international boundaries, soils, vegetation, water, and wetlands, and the set of hydrographic and topographic features must be expanded. This paper will review the philosophy of the SDTS part 2 and the current plans for creating a national spatial features register as one mechanism for maintaining part 2.

  18. Association Between National Board Dental Examination Part II Scores and Comprehensive Examinations at Harvard School of Dental Medicine.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Min Kyeong; Allareddy, Veerasathpurush; Howell, T Howard; Karimbux, Nadeem Y

    2011-01-01

    Harvard School of Dental Medicine (HSDM) uses a hybrid problem-based approach to teaching in the predoctoral program. The objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) is a formative examination designed to assess the performance of students in the problem-based learning (PBL) curriculum. At HSDM three comprehensive examinations with OSCE components are administered during the third and fourth years of clinical training. The National Board Dental Examination (NBDE) Part II is taken in the final year of the predoctoral program. This study examines the association between the NBDE Part II and the comprehensive exams held at HSDM. Predoctoral students from the HSDM classes of 2005 and 2006 were included in this study. The outcome variable of interest was the scores obtained by students in the NBDE Part II, and the main independent variable of interest was the performance of students in the comprehensive exams (honors, pass, make-up exam to pass). The Mann-Whitney U-test was used to examine the association between the grades obtained in the each of the three comprehensive exams and the NBDE Part II scores. Multivariable linear regression analysis was also used to examine the association between the NBDE Part II scores and the comprehensive exam grades. The effect of potential confounding factors including age, sex, and race/ethnicity was adjusted. The results suggest that students who performed well in the comprehensive exams performed better on the NBDE Part II, even after adjusting for confounding factors. Future studies will examine the long-term impact of PBL on postdoctoral plans and career choices.

  19. FEATURE SELECTION METHODS BASED ON MUTUAL INFORMATION FOR CLASSIFYING HETEROGENEOUS FEATURES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ratri Enggar Pawening

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available Datasets with heterogeneous features can affect feature selection results that are not appropriate because it is difficult to evaluate heterogeneous features concurrently. Feature transformation (FT is another way to handle heterogeneous features subset selection. The results of transformation from non-numerical into numerical features may produce redundancy to the original numerical features. In this paper, we propose a method to select feature subset based on mutual information (MI for classifying heterogeneous features. We use unsupervised feature transformation (UFT methods and joint mutual information maximation (JMIM methods. UFT methods is used to transform non-numerical features into numerical features. JMIM methods is used to select feature subset with a consideration of the class label. The transformed and the original features are combined entirely, then determine features subset by using JMIM methods, and classify them using support vector machine (SVM algorithm. The classification accuracy are measured for any number of selected feature subset and compared between UFT-JMIM methods and Dummy-JMIM methods. The average classification accuracy for all experiments in this study that can be achieved by UFT-JMIM methods is about 84.47% and Dummy-JMIM methods is about 84.24%. This result shows that UFT-JMIM methods can minimize information loss between transformed and original features, and select feature subset to avoid redundant and irrelevant features.

  20. Identifying significant environmental features using feature recognition.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2015-10-01

    The Department of Environmental Analysis at the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet has expressed an interest in feature-recognition capability because it may help analysts identify environmentally sensitive features in the landscape, : including those r...

  1. Experiment list: SRX150478 [Chip-atlas[Archive

    Lifescience Database Archive (English)

    Full Text Available osis=Fibrocystic Disease 66690540,98.1,24.9,110111 GSM935398: Harvard ChipSeq MCF10A-Er-Src 4OHTAM 1uM 12hr c-Fos Harvard... Control source_name=MCF10A-Er-Src || biomaterial_provider=Struhl laboratory || lab=Harvard || ...lab description=Struhl - Harvard University || datatype=ChipSeq || datatype descr... is a leucine-zipper. || antibody vendorname=Santa Cruz Biotech || antibody vendorid=sc-7202 || control=Harvard..._Control || control description=input library was prepared at Harvard. || control=Harvard

  2. Experiment list: SRX150477 [Chip-atlas[Archive

    Lifescience Database Archive (English)

    Full Text Available osis=Fibrocystic Disease 70636654,97.7,24.3,106225 GSM935397: Harvard ChipSeq MCF10A-Er-Src 4OHTAM 1uM 4hr c-Fos Harvard... Control source_name=MCF10A-Er-Src || biomaterial_provider=Struhl laboratory || lab=Harvard || l... a leucine-zipper. || antibody vendorname=Santa Cruz Biotech || antibody vendorid=sc-7202 || control=Harvard..._Control || control description=input library was prepared at Harvard. || control=Harvard..._Control || control description=input library was prepared at Harvard. || controlid=wgEncodeEH002871

  3. Experiment list: SRX150476 [Chip-atlas[Archive

    Lifescience Database Archive (English)

    Full Text Available osis=Fibrocystic Disease 60050220,94.5,18.5,85444 GSM935396: Harvard ChipSeq MCF10A-Er-Src 4OHTAM 1uM 36hr c-Fos Harvard... Control source_name=MCF10A-Er-Src || biomaterial_provider=Struhl laboratory || lab=Harvard || l...is a leucine-zipper. || antibody vendorname=Santa Cruz Biotech || antibody vendorid=sc-7202 || control=Harvard..._Control || control description=input library was prepared at Harvard. || control=Harvard..._Control || control description=input library was prepared at Harvard. || controlid=wgEncodeEH0028

  4. The Harvard Automated Processing Pipeline for Electroencephalography (HAPPE): Standardized Processing Software for Developmental and High-Artifact Data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gabard-Durnam, Laurel J; Mendez Leal, Adriana S; Wilkinson, Carol L; Levin, April R

    2018-01-01

    Electroenchephalography (EEG) recordings collected with developmental populations present particular challenges from a data processing perspective. These EEGs have a high degree of artifact contamination and often short recording lengths. As both sample sizes and EEG channel densities increase, traditional processing approaches like manual data rejection are becoming unsustainable. Moreover, such subjective approaches preclude standardized metrics of data quality, despite the heightened importance of such measures for EEGs with high rates of initial artifact contamination. There is presently a paucity of automated resources for processing these EEG data and no consistent reporting of data quality measures. To address these challenges, we propose the Harvard Automated Processing Pipeline for EEG (HAPPE) as a standardized, automated pipeline compatible with EEG recordings of variable lengths and artifact contamination levels, including high-artifact and short EEG recordings from young children or those with neurodevelopmental disorders. HAPPE processes event-related and resting-state EEG data from raw files through a series of filtering, artifact rejection, and re-referencing steps to processed EEG suitable for time-frequency-domain analyses. HAPPE also includes a post-processing report of data quality metrics to facilitate the evaluation and reporting of data quality in a standardized manner. Here, we describe each processing step in HAPPE, perform an example analysis with EEG files we have made freely available, and show that HAPPE outperforms seven alternative, widely-used processing approaches. HAPPE removes more artifact than all alternative approaches while simultaneously preserving greater or equivalent amounts of EEG signal in almost all instances. We also provide distributions of HAPPE's data quality metrics in an 867 file dataset as a reference distribution and in support of HAPPE's performance across EEG data with variable artifact contamination and

  5. The Harvard Automated Processing Pipeline for Electroencephalography (HAPPE: Standardized Processing Software for Developmental and High-Artifact Data

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Laurel J. Gabard-Durnam

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available Electroenchephalography (EEG recordings collected with developmental populations present particular challenges from a data processing perspective. These EEGs have a high degree of artifact contamination and often short recording lengths. As both sample sizes and EEG channel densities increase, traditional processing approaches like manual data rejection are becoming unsustainable. Moreover, such subjective approaches preclude standardized metrics of data quality, despite the heightened importance of such measures for EEGs with high rates of initial artifact contamination. There is presently a paucity of automated resources for processing these EEG data and no consistent reporting of data quality measures. To address these challenges, we propose the Harvard Automated Processing Pipeline for EEG (HAPPE as a standardized, automated pipeline compatible with EEG recordings of variable lengths and artifact contamination levels, including high-artifact and short EEG recordings from young children or those with neurodevelopmental disorders. HAPPE processes event-related and resting-state EEG data from raw files through a series of filtering, artifact rejection, and re-referencing steps to processed EEG suitable for time-frequency-domain analyses. HAPPE also includes a post-processing report of data quality metrics to facilitate the evaluation and reporting of data quality in a standardized manner. Here, we describe each processing step in HAPPE, perform an example analysis with EEG files we have made freely available, and show that HAPPE outperforms seven alternative, widely-used processing approaches. HAPPE removes more artifact than all alternative approaches while simultaneously preserving greater or equivalent amounts of EEG signal in almost all instances. We also provide distributions of HAPPE's data quality metrics in an 867 file dataset as a reference distribution and in support of HAPPE's performance across EEG data with variable artifact

  6. Analytical Features: A Knowledge-Based Approach to Audio Feature Generation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pachet François

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available We present a feature generation system designed to create audio features for supervised classification tasks. The main contribution to feature generation studies is the notion of analytical features (AFs, a construct designed to support the representation of knowledge about audio signal processing. We describe the most important aspects of AFs, in particular their dimensional type system, on which are based pattern-based random generators, heuristics, and rewriting rules. We show how AFs generalize or improve previous approaches used in feature generation. We report on several projects using AFs for difficult audio classification tasks, demonstrating their advantage over standard audio features. More generally, we propose analytical features as a paradigm to bring raw signals into the world of symbolic computation.

  7. Experiment list: SRX150517 [Chip-atlas[Archive

    Lifescience Database Archive (English)

    Full Text Available osis=Fibrocystic Disease 50667127,93.3,23.9,80828 GSM935438: Harvard ChipSeq MCF10A-Er-Src EtOH 0.01pct c-Fos Harvard... Control source_name=MCF10A-Er-Src || biomaterial_provider=Struhl laboratory || lab=Harvard || lab description=Struhl - Harv...me=Santa Cruz Biotech || antibody vendorid=sc-7202 || control=Harvard_Control || control description=input l...ibrary was prepared at Harvard. || control=Harvard_Control || control description...=input library was prepared at Harvard. || controlid=wgEncodeEH002871 || replicate=1 http://dbarchive.biosci

  8. Experiment list: SRX150570 [Chip-atlas[Archive

    Lifescience Database Archive (English)

    Full Text Available osis=Fibrocystic Disease 64692659,93.8,19.3,37417 GSM935491: Harvard ChipSeq MCF10A-Er-Src 4OHTAM 1uM 4hr c-Myc Harvard... Control source_name=MCF10A-Er-Src || biomaterial_provider=Struhl laboratory || lab=Harvard || la...ntibody vendorname=Santa Cruz Biotech || antibody vendorid=sc-764 || control=Harvard_Control || control desc...ription=input library was prepared at Harvard. || control=Harvard_Control || cont...rol description=input library was prepared at Harvard. || controlid=wgEncodeEH002871 || replicate=1 http://d

  9. Featureous: infrastructure for feature-centric analysis of object-oriented software

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Olszak, Andrzej; Jørgensen, Bo Nørregaard

    2010-01-01

    The decentralized nature of collaborations between objects in object-oriented software makes it difficult to understand how user-observable program features are implemented and how their implementations relate to each other. It is worthwhile to improve this situation, since feature-centric program...... understanding and modification are essential during software evolution and maintenance. In this paper, we present an infrastructure built on top of the NetBeans IDE called Featureous that allows for rapid construction of tools for feature-centric analysis of object-oriented software. Our infrastructure...... encompasses a lightweight feature location mechanism, a number of analytical views and an API allowing for addition of third-party extensions. To form a common conceptual framework for future feature-centric extensions, we propose to structure feature centric analysis along three dimensions: perspective...

  10. Can Khan Move the Bell Curve to the Right?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kronholz, June

    2012-01-01

    This article features Khan Academy which offers an online math program and short video lectures embedded in the "module", or math concept, that fit students' goals. By now, more than 1 million people have watched the online video in which Salman Khan--a charming MIT math whiz, Harvard Business School graduate, and former Boston hedge-fund…

  11. Specific features of elite bodybuilders’ training process in competition period

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A.A. Tihorsky

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available Purpose: To substantiate methodic of training process construction for elite bodybuilders in competition period with usage of different training methods. Material: elite bodybuilders - members of combined team of Ukraine (n=16 participated in the research. Results: we presented comparative characteristic of the most often used bodybuilding training methodic. Besides, optimal training methodic in competition period was worked out and substantiated. Such methodic permits to improve body proportions at the account of fat layer reduction. By the data of Harvard step-test the sportsmen improved organism’s functional potentials by 6%. Conclusions: the offered methodic noticeably reduces probability of functional unfavorable states (over-training, overloading, traumas. The methodic permits to achieve the required sport form without over-tension adaptation-compensatory mechanisms and acquire maximal muscular relief; improve proportions with minimal losses of muscles’ volume.

  12. Impact of severe ADAMTS13 deficiency on clinical presentation and outcomes in patients with thrombotic microangiopathies: the experience of the Harvard TMA Research Collaborative.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bendapudi, Pavan K; Li, Ang; Hamdan, Ayad; Uhl, Lynne; Kaufman, Richard; Stowell, Christopher; Dzik, Walter; Makar, Robert S

    2015-12-01

    The Harvard TMA Research Collaborative is a multi-institutional registry-based effort to study thrombotic microangiopathies (TMA). Laboratory and clinical parameters were recorded for 254 cases of suspected autoimmune thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP). Patients with severe ADAMTS13 deficiency (activity ≤10%, N = 68) were more likely to be young, female and without a history of cancer treatment or transplantation. While all patients with severe deficiency were diagnosed with autoimmune TTP, those without severe deficiency frequently had disseminated intravascular coagulation, drug-associated TMA and transplant-related TMA. Patients with severe ADAMTS13 deficiency had superior overall survival at 360 d compared to those without severe deficiency (93·0% vs. 47·5%, P 10% varied significantly across the institutions in our consortium (13·2-63·8%, P 10% between the three hospitals (P = 0·98). Our data show that patients with severe ADAMTS13 deficiency represent a clinically distinct cohort that responds well to TPE. In contrast, TMA without severe ADAMTS13 deficiency is associated with increased mortality that may not be influenced by TPE. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  13. Feature Article

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    Home; Journals; Resonance – Journal of Science Education. Feature Article. Articles in Resonance – Journal of Science Education. Volume 1 Issue 1 January 1996 pp 80-85 Feature Article. What's New in Computers Windows 95 · Vijnan Shastri · More Details Fulltext PDF. Volume 1 Issue 1 January 1996 pp 86-89 Feature ...

  14. Featureous: A Tool for Feature-Centric Analysis of Java Software

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Olszak, Andrzej; Jørgensen, Bo Nørregaard

    2010-01-01

    Feature-centric comprehension of source code is necessary for incorporating user-requested modifications during software evolution and maintenance. However, such comprehension is difficult to achieve in case of large object-oriented programs due to the size, complexity, and implicit character...... of mappings between features and source code. To support programmers in overcoming these difficulties, we present a feature-centric analysis tool, Featureous. Our tool extends the NetBeans IDE with mechanisms for efficient location of feature implementations in legacy source code, and an extensive analysis...

  15. Experiment list: SRX150520 [Chip-atlas[Archive

    Lifescience Database Archive (English)

    Full Text Available osis=Fibrocystic Disease 49296691,89.4,24.9,46885 GSM935441: Harvard ChipSeq MCF10A-Er-Src EtOH 0.01pct c-Myc Harvard... Control source_name=MCF10A-Er-Src || biomaterial_provider=Struhl laboratory || lab=Harvard || lab description=Struhl - Harv...|| antibody vendorid=sc-764 || control=Harvard_Control || control description=input library was prepared at Harvard. || control=Harva...rd_Control || control description=input library was prepared at Harvard...ard University || datatype=ChipSeq || datatype descripti

  16. A study of the importance of education and cost incentives on individual food choices at the Harvard School of Public Health cafeteria.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Michels, Karin B; Bloom, Barry R; Riccardi, Paul; Rosner, Bernard A; Willett, Walter C

    2008-02-01

    To investigate the importance of cost and awareness of health- or disease-promoting properties of foods and meals for choices by customers of a cafeteria. A non-randomized intervention study. A medium size cafeteria in the Harvard School of Public Health. Customers of the cafeteria mainly consisting of public health students, faculty, and school staff and workers from the medical campus. The purchase of healthy foods and dishes was subsidized and their prices reduced by 20%. This promotion was accompanied by the distribution of educational material. Change in consumption of healthy and less healthy foods. The geometric mean was used to calculate the change in consumption. During the intervention, we observed a 6% increase in the consumption of healthy foods (95% confidence interval [CI]; 5% to 8%), and a 2% decline in the consumption of less-healthy foods (95% CI; -1% to -4%). After the prices returned to their original levels, the consumption of healthy foods increased further to 17% (95% CI; 13% to 20%) and a 2% decline in the consumption of less-healthy foods (95% CI; % 1 to -5%) persisted. Subsidizing healthful meals and educating consumers about the importance of a healthy diet can result in a modest increase in the selection of healthy foods and meals that can be maintained beyond the periods of subsidy and promotion.

  17. Definitions of engineered safety features and related features for nuclear power plants

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1986-01-01

    In light water moderated, light water cooled nuclear power plants, definitions are given of engineered safety features which are designed to suppress or prevent dispersion of radioactive materials due to damage etc. of fuel at the times of power plant failures, and of related features which are designed to actuate or operate the engineered safety features. Contents are the following: scope of engineered safety features and of related features; classification of engineered safety features (direct systems and indirect systems) and of related features (auxiliaries, emergency power supply, and protective means). (Mori, K.)

  18. Comparison of Elastic Modulus and Compressive Strength of Ariadent and Harvard Polycarboxylate Cement and Vitremer Resin Modified Glass Ionomer

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ahmadian Khoshemehr Leila

    2009-09-01

    Full Text Available Background: Luting agents are used to attach indirect restoration into or on the tooth. Poor mechanical properties of cement may be a cause of fracture of this layer and lead to caries and restoration removal. The purpose of this study was to compare the elastic modulus and compressive strength of Ariadent (A Poly and Harvard polycarboxylate (H Poly cements and Vitremer resin modified glass ionomer (RGl.Materials & Methods: In this experimental study 15 specimens were prepared form each experimental cement in Laboratory of Tehran Oil Refining Company. The cylindrical specimens were compressed in Instron machine after 24 hours. Elastic modulus and compressive strength were calculated from stress/strain curve of each specimen. One way ANOVA and Tukey tests were used for statistical analysis and P values<0.05 were considered to be statistically significant.Results: The mean elastic modulus and mean compressive strength were 2.2 GPa and 87.8MPa in H poly, 2.4 GPa and 56.5 MPa in A Poly, and 0.8GPa and 105.6 MPa in RGI, respectively. Statistical analysis showed that compressive strength and elastic modulus of both polycarboxylate cements were significantly different from hybrid ionomer (P<0.05, but the difference between elastic modulus of two types of polycarboxilate cements was not statistically significant. Compressive strength of two polycarboxilate cements were significantly different (P<0.05. Conclusion: An ideal lutting agent must have the best mechanical properties. Between the tested luttins RGl cement had the lowest elastic modulus and the highest compressive strength, but the A poly cement had the highest elastic modulus and the lowest compressive strength. Therefore none of them was the best.

  19. JCE Feature Columns

    Science.gov (United States)

    Holmes, Jon L.

    1999-05-01

    The Features area of JCE Online is now readily accessible through a single click from our home page. In the Features area each column is linked to its own home page. These column home pages also have links to them from the online Journal Table of Contents pages or from any article published as part of that feature column. Using these links you can easily find abstracts of additional articles that are related by topic. Of course, JCE Online+ subscribers are then just one click away from the entire article. Finding related articles is easy because each feature column "site" contains links to the online abstracts of all the articles that have appeared in the column. In addition, you can find the mission statement for the column and the email link to the column editor that I mentioned above. At the discretion of its editor, a feature column site may contain additional resources. As an example, the Chemical Information Instructor column edited by Arleen Somerville will have a periodically updated bibliography of resources for teaching and using chemical information. Due to the increase in the number of these resources available on the WWW, it only makes sense to publish this information online so that you can get to these resources with a simple click of the mouse. We expect that there will soon be additional information and resources at several other feature column sites. Following in the footsteps of the Chemical Information Instructor, up-to-date bibliographies and links to related online resources can be made available. We hope to extend the online component of our feature columns with moderated online discussion forums. If you have a suggestion for an online resource you would like to see included, let the feature editor or JCE Online (jceonline@chem.wisc.edu) know about it. JCE Internet Features JCE Internet also has several feature columns: Chemical Education Resource Shelf, Conceptual Questions and Challenge Problems, Equipment Buyers Guide, Hal's Picks, Mathcad

  20. Principal Feature Analysis: A Multivariate Feature Selection Method for fMRI Data

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lijun Wang

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Brain decoding with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI requires analysis of complex, multivariate data. Multivoxel pattern analysis (MVPA has been widely used in recent years. MVPA treats the activation of multiple voxels from fMRI data as a pattern and decodes brain states using pattern classification methods. Feature selection is a critical procedure of MVPA because it decides which features will be included in the classification analysis of fMRI data, thereby improving the performance of the classifier. Features can be selected by limiting the analysis to specific anatomical regions or by computing univariate (voxel-wise or multivariate statistics. However, these methods either discard some informative features or select features with redundant information. This paper introduces the principal feature analysis as a novel multivariate feature selection method for fMRI data processing. This multivariate approach aims to remove features with redundant information, thereby selecting fewer features, while retaining the most information.

  1. Policies to increase the social value of science and the scientist satisfaction. An exploratory survey among Harvard bioscientists. [v1; ref status: indexed, http://f1000r.es/2iq

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andrea Ballabeni

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Basic research in the biomedical field generates both knowledge that has a value per se regardless of its possible practical outcome and that has the potential to produce more practical benefits. Policies can increase the benefit potential to society of basic biomedical research by offering various kinds of incentives to basic researchers. In this paper we argue that soft incentives or “nudges” are particularly promising. However, to be well designed, these incentives must take into account the motivations, goals and views of the basic scientists. In the paper we present the results of an investigation that involved more than 300 scientists at Harvard Medical School and affiliated institutes. The study shows that basic researchers’ support for soft incentives is such that the transformative value of fundamental investigations can be increased without affecting the spirit of the basic research and scientists’ work satisfaction. After discussing the findings, we suggest a few examples of nudges and discuss one in more detail.

  2. Policies to increase the social value of science and the scientist satisfaction. An exploratory survey among Harvard bioscientists. [v2; ref status: indexed, http://f1000r.es/3jw

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andrea Ballabeni

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available Basic research in the biomedical field generates both knowledge that has a value per se regardless of its possible practical outcome and knowledge that has the potential to produce more practical benefits. Policies can increase the benefit potential to society of basic biomedical research by offering various kinds of incentives to basic researchers. In this paper we argue that soft incentives or “nudges” are particularly promising. However, to be well designed, these incentives must take into account the motivations, goals and views of the basic scientists. In the paper we present the results of an investigation that involved more than 300 scientists at Harvard Medical School and affiliated institutes. The results of this study suggest that some soft incentives could be valuable tools to increase the transformative value of fundamental investigations without affecting the spirit of the basic research and scientists’ work satisfaction. After discussing the findings, we discuss a few examples of nudges for basic researchers in the biomedical fields.

  3. Classification Influence of Features on Given Emotions and Its Application in Feature Selection

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xing, Yin; Chen, Chuang; Liu, Li-Long

    2018-04-01

    In order to solve the problem that there is a large amount of redundant data in high-dimensional speech emotion features, we analyze deeply the extracted speech emotion features and select better features. Firstly, a given emotion is classified by each feature. Secondly, the recognition rate is ranked in descending order. Then, the optimal threshold of features is determined by rate criterion. Finally, the better features are obtained. When applied in Berlin and Chinese emotional data set, the experimental results show that the feature selection method outperforms the other traditional methods.

  4. INFLUENCE OF THE INTELLIGENCE PROJECT AT HARVARD COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT OF STUDENTS IN PRIMARY EDUCATION. IMPLICATIONS FOR ORGANIZATIONAL AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN SECOND AND THIRD CYCLE OF PRIMARY EDUCATION

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mercedes Ramos Fresno

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available This study aims to identify the influence of the Harvard Project on IQ Intelligence students of second and third cycle of primary education and the implications for the organizational and professional development of teachers . The experience has been developed over four courses in a public school in Madrid. The methodology used , complementary , included group designs with pretest-posttest measures , participant observation and interviews. The results show the positive impact of PIH on IQ and can say that the application of PIH produce cognitive improvements in students , as measured by the intelligence test "g" of Cattell . Regarding the implications for the organizational and professional development, we have found that the implementation of PIH promotes the development of teacher professional autonomy , commitment to teaching practice , and the necessary self-criticism to constantly evaluate , creating flexible educational proposals through self-reflection. The communication of this experience positively influences both the school community and the local community, encouraging them to participate in educational projects aimed at improving the quality of teaching- learning and education.

  5. A Novel Approach for Automatic Machining Feature Recognition with Edge Blend Feature

    OpenAIRE

    Keong Chen Wong; Yusof Yusri

    2017-01-01

    This paper presents an algorithm for efficiently recognizing and determining the convexity of an edge blend feature. The algorithm first recognizes all of the edge blend features from the Boundary Representation of a part; then a series of convexity test have been run on the recognized edge blend features. The novelty of the presented algorithm lies in, instead of each recognized blend feature is suppressed as most of researchers did, the recognized blend features of this research are gone th...

  6. The Power of Exercise and the Exercise of Power: The Harvard Fatigue Laboratory, Distance Running, and the Disappearance of Work, 1919-1947.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Scheffler, Robin Wolfe

    2015-08-01

    In the early twentieth century, fatigue research marked an area of conflicting scientific, industrial, and cultural understandings of working bodies. These different understandings of the working body marked a key site of political conflict during the growth of industrial capitalism. Many fatigue researchers understood fatigue to be a physiological fact and allied themselves with Progressive-era reformers in urging industrial regulation. Opposed to these researchers were advocates of Taylorism and scientific management, who held that fatigue was a mental event and that productivity could be perpetually increased through managerial efficiency. Histories of this conflict typically cease with the end of the First World War, when it is assumed that industrial fatigue research withered away. This article extends the history of fatigue research through examining the activities of the Harvard Fatigue Laboratory in the 1920s and 1930s. The Laboratory developed sophisticated biochemical techniques to study the blood of exercising individuals. In particular, it found that exercising individuals could attain a biochemically "steady state," or equilibrium, and extrapolated from this to assert that fatigue was psychological, not physiological, in nature. In contrast to Progressive-era research, the Laboratory reached this conclusion through laboratory examination, not of industrial workers, but of Laboratory staff members and champion marathon runners. The translation of laboratory research to industrial settings, and the eventual erasure of physiological fatigue from discussions of labor, was a complex function of institutional settings, scientific innovation, and the cultural meanings of work and sport.

  7. A Study of the Importance of Education and Cost Incentives on Individual Food Choices at the Harvard School of Public Health Cafeteria

    Science.gov (United States)

    Michels, Karin B.; Bloom, Barry R.; Riccardi, Paul; Rosner, Bernard A.; Willett, Walter C.

    2013-01-01

    Objectives To investigate the importance of cost and awareness of health- or disease-promoting properties of foods and meals for choices by customers of a cafeteria. Design A non-randomized intervention study. Setting A medium size cafeteria in the Harvard School of Public Health. Participants Customers of the cafeteria mainly consisting of public health students, faculty, and school staff and workers from the medical campus. Intervention The purchase of healthy foods and dishes was subsidized and their prices reduced by 20%. This promotion was accompanied by the distribution of educational material. Main Outcome Measures Change in consumption of healthy and less healthy foods. Analysis The geometric mean was used to calculate the change in consumption. Results During the intervention, we observed a 6% increase in the consumption of healthy foods (95% confidence interval [CI]; 5% to 8%), and a 2% decline in the consumption of less-healthy foods (95% CI; −1% to −4%). After the prices returned to their original levels, the consumption of healthy foods increased further to 17% (95% CI; 13% to 20%) and a 2% decline in the consumption of less-healthy foods (95% CI; % 1 to −5%) persisted. Conclusions Subsidizing healthful meals and educating consumers about the importance of a healthy diet can result in a modest increase in the selection of healthy foods and meals that can be maintained beyond the periods of subsidy and promotion. PMID:18460476

  8. Chronic Exposure to Fine Particles and Mortality: An Extended Follow-up of the Harvard Six Cities Study from 1974 to 2009

    Science.gov (United States)

    Laden, Francine; Dockery, Douglas; Schwartz, Joel

    2012-01-01

    Background: Epidemiologic studies have reported associations between fine particles (aerodynamic diameter ≤ 2.5 µm; PM2.5) and mortality. However, concerns have been raised regarding the sensitivity of the results to model specifications, lower exposures, and averaging time. Objective: We addressed these issues using 11 additional years of follow-up of the Harvard Six Cities study, incorporating recent lower exposures. Methods: We replicated the previously applied Cox regression, and examined different time lags, the shape of the concentration–response relationship using penalized splines, and changes in the slope of the relation over time. We then conducted Poisson survival analysis with time-varying effects for smoking, sex, and education. Results: Since 2001, average PM2.5 levels, for all six cities, were < 18 µg/m3. Each increase in PM2.5 (10 µg/m3) was associated with an adjusted increased risk of all-cause mortality (PM2.5 average on previous year) of 14% [95% confidence interval (CI): 7, 22], and with 26% (95% CI: 14, 40) and 37% (95% CI: 7, 75) increases in cardiovascular and lung-cancer mortality (PM2.5 average of three previous years), respectively. The concentration–response relationship was linear down to PM2.5 concentrations of 8 µg/m3. Mortality rate ratios for PM2.5 fluctuated over time, but without clear trends despite a substantial drop in the sulfate fraction. Poisson models produced similar results. Conclusions: These results suggest that further public policy efforts that reduce fine particulate matter air pollution are likely to have continuing public health benefits. PMID:22456598

  9. Unsupervised Feature Subset Selection

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Søndberg-Madsen, Nicolaj; Thomsen, C.; Pena, Jose

    2003-01-01

    This paper studies filter and hybrid filter-wrapper feature subset selection for unsupervised learning (data clustering). We constrain the search for the best feature subset by scoring the dependence of every feature on the rest of the features, conjecturing that these scores discriminate some ir...... irrelevant features. We report experimental results on artificial and real data for unsupervised learning of naive Bayes models. Both the filter and hybrid approaches perform satisfactorily....

  10. When do letter features migrate? A boundary condition for feature-integration theory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Butler, B E; Mewhort, D J; Browse, R A

    1991-01-01

    Feature-integration theory postulates that a lapse of attention will allow letter features to change position and to recombine as illusory conjunctions (Treisman & Paterson, 1984). To study such errors, we used a set of uppercase letters known to yield illusory conjunctions in each of three tasks. The first, a bar-probe task, showed whole-character mislocations but not errors based on feature migration and recombination. The second, a two-alternative forced-choice detection task, allowed subjects to focus on the presence or absence of subletter features and showed illusory conjunctions based on feature migration and recombination. The third was also a two-alternative forced-choice detection task, but we manipulated the subjects' knowledge of the shape of the stimuli: In the case-certain condition, the stimuli were always in uppercase, but in the case-uncertain condition, the stimuli could appear in either upper- or lowercase. Subjects in the case-certain condition produced illusory conjunctions based on feature recombination, whereas subjects in the case-uncertain condition did not. The results suggest that when subjects can view the stimuli as feature groups, letter features regroup as illusory conjunctions; when subjects encode the stimuli as letters, whole items may be mislocated, but subletter features are not. Thus, illusory conjunctions reflect the subject's processing strategy, rather than the architecture of the visual system.

  11. Featureous: an Integrated Approach to Location, Analysis and Modularization of Features in Java Applications

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Olszak, Andrzej

    , it is essential that features are properly modularized within the structural organization of software systems. Nevertheless, in many object-oriented applications, features are not represented explicitly. Consequently, features typically end up scattered and tangled over multiple source code units......, such as architectural layers, packages and classes. This lack of modularization is known to make application features difficult to locate, to comprehend and to modify in isolation from one another. To overcome these problems, this thesis proposes Featureous, a novel approach to location, analysis and modularization...... quantitative and qualitative results suggest that Featureous succeeds at efficiently locating features in unfamiliar codebases, at aiding feature-oriented comprehension and modification, and at improving modularization of features using Java packages....

  12. Innovations in individual feature history management - The significance of feature-based temporal model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Choi, J.; Seong, J.C.; Kim, B.; Usery, E.L.

    2008-01-01

    A feature relies on three dimensions (space, theme, and time) for its representation. Even though spatiotemporal models have been proposed, they have principally focused on the spatial changes of a feature. In this paper, a feature-based temporal model is proposed to represent the changes of both space and theme independently. The proposed model modifies the ISO's temporal schema and adds new explicit temporal relationship structure that stores temporal topological relationship with the ISO's temporal primitives of a feature in order to keep track feature history. The explicit temporal relationship can enhance query performance on feature history by removing topological comparison during query process. Further, a prototype system has been developed to test a proposed feature-based temporal model by querying land parcel history in Athens, Georgia. The result of temporal query on individual feature history shows the efficiency of the explicit temporal relationship structure. ?? Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2007.

  13. Dependency Parsing with Transformed Feature

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fuxiang Wu

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Dependency parsing is an important subtask of natural language processing. In this paper, we propose an embedding feature transforming method for graph-based parsing, transform-based parsing, which directly utilizes the inner similarity of the features to extract information from all feature strings including the un-indexed strings and alleviate the feature sparse problem. The model transforms the extracted features to transformed features via applying a feature weight matrix, which consists of similarities between the feature strings. Since the matrix is usually rank-deficient because of similar feature strings, it would influence the strength of constraints. However, it is proven that the duplicate transformed features do not degrade the optimization algorithm: the margin infused relaxed algorithm. Moreover, this problem can be alleviated by reducing the number of the nearest transformed features of a feature. In addition, to further improve the parsing accuracy, a fusion parser is introduced to integrate transformed and original features. Our experiments verify that both transform-based and fusion parser improve the parsing accuracy compared to the corresponding feature-based parser.

  14. The feature-weighted receptive field: an interpretable encoding model for complex feature spaces.

    Science.gov (United States)

    St-Yves, Ghislain; Naselaris, Thomas

    2017-06-20

    We introduce the feature-weighted receptive field (fwRF), an encoding model designed to balance expressiveness, interpretability and scalability. The fwRF is organized around the notion of a feature map-a transformation of visual stimuli into visual features that preserves the topology of visual space (but not necessarily the native resolution of the stimulus). The key assumption of the fwRF model is that activity in each voxel encodes variation in a spatially localized region across multiple feature maps. This region is fixed for all feature maps; however, the contribution of each feature map to voxel activity is weighted. Thus, the model has two separable sets of parameters: "where" parameters that characterize the location and extent of pooling over visual features, and "what" parameters that characterize tuning to visual features. The "where" parameters are analogous to classical receptive fields, while "what" parameters are analogous to classical tuning functions. By treating these as separable parameters, the fwRF model complexity is independent of the resolution of the underlying feature maps. This makes it possible to estimate models with thousands of high-resolution feature maps from relatively small amounts of data. Once a fwRF model has been estimated from data, spatial pooling and feature tuning can be read-off directly with no (or very little) additional post-processing or in-silico experimentation. We describe an optimization algorithm for estimating fwRF models from data acquired during standard visual neuroimaging experiments. We then demonstrate the model's application to two distinct sets of features: Gabor wavelets and features supplied by a deep convolutional neural network. We show that when Gabor feature maps are used, the fwRF model recovers receptive fields and spatial frequency tuning functions consistent with known organizational principles of the visual cortex. We also show that a fwRF model can be used to regress entire deep

  15. Generation of physician-scientists manpower: a follow-up study of the first 294 graduates of the Harvard-MIT Program of Health Sciences and Technology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abelmann, W H; Nave, B D; Wilkerson, L

    1997-06-01

    The MD program of the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology was founded in 1970. One of its goals was the application of the academic resources of the two universities to the education of leaders in academic medicine and biomedical sciences. The first MD class was admitted in 1971. Prerequisites for admission are a strong background in quantitative sciences and demonstrated interest in research. Research and a thesis are obligatory. Enrollment in a PhD program is elective. Questionnaires were sent to 293 alumni who graduated from the MD program between 1975 and 1988, followed up by letters and telephone calls. By 1988, 296 students had graduated, 207 with an MD only, 89 with MD-PhD degrees. Follow-up by questionnaires of 293 living graduates (92%), plus indirect data on 11 others, revealed that 212 (75%) held faculty appointments in 64 medical schools. Overall, 73.5% of respondents were engaged in research: 68% of MDs and 86% of MD-PhDs. One hundred and four (38%) respondents spent more than 50% of their time on research: 54 (29%) of MDs and 50 (60%) of MD-PhDs. Seventy-five percent of respondents were active in teaching. Our experience indicates that both an MD-PhD program and a research-oriented MD program are effective in producing physician-scientists and leaders in academic medicine.

  16. Language Features and Culture Features on Short Message

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    王佳

    2013-01-01

    Mobile phone is regarded as“the fifth media”after newspaper,radio,TV and the Internet.The mobile phone short message further highlights the importance of written signs in communication.“The thumb revolution”is eagerly anticipating one kind of trend by the hand replace of mouth,sound substitute for the quiet around us. My paper will analyze the language features and the culture features of mobile phone short messages which are written in Chinese and English.

  17. Defense Acquisition Research Journal. Volume 23, Number 4, Issue 79, October 2016

    Science.gov (United States)

    2016-10-01

    avoid conflicting expectations. The book ends with the ninth step, which offers new managers an approach they refer to as “The Four Pillars of Self...University Dr. William T. Eliason Dwight D. Eisenhower School for National Security and Resource Strategy Dr. J. Ronald Fox Harvard Business School Mr...and Layout The C3 Group &Schatz Publishing Group CONTENTS | Featured Book Reviews A Publication of the Defense Acquisition University October 2016

  18. Feature selection for splice site prediction: A new method using EDA-based feature ranking

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rouzé Pierre

    2004-05-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The identification of relevant biological features in large and complex datasets is an important step towards gaining insight in the processes underlying the data. Other advantages of feature selection include the ability of the classification system to attain good or even better solutions using a restricted subset of features, and a faster classification. Thus, robust methods for fast feature selection are of key importance in extracting knowledge from complex biological data. Results In this paper we present a novel method for feature subset selection applied to splice site prediction, based on estimation of distribution algorithms, a more general framework of genetic algorithms. From the estimated distribution of the algorithm, a feature ranking is derived. Afterwards this ranking is used to iteratively discard features. We apply this technique to the problem of splice site prediction, and show how it can be used to gain insight into the underlying biological process of splicing. Conclusion We show that this technique proves to be more robust than the traditional use of estimation of distribution algorithms for feature selection: instead of returning a single best subset of features (as they normally do this method provides a dynamical view of the feature selection process, like the traditional sequential wrapper methods. However, the method is faster than the traditional techniques, and scales better to datasets described by a large number of features.

  19. Simultaneous Channel and Feature Selection of Fused EEG Features Based on Sparse Group Lasso

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jin-Jia Wang

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Feature extraction and classification of EEG signals are core parts of brain computer interfaces (BCIs. Due to the high dimension of the EEG feature vector, an effective feature selection algorithm has become an integral part of research studies. In this paper, we present a new method based on a wrapped Sparse Group Lasso for channel and feature selection of fused EEG signals. The high-dimensional fused features are firstly obtained, which include the power spectrum, time-domain statistics, AR model, and the wavelet coefficient features extracted from the preprocessed EEG signals. The wrapped channel and feature selection method is then applied, which uses the logistical regression model with Sparse Group Lasso penalized function. The model is fitted on the training data, and parameter estimation is obtained by modified blockwise coordinate descent and coordinate gradient descent method. The best parameters and feature subset are selected by using a 10-fold cross-validation. Finally, the test data is classified using the trained model. Compared with existing channel and feature selection methods, results show that the proposed method is more suitable, more stable, and faster for high-dimensional feature fusion. It can simultaneously achieve channel and feature selection with a lower error rate. The test accuracy on the data used from international BCI Competition IV reached 84.72%.

  20. Coding of visual object features and feature conjunctions in the human brain.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martinovic, Jasna; Gruber, Thomas; Müller, Matthias M

    2008-01-01

    Object recognition is achieved through neural mechanisms reliant on the activity of distributed coordinated neural assemblies. In the initial steps of this process, an object's features are thought to be coded very rapidly in distinct neural assemblies. These features play different functional roles in the recognition process--while colour facilitates recognition, additional contours and edges delay it. Here, we selectively varied the amount and role of object features in an entry-level categorization paradigm and related them to the electrical activity of the human brain. We found that early synchronizations (approx. 100 ms) increased quantitatively when more image features had to be coded, without reflecting their qualitative contribution to the recognition process. Later activity (approx. 200-400 ms) was modulated by the representational role of object features. These findings demonstrate that although early synchronizations may be sufficient for relatively crude discrimination of objects in visual scenes, they cannot support entry-level categorization. This was subserved by later processes of object model selection, which utilized the representational value of object features such as colour or edges to select the appropriate model and achieve identification.

  1. An object-oriented feature-based design system face-based detection of feature interactions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ariffin Abdul Razak

    1999-01-01

    This paper presents an object-oriented, feature-based design system which supports the integration of design and manufacture by ensuring that part descriptions fully account for any feature interactions. Manufacturing information is extracted from the feature descriptions in the form of volumes and Tool Access Directions, TADs. When features interact, both volumes and TADs are updated. This methodology has been demonstrated by developing a prototype system in which ACIS attributes are used to record feature information within the data structure of the solid model. The system implemented in the C++ programming language and embedded in a menu-driven X-windows user interface to the ACIS 3D Toolkit. (author)

  2. Feature-Based Retinal Image Registration Using D-Saddle Feature

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Roziana Ramli

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Retinal image registration is important to assist diagnosis and monitor retinal diseases, such as diabetic retinopathy and glaucoma. However, registering retinal images for various registration applications requires the detection and distribution of feature points on the low-quality region that consists of vessels of varying contrast and sizes. A recent feature detector known as Saddle detects feature points on vessels that are poorly distributed and densely positioned on strong contrast vessels. Therefore, we propose a multiresolution difference of Gaussian pyramid with Saddle detector (D-Saddle to detect feature points on the low-quality region that consists of vessels with varying contrast and sizes. D-Saddle is tested on Fundus Image Registration (FIRE Dataset that consists of 134 retinal image pairs. Experimental results show that D-Saddle successfully registered 43% of retinal image pairs with average registration accuracy of 2.329 pixels while a lower success rate is observed in other four state-of-the-art retinal image registration methods GDB-ICP (28%, Harris-PIIFD (4%, H-M (16%, and Saddle (16%. Furthermore, the registration accuracy of D-Saddle has the weakest correlation (Spearman with the intensity uniformity metric among all methods. Finally, the paired t-test shows that D-Saddle significantly improved the overall registration accuracy of the original Saddle.

  3. Screening for Plant Features

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Heijden, van der G.W.A.M.; Polder, G.

    2015-01-01

    In this chapter, an overview of different plant features is given, from (sub)cellular to canopy level. A myriad of methods is available to measure these features using image analysis, and often, multiple methods can be used to measure the same feature. Several criteria are listed for choosing a

  4. Experiment list: SRX150451 [Chip-atlas[Archive

    Lifescience Database Archive (English)

    Full Text Available is=Leukemia Chronic Myelogenous 39880346,54.9,7.2,2209 GSM935371: Harvard ChipSeq K562 SIRT6 std source_name...=K562 || biomaterial_provider=ATCC || lab=Harvard || lab description=Struhl - Harvard University || datatype

  5. Experiment list: SRX150472 [Chip-atlas[Archive

    Lifescience Database Archive (English)

    Full Text Available is=Leukemia Chronic Myelogenous 38544300,59.2,11.1,1031 GSM935392: Harvard ChipSeq K562 NELFe std source_nam...e=K562 || biomaterial_provider=ATCC || lab=Harvard || lab description=Struhl - Harvard University || datatyp

  6. Decontaminate feature for tracking: adaptive tracking via evolutionary feature subset

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Qiaoyuan; Wang, Yuru; Yin, Minghao; Ren, Jinchang; Li, Ruizhi

    2017-11-01

    Although various visual tracking algorithms have been proposed in the last 2-3 decades, it remains a challenging problem for effective tracking with fast motion, deformation, occlusion, etc. Under complex tracking conditions, most tracking models are not discriminative and adaptive enough. When the combined feature vectors are inputted to the visual models, this may lead to redundancy causing low efficiency and ambiguity causing poor performance. An effective tracking algorithm is proposed to decontaminate features for each video sequence adaptively, where the visual modeling is treated as an optimization problem from the perspective of evolution. Every feature vector is compared to a biological individual and then decontaminated via classical evolutionary algorithms. With the optimized subsets of features, the "curse of dimensionality" has been avoided while the accuracy of the visual model has been improved. The proposed algorithm has been tested on several publicly available datasets with various tracking challenges and benchmarked with a number of state-of-the-art approaches. The comprehensive experiments have demonstrated the efficacy of the proposed methodology.

  7. Institutional Corruption: A Fiduciary Theory

    OpenAIRE

    Newhouse, ME

    2014-01-01

    Dennis F. Thompson developed a theory of “institutional corruption” in order to explain a phenomenon that he believed the Congressional ethics rules failed to address: Congress’ systematic deviation from its proper purpose as a consequence — not merely of individual wrongdoing — but of the influence of several general systemic features of the legislative process. Researchers at Harvard University’s Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics have recently deployed the language of institutional corrupti...

  8. Experiment list: SRX150623 [Chip-atlas[Archive

    Lifescience Database Archive (English)

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  9. Experiment list: SRX150471 [Chip-atlas[Archive

    Lifescience Database Archive (English)

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  10. Experiment list: SRX150423 [Chip-atlas[Archive

    Lifescience Database Archive (English)

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  11. Experiment list: SRX150474 [Chip-atlas[Archive

    Lifescience Database Archive (English)

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  12. Experiment list: SRX150452 [Chip-atlas[Archive

    Lifescience Database Archive (English)

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  13. Experiment list: SRX150674 [Chip-atlas[Archive

    Lifescience Database Archive (English)

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  14. Experiment list: SRX150569 [Chip-atlas[Archive

    Lifescience Database Archive (English)

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  15. Dissociation between Features and Feature Relations in Infant Memory: Effects of Memory Load.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bhatt, Ramesh S.; Rovee-Collier, Carolyn

    1997-01-01

    Four experiments examined effects of the number of features and feature relations on learning and long-term memory in 3-month olds. Findings suggested that memory load size selectively constrained infants' long-term memory for relational information, suggesting that in infants, features and relations are psychologically distinct and that memory…

  16. Depth estimation of features in video frames with improved feature matching technique using Kinect sensor

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sharma, Kajal; Moon, Inkyu; Kim, Sung Gaun

    2012-10-01

    Estimating depth has long been a major issue in the field of computer vision and robotics. The Kinect sensor's active sensing strategy provides high-frame-rate depth maps and can recognize user gestures and human pose. This paper presents a technique to estimate the depth of features extracted from video frames, along with an improved feature-matching method. In this paper, we used the Kinect camera developed by Microsoft, which captured color and depth images for further processing. Feature detection and selection is an important task for robot navigation. Many feature-matching techniques have been proposed earlier, and this paper proposes an improved feature matching between successive video frames with the use of neural network methodology in order to reduce the computation time of feature matching. The features extracted are invariant to image scale and rotation, and different experiments were conducted to evaluate the performance of feature matching between successive video frames. The extracted features are assigned distance based on the Kinect technology that can be used by the robot in order to determine the path of navigation, along with obstacle detection applications.

  17. Use of modified Harvard step test for the evaluation of exercise tolerance in patients with a functional single ventricle after total cavopulmonary connection

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A. A. Tupikina

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available According to the literature, nearly one-third of patients with congenital heart diseases have signs of heart failure. Objective: to assess the possibility and results of using a modified Harvard step test (MHST for the evaluation of exercise tolerance in children with a functional single ventricle. The investigation covered 110 healthy children aged 6 to 16 years and 29 patients aged 3 to 16 years with a functional single ventricle after total cavopulmonary connection with an extracardiac conduit a year after surgery and fenestration closure. MHST using a complete protocol was carried out in 44,8% of the patients. In the other examinees, the reason for stopping the test was premature muscle weakness and dyspnea. This could establish Functional Class (FC II heart failure in 55,2% of the sick children. In the examinees, the MHST index (MHSTI characterizing exercise tolerance ranged from 22,4 to 111. The median MHSTI scores significantly differed between the groups of patients with FC I and II heart failure (p=0,021. Exercise tolerance was lower in 17,2% of the patients with a functional single ventricle; in the others it was average and above average (41,5 and 41,3%, respectively, which was suggestive of good hemodynamic adaptation in patients after surgery. The findings prove the safety and efficiency of using the above test in the evaluation of exercise tolerance in children 3 years of age and older.

  18. Doubly sparse factor models for unifying feature transformation and feature selection

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Katahira, Kentaro; Okanoya, Kazuo; Okada, Masato; Matsumoto, Narihisa; Sugase-Miyamoto, Yasuko

    2010-01-01

    A number of unsupervised learning methods for high-dimensional data are largely divided into two groups based on their procedures, i.e., (1) feature selection, which discards irrelevant dimensions of the data, and (2) feature transformation, which constructs new variables by transforming and mixing over all dimensions. We propose a method that both selects and transforms features in a common Bayesian inference procedure. Our method imposes a doubly automatic relevance determination (ARD) prior on the factor loading matrix. We propose a variational Bayesian inference for our model and demonstrate the performance of our method on both synthetic and real data.

  19. Doubly sparse factor models for unifying feature transformation and feature selection

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Katahira, Kentaro; Okanoya, Kazuo; Okada, Masato [ERATO, Okanoya Emotional Information Project, Japan Science Technology Agency, Saitama (Japan); Matsumoto, Narihisa; Sugase-Miyamoto, Yasuko, E-mail: okada@k.u-tokyo.ac.j [Human Technology Research Institute, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Ibaraki (Japan)

    2010-06-01

    A number of unsupervised learning methods for high-dimensional data are largely divided into two groups based on their procedures, i.e., (1) feature selection, which discards irrelevant dimensions of the data, and (2) feature transformation, which constructs new variables by transforming and mixing over all dimensions. We propose a method that both selects and transforms features in a common Bayesian inference procedure. Our method imposes a doubly automatic relevance determination (ARD) prior on the factor loading matrix. We propose a variational Bayesian inference for our model and demonstrate the performance of our method on both synthetic and real data.

  20. Feature Import Vector Machine: A General Classifier with Flexible Feature Selection.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ghosh, Samiran; Wang, Yazhen

    2015-02-01

    The support vector machine (SVM) and other reproducing kernel Hilbert space (RKHS) based classifier systems are drawing much attention recently due to its robustness and generalization capability. General theme here is to construct classifiers based on the training data in a high dimensional space by using all available dimensions. The SVM achieves huge data compression by selecting only few observations which lie close to the boundary of the classifier function. However when the number of observations are not very large (small n ) but the number of dimensions/features are large (large p ), then it is not necessary that all available features are of equal importance in the classification context. Possible selection of an useful fraction of the available features may result in huge data compression. In this paper we propose an algorithmic approach by means of which such an optimal set of features could be selected. In short, we reverse the traditional sequential observation selection strategy of SVM to that of sequential feature selection. To achieve this we have modified the solution proposed by Zhu and Hastie (2005) in the context of import vector machine (IVM), to select an optimal sub-dimensional model to build the final classifier with sufficient accuracy.

  1. Experiment list: SRX150720 [Chip-atlas[Archive

    Lifescience Database Archive (English)

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  2. Experiment list: SRX150587 [Chip-atlas[Archive

    Lifescience Database Archive (English)

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  3. Experiment list: SRX150568 [Chip-atlas[Archive

    Lifescience Database Archive (English)

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  4. Experiment list: SRX150661 [Chip-atlas[Archive

    Lifescience Database Archive (English)

    Full Text Available is=Adenocarcinoma 59396606,71.7,11.1,1200 GSM935582: Harvard ChipSeq HeLa-S3 BRF1 std source_name=HeLa-S3 ||... biomaterial_provider=ATCC || lab=Harvard || lab description=Struhl - Harvard University || datatype=ChipSeq

  5. Experiment list: SRX150495 [Chip-atlas[Archive

    Lifescience Database Archive (English)

    Full Text Available is=Adenocarcinoma 62508352,67.6,8.4,1556 GSM935416: Harvard ChipSeq HeLa-S3 ZZZ3 std source_name=HeLa-S3 || ...biomaterial_provider=ATCC || lab=Harvard || lab description=Struhl - Harvard University || datatype=ChipSeq

  6. Experiment list: SRX150565 [Chip-atlas[Archive

    Lifescience Database Archive (English)

    Full Text Available =Adenocarcinoma 54953593,74.3,12.2,1703 GSM935486: Harvard ChipSeq HeLa-S3 BDP1 std source_name=HeLa-S3 || b...iomaterial_provider=ATCC || lab=Harvard || lab description=Struhl - Harvard University || datatype=ChipSeq |

  7. Fine particulate air pollution and all-cause mortality within the Harvard Six-Cities Study: variations in risk by period of exposure.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Villeneuve, Paul J; Goldberg, Mark S; Krewski, Daniel; Burnett, Richard T; Chen, Yue

    2002-11-01

    We used Poisson regression methods to examine the relation between temporal changes in the levels of fine particulate air pollution (PM(2.5)) and the risk of mortality among participants of the Harvard Six Cities longitudinal study. Our analyses were based on 1430 deaths that occurred between 1974 and 1991 in a cohort that accumulated 105,714 person-years of follow-up. For each city, indices of PM(2.5) were derived using daily samples. Individual level data were collected on several risk factors including: smoking, education, body mass index (BMI), and occupational exposure to dusts. Time-dependent indices of PM(2.5) were created across 13 calendar periods (/= 1990) to explore whether recent or chronic exposures were more important predictors of mortality. The relative risk (RR) of mortality calculated using Poisson regression based on average city-specific exposures that remained constant during follow-up was 1.31 [95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.12-1.52] per 18.6 microg/m(3) of PM(2.5). This result was similar to the risk calculated using the Cox model (RR = 1.26, 95% CI = 1.08-1.46). The RR of mortality was attenuated when the Poisson regression model included a time-dependent estimate of exposure (RR = 1.19, 95% CI = 1.04-1.36). There was little variation in RR across time-dependent indices of PM(2.5). The attenuated risk of mortality that was observed with a time-dependent index of PM(2.5) is due to the combined influence of city-specific variations in mortality rates and decreasing levels of air pollution that occurred during follow-up. The RR of mortality associated with PM(2.5) did not depend on when exposure occurred in relation to death, possibly because of little variation between the time-dependent city-specific exposure indices.

  8. Internal versus external features in triggering the brain waveforms for conjunction and feature faces in recognition.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nie, Aiqing; Jiang, Jingguo; Fu, Qiao

    2014-08-20

    Previous research has found that conjunction faces (whose internal features, e.g. eyes, nose, and mouth, and external features, e.g. hairstyle and ears, are from separate studied faces) and feature faces (partial features of these are studied) can produce higher false alarms than both old and new faces (i.e. those that are exactly the same as the studied faces and those that have not been previously presented) in recognition. The event-related potentials (ERPs) that relate to conjunction and feature faces at recognition, however, have not been described as yet; in addition, the contributions of different facial features toward ERPs have not been differentiated. To address these issues, the present study compared the ERPs elicited by old faces, conjunction faces (the internal and the external features were from two studied faces), old internal feature faces (whose internal features were studied), and old external feature faces (whose external features were studied) with those of new faces separately. The results showed that old faces not only elicited an early familiarity-related FN400, but a more anterior distributed late old/new effect that reflected recollection. Conjunction faces evoked similar late brain waveforms as old internal feature faces, but not to old external feature faces. These results suggest that, at recognition, old faces hold higher familiarity than compound faces in the profiles of ERPs and internal facial features are more crucial than external ones in triggering the brain waveforms that are characterized as reflecting the result of familiarity.

  9. Harvard Business School energy report. Energie-Report der Harvard Business School

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Stobaugh, R; Yergin, D

    1979-01-01

    With the help of cost-benefit calculations which include also the - to a great extent - neglected external social costs, the team of authors of the Havard Businees School conclude that energy conservation as well as alternative energies such as solar energy are the most important energy sources of the future. This conclusion clearly contradicts the present prevailing opinion which says the expansion of energy consumption and the improvement of power supply by nuclear power plants are indispensable for the securing of economic growth and the economic structure. Although the authors keep up an option for nuclear energy (as it may perhaps be possible to solve the problem of radioactive waste disposal) they put forward the sober statement that - last not least because of its questionable economic efficiency - nuclear power cannot be a solution to energy crisis for the rest of the century, let alone to the politically precarious dependence of the Western Countries on the Saudi-Arabic import oil. The Havard Analysis is based on the latest numerical data and it is not only valid for the USA. It shall have even more impact for a country like the Federal Republic of Germany which is short of raw material. Therefore the American figures are put in relation to the German situation in an additional chapter.

  10. Attentional Selection of Feature Conjunctions Is Accomplished by Parallel and Independent Selection of Single Features.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Andersen, Søren K; Müller, Matthias M; Hillyard, Steven A

    2015-07-08

    Experiments that study feature-based attention have often examined situations in which selection is based on a single feature (e.g., the color red). However, in more complex situations relevant stimuli may not be set apart from other stimuli by a single defining property but by a specific combination of features. Here, we examined sustained attentional selection of stimuli defined by conjunctions of color and orientation. Human observers attended to one out of four concurrently presented superimposed fields of randomly moving horizontal or vertical bars of red or blue color to detect brief intervals of coherent motion. Selective stimulus processing in early visual cortex was assessed by recordings of steady-state visual evoked potentials (SSVEPs) elicited by each of the flickering fields of stimuli. We directly contrasted attentional selection of single features and feature conjunctions and found that SSVEP amplitudes on conditions in which selection was based on a single feature only (color or orientation) exactly predicted the magnitude of attentional enhancement of SSVEPs when attending to a conjunction of both features. Furthermore, enhanced SSVEP amplitudes elicited by attended stimuli were accompanied by equivalent reductions of SSVEP amplitudes elicited by unattended stimuli in all cases. We conclude that attentional selection of a feature-conjunction stimulus is accomplished by the parallel and independent facilitation of its constituent feature dimensions in early visual cortex. The ability to perceive the world is limited by the brain's processing capacity. Attention affords adaptive behavior by selectively prioritizing processing of relevant stimuli based on their features (location, color, orientation, etc.). We found that attentional mechanisms for selection of different features belonging to the same object operate independently and in parallel: concurrent attentional selection of two stimulus features is simply the sum of attending to each of those

  11. Innovative curriculum for second-year Harvard-MIT medical students: practicing communication skills with volunteer patients giving immediate feedback

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ali NB

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available Nadaa B Ali,1 Stephen R Pelletier,2 Helen M Shields1 1Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, 2Center for Evaluation, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA Purpose: Medical students are expected to develop excellent communication skills. The purpose of our study was to create an innovative communication skills exercise using real volunteer patients and physician co-teachers for students to practice communication skills while receiving immediate feedback.Method: This is a mixed methods study where second-year medical students participated in the communication skills exercise with real patients and physician co-teachers giving immediate feedback. Clinical scenarios reflected the patients’ actual experiences. Students acted out roles as physicians. Physicians co-taught with the patients and gave immediate feedback to students. Students completed an anonymous written survey at the end of the exercise. Qualitative and quantitative responses were recorded. Student feedback from the 2014 surveys was used to modify the teaching designs to increase active role play opportunities by having only two students in each group and doubling the number of stations with real patients.Results: Students rated the overall exercise and the utility of patient volunteers in learning how to communicate on a Likert scale of 1–5, where in this medical school traditionally 1 is excellent and 5 is poor. In 2014, the exercises were rated with a mean score of 1.47 (SD 0.621. In 2015, the exercises were rated with a mean score of 1.03 (SD 0.62. In 2016, the exercises were rated with a mean score of 1.27 (SD 0.52. ANOVA analysis (p=0.002 and Bonferroni corrections indicate a statistically significant difference between combined mean scores of the exercise in 2014 and 2015 (p=0.001. No difference was shown between 2014 and 2016 or 2015 and 2016.Conclusions: Medical students rated practicing communication skills with real patient volunteers and physician co

  12. Experiment list: SRX150586 [Chip-atlas[Archive

    Lifescience Database Archive (English)

    Full Text Available -Barr Virus 33195472,90.4,25.9,15633 GSM935507: Harvard ChipSeq GM12878 NF-YB IgG-mus source_name=GM12878 ||...?PgId=165&q=GM12878 || lab=Harvard || lab description=Struhl - Harvard University || datatype=ChipSeq || dat

  13. Experiment list: SRX150496 [Chip-atlas[Archive

    Lifescience Database Archive (English)

    Full Text Available ein-Barr Virus 63040797,85.0,19.7,1435 GSM935417: Harvard ChipSeq GM12878 SPT20 std source_name=GM12878 || b...gId=165&q=GM12878 || lab=Harvard || lab description=Struhl - Harvard University || datatype=ChipSeq || datat

  14. Experiment list: SRX150585 [Chip-atlas[Archive

    Lifescience Database Archive (English)

    Full Text Available -Barr Virus 32926476,94.0,12.0,2668 GSM935506: Harvard ChipSeq GM12878 NF-YA IgG-mus source_name=GM12878 || ...PgId=165&q=GM12878 || lab=Harvard || lab description=Struhl - Harvard University || datatype=ChipSeq || data

  15. Evaluating the Stability of Feature Selectors that Optimize Feature Subset Cardinality

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Somol, Petr; Novovičová, Jana

    2008-01-01

    Roč. 2008, č. 5342 (2008), s. 956-966 ISSN 0302-9743. [Joint IAPR International Workshops SSPR 2008 and SPR 2008. Orlando , 04.12.2008-06.12.2008] R&D Projects: GA AV ČR 1ET400750407; GA MŠk 1M0572; GA ČR GA102/07/1594 Grant - others:GA MŠk(CZ) 2C06019 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z10750506 Keywords : Feature selection * stability * relative weighted consistency measure * sequential search * floating search Subject RIV: IN - Informatics, Computer Science http://library.utia.cas.cz/separaty/2008/RO/somol-evaluating the stability of feature selectors that optimize feature subset cardinality.pdf

  16. RESEARCH ON FEATURE POINTS EXTRACTION METHOD FOR BINARY MULTISCALE AND ROTATION INVARIANT LOCAL FEATURE DESCRIPTOR

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hongwei Ying

    2014-08-01

    Full Text Available An extreme point of scale space extraction method for binary multiscale and rotation invariant local feature descriptor is studied in this paper in order to obtain a robust and fast method for local image feature descriptor. Classic local feature description algorithms often select neighborhood information of feature points which are extremes of image scale space, obtained by constructing the image pyramid using certain signal transform method. But build the image pyramid always consumes a large amount of computing and storage resources, is not conducive to the actual applications development. This paper presents a dual multiscale FAST algorithm, it does not need to build the image pyramid, but can extract feature points of scale extreme quickly. Feature points extracted by proposed method have the characteristic of multiscale and rotation Invariant and are fit to construct the local feature descriptor.

  17. Guilt by Association: The 13 micron Dust Feature in Circumstellar Shells and Related Spectral Features

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sloan, G. C.; Kraemer, K. E.; Goebel, J. H.; Price, S. D.

    A study of spectra from the SWS on ISO of optically thin oxygen-rich dust shells shows that the strength of the 13 micron dust emission feature is correlated with the CO2 bands (13--17 microns) and dust emission features at 19.8 and 28.1 microns. SRb variables tend to show stronger 13 micron features than Mira variables, suggesting that the presence of the 13 micron and related features depends on pulsation mode and mass-loss rate. The absence of any correlation to dust emission features at 16.8 and 32 microns makes spinel an unlikely carrier. The most plausible carrier of the 13 micron feature remains crystalline alumina, and we suggest that the related dust features may be crystalline silicates. When dust forms in regions of low density, it may condense into crystalline grain structures.

  18. Feature displacement interpolation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nielsen, Mads; Andresen, Per Rønsholt

    1998-01-01

    Given a sparse set of feature matches, we want to compute an interpolated dense displacement map. The application may be stereo disparity computation, flow computation, or non-rigid medical registration. Also estimation of missing image data, may be phrased in this framework. Since the features...... often are very sparse, the interpolation model becomes crucial. We show that a maximum likelihood estimation based on the covariance properties (Kriging) show properties more expedient than methods such as Gaussian interpolation or Tikhonov regularizations, also including scale......-selection. The computational complexities are identical. We apply the maximum likelihood interpolation to growth analysis of the mandibular bone. Here, the features used are the crest-lines of the object surface....

  19. Mid-Infrared Emission Features in the ISM: Feature-to-Features Flux Ratios

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lu, N. Y.

    1998-01-01

    Using a limited, but representative sample of sources in the ISM of our Galaxy with published spectra from the Infrared Space Observatory, we analyze flux ratios between the major mid-IR emission features (EFs) centered around 6.2, 7.7, 8.6 and 11.3 mu, respectively.

  20. FEATUREOUS: AN INTEGRATED ENVIRONMENT FOR FEATURE-CENTRIC ANALYSIS AND MODIFICATION OF OBJECT-ORIENTED SOFTWARE

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Olszak, Andrzej; Jørgensen, Bo Nørregaard

    2011-01-01

    The decentralized nature of collaborations between objects in object-oriented software makes it difficult to understand the implementations of user-observable program features and their respective interdependencies. As feature-centric program understanding and modification are essential during...... software maintenance and evolution, this situation needs to change. In this paper, we present Featureous, an integrated development environment built on top of the NetBeans IDE that facilitates feature-centric analysis of object-oriented software. Our integrated development environment encompasses...... a lightweight feature location mechanism, a number of reusable analytical views, and necessary APIs for supporting future extensions. The base of the integrated development environment is a conceptual framework comprising of three complementary dimensions of comprehension: perspective, abstraction...

  1. Nocera, Prof. Daniel G

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    Fellow Profile. Elected: 2013 Honorary. Nocera, Prof. Daniel G. Date of birth: 1957. Address: Dept. of Chemistry & Chem. Biol., Harvard University, 12, Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA Contact: Office: (+1-617) 495 8904. Email: dnocera@fas.harvard.edu. http://chemistry.harvard.edu/people/daniel-g-nocera.

  2. Improving Naive Bayes with Online Feature Selection for Quick Adaptation to Evolving Feature Usefulness

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Pon, R K; Cardenas, A F; Buttler, D J

    2007-09-19

    The definition of what makes an article interesting varies from user to user and continually evolves even for a single user. As a result, for news recommendation systems, useless document features can not be determined a priori and all features are usually considered for interestingness classification. Consequently, the presence of currently useless features degrades classification performance [1], particularly over the initial set of news articles being classified. The initial set of document is critical for a user when considering which particular news recommendation system to adopt. To address these problems, we introduce an improved version of the naive Bayes classifier with online feature selection. We use correlation to determine the utility of each feature and take advantage of the conditional independence assumption used by naive Bayes for online feature selection and classification. The augmented naive Bayes classifier performs 28% better than the traditional naive Bayes classifier in recommending news articles from the Yahoo! RSS feeds.

  3. Optometry and ophthalmology: the Internet connection--assessing consumer health web sites.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Soroka, M; Schachne, E; Saludes, I

    2001-11-01

    The Internet is a major conduit of health information. Consumers frequently rely on it without verifying its validity. The purpose of this study was to assess the accuracy and currency of Internet-based information on the roles and practice of optometrists, which has been found to be misleading, inaccurate, and often outdated. Using search engines and ranking directories, 16 popular health Web sites were examined for differentiation between optometry and ophthalmology. Each site's eye care content was reviewed for syndication, definitions, provider directories, linkages to eye organizations, and provider recommendations in treatment of certain conditions. Many Web sites use a syndicated source for their health content and several use Merriam-Webster as their primary dictionary. A majority of sites provided poor definitions for optometry. Most Web sites were biased in recommending ophthalmologists and do not include optometrists as licensed providers in treatment of certain eye diseases. For example, Intelihealth, Aetnaushc, and Noah-Health recommend only ophthalmologists for the treatment of conjunctivitis. Inaccuracies and misleading information about optometry do exist and undermine the role of optometrists in delivery of eye care. When alerted, several Web sites were receptive to proposed changes. While some efforts have been undertaken to monitor Web sites, the profession must develop a concrete effort to ensure that it is correctly represented on the Internet.

  4. Experiment list: SRX150670 [Chip-atlas[Archive

    Lifescience Database Archive (English)

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  5. Experiment list: SRX150630 [Chip-atlas[Archive

    Lifescience Database Archive (English)

    Full Text Available gnosis=Fibrocystic Disease 42446970,82.6,25.1,47688 GSM935551: Harvard ChipSeq MCF10A-Er-Src EtOH 0.01pct 12...hr STAT3 std source_name=MCF10A-Er-Src || biomaterial_provider=Struhl laboratory || lab=Harvard || lab description=Struhl - Harvard

  6. Feature confirmation in object perception: Feature integration theory 26 years on from the Treisman Bartlett lecture.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Humphreys, Glyn W

    2016-10-01

    The Treisman Bartlett lecture, reported in the Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology in 1988, provided a major overview of the feature integration theory of attention. This has continued to be a dominant account of human visual attention to this day. The current paper provides a summary of the work reported in the lecture and an update on critical aspects of the theory as applied to visual object perception. The paper highlights the emergence of findings that pose significant challenges to the theory and which suggest that revisions are required that allow for (a) several rather than a single form of feature integration, (b) some forms of feature integration to operate preattentively, (c) stored knowledge about single objects and interactions between objects to modulate perceptual integration, (d) the application of feature-based inhibition to object files where visual features are specified, which generates feature-based spreading suppression and scene segmentation, and (e) a role for attention in feature confirmation rather than feature integration in visual selection. A feature confirmation account of attention in object perception is outlined.

  7. Complex Topographic Feature Ontology Patterns

    Science.gov (United States)

    Varanka, Dalia E.; Jerris, Thomas J.

    2015-01-01

    Semantic ontologies are examined as effective data models for the representation of complex topographic feature types. Complex feature types are viewed as integrated relations between basic features for a basic purpose. In the context of topographic science, such component assemblages are supported by resource systems and found on the local landscape. Ontologies are organized within six thematic modules of a domain ontology called Topography that includes within its sphere basic feature types, resource systems, and landscape types. Context is constructed not only as a spatial and temporal setting, but a setting also based on environmental processes. Types of spatial relations that exist between components include location, generative processes, and description. An example is offered in a complex feature type ‘mine.’ The identification and extraction of complex feature types are an area for future research.

  8. Improving mass candidate detection in mammograms via feature maxima propagation and local feature selection.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Melendez, Jaime; Sánchez, Clara I; van Ginneken, Bram; Karssemeijer, Nico

    2014-08-01

    Mass candidate detection is a crucial component of multistep computer-aided detection (CAD) systems. It is usually performed by combining several local features by means of a classifier. When these features are processed on a per-image-location basis (e.g., for each pixel), mismatching problems may arise while constructing feature vectors for classification, which is especially true when the behavior expected from the evaluated features is a peaked response due to the presence of a mass. In this study, two of these problems, consisting of maxima misalignment and differences of maxima spread, are identified and two solutions are proposed. The first proposed method, feature maxima propagation, reproduces feature maxima through their neighboring locations. The second method, local feature selection, combines different subsets of features for different feature vectors associated with image locations. Both methods are applied independently and together. The proposed methods are included in a mammogram-based CAD system intended for mass detection in screening. Experiments are carried out with a database of 382 digital cases. Sensitivity is assessed at two sets of operating points. The first one is the interval of 3.5-15 false positives per image (FPs/image), which is typical for mass candidate detection. The second one is 1 FP/image, which allows to estimate the quality of the mass candidate detector's output for use in subsequent steps of the CAD system. The best results are obtained when the proposed methods are applied together. In that case, the mean sensitivity in the interval of 3.5-15 FPs/image significantly increases from 0.926 to 0.958 (p < 0.0002). At the lower rate of 1 FP/image, the mean sensitivity improves from 0.628 to 0.734 (p < 0.0002). Given the improved detection performance, the authors believe that the strategies proposed in this paper can render mass candidate detection approaches based on image location classification more robust to feature

  9. Opinion mining feature-level using Naive Bayes and feature extraction based analysis dependencies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sanda, Regi; Baizal, Z. K. Abdurahman; Nhita, Fhira

    2015-12-01

    Development of internet and technology, has major impact and providing new business called e-commerce. Many e-commerce sites that provide convenience in transaction, and consumers can also provide reviews or opinions on products that purchased. These opinions can be used by consumers and producers. Consumers to know the advantages and disadvantages of particular feature of the product. Procuders can analyse own strengths and weaknesses as well as it's competitors products. Many opinions need a method that the reader can know the point of whole opinion. The idea emerged from review summarization that summarizes the overall opinion based on sentiment and features contain. In this study, the domain that become the main focus is about the digital camera. This research consisted of four steps 1) giving the knowledge to the system to recognize the semantic orientation of an opinion 2) indentify the features of product 3) indentify whether the opinion gives a positive or negative 4) summarizing the result. In this research discussed the methods such as Naï;ve Bayes for sentiment classification, and feature extraction algorithm based on Dependencies Analysis, which is one of the tools in Natural Language Processing (NLP) and knowledge based dictionary which is useful for handling implicit features. The end result of research is a summary that contains a bunch of reviews from consumers on the features and sentiment. With proposed method, accuration for sentiment classification giving 81.2 % for positive test data, 80.2 % for negative test data, and accuration for feature extraction reach 90.3 %.

  10. Feature Selection by Reordering

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Jiřina, Marcel; Jiřina jr., M.

    2005-01-01

    Roč. 2, č. 1 (2005), s. 155-161 ISSN 1738-6438 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z10300504 Keywords : feature selection * data reduction * ordering of features Subject RIV: BA - General Mathematics

  11. DYNAMIC FEATURE SELECTION FOR WEB USER IDENTIFICATION ON LINGUISTIC AND STYLISTIC FEATURES OF ONLINE TEXTS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A. A. Vorobeva

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available The paper deals with identification and authentication of web users participating in the Internet information processes (based on features of online texts.In digital forensics web user identification based on various linguistic features can be used to discover identity of individuals, criminals or terrorists using the Internet to commit cybercrimes. Internet could be used as a tool in different types of cybercrimes (fraud and identity theft, harassment and anonymous threats, terrorist or extremist statements, distribution of illegal content and information warfare. Linguistic identification of web users is a kind of biometric identification, it can be used to narrow down the suspects, identify a criminal and prosecute him. Feature set includes various linguistic and stylistic features extracted from online texts. We propose dynamic feature selection for each web user identification task. Selection is based on calculating Manhattan distance to k-nearest neighbors (Relief-f algorithm. This approach improves the identification accuracy and minimizes the number of features. Experiments were carried out on several datasets with different level of class imbalance. Experiment results showed that features relevance varies in different set of web users (probable authors of some text; features selection for each set of web users improves identification accuracy by 4% at the average that is approximately 1% higher than with the use of static set of features. The proposed approach is most effective for a small number of training samples (messages per user.

  12. Temporal Feature Integration for Music Organisation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Meng, Anders

    2006-01-01

    This Ph.D. thesis focuses on temporal feature integration for music organisation. Temporal feature integration is the process of combining all the feature vectors of a given time-frame into a single new feature vector in order to capture relevant information in the frame. Several existing methods...... for handling sequences of features are formulated in the temporal feature integration framework. Two datasets for music genre classification have been considered as valid test-beds for music organisation. Human evaluations of these, have been obtained to access the subjectivity on the datasets. Temporal...... ranking' approach is proposed for ranking the short-time features at larger time-scales according to their discriminative power in a music genre classification task. The multivariate AR (MAR) model has been proposed for temporal feature integration. It effectively models local dynamical structure...

  13. Feature Inference Learning and Eyetracking

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rehder, Bob; Colner, Robert M.; Hoffman, Aaron B.

    2009-01-01

    Besides traditional supervised classification learning, people can learn categories by inferring the missing features of category members. It has been proposed that feature inference learning promotes learning a category's internal structure (e.g., its typical features and interfeature correlations) whereas classification promotes the learning of…

  14. Hypothesis testing for differentially correlated features.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sheng, Elisa; Witten, Daniela; Zhou, Xiao-Hua

    2016-10-01

    In a multivariate setting, we consider the task of identifying features whose correlations with the other features differ across conditions. Such correlation shifts may occur independently of mean shifts, or differences in the means of the individual features across conditions. Previous approaches for detecting correlation shifts consider features simultaneously, by computing a correlation-based test statistic for each feature. However, since correlations involve two features, such approaches do not lend themselves to identifying which feature is the culprit. In this article, we instead consider a serial testing approach, by comparing columns of the sample correlation matrix across two conditions, and removing one feature at a time. Our method provides a novel perspective and favorable empirical results compared with competing approaches. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  15. Emergent interfaces for feature modularization

    CERN Document Server

    Ribeiro, Márcio; Brabrand, Claus

    2014-01-01

    Developers frequently introduce errors into software systems when they fail to recognise module dependencies. Using forty-three software families and Software Product Lines (SPLs), where the majority are commonly used in industrial practice, the authors reports on the feature modularization problem and provides a study of how often it may occur in practice. To solve the problem they present the concept of emergent feature modularization which aims to establish contracts between features to prevent developers from breaking other features when performing a maintenance task.

  16. 2015 Soft Condensed Matter Physics: Self-Assembly and Active Matter GRC/GRS

    Science.gov (United States)

    2015-10-20

    Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard Poster Presenter Registered Beller, Daniel A Harvard University Poster Presenter Registered Bi, Dapeng Syracuse...Poster Presenter Registered Deforet, Maxime Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center Poster Presenter Registered Del Gado, Emanuela Georgetown...Registered Dullens, Roel University of Oxford Poster Presenter Registered Fakhri, Nikta MIT Poster Presenter Registered Fan, Jing Harvard

  17. Writer identification using curvature-free features

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    He, Sheng; Schomaker, Lambertus

    2017-01-01

    Feature engineering takes a very important role in writer identification which has been widely studied in the literature. Previous works have shown that the joint feature distribution of two properties can improve the performance. The joint feature distribution makes feature relationships explicit

  18. Patterns of Dysmorphic Features in Schizophrenia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Scutt, L.E.; Chow, E.W.C.; Weksberg, R.; Honer, W.G.; Bassett, Anne S.

    2011-01-01

    Congenital dysmorphic features are prevalent in schizophrenia and may reflect underlying neurodevelopmental abnormalities. A cluster analysis approach delineating patterns of dysmorphic features has been used in genetics to classify individuals into more etiologically homogeneous subgroups. In the present study, this approach was applied to schizophrenia, using a sample with a suspected genetic syndrome as a testable model. Subjects (n = 159) with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder were ascertained from chronic patient populations (random, n=123) or referred with possible 22q11 deletion syndrome (referred, n = 36). All subjects were evaluated for presence or absence of 70 reliably assessed dysmorphic features, which were used in a three-step cluster analysis. The analysis produced four major clusters with different patterns of dysmorphic features. Significant between-cluster differences were found for rates of 37 dysmorphic features (P dysmorphic features (P = 0.0001), and validating features not used in the cluster analysis: mild mental retardation (P = 0.001) and congenital heart defects (P = 0.002). Two clusters (1 and 4) appeared to represent more developmental subgroups of schizophrenia with elevated rates of dysmorphic features and validating features. Cluster 1 (n = 27) comprised mostly referred subjects. Cluster 4 (n= 18) had a different pattern of dysmorphic features; one subject had a mosaic Turner syndrome variant. Two other clusters had lower rates and patterns of features consistent with those found in previous studies of schizophrenia. Delineating patterns of dysmorphic features may help identify subgroups that could represent neurodevelopmental forms of schizophrenia with more homogeneous origins. PMID:11803519

  19. Object feature extraction and recognition model

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wan Min; Xiang Rujian; Wan Yongxing

    2001-01-01

    The characteristics of objects, especially flying objects, are analyzed, which include characteristics of spectrum, image and motion. Feature extraction is also achieved. To improve the speed of object recognition, a feature database is used to simplify the data in the source database. The feature vs. object relationship maps are stored in the feature database. An object recognition model based on the feature database is presented, and the way to achieve object recognition is also explained

  20. Experiment list: SRX150629 [Chip-atlas[Archive

    Lifescience Database Archive (English)

    Full Text Available sue Diagnosis=Fibrocystic Disease 27949151,89.1,5.9,589 GSM935550: Harvard ChipSeq MCF10A-Er-Src EtOH 0.01pc...t 12hr Input std source_name=MCF10A-Er-Src || biomaterial_provider=Struhl laboratory || lab=Harvard || lab description=Struhl - Harva...rd University || datatype=ChipSeq || datatype descriptio

  1. Experiment list: SRX150667 [Chip-atlas[Archive

    Lifescience Database Archive (English)

    Full Text Available t|Tissue Diagnosis=Fibrocystic Disease 69172664,86.5,35.3,28780 GSM935588: Harvard ChipSeq MCF10A-Er-Src EtO...H 0.01pct Pol2 std source_name=MCF10A-Er-Src || biomaterial_provider=Struhl laboratory || lab=Harvard || lab description=Struhl - Har...vard University || datatype=ChipSeq || datatype descript

  2. Experiment list: SRX150535 [Chip-atlas[Archive

    Lifescience Database Archive (English)

    Full Text Available t|Tissue Diagnosis=Fibrocystic Disease 69171580,86.8,43.7,20874 GSM935456: Harvard ChipSeq MCF10A-Er-Src 4OH...TAM 1uM 36hr Pol2 std source_name=MCF10A-Er-Src || biomaterial_provider=Struhl laboratory || lab=Harvard || ...lab description=Struhl - Harvard University || datatype=ChipSeq || datatype descr

  3. Acta Structilia: Submissions

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    After that use a) etc. 11. Source references in the text must be in the Harvard style of referencing (Author, date: pages). i. e. (Schleien, 2006: 20-40). 12. Foot- and endnotes are likewise done in the Harvard style of referencing. 13. The references list (Harvard style of referencing) should contain all the relevant information, ...

  4. Solar Features

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Collection includes a variety of solar feature datasets contributed by a number of national and private solar observatories located worldwide.

  5. Search features of digital libraries

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alastair G. Smith

    2000-01-01

    Full Text Available Traditional on-line search services such as Dialog, DataStar and Lexis provide a wide range of search features (boolean and proximity operators, truncation, etc. This paper discusses the use of these features for effective searching, and argues that these features are required, regardless of advances in search engine technology. The literature on on-line searching is reviewed, identifying features that searchers find desirable for effective searching. A selective survey of current digital libraries available on the Web was undertaken, identifying which search features are present. The survey indicates that current digital libraries do not implement a wide range of search features. For instance: under half of the examples included controlled vocabulary, under half had proximity searching, only one enabled browsing of term indexes, and none of the digital libraries enable searchers to refine an initial search. Suggestions are made for enhancing the search effectiveness of digital libraries, for instance by: providing a full range of search operators, enabling browsing of search terms, enhancement of records with controlled vocabulary, enabling the refining of initial searches, etc.

  6. [Feature extraction for breast cancer data based on geometric algebra theory and feature selection using differential evolution].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Jing; Hong, Wenxue

    2014-12-01

    The feature extraction and feature selection are the important issues in pattern recognition. Based on the geometric algebra representation of vector, a new feature extraction method using blade coefficient of geometric algebra was proposed in this study. At the same time, an improved differential evolution (DE) feature selection method was proposed to solve the elevated high dimension issue. The simple linear discriminant analysis was used as the classifier. The result of the 10-fold cross-validation (10 CV) classification of public breast cancer biomedical dataset was more than 96% and proved superior to that of the original features and traditional feature extraction method.

  7. Tumor recognition in wireless capsule endoscopy images using textural features and SVM-based feature selection.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Baopu; Meng, Max Q-H

    2012-05-01

    Tumor in digestive tract is a common disease and wireless capsule endoscopy (WCE) is a relatively new technology to examine diseases for digestive tract especially for small intestine. This paper addresses the problem of automatic recognition of tumor for WCE images. Candidate color texture feature that integrates uniform local binary pattern and wavelet is proposed to characterize WCE images. The proposed features are invariant to illumination change and describe multiresolution characteristics of WCE images. Two feature selection approaches based on support vector machine, sequential forward floating selection and recursive feature elimination, are further employed to refine the proposed features for improving the detection accuracy. Extensive experiments validate that the proposed computer-aided diagnosis system achieves a promising tumor recognition accuracy of 92.4% in WCE images on our collected data.

  8. Volcanic features of Io

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Carr, M.H.; Masursky, H.; Strom, R.G.; Terrile, R.J.

    1979-01-01

    The volcanic features of Io as detected during the Voyager mission are discussed. The volcanic activity is apparently higher than on any other body in the Solar System. Its volcanic landforms are compared with features on Earth to indicate the type of volcanism present on Io. (U.K.)

  9. Evaluating Stability and Comparing Output of Feature Selectors that Optimize Feature Subset Cardinality

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Somol, Petr; Novovičová, Jana

    2010-01-01

    Roč. 32, č. 11 (2010), s. 1921-1939 ISSN 0162-8828 R&D Projects: GA MŠk 1M0572; GA ČR GA102/08/0593; GA ČR GA102/07/1594 Grant - others:GA MŠk(CZ) 2C06019 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z10750506 Keywords : feature selection * feature stability * stability measures * similarity measures * sequential search * individual ranking * feature subset-size optimization * high dimensionality * small sample size Subject RIV: BD - Theory of Information Impact factor: 5.027, year: 2010 http://library.utia.cas.cz/separaty/2010/RO/somol-0348726.pdf

  10. Site Features

    Data.gov (United States)

    U.S. Environmental Protection Agency — This dataset consists of various site features from multiple Superfund sites in U.S. EPA Region 8. These data were acquired from multiple sources at different times...

  11. New features in MEDM

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Evans, K. Jr.

    1999-01-01

    MEDM, which is derived from Motif Editor and Display Manager, is the primary graphical interface to the EPICS control system. This paper describes new features that have been added to MEDM in the last two years. These features include new editing capabilities, a PV Info dialog box, a means of specifying limits and precision, a new implementation of the Cartesian Plot, new features for several objects, new capability for the Related Display, help, a user-configurable Execute Menu, reconfigured start-up options, and availability for Windows 95/98/NT. Over one hundred bugs have been fixed, and the program is quite stable and in extensive use

  12. Tolerance-Based Feature Transforms

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Reniers, Dennie; Telea, Alexandru

    2007-01-01

    Tolerance-based feature transforms (TFTs) assign to each pixel in an image not only the nearest feature pixels on the boundary (origins), but all origins from the minimum distance up to a user-defined tolerance. In this paper, we compare four simple-to-implement methods for computing TFTs on binary

  13. Scaling gross ecosystem production at Harvard Forest with remote sensing: a comparison of estimates from a constrained quantum-use efficiency model and eddy correlation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Waring, R.H.; Law, B.E.; Goulden, M.L.; Bassow, S.L.; McCreight, R.W.; Wofsy, S.C.; Bazzaz, F.A.

    1995-01-01

    Two independent methods of estimating gross ecosystem production (GEP) were compared over a period of 2 years at monthly integrals for a mixed forest of conifers and deciduous hardwoods at Harvard Forest in central Massachusetts. Continuous eddy flux measurements of net ecosystem exchange (NEE) provided one estimate of GEP by taking day to night temperature differences into account to estimate autotrophic and heterotrophic respiration. GEP was also estimated with a quantum efficiency model based on measurements of maximum quantum efficiency (Qmax), seasonal variation in canopy phenology and chlorophyll content, incident PAR, and the constraints of freezing temperatures and vapour pressure deficits on stomatal conductance. Quantum efficiency model estimates of GEP and those derived from eddy flux measurements compared well at monthly integrals over two consecutive years (R 2 = 0–98). Remotely sensed data were acquired seasonally with an ultralight aircraft to provide a means of scaling the leaf area and leaf pigmentation changes that affected the light absorption of photosynthetically active radiation to larger areas. A linear correlation between chlorophyll concentrations in the upper canopy leaves of four hardwood species and their quantum efficiencies (R 2 = 0–99) suggested that seasonal changes in quantum efficiency for the entire canopy can be quantified with remotely sensed indices of chlorophyll. Analysis of video data collected from the ultralight aircraft indicated that the fraction of conifer cover varied from < 7% near the instrument tower to about 25% for a larger sized area. At 25% conifer cover, the quantum efficiency model predicted an increase in the estimate of annual GEP of < 5% because unfavourable environmental conditions limited conifer photosynthesis in much of the non-growing season when hardwoods lacked leaves

  14. Invariant Feature Matching for Image Registration Application Based on New Dissimilarity of Spatial Features

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mousavi Kahaki, Seyed Mostafa; Nordin, Md Jan; Ashtari, Amir H.; J. Zahra, Sophia

    2016-01-01

    An invariant feature matching method is proposed as a spatially invariant feature matching approach. Deformation effects, such as affine and homography, change the local information within the image and can result in ambiguous local information pertaining to image points. New method based on dissimilarity values, which measures the dissimilarity of the features through the path based on Eigenvector properties, is proposed. Evidence shows that existing matching techniques using similarity metrics—such as normalized cross-correlation, squared sum of intensity differences and correlation coefficient—are insufficient for achieving adequate results under different image deformations. Thus, new descriptor’s similarity metrics based on normalized Eigenvector correlation and signal directional differences, which are robust under local variation of the image information, are proposed to establish an efficient feature matching technique. The method proposed in this study measures the dissimilarity in the signal frequency along the path between two features. Moreover, these dissimilarity values are accumulated in a 2D dissimilarity space, allowing accurate corresponding features to be extracted based on the cumulative space using a voting strategy. This method can be used in image registration applications, as it overcomes the limitations of the existing approaches. The output results demonstrate that the proposed technique outperforms the other methods when evaluated using a standard dataset, in terms of precision-recall and corner correspondence. PMID:26985996

  15. Invariant Feature Matching for Image Registration Application Based on New Dissimilarity of Spatial Features.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Seyed Mostafa Mousavi Kahaki

    Full Text Available An invariant feature matching method is proposed as a spatially invariant feature matching approach. Deformation effects, such as affine and homography, change the local information within the image and can result in ambiguous local information pertaining to image points. New method based on dissimilarity values, which measures the dissimilarity of the features through the path based on Eigenvector properties, is proposed. Evidence shows that existing matching techniques using similarity metrics--such as normalized cross-correlation, squared sum of intensity differences and correlation coefficient--are insufficient for achieving adequate results under different image deformations. Thus, new descriptor's similarity metrics based on normalized Eigenvector correlation and signal directional differences, which are robust under local variation of the image information, are proposed to establish an efficient feature matching technique. The method proposed in this study measures the dissimilarity in the signal frequency along the path between two features. Moreover, these dissimilarity values are accumulated in a 2D dissimilarity space, allowing accurate corresponding features to be extracted based on the cumulative space using a voting strategy. This method can be used in image registration applications, as it overcomes the limitations of the existing approaches. The output results demonstrate that the proposed technique outperforms the other methods when evaluated using a standard dataset, in terms of precision-recall and corner correspondence.

  16. Crowding with conjunctions of simple features.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Põder, Endel; Wagemans, Johan

    2007-11-20

    Several recent studies have related crowding with the feature integration stage in visual processing. In order to understand the mechanisms involved in this stage, it is important to use stimuli that have several features to integrate, and these features should be clearly defined and measurable. In this study, Gabor patches were used as target and distractor stimuli. The stimuli differed in three dimensions: spatial frequency, orientation, and color. A group of 3, 5, or 7 objects was presented briefly at 4 deg eccentricity of the visual field. The observers' task was to identify the object located in the center of the group. A strong effect of the number of distractors was observed, consistent with various spatial pooling models. The analysis of incorrect responses revealed that these were a mix of feature errors and mislocalizations of the target object. Feature errors were not purely random, but biased by the features of distractors. We propose a simple feature integration model that predicts most of the observed regularities.

  17. Sensitivity to feature displacement in familiar and unfamiliar faces: beyond the internal/external feature distinction.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brooks, Kevin R; Kemp, Richard I

    2007-01-01

    Previous studies of face recognition and of face matching have shown a general improvement for the processing of internal features as a face becomes more familiar to the participant. In this study, we used a psychophysical two-alternative forced-choice paradigm to investigate thresholds for the detection of a displacement of the eyes, nose, mouth, or ears for familiar and unfamiliar faces. No clear division between internal and external features was observed. Rather, for familiar (compared to unfamiliar) faces participants were more sensitive to displacements of internal features such as the eyes or the nose; yet, for our third internal feature-the mouth no such difference was observed. Despite large displacements, many subjects were unable to perform above chance when stimuli involved shifts in the position of the ears. These results are consistent with the proposal that familiarity effects may be mediated by the construction of a robust representation of a face, although the involvement of attention in the encoding of face stimuli cannot be ruled out. Furthermore, these effects are mediated by information from a spatial configuration of features, rather than by purely feature-based information.

  18. Feature extraction for magnetic domain images of magneto-optical recording films using gradient feature segmentation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Quanqing, Zhu.; Xinsai, Wang; Xuecheng, Zou; Haihua, Li; Xiaofei, Yang

    2002-01-01

    In this paper, we present a method to realize feature extraction on low contrast magnetic domain images of magneto-optical recording films. The method is based on the following three steps: first, Lee-filtering method is adopted to realize pre-filtering and noise reduction; this is followed by gradient feature segmentation, which separates the object area from the background area; finally the common linking method is adopted and the characteristic parameters of magnetic domain are calculated. We describe these steps with particular emphasis on the gradient feature segmentation. The results show that this method has advantages over other traditional ones for feature extraction of low contrast images

  19. Discrete Feature Model (DFM) User Documentation

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Geier, Joel (Clearwater Hardrock Consulting, Corvallis, OR (United States))

    2008-06-15

    This manual describes the Discrete-Feature Model (DFM) software package for modelling groundwater flow and solute transport in networks of discrete features. A discrete-feature conceptual model represents fractures and other water-conducting features around a repository as discrete conductors surrounded by a rock matrix which is usually treated as impermeable. This approximation may be valid for crystalline rocks such as granite or basalt, which have very low permeability if macroscopic fractures are excluded. A discrete feature is any entity that can conduct water and permit solute transport through bedrock, and can be reasonably represented as a piecewise-planar conductor. Examples of such entities may include individual natural fractures (joints or faults), fracture zones, and disturbed-zone features around tunnels (e.g. blasting-induced fractures or stress-concentration induced 'onion skin' fractures around underground openings). In a more abstract sense, the effectively discontinuous nature of pathways through fractured crystalline bedrock may be idealized as discrete, equivalent transmissive features that reproduce large-scale observations, even if the details of connective paths (and unconnected domains) are not precisely known. A discrete-feature model explicitly represents the fundamentally discontinuous and irregularly connected nature of systems of such systems, by constraining flow and transport to occur only within such features and their intersections. Pathways for flow and solute transport in this conceptualization are a consequence not just of the boundary conditions and hydrologic properties (as with continuum models), but also the irregularity of connections between conductive/transmissive features. The DFM software package described here is an extensible code for investigating problems of flow and transport in geological (natural or human-altered) systems that can be characterized effectively in terms of discrete features. With this

  20. Discrete Feature Model (DFM) User Documentation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Geier, Joel

    2008-06-01

    This manual describes the Discrete-Feature Model (DFM) software package for modelling groundwater flow and solute transport in networks of discrete features. A discrete-feature conceptual model represents fractures and other water-conducting features around a repository as discrete conductors surrounded by a rock matrix which is usually treated as impermeable. This approximation may be valid for crystalline rocks such as granite or basalt, which have very low permeability if macroscopic fractures are excluded. A discrete feature is any entity that can conduct water and permit solute transport through bedrock, and can be reasonably represented as a piecewise-planar conductor. Examples of such entities may include individual natural fractures (joints or faults), fracture zones, and disturbed-zone features around tunnels (e.g. blasting-induced fractures or stress-concentration induced 'onion skin' fractures around underground openings). In a more abstract sense, the effectively discontinuous nature of pathways through fractured crystalline bedrock may be idealized as discrete, equivalent transmissive features that reproduce large-scale observations, even if the details of connective paths (and unconnected domains) are not precisely known. A discrete-feature model explicitly represents the fundamentally discontinuous and irregularly connected nature of systems of such systems, by constraining flow and transport to occur only within such features and their intersections. Pathways for flow and solute transport in this conceptualization are a consequence not just of the boundary conditions and hydrologic properties (as with continuum models), but also the irregularity of connections between conductive/transmissive features. The DFM software package described here is an extensible code for investigating problems of flow and transport in geological (natural or human-altered) systems that can be characterized effectively in terms of discrete features. With this software, the

  1. Degree of contribution (DoC) feature selection algorithm for structural brain MRI volumetric features in depression detection.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kipli, Kuryati; Kouzani, Abbas Z

    2015-07-01

    Accurate detection of depression at an individual level using structural magnetic resonance imaging (sMRI) remains a challenge. Brain volumetric changes at a structural level appear to have importance in depression biomarkers studies. An automated algorithm is developed to select brain sMRI volumetric features for the detection of depression. A feature selection (FS) algorithm called degree of contribution (DoC) is developed for selection of sMRI volumetric features. This algorithm uses an ensemble approach to determine the degree of contribution in detection of major depressive disorder. The DoC is the score of feature importance used for feature ranking. The algorithm involves four stages: feature ranking, subset generation, subset evaluation, and DoC analysis. The performance of DoC is evaluated on the Duke University Multi-site Imaging Research in the Analysis of Depression sMRI dataset. The dataset consists of 115 brain sMRI scans of 88 healthy controls and 27 depressed subjects. Forty-four sMRI volumetric features are used in the evaluation. The DoC score of forty-four features was determined as the accuracy threshold (Acc_Thresh) was varied. The DoC performance was compared with that of four existing FS algorithms. At all defined Acc_Threshs, DoC outperformed the four examined FS algorithms for the average classification score and the maximum classification score. DoC has a good ability to generate reduced-size subsets of important features that could yield high classification accuracy. Based on the DoC score, the most discriminant volumetric features are those from the left-brain region.

  2. Flow-like Features On Europa

    Science.gov (United States)

    1997-01-01

    This image shows features on Jupiter's moon Europa that may be 'flows' from ice volcanoes. It was taken by the Galileo spacecraft solid state imaging (CCD) system during its seventh orbit around Jupiter. North is to the top of the image. The sun illuminates the scene from the left, showing features with shapes similar to lava flows on Earth. Two such features can be seen in the northwest corner of the image. The southern feature appears to have flowed over a ridge along its western edge. Scientists use these types of relationships to determine which feature formed first. In this case, the ridge probably formed before the flow-like feature that covers it.The image, centered at 22.6 degrees north latitude and 106.7 degrees west longitude, covers an area of 180 by 215 kilometers (112 by 134 miles). The smallest distinguishable features in the image are about 1.1 kilometers (0.7 miles) across. This image was obtained on April 28, 1997, when Galileo was 27,590 kilometers (16,830 miles) from Europa.The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA manages the Galileo mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, DC. JPL is an operating division of California Institute of Technology (Caltech).This image and other images and data received from Galileo are posted on the World Wide Web, on the Galileo mission home page at URL http://galileo.jpl.nasa.gov. Background information and educational context for the images can be found at URL http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/galileo/sepo

  3. Feature Extraction

    CERN Document Server

    CERN. Geneva

    2015-01-01

    Feature selection and reduction are key to robust multivariate analyses. In this talk I will focus on pros and cons of various variable selection methods and focus on those that are most relevant in the context of HEP.

  4. Transcriptional and Chromatin Dynamics of Muscle Regeneration After Severe Trauma

    Science.gov (United States)

    2016-10-12

    02127. 2Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge , MA 02142, Harvard Stem Cell Institute, Cambridge , MA 02138, Dept. of Stem Cell and...Regenerative Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge , MA 02138. 3United States Army Institute of Environmental Medicine - Military Performance Division, Natick...throughout the regenerative process in a mouse model of traumatic muscle injury. We first illustrate how the transcriptional landscape of coding and

  5. Video genre classification using multimodal features

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jin, Sung Ho; Bae, Tae Meon; Choo, Jin Ho; Ro, Yong Man

    2003-12-01

    We propose a video genre classification method using multimodal features. The proposed method is applied for the preprocessing of automatic video summarization or the retrieval and classification of broadcasting video contents. Through a statistical analysis of low-level and middle-level audio-visual features in video, the proposed method can achieve good performance in classifying several broadcasting genres such as cartoon, drama, music video, news, and sports. In this paper, we adopt MPEG-7 audio-visual descriptors as multimodal features of video contents and evaluate the performance of the classification by feeding the features into a decision tree-based classifier which is trained by CART. The experimental results show that the proposed method can recognize several broadcasting video genres with a high accuracy and the classification performance with multimodal features is superior to the one with unimodal features in the genre classification.

  6. Particle swarm optimization based feature enhancement and feature selection for improved emotion recognition in speech and glottal signals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Muthusamy, Hariharan; Polat, Kemal; Yaacob, Sazali

    2015-01-01

    In the recent years, many research works have been published using speech related features for speech emotion recognition, however, recent studies show that there is a strong correlation between emotional states and glottal features. In this work, Mel-frequency cepstralcoefficients (MFCCs), linear predictive cepstral coefficients (LPCCs), perceptual linear predictive (PLP) features, gammatone filter outputs, timbral texture features, stationary wavelet transform based timbral texture features and relative wavelet packet energy and entropy features were extracted from the emotional speech (ES) signals and its glottal waveforms(GW). Particle swarm optimization based clustering (PSOC) and wrapper based particle swarm optimization (WPSO) were proposed to enhance the discerning ability of the features and to select the discriminating features respectively. Three different emotional speech databases were utilized to gauge the proposed method. Extreme learning machine (ELM) was employed to classify the different types of emotions. Different experiments were conducted and the results show that the proposed method significantly improves the speech emotion recognition performance compared to previous works published in the literature.

  7. MRI features associated with acute appendicitis

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Leeuwenburgh, Marjolein M. N.; Jensch, Sebastiaan; Gratama, Jan W. C.; Spilt, Aart; Wiarda, Bart M.; van Es, H. Wouter; Cobben, Lodewijk P. J.; Bossuyt, Patrick M. M.; Boermeester, Marja A.; Stoker, Jaap; Bouma, Wim H.; Houdijk, Alexander P. J.; Richir, Milan C.; Stockmann, Hein B. A. C.; Wiezer, Marinus J.; Verhagen, Thijs

    2014-01-01

    To identify MRI features associated with appendicitis. Features expected to be associated with appendicitis were recorded in consensus by two expert radiologists on 223 abdominal MRIs in patients with suspected appendicitis. Nine MRI features were studied: appendix diameter >7 mm, appendicolith,

  8. Hong Kong English: phonological features

    OpenAIRE

    Irina-Ana Drobot

    2008-01-01

    The aim of the paper is to present phonological features of Hong Kong English, which is a variety of New English. I examine features of the sound system (vowel and consonantal systems), characteristics of stress, rhythm, intonation, and phonological processes of the English spoken by Hongkongers. The way in which the accent and characteristics of the Hong Kong variety of English differs from standard, RP English is pointed out. Influences of Chinese and Cantonese on the phonological features ...

  9. Cascaded face alignment via intimacy definition feature

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Hailiang; Lam, Kin-Man; Chiu, Man-Yau; Wu, Kangheng; Lei, Zhibin

    2017-09-01

    Recent years have witnessed the emerging popularity of regression-based face aligners, which directly learn mappings between facial appearance and shape-increment manifolds. We propose a random-forest based, cascaded regression model for face alignment by using a locally lightweight feature, namely intimacy definition feature. This feature is more discriminative than the pose-indexed feature, more efficient than the histogram of oriented gradients feature and the scale-invariant feature transform feature, and more compact than the local binary feature (LBF). Experimental validation of our algorithm shows that our approach achieves state-of-the-art performance when testing on some challenging datasets. Compared with the LBF-based algorithm, our method achieves about twice the speed, 20% improvement in terms of alignment accuracy and saves an order of magnitude on memory requirement.

  10. Extract the Relational Information of Static Features and Motion Features for Human Activities Recognition in Videos

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Li Yao

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Both static features and motion features have shown promising performance in human activities recognition task. However, the information included in these features is insufficient for complex human activities. In this paper, we propose extracting relational information of static features and motion features for human activities recognition. The videos are represented by a classical Bag-of-Word (BoW model which is useful in many works. To get a compact and discriminative codebook with small dimension, we employ the divisive algorithm based on KL-divergence to reconstruct the codebook. After that, to further capture strong relational information, we construct a bipartite graph to model the relationship between words of different feature set. Then we use a k-way partition to create a new codebook in which similar words are getting together. With this new codebook, videos can be represented by a new BoW vector with strong relational information. Moreover, we propose a method to compute new clusters from the divisive algorithm’s projective function. We test our work on the several datasets and obtain very promising results.

  11. Temporal feature integration for music genre classification

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Meng, Anders; Ahrendt, Peter; Larsen, Jan

    2007-01-01

    , but they capture neither the temporal dynamics nor dependencies among the individual feature dimensions. Here, a multivariate autoregressive feature model is proposed to solve this problem for music genre classification. This model gives two different feature sets, the diagonal autoregressive (DAR......) and multivariate autoregressive (MAR) features which are compared against the baseline mean-variance as well as two other temporal feature integration techniques. Reproducibility in performance ranking of temporal feature integration methods were demonstrated using two data sets with five and eleven music genres...

  12. Inflation and WMAP three year data. Features have a feature.

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Covi, L.; Hamann, J. [Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Hamburg (Germany); Melchiorri, A. [INFN, Roma (Italy)]|[Rome-3 Univ. (Italy). Dipt. di Fisica; Slosar, A. [Ljubljana Univ. (Slovenia). Faculty of Mathematics and Physics; Sorbera, I. [Rome-3 Univ. (Italy). Dipt. di Fisica

    2006-06-15

    The new three year WMAP data seem to confirm the presence of non-standard large scale features in the Cosmic Microwave Anisotropies power spectrum. While these features may hint at uncorrected experimental systematics, it is also possible to generate, in a cosmological way, oscillations on large angular scales by introducing a sharp step in the inflaton potential. Using current cosmological data, we derive constraints on the position, magnitude and gradient of a possible step in the inflaton potential. We show that a step in the potential, while strongly constrained by current data, is still allowed and may provide an interesting explanation to the currently measured deviations from the standard featureless spectrum. (Orig.)

  13. Feature singletons attract spatial attention independently of feature priming.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yashar, Amit; White, Alex L; Fang, Wanghaoming; Carrasco, Marisa

    2017-08-01

    People perform better in visual search when the target feature repeats across trials (intertrial feature priming [IFP]). Here, we investigated whether repetition of a feature singleton's color modulates stimulus-driven shifts of spatial attention by presenting a probe stimulus immediately after each singleton display. The task alternated every two trials between a probe discrimination task and a singleton search task. We measured both stimulus-driven spatial attention (via the distance between the probe and singleton) and IFP (via repetition of the singleton's color). Color repetition facilitated search performance (IFP effect) when the set size was small. When the probe appeared at the singleton's location, performance was better than at the opposite location (stimulus-driven attention effect). The magnitude of this attention effect increased with the singleton's set size (which increases its saliency) but did not depend on whether the singleton's color repeated across trials, even when the previous singleton had been attended as a search target. Thus, our findings show that repetition of a salient singleton's color affects performance when the singleton is task relevant and voluntarily attended (as in search trials). However, color repetition does not affect performance when the singleton becomes irrelevant to the current task, even though the singleton does capture attention (as in probe trials). Therefore, color repetition per se does not make a singleton more salient for stimulus-driven attention. Rather, we suggest that IFP requires voluntary selection of color singletons in each consecutive trial.

  14. MRI features associated with acute appendicitis

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Leeuwenburgh, Marjolein M.N. [University of Amsterdam, Department of Surgery, Academic Medical Center, Amsterdam (Netherlands); University of Amsterdam, Department of Radiology, Academic Medical Center, Amsterdam (Netherlands); Academic Medical Center, Department of Radiology (G1-223.1), Amsterdam (Netherlands); Jensch, Sebastiaan [Sint Lucas Andreas Hospital, Department of Radiology, Amsterdam (Netherlands); Gratama, Jan W.C. [Gelre Hospitals, Department of Radiology, Apeldoorn (Netherlands); Spilt, Aart [Kennemer Gasthuis, Department of Radiology, Haarlem (Netherlands); Wiarda, Bart M. [Alkmaar Medical Center, Department of Radiology, Alkmaar (Netherlands); Es, H.W. van [Sint Antonius Hospital, Department of Radiology, Nieuwegein (Netherlands); Cobben, Lodewijk P.J. [Haaglanden Medical Center, Department of Radiology, Leidschendam (Netherlands); Bossuyt, Patrick M.M. [University of Amsterdam, Department of Clinical Epidemiology, Academic Medical Center, Amsterdam (Netherlands); Boermeester, Marja A. [University of Amsterdam, Department of Surgery, Academic Medical Center, Amsterdam (Netherlands); Stoker, Jaap [University of Amsterdam, Department of Radiology, Academic Medical Center, Amsterdam (Netherlands); Collaboration: on behalf of the OPTIMAP study group

    2014-01-15

    To identify MRI features associated with appendicitis. Features expected to be associated with appendicitis were recorded in consensus by two expert radiologists on 223 abdominal MRIs in patients with suspected appendicitis. Nine MRI features were studied: appendix diameter >7 mm, appendicolith, peri-appendiceal fat infiltration, peri-appendiceal fluid, absence of gas in the appendix, appendiceal wall destruction, restricted diffusion of the appendiceal wall, lumen or focal fluid collections. Appendicitis was assigned as the final diagnosis in 117/223 patients. Associations between imaging features and appendicitis were evaluated with logistic regression analysis. All investigated features were significantly associated with appendicitis in univariate analysis. Combinations of two and three features were associated with a probability of appendicitis of 88 % and 92 %, respectively. In patients without any of the nine features, appendicitis was present in 2 % of cases. After multivariate analysis, only an appendix diameter >7 mm, peri-appendiceal fat infiltration and restricted diffusion of the appendiceal wall were significantly associated with appendicitis. The probability of appendicitis was 96 % in their presence and 2 % in their absence. An appendix diameter >7 mm, peri-appendiceal fat infiltration and restricted diffusion of the appendiceal wall have the strongest association with appendicitis on MRI. (orig.)

  15. MRI features associated with acute appendicitis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Leeuwenburgh, Marjolein M.N.; Jensch, Sebastiaan; Gratama, Jan W.C.; Spilt, Aart; Wiarda, Bart M.; Es, H.W. van; Cobben, Lodewijk P.J.; Bossuyt, Patrick M.M.; Boermeester, Marja A.; Stoker, Jaap

    2014-01-01

    To identify MRI features associated with appendicitis. Features expected to be associated with appendicitis were recorded in consensus by two expert radiologists on 223 abdominal MRIs in patients with suspected appendicitis. Nine MRI features were studied: appendix diameter >7 mm, appendicolith, peri-appendiceal fat infiltration, peri-appendiceal fluid, absence of gas in the appendix, appendiceal wall destruction, restricted diffusion of the appendiceal wall, lumen or focal fluid collections. Appendicitis was assigned as the final diagnosis in 117/223 patients. Associations between imaging features and appendicitis were evaluated with logistic regression analysis. All investigated features were significantly associated with appendicitis in univariate analysis. Combinations of two and three features were associated with a probability of appendicitis of 88 % and 92 %, respectively. In patients without any of the nine features, appendicitis was present in 2 % of cases. After multivariate analysis, only an appendix diameter >7 mm, peri-appendiceal fat infiltration and restricted diffusion of the appendiceal wall were significantly associated with appendicitis. The probability of appendicitis was 96 % in their presence and 2 % in their absence. An appendix diameter >7 mm, peri-appendiceal fat infiltration and restricted diffusion of the appendiceal wall have the strongest association with appendicitis on MRI. (orig.)

  16. Textural features for radar image analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shanmugan, K. S.; Narayanan, V.; Frost, V. S.; Stiles, J. A.; Holtzman, J. C.

    1981-01-01

    Texture is seen as an important spatial feature useful for identifying objects or regions of interest in an image. While textural features have been widely used in analyzing a variety of photographic images, they have not been used in processing radar images. A procedure for extracting a set of textural features for characterizing small areas in radar images is presented, and it is shown that these features can be used in classifying segments of radar images corresponding to different geological formations.

  17. Venezuela’s Corruption On the Rise: Fourteen Years of Chavismo

    Science.gov (United States)

    2016-09-01

    Venezuela’s abundance of oil has led to a history of failed economic models used to attempt to temper the Resource Curse. Javier Corrales from Harvard ...the 1990s and beyond,” ReVista Harvard Review of Latin America, no. Fall (1999), accessed March 11, 2016, http://revista.drclas.harvard.edu/ book ...incorporate a three-prong anti-corruption approach, including political, economic , and social accountability reforms with market-friendly social democratic

  18. Conjunctive Coding of Complex Object Features

    Science.gov (United States)

    Erez, Jonathan; Cusack, Rhodri; Kendall, William; Barense, Morgan D.

    2016-01-01

    Critical to perceiving an object is the ability to bind its constituent features into a cohesive representation, yet the manner by which the visual system integrates object features to yield a unified percept remains unknown. Here, we present a novel application of multivoxel pattern analysis of neuroimaging data that allows a direct investigation of whether neural representations integrate object features into a whole that is different from the sum of its parts. We found that patterns of activity throughout the ventral visual stream (VVS), extending anteriorly into the perirhinal cortex (PRC), discriminated between the same features combined into different objects. Despite this sensitivity to the unique conjunctions of features comprising objects, activity in regions of the VVS, again extending into the PRC, was invariant to the viewpoints from which the conjunctions were presented. These results suggest that the manner in which our visual system processes complex objects depends on the explicit coding of the conjunctions of features comprising them. PMID:25921583

  19. Zatlers addresses Harvard audience

    Index Scriptorium Estoniae

    2010-01-01

    Läti presidendi Valdis Zatlersi Harvardi ülikoolis peetud kõnest, milles ta märgib, et üks tema jaoks tähtsamatest küsimustest on, kes võiks Läti uue peaministrina riigi praegust majanduskurssi jätkata, ja leiab, et Läti kuulub oma rahvaarvu arvestades Afganistani enam panustavate riikide hulka

  20. Hong Kong English: phonological features

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Irina-Ana Drobot

    2008-01-01

    Full Text Available The aim of the paper is to present phonological features of Hong Kong English, which is a variety of New English. I examine features of the sound system (vowel and consonantal systems, characteristics of stress, rhythm, intonation, and phonological processes of the English spoken by Hongkongers. The way in which the accent and characteristics of the Hong Kong variety of English differs from standard, RP English is pointed out. Influences of Chinese and Cantonese on the phonological features of Hong Kong English are noticeable

  1. Personality Features of Motorists

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andrej Justinek

    1997-12-01

    Full Text Available Justinek tries to answer the question whether or not motorists have specific personality features which predispose them for safe and well-mannered driving. A good driver should have sensory abilities which enable psycho-motor coordiation of a vehicle, intellectual and cognitive features that are important for solving problems in new, unknown situations, and emotional and motivational trails defining a driver's maturity. Justmek advocates the belief that in training future drivers greater attention should be paid to developing these features which are vital for safe driving and appropriate behaviour of drivers in traffic. He also suggests certain learning methods leading to development of the above­ mentioned personality traits. Justinek introduces the notion of the 'philosophy of driving' as an essential educational category in training future drivers.

  2. Modelling the impact of soil Carbonic Anhydrase on the net ecosystem exchange of OCS at Harvard forest using the MuSICA model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Launois, Thomas; Ogée, Jérôme; Commane, Roisin; Wehr, Rchard; Meredith, Laura; Munger, Bill; Nelson, David; Saleska, Scott; Wofsy, Steve; Zahniser, Mark; Wingate, Lisa

    2016-04-01

    The exchange of CO2 between the terrestrial biosphere and the atmosphere is driven by photosynthetic uptake and respiratory loss, two fluxes currently estimated with considerable uncertainty at large scales. Model predictions indicate that these biosphere fluxes will be modified in the future as CO2 concentrations and temperatures increase; however, it still unclear to what extent. To address this challenge there is a need for better constraints on land surface model parameterisations. Additional atmospheric tracers of large-scale CO2 fluxes have been identified as potential candidates for this task. In particular carbonyl sulphide (OCS) has been proposed as a complementary tracer of gross photosynthesis over land, since OCS uptake by plants is dominated by carbonic anhydrase (CA) activity, an enzyme abundant in leaves that catalyses CO2 hydration during photosynthesis. However, although the mass budget at the ecosystem is dominated by the flux of OCS into leaves, some OCS is also exchanged between the atmosphere and the soil and this component of the budget requires constraining. In this study, we adapted the process-based isotope-enabled model MuSICA (Multi-layer Simulator of the Interactions between a vegetation Canopy and the Atmosphere) to include the transport, reaction, diffusion and production of OCS within a forested ecosystem. This model was combined with 3 years (2011-2013) of in situ measurements of OCS atmospheric concentration profiles and fluxes at the Harvard Forest (Massachussets, USA) to test hypotheses on the mechanisms responsible for CA-driven uptake by leaves and soils as well as possible OCS emissions during litter decomposition. Model simulations over the three years captured well the impact of diurnally and seasonally varying environmental conditions on the net ecosystem OCS flux. A sensitivity analysis on soil CA activity and soil OCS emission rates was also performed to quantify their impact on the vertical profiles of OCS inside the

  3. Features for detecting smoke in laparoscopic videos

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jalal Nour Aldeen

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available Video-based smoke detection in laparoscopic surgery has different potential applications, such as the automatic addressing of surgical events associated with the electrocauterization task and the development of automatic smoke removal. In the literature, video-based smoke detection has been studied widely for fire surveillance systems. Nevertheless, the proposed methods are insufficient for smoke detection in laparoscopic videos because they often depend on assumptions which rarely hold in laparoscopic surgery such as static camera. In this paper, ten visual features based on motion, texture and colour of smoke are proposed and evaluated for smoke detection in laparoscopic videos. These features are RGB channels, energy-based feature, texture features based on gray level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM, HSV colour space feature, features based on the detection of moving regions using optical flow and the smoke colour in HSV colour space. These features were tested on four laparoscopic cholecystectomy videos. Experimental observations show that each feature can provide valuable information in performing the smoke detection task. However, each feature has weaknesses to detect the presence of smoke in some cases. By combining all proposed features smoke with high and even low density can be identified robustly and the classification accuracy increases significantly.

  4. Novel Features for Brain-Computer Interfaces

    Science.gov (United States)

    Woon, W. L.; Cichocki, A.

    2007-01-01

    While conventional approaches of BCI feature extraction are based on the power spectrum, we have tried using nonlinear features for classifying BCI data. In this paper, we report our test results and findings, which indicate that the proposed method is a potentially useful addition to current feature extraction techniques. PMID:18364991

  5. Feature Binding in Zebrafish

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    P Neri

    2012-07-01

    Full Text Available Binding operations are primarily ascribed to cortex or similarly complex avian structures. My experiments show that the zebrafish, a lower vertebrate lacking cortex, supports visual feature binding of form and motion for the purpose of social behavior. These results challenge the notion that feature binding may require highly evolved neural structures and demonstrate that the nervous system of lower vertebrates can afford unexpectedly complex computations.

  6. Ontology patterns for complex topographic feature yypes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Varanka, Dalia E.

    2011-01-01

    Complex feature types are defined as integrated relations between basic features for a shared meaning or concept. The shared semantic concept is difficult to define in commonly used geographic information systems (GIS) and remote sensing technologies. The role of spatial relations between complex feature parts was recognized in early GIS literature, but had limited representation in the feature or coverage data models of GIS. Spatial relations are more explicitly specified in semantic technology. In this paper, semantics for topographic feature ontology design patterns (ODP) are developed as data models for the representation of complex features. In the context of topographic processes, component assemblages are supported by resource systems and are found on local landscapes. The topographic ontology is organized across six thematic modules that can account for basic feature types, resource systems, and landscape types. Types of complex feature attributes include location, generative processes and physical description. Node/edge networks model standard spatial relations and relations specific to topographic science to represent complex features. To demonstrate these concepts, data from The National Map of the U. S. Geological Survey was converted and assembled into ODP.

  7. What Factors Underlie Vertical and Horizontal Export Diversification

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University

    progress in initiating process of economic and social development. .... Source: UNCTAD Hand Book of Statistics, UNCTAD database. Though many ...... Development and Harvard Institute for International Development: Harvard University,.

  8. Feature-level domain adaptation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kouw, Wouter M.; Van Der Maaten, Laurens J P; Krijthe, Jesse H.

    2016-01-01

    -level domain adaptation (flda), that models the dependence between the two domains by means of a feature-level transfer model that is trained to describe the transfer from source to target domain. Subsequently, we train a domain-adapted classifier by minimizing the expected loss under the resulting transfer...... modeled via a dropout distribution, which allows the classiffier to adapt to differences in the marginal probability of features in the source and the target domain. Our experiments on several real-world problems show that flda performs on par with state-of-the-art domainadaptation techniques.......Domain adaptation is the supervised learning setting in which the training and test data are sampled from different distributions: training data is sampled from a source domain, whilst test data is sampled from a target domain. This paper proposes and studies an approach, called feature...

  9. Addressing scalability while feature requests persist. A look at NASA Worldview's new features and their implementation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    King, B. A.

    2017-12-01

    Worldview is a high-traffic web mapping application created using the JavaScript mapping library, OpenLayers. This presentation will primarily focus on three new features: A wrapping component that seamlessly shows satellite imagery over the dateline where most maps either stop or wrap the imagery of the same date. An animation feature that allows users to select date ranges over which they can animate. An A/B comparison feature that gives users the power to compare imagery between dates and layers. In response to an increasingly large codebase caused by ongoing feature requests, Worldview is transitioning to a smaller core codebase comprised of external reusable modules. When creating a module with the intention of having someone else reuse it for a different task, one inherently starts generating code that is easier to read and easier to maintain. This presentation will show demos of these features and cover development techniques used to create them.

  10. Light field morphing using 2D features.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Lifeng; Lin, Stephen; Lee, Seungyong; Guo, Baining; Shum, Heung-Yeung

    2005-01-01

    We present a 2D feature-based technique for morphing 3D objects represented by light fields. Existing light field morphing methods require the user to specify corresponding 3D feature elements to guide morph computation. Since slight errors in 3D specification can lead to significant morphing artifacts, we propose a scheme based on 2D feature elements that is less sensitive to imprecise marking of features. First, 2D features are specified by the user in a number of key views in the source and target light fields. Then the two light fields are warped view by view as guided by the corresponding 2D features. Finally, the two warped light fields are blended together to yield the desired light field morph. Two key issues in light field morphing are feature specification and warping of light field rays. For feature specification, we introduce a user interface for delineating 2D features in key views of a light field, which are automatically interpolated to other views. For ray warping, we describe a 2D technique that accounts for visibility changes and present a comparison to the ideal morphing of light fields. Light field morphing based on 2D features makes it simple to incorporate previous image morphing techniques such as nonuniform blending, as well as to morph between an image and a light field.

  11. Nonmotor Features in Atypical Parkinsonism.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bhatia, Kailash P; Stamelou, Maria

    2017-01-01

    Atypical parkinsonism (AP) comprises mainly multiple system atrophy (MSA), progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), and corticobasal degeneration (CBD), which are distinct pathological entities, presenting with a wide phenotypic spectrum. The classic syndromes are now called MSA-parkinsonism (MSA-P), MSA-cerebellar type (MSA-C), Richardson's syndrome, and corticobasal syndrome. Nonmotor features in AP have been recognized almost since the initial description of these disorders; however, research has been limited. Autonomic dysfunction is the most prominent nonmotor feature of MSA, but also gastrointestinal symptoms, sleep dysfunction, and pain, can be a feature. In PSP and CBD, the most prominent nonmotor symptoms comprise those deriving from the cognitive/neuropsychiatric domain. Apart from assisting the clinician in the differential diagnosis with Parkinson's disease, nonmotor features in AP have a big impact on quality of life and prognosis of AP and their treatment poses a major challenge for clinicians. © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  12. Wilson’s disease: Atypical imaging features

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Venugopalan Y Vishnu

    2016-10-01

    Full Text Available Wilson’s disease is a genetic movement disorder with characteristic clinical and imaging features. We report a 17- year-old boy who presented with sialorrhea, hypophonic speech, paraparesis with repeated falls and recurrent seizures along with cognitive decline. He had bilateral Kayser Flescher rings. Other than the typical features of Wilson’s disease in cranial MRI, there were extensive white matter signal abnormalities (T2 and FLAIR hyperintensities and gyriform contrast enhancement which are rare imaging features in Wilson's disease. A high index of suspicion is required to diagnose Wilson’s disease when atypical imaging features are present.

  13. Multimodal Feature Learning for Video Captioning

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sujin Lee

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Video captioning refers to the task of generating a natural language sentence that explains the content of the input video clips. This study proposes a deep neural network model for effective video captioning. Apart from visual features, the proposed model learns additionally semantic features that describe the video content effectively. In our model, visual features of the input video are extracted using convolutional neural networks such as C3D and ResNet, while semantic features are obtained using recurrent neural networks such as LSTM. In addition, our model includes an attention-based caption generation network to generate the correct natural language captions based on the multimodal video feature sequences. Various experiments, conducted with the two large benchmark datasets, Microsoft Video Description (MSVD and Microsoft Research Video-to-Text (MSR-VTT, demonstrate the performance of the proposed model.

  14. Language identification using excitation source features

    CERN Document Server

    Rao, K Sreenivasa

    2015-01-01

    This book discusses the contribution of excitation source information in discriminating language. The authors focus on the excitation source component of speech for enhancement of language identification (LID) performance. Language specific features are extracted using two different modes: (i) Implicit processing of linear prediction (LP) residual and (ii) Explicit parameterization of linear prediction residual. The book discusses how in implicit processing approach, excitation source features are derived from LP residual, Hilbert envelope (magnitude) of LP residual and Phase of LP residual; and in explicit parameterization approach, LP residual signal is processed in spectral domain to extract the relevant language specific features. The authors further extract source features from these modes, which are combined for enhancing the performance of LID systems. The proposed excitation source features are also investigated for LID in background noisy environments. Each chapter of this book provides the motivatio...

  15. Guilt by Association: The 13 Micron Dust Emission Feature and Its Correlation to Other Gas and Dust Features

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sloan, G. C.; Kraemer, Kathleen E.; Goebel, J. H.; Price, Stephan D.

    2003-09-01

    A study of all full-scan spectra of optically thin oxygen-rich circumstellar dust shells in the database produced by the Short Wavelength Spectrometer on ISO reveals that the strength of several infrared spectral features correlates with the strength of the 13 μm dust feature. These correlated features include dust features at 19.8 and 28.1 μm and the bands produced by warm carbon dioxide molecules (the strongest of which are at 13.9, 15.0, and 16.2 μm). The database does not provide any evidence for a correlation of the 13 μm feature with a dust feature at 32 μm, and it is more likely that a weak emission feature at 16.8 μm arises from carbon dioxide gas rather than dust. The correlated dust features at 13, 20, and 28 μm tend to be stronger with respect to the total dust emission in semiregular and irregular variables associated with the asymptotic giant branch than in Mira variables or supergiants. This family of dust features also tends to be stronger in systems with lower infrared excesses and thus lower mass-loss rates. We hypothesize that the dust features arise from crystalline forms of alumina (13 μm) and silicates (20 and 28 μm). Based on observations with the ISO, a European Space Agency (ESA) project with instruments funded by ESA member states (especially the Principal Investigator countries: France, Germany, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom) and with the participation of the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

  16. Comparison of advanced mid-sized reactors regarding passive features, core damage frequencies and core melt retention features

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wider, H.

    2005-01-01

    New Light Water Reactors, whose regular safety systems are complemented by passive safety systems, are ready for the market. The special aspect of passive safety features is their actuation and functioning independent of the operator. They add significantly to reduce the core damage frequency (CDF) since the operator continues to play its independent role in actuating the regular safety devices based on modern instrumentation and control (I and C). The latter also has passive features regarding the prevention of accidents. Two reactors with significant passive features that are presently offered on the market are the AP1000 PWR and the SWR 1000 BWR. Their passive features are compared and also their core damage frequencies (CDF). The latter are also compared with those of a VVER-1000. A further discussion about the two passive plants concerns their mitigating features for severe accidents. Regarding core-melt retention both rely on in-vessel cooling of the melt. The new VVER-1000 reactor, on the other hand features a validated ex-vessel concept. (author)

  17. Controllable edge feature sharpening for dental applications.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fan, Ran; Jin, Xiaogang

    2014-01-01

    This paper presents a new approach to sharpen blurred edge features in scanned tooth preparation surfaces generated by structured-light scanners. It aims to efficiently enhance the edge features so that the embedded feature lines can be easily identified in dental CAD systems, and to avoid unnatural oversharpening geometry. We first separate the feature regions using graph-cut segmentation, which does not require a user-defined threshold. Then, we filter the face normal vectors to propagate the geometry from the smooth region to the feature region. In order to control the degree of the sharpness, we propose a feature distance measure which is based on normal tensor voting. Finally, the vertex positions are updated according to the modified face normal vectors. We have applied the approach to scanned tooth preparation models. The results show that the blurred edge features are enhanced without unnatural oversharpening geometry.

  18. Controllable Edge Feature Sharpening for Dental Applications

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ran Fan

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents a new approach to sharpen blurred edge features in scanned tooth preparation surfaces generated by structured-light scanners. It aims to efficiently enhance the edge features so that the embedded feature lines can be easily identified in dental CAD systems, and to avoid unnatural oversharpening geometry. We first separate the feature regions using graph-cut segmentation, which does not require a user-defined threshold. Then, we filter the face normal vectors to propagate the geometry from the smooth region to the feature region. In order to control the degree of the sharpness, we propose a feature distance measure which is based on normal tensor voting. Finally, the vertex positions are updated according to the modified face normal vectors. We have applied the approach to scanned tooth preparation models. The results show that the blurred edge features are enhanced without unnatural oversharpening geometry.

  19. FeatureMap3D - a tool to map protein features and sequence conservation onto homologous structures in the PDB

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Wernersson, Rasmus; Rapacki, Krzysztof; Stærfeldt, Hans Henrik

    2006-01-01

    FeatureMap3D is a web-based tool that maps protein features onto 3D structures. The user provides sequences annotated with any feature of interest, such as post-translational modifications, protease cleavage sites or exonic structure and FeatureMap3D will then search the Protein Data Bank (PDB) f...

  20. Glacial Features (Point) - Quad 168 (EPPING, NH)

    Data.gov (United States)

    University of New Hampshire — The Glacial Features (Point) layer describes point features associated with surficial geology. These glacial features include, but are not limited to, delta forsets,...

  1. 77 FR 57086 - Open Internet Advisory Committee

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-09-17

    ... Student Center, Harvard Law School, 1585 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138. FOR FURTHER... be broadcast live with open captioning over the Internet at http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/events/2012...

  2. Partial Epilepsy with Auditory Features

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    J Gordon Millichap

    2004-07-01

    Full Text Available The clinical characteristics of 53 sporadic (S cases of idiopathic partial epilepsy with auditory features (IPEAF were analyzed and compared to previously reported familial (F cases of autosomal dominant partial epilepsy with auditory features (ADPEAF in a study at the University of Bologna, Italy.

  3. Feature Extraction Using Fractal Codes

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    B.A.M. Schouten (Ben); P.M. de Zeeuw (Paul)

    1999-01-01

    htmlabstractFast and successful searching for an object in a multimedia database is a highly desirable functionality. Several approaches to content based retrieval for multimedia databases can be found in the literature [9,10,12,14,17]. The approach we consider is feature extraction. A feature can

  4. Remodularizing Java programs for comprehension of features

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Olszak, Andrzej; Jørgensen, Bo Nørregaard

    2009-01-01

    . In absence of these mechanisms, feature implementations tend to be scattered and tangled in terms of object-oriented abstractions, making the code implementing features difficult to locate and comprehend. In this paper we present a semi-automatic method for feature-oriented remodularization of Java programs....... Our method uses execution traces to locate implementations of features, and Java packages to establish explicit feature modules. To evaluate usefulness of the approach, we present a case study where we apply our method to two real-world software systems. The obtained results indicate a significant...

  5. Patch layout generation by detecting feature networks

    KAUST Repository

    Cao, Yuanhao

    2015-02-01

    The patch layout of 3D surfaces reveals the high-level geometric and topological structures. In this paper, we study the patch layout computation by detecting and enclosing feature loops on surfaces. We present a hybrid framework which combines several key ingredients, including feature detection, feature filtering, feature curve extension, patch subdivision and boundary smoothing. Our framework is able to compute patch layouts through concave features as previous approaches, but also able to generate nice layouts through smoothing regions. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our framework by comparing with the state-of-the-art methods.

  6. Feature coding for image representation and recognition

    CERN Document Server

    Huang, Yongzhen

    2015-01-01

    This brief presents a comprehensive introduction to feature coding, which serves as a key module for the typical object recognition pipeline. The text offers a rich blend of theory and practice while reflects the recent developments on feature coding, covering the following five aspects: (1) Review the state-of-the-art, analyzing the motivations and mathematical representations of various feature coding methods; (2) Explore how various feature coding algorithms evolve along years; (3) Summarize the main characteristics of typical feature coding algorithms and categorize them accordingly; (4) D

  7. Currency features for visually impaired people

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hyland, Sandra L.; Legge, Gordon E.; Shannon, Robert R.; Baer, Norbert S.

    1996-03-01

    The estimated 3.7 million Americans with low vision experience a uniquely difficult task in identifying the denominations of U.S. banknotes because the notes are remarkably uniform in size, color, and general design. The National Research Council's Committee on Currency Features Usable by the Visually Impaired assessed features that could be used by people who are visually disabled to distinguish currency from other documents and to denominate and authenticate banknotes using available technology. Variation of length and height, introduction of large numerals on a uniform, high-contrast background, use of different colors for each of the six denominations printed, and the introduction of overt denomination codes that could lead to development of effective, low-cost devices for examining banknotes were all deemed features available now. Issues affecting performance, including the science of visual and tactile perception, were addressed for these features, as well as for those features requiring additional research and development. In this group the committee included durable tactile features such as those printed with transparent ink, and the production of currency with holes to indicate denomination. Among long-range approaches considered were the development of technologically advanced devices and smart money.

  8. Fall Detection Using Smartphone Audio Features.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cheffena, Michael

    2016-07-01

    An automated fall detection system based on smartphone audio features is developed. The spectrogram, mel frequency cepstral coefficents (MFCCs), linear predictive coding (LPC), and matching pursuit (MP) features of different fall and no-fall sound events are extracted from experimental data. Based on the extracted audio features, four different machine learning classifiers: k-nearest neighbor classifier (k-NN), support vector machine (SVM), least squares method (LSM), and artificial neural network (ANN) are investigated for distinguishing between fall and no-fall events. For each audio feature, the performance of each classifier in terms of sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, and computational complexity is evaluated. The best performance is achieved using spectrogram features with ANN classifier with sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy all above 98%. The classifier also has acceptable computational requirement for training and testing. The system is applicable in home environments where the phone is placed in the vicinity of the user.

  9. Flexible feature interface for multimedia sources

    Science.gov (United States)

    Coffland, Douglas R [Livermore, CA

    2009-06-09

    A flexible feature interface for multimedia sources system that includes a single interface for the addition of features and functions to multimedia sources and for accessing those features and functions from remote hosts. The interface utilizes the export statement: export "C" D11Export void FunctionName(int argc, char ** argv,char * result, SecureSession *ctrl) or the binary equivalent of the export statement.

  10. Prostatic adenocarcinoma with glomeruloid features.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pacelli, A; Lopez-Beltran, A; Egan, A J; Bostwick, D G

    1998-05-01

    A wide variety of architectural patterns of adenocarcinoma may be seen in the prostate. We have recently encountered a hitherto-undescribed pattern of growth characterized by intraluminal ball-like clusters of cancer cells reminiscent of renal glomeruli, which we refer to as prostatic adenocarcinoma with glomeruloid features. To define the architectural features, frequency, and distribution of prostatic adenocarcinoma with glomeruloid features, we reviewed 202 totally embedded radical prostatectomy specimens obtained between October 1992 and April 1994 from the files of the Mayo Clinic. This series was supplemented by 100 consecutive needle biopsies with prostatic cancer from January to February 1996. Prostatic adenocarcinoma with glomeruloid features was characterized by round to oval epithelial tufts growing within malignant acini, often supported by a fibrovascular core. The epithelial cells were sometimes arranged in semicircular concentric rows separated by clefted spaces. In the radical prostatectomy specimens, nine cases (4.5%) had glomeruloid features. The glomeruloid pattern constituted 5% to 20% of each cancer (mean, 8.33%) and was usually located at the apex or in the peripheral zone of the prostate. Seven cases were associated with a high Gleason score (7 or 8), one with a score of 6, and one with a score of 5. All cases were associated with high-grade prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia and extensive perineural invasion. Pathological stages included T2c (three cases), T3b (four cases), and T3c (two cases); one of the T3b cases had lymph node metastases (N1). Three (3%) of 100 consecutive routine needle biopsy specimens with cancer showed glomeruloid features, and this pattern constituted 5% to 10% of each cancer (mean, 6.7%). The Gleason score was 6 for two cases and 8 for one case. Two cases were associated with high-grade prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia, and one case had perineural invasion. Glomeruloid features were not observed in any benign or

  11. Feature extraction using fractal codes

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    B.A.M. Ben Schouten; Paul M. de Zeeuw

    1999-01-01

    Fast and successful searching for an object in a multimedia database is a highly desirable functionality. Several approaches to content based retrieval for multimedia databases can be found in the literature [9,10,12,14,17]. The approach we consider is feature extraction. A feature can be seen as a

  12. Spinal muscular atrophy type I and the dual role of viruses: An interview with Professor Basil T. Darras, Professor of Neurology (Pediatrics) at Harvard Medical School.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mammas, Ioannis N; Spandidos, Demetrios A

    2018-04-01

    According to Professor Basil T. Darras, Professor of Neurology (Pediatrics) at Harvard Medical School and Director of the Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) Program at Boston Children's Hospital in Boston (MA, USA), the diagnosis of SMA type I is clinical and is based on detailed general physical and neurological examinations. SMA type I remains the most common genetic disease resulting in death in infancy and is really devastating for the child, the parents, as well as the medical professionals with the privilege of caring for patients with SMA and their parents. The proposed management options include: i) no respiratory support; ii) non-invasive ventilation; and iii) tracheotomy with mechanical ventilation. Deciding, which option is the best, is indeed a very personal decision. The optimal clinical care should be extremely mindful of parents' wishes and management goals with regard to the quality of life. Since the end of 2016 in the USA, and recently in Europe, there exists the possibility of accessing a novel treatment drug for SMA, namely Nusinersen. This antisense oligonucleotide is administered intrathecally and increases the production of the fully functional SMN protein, thus improving motor function, the quality of life and survival. Among the ongoing clinical trials, oral treatment with RG7916, a small molecule SMN2 splicing modifier, appears to be really promising. Gene therapy using viral vectors is expected to offer an 'one and done' therapy and possibly a cure, if administered early in life, before any symptoms appear. It is really interesting that viruses, which at the moment are the cause of death of children with SMA, if genetically modified, may be used for their treatment.

  13. Iris recognition based on key image feature extraction.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ren, X; Tian, Q; Zhang, J; Wu, S; Zeng, Y

    2008-01-01

    In iris recognition, feature extraction can be influenced by factors such as illumination and contrast, and thus the features extracted may be unreliable, which can cause a high rate of false results in iris pattern recognition. In order to obtain stable features, an algorithm was proposed in this paper to extract key features of a pattern from multiple images. The proposed algorithm built an iris feature template by extracting key features and performed iris identity enrolment. Simulation results showed that the selected key features have high recognition accuracy on the CASIA Iris Set, where both contrast and illumination variance exist.

  14. Vehicle barriers: emphasis on natural features

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Adams, K.G.; Roscoe, B.J.

    1985-07-01

    The recent increase in the use of car and truck bombs by terrorist organizations has led NRC to evaluate the adequacy of licensee security against such threats. As part of this evaluation, one of the factors is the effectiveness of terrain and vegetation in providing barriers against the vehicle entry. The effectiveness of natural features is presented in two contexts. First, certain natural features are presented. Second, the effectiveness of combinations of features is presented. In addition to the discussion of natural features, this report provides a discussion of methods to slow vehicles. Also included is an overview of man-made barrier systems, with particular attention to ditches. 17 refs., 49 figs

  15. Combined proton and photon irradiation for craniopharyngioma: Long-term results of the early cohort of patients treated at Harvard Cyclotron Laboratory and Massachusetts General Hospital

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fitzek, Markus M.; Linggood, Rita M.; Adams, Judy; Munzenrider, John E.

    2006-01-01

    Purpose: We report the results of the early cohort of patients treated for craniopharyngioma with combined proton-photon irradiation at the Massachusetts General Hospital and the Harvard Cyclotron Laboratory. Methods and Materials: Between 1981 and 1988, 15 patients with craniopharyngioma were treated in part or entirely with fractionated 160 MeV proton beam therapy. The group consisted of 5 children (median age, 15.9 years) and 10 adults (median age, 36.2 years). Median dose prescribed to the tumor was 56.9 cobalt Gray equivalent (CGE; 1 proton Gray = 1.1 CGE). The median proton component was 26.9 CGE. Patients were treated after documented recurrence after initial surgery (n = 6) or after subtotal resection or biopsy (n = 9). None had had prior radiation therapy. Results: Median observation period of surviving patients (n = 11) was 13.1 years from radiotherapy. One patient was lost to follow-up with tumor control after 5.2 years. Actuarial 10-year survival rate was 72%. Four patients have died 5-9.1 years after treatment, two from local failure. Actuarial 5- and 10-year local control rates were 93% and 85%, respectively. The functional status of the living adult patients is unaltered from their preradiotherapy status; all of them continued leading normal or near normal working lives. None of the patients treated as a child had experienced recurrence of tumor. One child shows learning difficulties and slight retardation, comparable to his preradiotherapy status. The others have professional achievements within the normal range. Conclusion: Results in terms of survival and local control are comparable with other contemporary series. Although no formal neuropsychological testing was performed, the surrogate measures of lifestyle and professional accomplishments appear to be satisfactory

  16. Contextual Multi-armed Bandits under Feature Uncertainty

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Yun, Seyoung [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Nam, Jun Hyun [Korea Advanced Inst. Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon (Korea, Republic of); Mo, Sangwoo [Korea Advanced Inst. Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon (Korea, Republic of); Shin, Jinwoo [Korea Advanced Inst. Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

    2017-03-03

    We study contextual multi-armed bandit problems under linear realizability on rewards and uncertainty (or noise) on features. For the case of identical noise on features across actions, we propose an algorithm, coined NLinRel, having O(T⁷/₈(log(dT)+K√d)) regret bound for T rounds, K actions, and d-dimensional feature vectors. Next, for the case of non-identical noise, we observe that popular linear hypotheses including NLinRel are impossible to achieve such sub-linear regret. Instead, under assumption of Gaussian feature vectors, we prove that a greedy algorithm has O(T²/₃√log d)regret bound with respect to the optimal linear hypothesis. Utilizing our theoretical understanding on the Gaussian case, we also design a practical variant of NLinRel, coined Universal-NLinRel, for arbitrary feature distributions. It first runs NLinRel for finding the ‘true’ coefficient vector using feature uncertainties and then adjust it to minimize its regret using the statistical feature information. We justify the performance of Universal-NLinRel on both synthetic and real-world datasets.

  17. Unsupervised feature learning for autonomous rock image classification

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shu, Lei; McIsaac, Kenneth; Osinski, Gordon R.; Francis, Raymond

    2017-09-01

    Autonomous rock image classification can enhance the capability of robots for geological detection and enlarge the scientific returns, both in investigation on Earth and planetary surface exploration on Mars. Since rock textural images are usually inhomogeneous and manually hand-crafting features is not always reliable, we propose an unsupervised feature learning method to autonomously learn the feature representation for rock images. In our tests, rock image classification using the learned features shows that the learned features can outperform manually selected features. Self-taught learning is also proposed to learn the feature representation from a large database of unlabelled rock images of mixed class. The learned features can then be used repeatedly for classification of any subclass. This takes advantage of the large dataset of unlabelled rock images and learns a general feature representation for many kinds of rocks. We show experimental results supporting the feasibility of self-taught learning on rock images.

  18. Naive Bayes-Guided Bat Algorithm for Feature Selection

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ahmed Majid Taha

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available When the amount of data and information is said to double in every 20 months or so, feature selection has become highly important and beneficial. Further improvements in feature selection will positively affect a wide array of applications in fields such as pattern recognition, machine learning, or signal processing. Bio-inspired method called Bat Algorithm hybridized with a Naive Bayes classifier has been presented in this work. The performance of the proposed feature selection algorithm was investigated using twelve benchmark datasets from different domains and was compared to three other well-known feature selection algorithms. Discussion focused on four perspectives: number of features, classification accuracy, stability, and feature generalization. The results showed that BANB significantly outperformed other algorithms in selecting lower number of features, hence removing irrelevant, redundant, or noisy features while maintaining the classification accuracy. BANB is also proven to be more stable than other methods and is capable of producing more general feature subsets.

  19. Naive Bayes-Guided Bat Algorithm for Feature Selection

    Science.gov (United States)

    Taha, Ahmed Majid; Mustapha, Aida; Chen, Soong-Der

    2013-01-01

    When the amount of data and information is said to double in every 20 months or so, feature selection has become highly important and beneficial. Further improvements in feature selection will positively affect a wide array of applications in fields such as pattern recognition, machine learning, or signal processing. Bio-inspired method called Bat Algorithm hybridized with a Naive Bayes classifier has been presented in this work. The performance of the proposed feature selection algorithm was investigated using twelve benchmark datasets from different domains and was compared to three other well-known feature selection algorithms. Discussion focused on four perspectives: number of features, classification accuracy, stability, and feature generalization. The results showed that BANB significantly outperformed other algorithms in selecting lower number of features, hence removing irrelevant, redundant, or noisy features while maintaining the classification accuracy. BANB is also proven to be more stable than other methods and is capable of producing more general feature subsets. PMID:24396295

  20. Less common CT features of medulloblastoma

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zee, C.S; Segall, H.D.; Miller, C.; Ahmad, J.; McComb, J.G.; Han, J.S.; Park, S.H.

    1982-01-01

    While many medulloblastomas have characteristic features on computed tomography (CT), a significant number have atypical features, including a cystic or necrotic component, calcification, hemorrhage, lack of contrast enhancement, and eccentric location, and/or direct supratentorial extension. Of 30 consecutive untreated cases reviewed by the authors, 14 (47%) had such findings. Failure to make the proper diagnosis will result in some cases if these features are not recognized as possible signs of medulloblastoma

  1. Improving scale invariant feature transform-based descriptors with shape-color alliance robust feature

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Rui; Zhu, Zhengdan; Zhang, Liang

    2015-05-01

    Constructing appropriate descriptors for interest points in image matching is a critical aspect task in computer vision and pattern recognition. A method as an extension of the scale invariant feature transform (SIFT) descriptor called shape-color alliance robust feature (SCARF) descriptor is presented. To address the problem that SIFT is designed mainly for gray images and lack of global information for feature points, the proposed approach improves the SIFT descriptor by means of a concentric-rings model, as well as integrating the color invariant space and shape context with SIFT to construct the SCARF descriptor. The SCARF method developed is more robust than the conventional SIFT with respect to not only the color and photometrical variations but also the measuring similarity as a global variation between two shapes. A comparative evaluation of different descriptors is carried out showing that the SCARF approach provides better results than the other four state-of-the-art related methods.

  2. Think Piece: Pioneers as Relational Subjects? Probing Relationality ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    therefore offers a possible framework for more detailed empirical studies on relationality in collective learning .... pioneers. This idea is also reflected in a book co-authored by Hermansen called Commonities ..... studies. Harvard MS: Harvard.

  3. Discriminative semi-supervised feature selection via manifold regularization.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xu, Zenglin; King, Irwin; Lyu, Michael Rung-Tsong; Jin, Rong

    2010-07-01

    Feature selection has attracted a huge amount of interest in both research and application communities of data mining. We consider the problem of semi-supervised feature selection, where we are given a small amount of labeled examples and a large amount of unlabeled examples. Since a small number of labeled samples are usually insufficient for identifying the relevant features, the critical problem arising from semi-supervised feature selection is how to take advantage of the information underneath the unlabeled data. To address this problem, we propose a novel discriminative semi-supervised feature selection method based on the idea of manifold regularization. The proposed approach selects features through maximizing the classification margin between different classes and simultaneously exploiting the geometry of the probability distribution that generates both labeled and unlabeled data. In comparison with previous semi-supervised feature selection algorithms, our proposed semi-supervised feature selection method is an embedded feature selection method and is able to find more discriminative features. We formulate the proposed feature selection method into a convex-concave optimization problem, where the saddle point corresponds to the optimal solution. To find the optimal solution, the level method, a fairly recent optimization method, is employed. We also present a theoretic proof of the convergence rate for the application of the level method to our problem. Empirical evaluation on several benchmark data sets demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed semi-supervised feature selection method.

  4. Feature Evaluation for Building Facade Images - AN Empirical Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, M. Y.; Förstner, W.; Chai, D.

    2012-08-01

    The classification of building facade images is a challenging problem that receives a great deal of attention in the photogrammetry community. Image classification is critically dependent on the features. In this paper, we perform an empirical feature evaluation task for building facade images. Feature sets we choose are basic features, color features, histogram features, Peucker features, texture features, and SIFT features. We present an approach for region-wise labeling using an efficient randomized decision forest classifier and local features. We conduct our experiments with building facade image classification on the eTRIMS dataset, where our focus is the object classes building, car, door, pavement, road, sky, vegetation, and window.

  5. Schizophrenia classification using functional network features

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rish, Irina; Cecchi, Guillermo A.; Heuton, Kyle

    2012-03-01

    This paper focuses on discovering statistical biomarkers (features) that are predictive of schizophrenia, with a particular focus on topological properties of fMRI functional networks. We consider several network properties, such as node (voxel) strength, clustering coefficients, local efficiency, as well as just a subset of pairwise correlations. While all types of features demonstrate highly significant statistical differences in several brain areas, and close to 80% classification accuracy, the most remarkable results of 93% accuracy are achieved by using a small subset of only a dozen of most-informative (lowest p-value) correlation features. Our results suggest that voxel-level correlations and functional network features derived from them are highly informative about schizophrenia and can be used as statistical biomarkers for the disease.

  6. Classification Using Markov Blanket for Feature Selection

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Zeng, Yifeng; Luo, Jian

    2009-01-01

    Selecting relevant features is in demand when a large data set is of interest in a classification task. It produces a tractable number of features that are sufficient and possibly improve the classification performance. This paper studies a statistical method of Markov blanket induction algorithm...... for filtering features and then applies a classifier using the Markov blanket predictors. The Markov blanket contains a minimal subset of relevant features that yields optimal classification performance. We experimentally demonstrate the improved performance of several classifiers using a Markov blanket...... induction as a feature selection method. In addition, we point out an important assumption behind the Markov blanket induction algorithm and show its effect on the classification performance....

  7. Hierarchical feature selection for erythema severity estimation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Li; Shi, Chenbo; Shu, Chang

    2014-10-01

    At present PASI system of scoring is used for evaluating erythema severity, which can help doctors to diagnose psoriasis [1-3]. The system relies on the subjective judge of doctors, where the accuracy and stability cannot be guaranteed [4]. This paper proposes a stable and precise algorithm for erythema severity estimation. Our contributions are twofold. On one hand, in order to extract the multi-scale redness of erythema, we design the hierarchical feature. Different from traditional methods, we not only utilize the color statistical features, but also divide the detect window into small window and extract hierarchical features. Further, a feature re-ranking step is introduced, which can guarantee that extracted features are irrelevant to each other. On the other hand, an adaptive boosting classifier is applied for further feature selection. During the step of training, the classifier will seek out the most valuable feature for evaluating erythema severity, due to its strong learning ability. Experimental results demonstrate the high precision and robustness of our algorithm. The accuracy is 80.1% on the dataset which comprise 116 patients' images with various kinds of erythema. Now our system has been applied for erythema medical efficacy evaluation in Union Hosp, China.

  8. Discriminating Induced-Microearthquakes Using New Seismic Features

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mousavi, S. M.; Horton, S.

    2016-12-01

    We studied characteristics of induced-microearthquakes on the basis of the waveforms recorded on a limited number of surface receivers using machine-learning techniques. Forty features in the time, frequency, and time-frequency domains were measured on each waveform, and several techniques such as correlation-based feature selection, Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs), Logistic Regression (LR) and X-mean were used as research tools to explore the relationship between these seismic features and source parameters. The results show that spectral features have the highest correlation to source depth. Two new measurements developed as seismic features for this study, spectral centroids and 2D cross-correlations in the time-frequency domain, performed better than the common seismic measurements. These features can be used by machine learning techniques for efficient automatic classification of low energy signals recorded at one or more seismic stations. We applied the technique to 440 microearthquakes-1.7Reference: Mousavi, S.M., S.P. Horton, C. A. Langston, B. Samei, (2016) Seismic features and automatic discrimination of deep and shallow induced-microearthquakes using neural network and logistic regression, Geophys. J. Int. doi: 10.1093/gji/ggw258.

  9. Effective Feature Preprocessing for Time Series Forecasting

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Zhao, Junhua; Dong, Zhaoyang; Xu, Zhao

    2006-01-01

    Time series forecasting is an important area in data mining research. Feature preprocessing techniques have significant influence on forecasting accuracy, therefore are essential in a forecasting model. Although several feature preprocessing techniques have been applied in time series forecasting...... performance in time series forecasting. It is demonstrated in our experiment that, effective feature preprocessing can significantly enhance forecasting accuracy. This research can be a useful guidance for researchers on effectively selecting feature preprocessing techniques and integrating them with time...... series forecasting models....

  10. Feature-specific encoding flexibility in visual working memory.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aki Kondo

    Full Text Available The current study examined selective encoding in visual working memory by systematically investigating interference from task-irrelevant features. The stimuli were objects defined by three features (color, shape, and location, and during a delay period, any of the features could switch between two objects. Additionally, single- and whole-probe trials were randomized within experimental blocks to investigate effects of memory retrieval. A series of relevant-feature switch detection tasks, where one feature was task-irrelevant, showed that interference from the task-irrelevant feature was only observed in the color-shape task, suggesting that color and shape information could be successfully filtered out, but location information could not, even when location was a task-irrelevant feature. Therefore, although location information is added to object representations independent of task demands in a relatively automatic manner, other features (e.g., color, shape can be flexibly added to object representations.

  11. Feature-specific encoding flexibility in visual working memory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kondo, Aki; Saiki, Jun

    2012-01-01

    The current study examined selective encoding in visual working memory by systematically investigating interference from task-irrelevant features. The stimuli were objects defined by three features (color, shape, and location), and during a delay period, any of the features could switch between two objects. Additionally, single- and whole-probe trials were randomized within experimental blocks to investigate effects of memory retrieval. A series of relevant-feature switch detection tasks, where one feature was task-irrelevant, showed that interference from the task-irrelevant feature was only observed in the color-shape task, suggesting that color and shape information could be successfully filtered out, but location information could not, even when location was a task-irrelevant feature. Therefore, although location information is added to object representations independent of task demands in a relatively automatic manner, other features (e.g., color, shape) can be flexibly added to object representations.

  12. EEG feature selection method based on decision tree.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Duan, Lijuan; Ge, Hui; Ma, Wei; Miao, Jun

    2015-01-01

    This paper aims to solve automated feature selection problem in brain computer interface (BCI). In order to automate feature selection process, we proposed a novel EEG feature selection method based on decision tree (DT). During the electroencephalogram (EEG) signal processing, a feature extraction method based on principle component analysis (PCA) was used, and the selection process based on decision tree was performed by searching the feature space and automatically selecting optimal features. Considering that EEG signals are a series of non-linear signals, a generalized linear classifier named support vector machine (SVM) was chosen. In order to test the validity of the proposed method, we applied the EEG feature selection method based on decision tree to BCI Competition II datasets Ia, and the experiment showed encouraging results.

  13. Text feature extraction based on deep learning: a review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liang, Hong; Sun, Xiao; Sun, Yunlei; Gao, Yuan

    2017-01-01

    Selection of text feature item is a basic and important matter for text mining and information retrieval. Traditional methods of feature extraction require handcrafted features. To hand-design, an effective feature is a lengthy process, but aiming at new applications, deep learning enables to acquire new effective feature representation from training data. As a new feature extraction method, deep learning has made achievements in text mining. The major difference between deep learning and conventional methods is that deep learning automatically learns features from big data, instead of adopting handcrafted features, which mainly depends on priori knowledge of designers and is highly impossible to take the advantage of big data. Deep learning can automatically learn feature representation from big data, including millions of parameters. This thesis outlines the common methods used in text feature extraction first, and then expands frequently used deep learning methods in text feature extraction and its applications, and forecasts the application of deep learning in feature extraction.

  14. The Non-motor Features of Essential Tremor: A Primary Disease Feature or Just a Secondary Phenomenon?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ketan Jhunjhunwala

    2014-08-01

    Full Text Available Essential tremor (ET is a pathologically heterogeneous neurodegenerative disorder with both motor and increasingly recognized non-motor features. It is debated whether the non-motor manifestations in ET result from widespread neurodegeneration or are merely secondary to impaired motor functions and decreased quality of life due to tremor. It is important to review these features to determine how to best treat the non-motor symptoms of patients and to understand the basic pathophysiology of the disease and develop appropriate pharmacotherapies. In this review, retrospective and prospective clinical studies were critically analyzed to identify possible correlations between the severities of non-motor features and tremor. We speculated that if such a correlation existed, the non-motor features were likely to be secondary to tremor. According to the current literature, the deficits in executive function, attention, concentration, and memory often observed in ET are likely to be a primary manifestation of the disease. It has also been documented that patients with ET often exhibit characteristic personality traits. However, it remains to be determined whether the other non-motor features often seen in ET, such as anxiety, depression, and sleep disturbances are primary or secondary to motor manifestations of ET and subsequent poor quality of life. Finally, there is evidence that patients with ET can also have impaired color vision, disturbances of olfaction, and hearing impairments, though there are few studies in these areas. Further investigations of large cohorts of patients with ET are required to understand the prevalence, nature, and true significance of the non-motor features in ET.

  15. CT features of renal epithelioid angiomyolipomas

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hu Xiaoyun; Fang Xiangming; Hu Chunhong; Chen Hongwei; Cui Lei; Bao Jian; Yao Xuanjun

    2010-01-01

    Objective: To explore the CT and pathological features of renal epithelioid angiomyolipoma (EAML). Methods: Clinical data and CT images from ten cases with EAML proved by surgery and pathology were retrospectively analyzed. All cases were performed with plain and contrast enhanced CT scans. Results: CT features: higher pre-contrasted density than kidney, bulging from kidney, absent of fat, markedly heterogeneous enhancement (quick wash-in and slow wash-out), big size without lobular sign, complete capsule with clear margin and mild necrostic area. Pathological features: diffuse sheets of epithelioid cells were found under microscopy with immunohistochemistrical findings including positivity for HMB-45 and negativity for EMA. Conclusion: Some specific CT features, which is correlated well with the pathological findings, provide helpful information in the primary diagnosis of EAML. (authors)

  16. Feature Extraction in Radar Target Classification

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Z. Kus

    1999-09-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents experimental results of extracting features in the Radar Target Classification process using the J frequency band pulse radar. The feature extraction is based on frequency analysis methods, the discrete-time Fourier Transform (DFT and Multiple Signal Characterisation (MUSIC, based on the detection of Doppler effect. The analysis has turned to the preference of DFT with implemented Hanning windowing function. We assumed to classify targets-vehicles into two classes, the wheeled vehicle and tracked vehicle. The results show that it is possible to classify them only while moving. The feature of the class results from a movement of moving parts of the vehicle. However, we have not found any feature to classify the wheeled and tracked vehicles while non-moving, although their engines are on.

  17. Design: More than a cool chair

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Friis, Silje Alberthe Kamille; Austin, Robert; Sullivan, Erin

    2006-01-01

    Austin, R., Friis, K., Sullivan, E. 2006. Design: More than a cool chair. Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing.......Austin, R., Friis, K., Sullivan, E. 2006. Design: More than a cool chair. Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing....

  18. Review of research in feature based design

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Salomons, O.W.; van Houten, Frederikus J.A.M.; Kals, H.J.J.

    1993-01-01

    Research in feature-based design is reviewed. Feature-based design is regarded as a key factor towards CAD/CAPP integration from a process planning point of view. From a design point of view, feature-based design offers possibilities for supporting the design process better than current CAD systems

  19. Genetic search feature selection for affective modeling

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Martínez, Héctor P.; Yannakakis, Georgios N.

    2010-01-01

    Automatic feature selection is a critical step towards the generation of successful computational models of affect. This paper presents a genetic search-based feature selection method which is developed as a global-search algorithm for improving the accuracy of the affective models built....... The method is tested and compared against sequential forward feature selection and random search in a dataset derived from a game survey experiment which contains bimodal input features (physiological and gameplay) and expressed pairwise preferences of affect. Results suggest that the proposed method...

  20. Feature Scaling via Second-Order Cone Programming

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zhizheng Liang

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Feature scaling has attracted considerable attention during the past several decades because of its important role in feature selection. In this paper, a novel algorithm for learning scaling factors of features is proposed. It first assigns a nonnegative scaling factor to each feature of data and then adopts a generalized performance measure to learn the optimal scaling factors. It is of interest to note that the proposed model can be transformed into a convex optimization problem: second-order cone programming (SOCP. Thus the scaling factors of features in our method are globally optimal in some sense. Several experiments on simulated data, UCI data sets, and the gene data set are conducted to demonstrate that the proposed method is more effective than previous methods.

  1. Shielding voices: The modulation of binding processes between voice features and response features by task representations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bogon, Johanna; Eisenbarth, Hedwig; Landgraf, Steffen; Dreisbach, Gesine

    2017-09-01

    Vocal events offer not only semantic-linguistic content but also information about the identity and the emotional-motivational state of the speaker. Furthermore, most vocal events have implications for our actions and therefore include action-related features. But the relevance and irrelevance of vocal features varies from task to task. The present study investigates binding processes for perceptual and action-related features of spoken words and their modulation by the task representation of the listener. Participants reacted with two response keys to eight different words spoken by a male or a female voice (Experiment 1) or spoken by an angry or neutral male voice (Experiment 2). There were two instruction conditions: half of participants learned eight stimulus-response mappings by rote (SR), and half of participants applied a binary task rule (TR). In both experiments, SR instructed participants showed clear evidence for binding processes between voice and response features indicated by an interaction between the irrelevant voice feature and the response. By contrast, as indicated by a three-way interaction with instruction, no such binding was found in the TR instructed group. These results are suggestive of binding and shielding as two adaptive mechanisms that ensure successful communication and action in a dynamic social environment.

  2. Integrated Phoneme Subspace Method for Speech Feature Extraction

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Park Hyunsin

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available Speech feature extraction has been a key focus in robust speech recognition research. In this work, we discuss data-driven linear feature transformations applied to feature vectors in the logarithmic mel-frequency filter bank domain. Transformations are based on principal component analysis (PCA, independent component analysis (ICA, and linear discriminant analysis (LDA. Furthermore, this paper introduces a new feature extraction technique that collects the correlation information among phoneme subspaces and reconstructs feature space for representing phonemic information efficiently. The proposed speech feature vector is generated by projecting an observed vector onto an integrated phoneme subspace (IPS based on PCA or ICA. The performance of the new feature was evaluated for isolated word speech recognition. The proposed method provided higher recognition accuracy than conventional methods in clean and reverberant environments.

  3. Does Attention Serve to Integrate Features?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Navon, David; Treisman, Anne

    1990-01-01

    An article and two commentaries consider the attentional feature-integration theory proposed by A. Treisman and colleagues. Hypotheses about the encoding of conjunctions are reviewed. Whether or not data support perceptual feature-integration is argued. (SLD)

  4. 14 CFR 35.7 - Features and characteristics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 14 Aeronautics and Space 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Features and characteristics. 35.7 Section... AIRWORTHINESS STANDARDS: PROPELLERS General § 35.7 Features and characteristics. (a) The propeller may not have features or characteristics, revealed by any test or analysis or known to the applicant, that make it...

  5. Finger vein recognition based on the hyperinformation feature

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xi, Xiaoming; Yang, Gongping; Yin, Yilong; Yang, Lu

    2014-01-01

    The finger vein is a promising biometric pattern for personal identification due to its advantages over other existing biometrics. In finger vein recognition, feature extraction is a critical step, and many feature extraction methods have been proposed to extract the gray, texture, or shape of the finger vein. We treat them as low-level features and present a high-level feature extraction framework. Under this framework, base attribute is first defined to represent the characteristics of a certain subcategory of a subject. Then, for an image, the correlation coefficient is used for constructing the high-level feature, which reflects the correlation between this image and all base attributes. Since the high-level feature can reveal characteristics of more subcategories and contain more discriminative information, we call it hyperinformation feature (HIF). Compared with low-level features, which only represent the characteristics of one subcategory, HIF is more powerful and robust. In order to demonstrate the potential of the proposed framework, we provide a case study to extract HIF. We conduct comprehensive experiments to show the generality of the proposed framework and the efficiency of HIF on our databases, respectively. Experimental results show that HIF significantly outperforms the low-level features.

  6. Multi-scale salient feature extraction on mesh models

    KAUST Repository

    Yang, Yongliang; Shen, ChaoHui

    2012-01-01

    We present a new method of extracting multi-scale salient features on meshes. It is based on robust estimation of curvature on multiple scales. The coincidence between salient feature and the scale of interest can be established straightforwardly, where detailed feature appears on small scale and feature with more global shape information shows up on large scale. We demonstrate this multi-scale description of features accords with human perception and can be further used for several applications as feature classification and viewpoint selection. Experiments exhibit that our method as a multi-scale analysis tool is very helpful for studying 3D shapes. © 2012 Springer-Verlag.

  7. Passive Safety Features for Small Modular Reactors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ingersoll, Daniel T.

    2010-01-01

    The rapid growth in the size and complexity of commercial nuclear power plants in the 1970s spawned an interest in smaller, simpler designs that are inherently or intrinsically safe through the use of passive design features. Several designs were developed, but none were ever built, although some of their passive safety features were incorporated into large commercial plant designs that are being planned or built today. In recent years, several reactor vendors are actively redeveloping small modular reactor (SMR) designs with even greater use of passive features. Several designs incorporate the ultimate in passive safety they completely eliminate specific accident initiators from the design. Other design features help to reduce the likelihood of an accident or help to mitigate the accidents consequences, should one occur. While some passive safety features are common to most SMR designs, irrespective of the coolant technology, other features are specific to water, gas, or liquid-metal cooled SMR designs. The extensive use of passive safety features in SMRs promise to make these plants highly robust, protecting both the general public and the owner/investor. Once demonstrated, these plants should allow nuclear power to be used confidently for a broader range of customers and applications than will be possible with large plants alone.

  8. Effective traffic features selection algorithm for cyber-attacks samples

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Yihong; Liu, Fangzheng; Du, Zhenyu

    2018-05-01

    By studying the defense scheme of Network attacks, this paper propose an effective traffic features selection algorithm based on k-means++ clustering to deal with the problem of high dimensionality of traffic features which extracted from cyber-attacks samples. Firstly, this algorithm divide the original feature set into attack traffic feature set and background traffic feature set by the clustering. Then, we calculates the variation of clustering performance after removing a certain feature. Finally, evaluating the degree of distinctiveness of the feature vector according to the result. Among them, the effective feature vector is whose degree of distinctiveness exceeds the set threshold. The purpose of this paper is to select out the effective features from the extracted original feature set. In this way, it can reduce the dimensionality of the features so as to reduce the space-time overhead of subsequent detection. The experimental results show that the proposed algorithm is feasible and it has some advantages over other selection algorithms.

  9. Prominent feature extraction for review analysis: an empirical study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Agarwal, Basant; Mittal, Namita

    2016-05-01

    Sentiment analysis (SA) research has increased tremendously in recent times. SA aims to determine the sentiment orientation of a given text into positive or negative polarity. Motivation for SA research is the need for the industry to know the opinion of the users about their product from online portals, blogs, discussion boards and reviews and so on. Efficient features need to be extracted for machine-learning algorithm for better sentiment classification. In this paper, initially various features are extracted such as unigrams, bi-grams and dependency features from the text. In addition, new bi-tagged features are also extracted that conform to predefined part-of-speech patterns. Furthermore, various composite features are created using these features. Information gain (IG) and minimum redundancy maximum relevancy (mRMR) feature selection methods are used to eliminate the noisy and irrelevant features from the feature vector. Finally, machine-learning algorithms are used for classifying the review document into positive or negative class. Effects of different categories of features are investigated on four standard data-sets, namely, movie review and product (book, DVD and electronics) review data-sets. Experimental results show that composite features created from prominent features of unigram and bi-tagged features perform better than other features for sentiment classification. mRMR is a better feature selection method as compared with IG for sentiment classification. Boolean Multinomial Naïve Bayes) algorithm performs better than support vector machine classifier for SA in terms of accuracy and execution time.

  10. MCNP4A: Features and philosophy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hendricks, J.S.

    1993-01-01

    This paper describes MCNP, states its philosophy, introduces a number of new features becoming available with version MCNP4A, and answers a number of questions asked by participants in the workshop. MCNP is a general-purpose three-dimensional neutron, photon and electron transport code. Its philosophy is ''Quality, Value and New Features.'' Quality is exemplified by new software quality assurance practices and a program of benchmarking against experiments. Value includes a strong emphasis on documentation and code portability. New features are the third priority. MCNP4A is now available at Los Alamos. New features in MCNP4A include enhanced statistical analysis, distributed processor multitasking, new photon libraries, ENDF/B-VI capabilities, X-Windows graphics, dynamic memory allocation, expanded criticality output, periodic boundaries, plotting of particle tracks via SABRINA, and many other improvements. 23 refs

  11. Timothy Leary, Richard Alpert (Ram Dass) and the changing definition of psilocybin.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wark, Colin; Galliher, John F

    2010-05-01

    This research focuses on the events leading to the 1968 U.S. federal prohibition of psilocybin. It is a study of duelling moral entrepreneurs-Timothy Leary and Richard Alpert vs. the Harvard University Administration. The goal is to show how the primary active compound in an ostensibly harmless fungus (the psilocybin mushroom) became controversial in less than a decade. We used books, newspapers, magazine articles and previously unpublished materials (including documents from the Harvard Archives) to analyze Leary and Alpert's lives and careers through the early 1970s. The prohibition of psilocybin in the U.S. was largely a product of Leary and Alpert's involvement in the "Harvard drug scandal" and their transformation from Harvard professors to countercultural icons. They tested the substance on a variety of human subjects and in doing so piqued the interest of Harvard undergraduates while drawing condemnation from other faculty and Harvard administrators. This case is theoretically interesting because unlike most illegal drugs, psilocybin was never linked to a threatening minority group, but to some of the nation's most privileged youth. The Harvard administrators were not really moral entrepreneurs but Leary and Alpert clearly were. Although they were far from being prohibitionists, they were self-righteous crusaders on different but equally holy missions for the good of young and minority Americans. Ironically, due to their successes the possession of psilocybin was criminalized under United States federal law in 1968 (Pub. L. No. 90-639, Stat. 1361 1968 and Boire, 2002). This case study demonstrates that crusaders can be successful in changing culture even when laws are passed in futile attempts to control their behaviour, just as Leary predicted. Copyright 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  12. Stemcell Information: SKIP000183 [SKIP Stemcell Database[Archive

    Lifescience Database Archive (English)

    Full Text Available m's F12 deficient Medium with 2mM L-glutamine ... Yes 46XY ... George Q Daley George Q Daley Harvard... Stem Cell Institute Harvard Stem Cell Institute ... Available NIGMS Coriell Cell Repository NIGMS Cor

  13. Other Resources for Researchers

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    The AfricaPortal is an online resource of policy research on African issues. ... Over 3000 Open Access books, journals and digital documents relating to African ... guides. http://www.lib.monash.edu.au/tutorials/citing/harvard.html Harvard Style.

  14. IT-projekter er stadig risikable

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Harboe, Peter Georg

    2011-01-01

    Anmeldelse af Bent Flyvbjergs artikel i Harvard Business Review "Why your IT-projects may be riskier than you think"......Anmeldelse af Bent Flyvbjergs artikel i Harvard Business Review "Why your IT-projects may be riskier than you think"...

  15. Implementing the 2009 Institute of Medicine recommendations on resident physician work hours, supervision, and safety

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Blum AB

    2011-06-01

    Full Text Available Alexander B Blum1, Sandra Shea2, Charles A Czeisler3,4, Christopher P Landrigan3-5, Lucian Leape61Department of Health and Evidence Policy, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA; 2Committee of Interns and Residents, SEIU Healthcare Division, Service Employees International Union, New York, NY, USA; 3Harvard Work Hours, Health and Safety Group, Division of Sleep Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; 4Division of Sleep Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; 5Division of General Pediatrics, Department of Medicine, Children's Hospital Boston, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; 6Department of Health Policy and Management, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USAAbstract: Long working hours and sleep deprivation have been a facet of physician training in the US since the advent of the modern residency system. However, the scientific evidence linking fatigue with deficits in human performance, accidents and errors in industries from aeronautics to medicine, nuclear power, and transportation has mounted over the last 40 years. This evidence has also spawned regulations to help ensure public safety across safety-sensitive industries, with the notable exception of medicine.

  16. Interplay of a multiplicity of security features

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moser, Jean-Frederic

    2000-04-01

    The great variety of existing security features can cause difficulty in choosing the adequate set for a particular security document. Considering the cost/benefit aspects with respect to the overall protection performance requested, a choice has to be made, for example, between either few features of high-security value or numerous many, less- resistant features. Another choice is the high versus low complexity of one particular features. A study aimed at providing a decision basis is a challenging matter because it involves human factors. Attention, perception, physiology of seeing and habits - to name some of the factors - are intangibles and are subject to evaluations involving normally a great number of experiments, if they are to be representative. The opportunity was given for a case study with the introduction of new Swiss banknotes between 1995 and 1998, because the new banknotes represent a novelty in the sense of the multiplicity and interplay of its optical security features. We have analyzed 652 articles which appeared in the press media concerning the new banknotes, seeking especially for peoples' reaction towards the security features.

  17. Feature Vector Construction Method for IRIS Recognition

    Science.gov (United States)

    Odinokikh, G.; Fartukov, A.; Korobkin, M.; Yoo, J.

    2017-05-01

    One of the basic stages of iris recognition pipeline is iris feature vector construction procedure. The procedure represents the extraction of iris texture information relevant to its subsequent comparison. Thorough investigation of feature vectors obtained from iris showed that not all the vector elements are equally relevant. There are two characteristics which determine the vector element utility: fragility and discriminability. Conventional iris feature extraction methods consider the concept of fragility as the feature vector instability without respect to the nature of such instability appearance. This work separates sources of the instability into natural and encodinginduced which helps deeply investigate each source of instability independently. According to the separation concept, a novel approach of iris feature vector construction is proposed. The approach consists of two steps: iris feature extraction using Gabor filtering with optimal parameters and quantization with separated preliminary optimized fragility thresholds. The proposed method has been tested on two different datasets of iris images captured under changing environmental conditions. The testing results show that the proposed method surpasses all the methods considered as a prior art by recognition accuracy on both datasets.

  18. Disruption of visual feature binding in working memory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ueno, Taiji; Allen, Richard J; Baddeley, Alan D; Hitch, Graham J; Saito, Satoru

    2011-01-01

    In a series of five experiments, we studied the effect of a visual suffix on the retention in short-term visual memory of both individual visual features and objects involving the binding of two features. Experiments 1A, 1B, and 2 involved suffixes consisting of features external to the to-be-remembered set and revealed a modest but equivalent disruption on individual and bound feature conditions. Experiments 3A and 3B involved suffixes comprising features that could potentially have formed part of the to-be-remembered set (but did not on that trial). Both experiments showed greater disruption of retention for objects comprising bound features than for their individual features. The results are interpreted as differentiating two components of suffix interference, one affecting memory for features and bindings equally, the other affecting memory for bindings. The general component is tentatively identified with the attentional cost of operating a filter to prevent the suffix from entering visual working memory, whereas the specific component is attributed to the particular fragility of bound representations when the filter fails.

  19. Feature-based Alignment of Volumetric Multi-modal Images

    Science.gov (United States)

    Toews, Matthew; Zöllei, Lilla; Wells, William M.

    2014-01-01

    This paper proposes a method for aligning image volumes acquired from different imaging modalities (e.g. MR, CT) based on 3D scale-invariant image features. A novel method for encoding invariant feature geometry and appearance is developed, based on the assumption of locally linear intensity relationships, providing a solution to poor repeatability of feature detection in different image modalities. The encoding method is incorporated into a probabilistic feature-based model for multi-modal image alignment. The model parameters are estimated via a group-wise alignment algorithm, that iteratively alternates between estimating a feature-based model from feature data, then realigning feature data to the model, converging to a stable alignment solution with few pre-processing or pre-alignment requirements. The resulting model can be used to align multi-modal image data with the benefits of invariant feature correspondence: globally optimal solutions, high efficiency and low memory usage. The method is tested on the difficult RIRE data set of CT, T1, T2, PD and MP-RAGE brain images of subjects exhibiting significant inter-subject variability due to pathology. PMID:24683955

  20. Feature-Oriented Programming with Object Algebras

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    B.C.d.S. Oliveira (Bruno); T. van der Storm (Tijs); A. Loh; W.R. Cook

    2013-01-01

    htmlabstractObject algebras are a new programming technique that enables a simple solution to basic extensibility and modularity issues in programming languages. While object algebras excel at defining modular features, the composition mechanisms for object algebras (and features) are still

  1. Biometric feature extraction using local fractal auto-correlation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chen Xi; Zhang Jia-Shu

    2014-01-01

    Image texture feature extraction is a classical means for biometric recognition. To extract effective texture feature for matching, we utilize local fractal auto-correlation to construct an effective image texture descriptor. Three main steps are involved in the proposed scheme: (i) using two-dimensional Gabor filter to extract the texture features of biometric images; (ii) calculating the local fractal dimension of Gabor feature under different orientations and scales using fractal auto-correlation algorithm; and (iii) linking the local fractal dimension of Gabor feature under different orientations and scales into a big vector for matching. Experiments and analyses show our proposed scheme is an efficient biometric feature extraction approach. (condensed matter: structural, mechanical, and thermal properties)

  2. Image feature detectors and descriptors foundations and applications

    CERN Document Server

    Hassaballah, Mahmoud

    2016-01-01

    This book provides readers with a selection of high-quality chapters that cover both theoretical concepts and practical applications of image feature detectors and descriptors. It serves as reference for researchers and practitioners by featuring survey chapters and research contributions on image feature detectors and descriptors. Additionally, it emphasizes several keywords in both theoretical and practical aspects of image feature extraction. The keywords include acceleration of feature detection and extraction, hardware implantations, image segmentation, evolutionary algorithm, ordinal measures, as well as visual speech recognition. .

  3. Organization Features and School Performance

    OpenAIRE

    Atkins, Lois Major

    2005-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to determine the odds of school organization features predicting schools meeting district or state performance goals. The school organization features were organizational complexity, shared decision making, and leadership behavior. The dependent variable was school performance, operationally defined as a principalâ s yes response or no response to the question, â did your school meet district or state performance goals.â The independent variables representing...

  4. Designing attractive gamification features for collaborative storytelling websites.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hsu, Shang Hwa; Chang, Jen-Wei; Lee, Chun-Chia

    2013-06-01

    Gamification design is considered as the predictor of collaborative storytelling websites' success. Although aforementioned studies have mentioned a broad range of factors that may influence gamification, they neither depicted the actual design features nor relative attractiveness among them. This study aims to identify attractive gamification features for collaborative storytelling websites. We first constructed a hierarchical system structure of gamification design of collaborative storytelling websites and conducted a focus group interview with eighteen frequent users to identify 35gamification features. After that, this study determined the relative attractiveness of these gamification features by administrating an online survey to 6333 collaborative storytelling websites users. The results indicated that the top 10 most attractive gamification features could account for more than 50% of attractiveness among these 35 gamification features. The feature of unpredictable time pressure is important to website users, yet not revealed in previous relevant studies. Implications of the findings were discussed.

  5. Discovering highly informative feature set over high dimensions

    KAUST Repository

    Zhang, Chongsheng; Masseglia, Florent; Zhang, Xiangliang

    2012-01-01

    For many textual collections, the number of features is often overly large. These features can be very redundant, it is therefore desirable to have a small, succinct, yet highly informative collection of features that describes the key characteristics of a dataset. Information theory is one such tool for us to obtain this feature collection. With this paper, we mainly contribute to the improvement of efficiency for the process of selecting the most informative feature set over high-dimensional unlabeled data. We propose a heuristic theory for informative feature set selection from high dimensional data. Moreover, we design data structures that enable us to compute the entropies of the candidate feature sets efficiently. We also develop a simple pruning strategy that eliminates the hopeless candidates at each forward selection step. We test our method through experiments on real-world data sets, showing that our proposal is very efficient. © 2012 IEEE.

  6. Discovering highly informative feature set over high dimensions

    KAUST Repository

    Zhang, Chongsheng

    2012-11-01

    For many textual collections, the number of features is often overly large. These features can be very redundant, it is therefore desirable to have a small, succinct, yet highly informative collection of features that describes the key characteristics of a dataset. Information theory is one such tool for us to obtain this feature collection. With this paper, we mainly contribute to the improvement of efficiency for the process of selecting the most informative feature set over high-dimensional unlabeled data. We propose a heuristic theory for informative feature set selection from high dimensional data. Moreover, we design data structures that enable us to compute the entropies of the candidate feature sets efficiently. We also develop a simple pruning strategy that eliminates the hopeless candidates at each forward selection step. We test our method through experiments on real-world data sets, showing that our proposal is very efficient. © 2012 IEEE.

  7. Magnitude and predictors of excessive alcohol use in Ethiopia ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    user

    11Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Harvard University, E-mail: ST: solomon.teferra@gmail.com USA. Magnitude ..... cigarettes while drinking (34). ... Addiction. 2011;106(10):. 1718–24. 3. Alcohol an Obstacle to Development in East.

  8. Feature Selection for Chemical Sensor Arrays Using Mutual Information

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, X. Rosalind; Lizier, Joseph T.; Nowotny, Thomas; Berna, Amalia Z.; Prokopenko, Mikhail; Trowell, Stephen C.

    2014-01-01

    We address the problem of feature selection for classifying a diverse set of chemicals using an array of metal oxide sensors. Our aim is to evaluate a filter approach to feature selection with reference to previous work, which used a wrapper approach on the same data set, and established best features and upper bounds on classification performance. We selected feature sets that exhibit the maximal mutual information with the identity of the chemicals. The selected features closely match those found to perform well in the previous study using a wrapper approach to conduct an exhaustive search of all permitted feature combinations. By comparing the classification performance of support vector machines (using features selected by mutual information) with the performance observed in the previous study, we found that while our approach does not always give the maximum possible classification performance, it always selects features that achieve classification performance approaching the optimum obtained by exhaustive search. We performed further classification using the selected feature set with some common classifiers and found that, for the selected features, Bayesian Networks gave the best performance. Finally, we compared the observed classification performances with the performance of classifiers using randomly selected features. We found that the selected features consistently outperformed randomly selected features for all tested classifiers. The mutual information filter approach is therefore a computationally efficient method for selecting near optimal features for chemical sensor arrays. PMID:24595058

  9. The radiographic features of familial expansile osteolysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Crone, M.D.; Wallace, R.G.H.

    1990-01-01

    The radiographic features of a unique autosomal dominant bone dysplasia are presented. The features are classified as generalised and/or focal. Generalised features are either altered trabecular pattern or modelling abnormalities. Focal features comprise lytic areas which progressively enlarge, producing expansion of the bone and eventual disintegration due to fibrous and finally fatty replacement of the normal medulla. Almost 90% of these lesions occur in the appendicular skeleton. Clinically, hearing loss is the earliest manifestation of the disease, presenting sometimes as early as 4 years of age. Apical and cervical resorption of teeth is extremely common, resulting in premature loss of teeth. Radiologically, the differential diagnosis refers to Paget's disease, polyostotic fibrous dysplasia, and osteofibrous dysplasia. The progressive destruction of the bone is similar to massive osteolysis (Gorham's disease). The radiographic features in combination with the histopathology render the condition unique. (orig.)

  10. Probabilistic Slow Features for Behavior Analysis

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Zafeiriou, Lazaros; Nicolaou, Mihalis A.; Zafeiriou, Stefanos; Nikitidis, Symeon; Pantic, Maja

    A recently introduced latent feature learning technique for time-varying dynamic phenomena analysis is the so-called slow feature analysis (SFA). SFA is a deterministic component analysis technique for multidimensional sequences that, by minimizing the variance of the first-order time derivative

  11. Learning slow features for behavior analysis

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Zafeiriou, Lazaros; Nicolaou, Mihalis A.; Zafeiriou, Stefanos; Nikitids, Symeon; Pantic, Maja

    2013-01-01

    A recently introduced latent feature learning technique for time varying dynamic phenomena analysis is the socalled Slow Feature Analysis (SFA). SFA is a deterministic component analysis technique for multi-dimensional sequences that by minimizing the variance of the first order time derivative

  12. Aging, selective attention, and feature integration.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Plude, D J; Doussard-Roosevelt, J A

    1989-03-01

    This study used feature-integration theory as a means of determining the point in processing at which selective attention deficits originate. The theory posits an initial stage of processing in which features are registered in parallel and then a serial process in which features are conjoined to form complex stimuli. Performance of young and older adults on feature versus conjunction search is compared. Analyses of reaction times and error rates suggest that elderly adults in addition to young adults, can capitalize on the early parallel processing stage of visual information processing, and that age decrements in visual search arise as a result of the later, serial stage of processing. Analyses of a third, unconfounded, conjunction search condition reveal qualitatively similar modes of conjunction search in young and older adults. The contribution of age-related data limitations is found to be secondary to the contribution of age decrements in selective attention.

  13. Challenges in the Study of Ancient Legal Influence

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nicholas H. D. Foster

    2006-01-01

    Full Text Available Review of: Gideon Libson, Jewish and Islamic Law. A Comparative Study of Custom during the Geonic Period (Islamic Legal Studies Program, Harvard Law School, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press 2003, xi, 367 p., ISBN 0-674-01106-6

  14. Behind every innovative solution lies an obscure feature

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lee Spector (Fellow ISGEC

    2012-06-01

    Full Text Available The Obscure Features Hypothesis (OFH for innovation states that a two-step process undergirds almost all innovative solutions: (1 notice an infrequently observed or new (i.e., obscure feature of the problem and (2 construct an interaction involving the obscure feature that produces the desired effects to solve the problem. The OFH leads to a systematic derivation of innovation-enhancing techniques by engaging in two tasks. First, we developed a 32-category system of the types of features possessable by a physical object or material. This Feature Type Taxonomy (FTT provides a panoramic view of the space of features and assists in searches for the obscure ones. Second, we are articulating the many cognitive reasons that obscure features are overlooked and are developing countering techniques for each known reason. We present the implications and techniques of the OFH, as well as indicate how software can assist innovators in the effective use of these innovation-enhancing techniques.

  15. Mammographic feature enhancement by multiscale analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Laine, A.F.; Schuler, S.; Fan, J.; Huda, W.

    1994-01-01

    This paper introduces a novel approach for accomplishing mammographic feature analysis by overcomplete multiresolution representations. The authors show that efficient representations may be identified within a continuum of scale-space and used to enhance features of importance to mammography. Methods of contrast enhancement are described based on three overcomplete multiscale representations: (1) the dyadic wavelet transform (separable), (2) the var-phi-transform (nonseparable, nonorthogonal), and (3) the hexagonal wavelet transform (nonseparable). Multiscale edges identified within distinct levels of transform space provide local support for image enhancement. Mammograms are reconstructed from wavelet coefficients modified at one or more levels by local and global nonlinear operators. In each case, edges and gain parameters are identified adaptively by a measure of energy within each level of scale-space. The authors show quantitatively that transform coefficients, modified by adaptive nonlinear operators, can make more obvious unseen or barely seen features of mammography without requiring additional radiation. The results are compared with traditional image enhancement techniques by measuring the local contrast of known mammographic features. The authors demonstrate that features extracted from multiresolution representations can provide an adaptive mechanism for accomplishing local contrast enhancement. By improving the visualization of breast pathology, they can improve chances of early detection while requiring less time to evaluate mammograms for most patients

  16. Laboratory simulation of infrared astrophysical features

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rose, L.A.

    1979-01-01

    Laboratory infrared emission and absorption spectra have been taken of terrestrial silicates, meteorites and lunar soils in the form of micrometer and sub-micrometer grains. The emission spectra were taken in a way that imitates telescopic observations. The purpose was to see which materials best simulate the 10 μm astrophysical feature. The emission spectra of dunite, fayalite and Allende give a good fit to the 10 μm broadband emission feature of comets Bennett and Kohoutek. A study of the effect of grain size on the presence of the 10 μm emission features of dunite shows that for particles larger than 37 μm no feature is seen. The emission spectrum of the Murray meteorite, a Type 2 carbonaceous chondrite, is quite similar to the intermediate resolution spectrum of comet Kohoutek in the 10 μm region. Hydrous silicates or amorphous magnesium silicates in combination with high-temperature condensates, such as olivine or anorthite, would yield spectra that match the intermediate resolution spectrum of comet Kohoutek in the 10 μm region. Glassy olivine and glassy anorthite in approximately equal proportions would also give a spectrum that is a good fit to the cometary 10 μm feature. (Auth.)

  17. Joint Feature Selection and Classification for Multilabel Learning.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huang, Jun; Li, Guorong; Huang, Qingming; Wu, Xindong

    2018-03-01

    Multilabel learning deals with examples having multiple class labels simultaneously. It has been applied to a variety of applications, such as text categorization and image annotation. A large number of algorithms have been proposed for multilabel learning, most of which concentrate on multilabel classification problems and only a few of them are feature selection algorithms. Current multilabel classification models are mainly built on a single data representation composed of all the features which are shared by all the class labels. Since each class label might be decided by some specific features of its own, and the problems of classification and feature selection are often addressed independently, in this paper, we propose a novel method which can perform joint feature selection and classification for multilabel learning, named JFSC. Different from many existing methods, JFSC learns both shared features and label-specific features by considering pairwise label correlations, and builds the multilabel classifier on the learned low-dimensional data representations simultaneously. A comparative study with state-of-the-art approaches manifests a competitive performance of our proposed method both in classification and feature selection for multilabel learning.

  18. Automatic feature-based grouping during multiple object tracking.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Erlikhman, Gennady; Keane, Brian P; Mettler, Everett; Horowitz, Todd S; Kellman, Philip J

    2013-12-01

    Contour interpolation automatically binds targets with distractors to impair multiple object tracking (Keane, Mettler, Tsoi, & Kellman, 2011). Is interpolation special in this regard or can other features produce the same effect? To address this question, we examined the influence of eight features on tracking: color, contrast polarity, orientation, size, shape, depth, interpolation, and a combination (shape, color, size). In each case, subjects tracked 4 of 8 objects that began as undifferentiated shapes, changed features as motion began (to enable grouping), and returned to their undifferentiated states before halting. We found that intertarget grouping improved performance for all feature types except orientation and interpolation (Experiment 1 and Experiment 2). Most importantly, target-distractor grouping impaired performance for color, size, shape, combination, and interpolation. The impairments were, at times, large (>15% decrement in accuracy) and occurred relative to a homogeneous condition in which all objects had the same features at each moment of a trial (Experiment 2), and relative to a "diversity" condition in which targets and distractors had different features at each moment (Experiment 3). We conclude that feature-based grouping occurs for a variety of features besides interpolation, even when irrelevant to task instructions and contrary to the task demands, suggesting that interpolation is not unique in promoting automatic grouping in tracking tasks. Our results also imply that various kinds of features are encoded automatically and in parallel during tracking.

  19. Superpixel-Based Feature for Aerial Image Scene Recognition

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hongguang Li

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Image scene recognition is a core technology for many aerial remote sensing applications. Different landforms are inputted as different scenes in aerial imaging, and all landform information is regarded as valuable for aerial image scene recognition. However, the conventional features of the Bag-of-Words model are designed using local points or other related information and thus are unable to fully describe landform areas. This limitation cannot be ignored when the aim is to ensure accurate aerial scene recognition. A novel superpixel-based feature is proposed in this study to characterize aerial image scenes. Then, based on the proposed feature, a scene recognition method of the Bag-of-Words model for aerial imaging is designed. The proposed superpixel-based feature that utilizes landform information establishes top-task superpixel extraction of landforms to bottom-task expression of feature vectors. This characterization technique comprises the following steps: simple linear iterative clustering based superpixel segmentation, adaptive filter bank construction, Lie group-based feature quantification, and visual saliency model-based feature weighting. Experiments of image scene recognition are carried out using real image data captured by an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV. The recognition accuracy of the proposed superpixel-based feature is 95.1%, which is higher than those of scene recognition algorithms based on other local features.

  20. Spatiotemporal Features for Asynchronous Event-based Data

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xavier eLagorce

    2015-02-01

    Full Text Available Bio-inspired asynchronous event-based vision sensors are currently introducing a paradigm shift in visual information processing. These new sensors rely on a stimulus-driven principle of light acquisition similar to biological retinas. They are event-driven and fully asynchronous, thereby reducing redundancy and encoding exact times of input signal changes, leading to a very precise temporal resolution. Approaches for higher-level computer vision often rely on the realiable detection of features in visual frames, but similar definitions of features for the novel dynamic and event-based visual input representation of silicon retinas have so far been lacking. This article addresses the problem of learning and recognizing features for event-based vision sensors, which capture properties of truly spatiotemporal volumes of sparse visual event information. A novel computational architecture for learning and encoding spatiotemporal features is introduced based on a set of predictive recurrent reservoir networks, competing via winner-take-all selection. Features are learned in an unsupervised manner from real-world input recorded with event-based vision sensors. It is shown that the networks in the architecture learn distinct and task-specific dynamic visual features, and can predict their trajectories over time.

  1. Selective Audiovisual Semantic Integration Enabled by Feature-Selective Attention.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Yuanqing; Long, Jinyi; Huang, Biao; Yu, Tianyou; Wu, Wei; Li, Peijun; Fang, Fang; Sun, Pei

    2016-01-13

    An audiovisual object may contain multiple semantic features, such as the gender and emotional features of the speaker. Feature-selective attention and audiovisual semantic integration are two brain functions involved in the recognition of audiovisual objects. Humans often selectively attend to one or several features while ignoring the other features of an audiovisual object. Meanwhile, the human brain integrates semantic information from the visual and auditory modalities. However, how these two brain functions correlate with each other remains to be elucidated. In this functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study, we explored the neural mechanism by which feature-selective attention modulates audiovisual semantic integration. During the fMRI experiment, the subjects were presented with visual-only, auditory-only, or audiovisual dynamical facial stimuli and performed several feature-selective attention tasks. Our results revealed that a distribution of areas, including heteromodal areas and brain areas encoding attended features, may be involved in audiovisual semantic integration. Through feature-selective attention, the human brain may selectively integrate audiovisual semantic information from attended features by enhancing functional connectivity and thus regulating information flows from heteromodal areas to brain areas encoding the attended features.

  2. Critical feature analysis of a radiotherapy machine

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rae, Andrew; Jackson, Daniel; Ramanan, Prasad; Flanz, Jay; Leyman, Didier

    2005-01-01

    The software implementation of the emergency shutdown feature in a major radiotherapy system was analyzed, using a directed form of code review based on module dependences. Dependences between modules are labelled by particular assumptions; this allows one to trace through the code, and identify those fragments responsible for critical features. An 'assumption tree' is constructed in parallel, showing the assumptions which each module makes about others. The root of the assumption tree is the critical feature of interest, and its leaves represent assumptions which, if not valid, might cause the critical feature to fail. The analysis revealed some unexpected assumptions that motivated improvements to the code

  3. Analysing Feature Model Changes using FMDiff

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Dintzner, N.J.R.; Van Deursen, A.; Pinzger, M.

    2015-01-01

    Evolving a large scale, highly variable sys- tems is a challenging task. For such a system, evolution operations often require to update consistently both their implementation and its feature model. In this con- text, the evolution of the feature model closely follows the evolution of the system.

  4. Graphical matching rules for cardinality based service feature diagrams

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Faiza Kanwal

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available To provide efficient services to end-users, variability and commonality among the features of the product line is a challenge for industrialist and researchers. Feature modeling provides great services to deal with variability and commonality among the features of product line. Cardinality based service feature diagrams changed the basic framework of service feature diagrams by putting constraints to them, which make service specifications more flexible, but apart from their variation in selection third party services may have to be customizable. Although to control variability, cardinality based service feature diagrams provide high level visual notations. For specifying variability, the use of cardinality based service feature diagrams raises the problem of matching a required feature diagram against the set of provided diagrams.

  5. Robust emotion recognition using spectral and prosodic features

    CERN Document Server

    Rao, K Sreenivasa

    2013-01-01

    In this brief, the authors discuss recently explored spectral (sub-segmental and pitch synchronous) and prosodic (global and local features at word and syllable levels in different parts of the utterance) features for discerning emotions in a robust manner. The authors also delve into the complementary evidences obtained from excitation source, vocal tract system and prosodic features for the purpose of enhancing emotion recognition performance. Features based on speaking rate characteristics are explored with the help of multi-stage and hybrid models for further improving emotion recognition performance. Proposed spectral and prosodic features are evaluated on real life emotional speech corpus.

  6. Video Scene Parsing with Predictive Feature Learning

    OpenAIRE

    Jin, Xiaojie; Li, Xin; Xiao, Huaxin; Shen, Xiaohui; Lin, Zhe; Yang, Jimei; Chen, Yunpeng; Dong, Jian; Liu, Luoqi; Jie, Zequn; Feng, Jiashi; Yan, Shuicheng

    2016-01-01

    In this work, we address the challenging video scene parsing problem by developing effective representation learning methods given limited parsing annotations. In particular, we contribute two novel methods that constitute a unified parsing framework. (1) \\textbf{Predictive feature learning}} from nearly unlimited unlabeled video data. Different from existing methods learning features from single frame parsing, we learn spatiotemporal discriminative features by enforcing a parsing network to ...

  7. Characters Feature Extraction Based on Neat Oracle Bone Rubbings

    OpenAIRE

    Lei Guo

    2013-01-01

    In order to recognize characters on the neat oracle bone rubbings, a new mesh point feature extraction algorithm was put forward in this paper by researching and improving of the existing coarse mesh feature extraction algorithm and the point feature extraction algorithm. Some improvements of this algorithm were as followings: point feature was introduced into the coarse mesh feature, the absolute address was converted to relative address, and point features have been changed grid and positio...

  8. Speech recognition using articulatory and excitation source features

    CERN Document Server

    Rao, K Sreenivasa

    2017-01-01

    This book discusses the contribution of articulatory and excitation source information in discriminating sound units. The authors focus on excitation source component of speech -- and the dynamics of various articulators during speech production -- for enhancement of speech recognition (SR) performance. Speech recognition is analyzed for read, extempore, and conversation modes of speech. Five groups of articulatory features (AFs) are explored for speech recognition, in addition to conventional spectral features. Each chapter provides the motivation for exploring the specific feature for SR task, discusses the methods to extract those features, and finally suggests appropriate models to capture the sound unit specific knowledge from the proposed features. The authors close by discussing various combinations of spectral, articulatory and source features, and the desired models to enhance the performance of SR systems.

  9. MRI features of placenta accreta

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cao Manrui; Du Mu; Huang Yi; Liu Bingguang; Zhang Fangjing; Guo Jimin; Zhu Zhijun

    2012-01-01

    Objective: To investigate the MRI features of placenta accreta. Methods: From Apr 2009 to Jun 2011, 15 patients with placenta accrete received MRI examination. In them, placenta accreta was diagnosed based on clinical manifestations or postoperative histopathology. The MR features of placenta accreta in them (study group) were retrospectively analyzed and compared with those in 15 pregnant women without placenta accreta (control group) with Fisher exact test. Results: In the 15 patients with placenta accreta,uterine bulging and (or) a focal outward contour bulge was detected in 14 patients; heterogeneous signal intensity in the placenta was detected in 15 patients; dark intraplacental bands on T 2 -weighted images was detected in 15 patients; and increased subplacental vascularity was detected in 11 patients on T 1 - weighted images. In the study group, 14 patients showed at least three of the above four features, and in all of them uterine bulging and (or) a focal outward contour bulge, heterogeneous signal intensity in the placenta and dark intraplacental bands on T 2 -weighted images were detected; one patient showed heterogeneous signal intensity in the placenta, dark intraplacental bands on T 2 -weighted images and increased subplacental vascularity. In the control group,none patient had three of the above features.Uterine bulging and (or) a focal outward contour bulge, heterogeneous signal intensity in the placenta, dark intraplacental bands on T 2 -weighted images and increased subplacental vascularity were detected in 3, 6, 3 and 4 patients (P=0.000, 0.001, 0.000 and 0.027), respectively. Conclusions: The main MRI features of placenta accreta are uterine bulging and (or) a focal outward contour bulge, heterogeneous signal intensity in the placenta and dark intraplacental bands on T 2 -weighted images Besides, increased subplacental vascularity also could provide useful information for the diagnosis of placenta accreta. (authors)

  10. A study on feature analysis for musical instrument classification.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Deng, Jeremiah D; Simmermacher, Christian; Cranefield, Stephen

    2008-04-01

    In tackling data mining and pattern recognition tasks, finding a compact but effective set of features has often been found to be a crucial step in the overall problem-solving process. In this paper, we present an empirical study on feature analysis for recognition of classical instrument, using machine learning techniques to select and evaluate features extracted from a number of different feature schemes. It is revealed that there is significant redundancy between and within feature schemes commonly used in practice. Our results suggest that further feature analysis research is necessary in order to optimize feature selection and achieve better results for the instrument recognition problem.

  11. Sam Ting at the ISR intersection I-2 (experiment R209)

    CERN Multimedia

    CERN PhotoLab

    1976-01-01

    The Genova-Harvard-MIT-Pisa Collaboration, later CERN-Harvard-Frascati-MIT-Naples-Pisa Collaboration, set up an experiment to search for the electromagnetic properties of protons in the time-like region and search for the neutral boson Z0 (Muon pair production)

  12. Stemcell Information: SKIP000181 [SKIP Stemcell Database[Archive

    Lifescience Database Archive (English)

    Full Text Available Eagles Medium, 1:1 mixture with 2mM L-glutamine ... Yes 46,XX.arr(1-22,X)x2 ... George Q Daley George Q Daley Harvard... Stem Cell Institute Harvard Stem Cell Institute ... Available NIGMS Coriell Cell Rep

  13. Kundetilpasset masseproduktion

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bukh, Per Nikolaj

    2010-01-01

    Anmeldelse af Do you want to keep your customers forever, B. Joseph Pine II, Don Peppers & Martha Rogers, Harvard Business Press.......Anmeldelse af Do you want to keep your customers forever, B. Joseph Pine II, Don Peppers & Martha Rogers, Harvard Business Press....

  14. Florence Jessie MacWilliams (1917-1990)

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    Preeti Shankar

    Johns Hopkins University, following him to Harvard University to study with him for a year. There was a ... was a student in Harvard at the same time. ... neers. It was one of the major works responsible for laying the foundation for a revolution.

  15. Audio feature extraction using probability distribution function

    Science.gov (United States)

    Suhaib, A.; Wan, Khairunizam; Aziz, Azri A.; Hazry, D.; Razlan, Zuradzman M.; Shahriman A., B.

    2015-05-01

    Voice recognition has been one of the popular applications in robotic field. It is also known to be recently used for biometric and multimedia information retrieval system. This technology is attained from successive research on audio feature extraction analysis. Probability Distribution Function (PDF) is a statistical method which is usually used as one of the processes in complex feature extraction methods such as GMM and PCA. In this paper, a new method for audio feature extraction is proposed which is by using only PDF as a feature extraction method itself for speech analysis purpose. Certain pre-processing techniques are performed in prior to the proposed feature extraction method. Subsequently, the PDF result values for each frame of sampled voice signals obtained from certain numbers of individuals are plotted. From the experimental results obtained, it can be seen visually from the plotted data that each individuals' voice has comparable PDF values and shapes.

  16. Temporality of Features in Near-Death Experience Narratives

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Charlotte Martial

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available Background: After an occurrence of a Near-Death Experience (NDE, Near-Death Experiencers (NDErs usually report extremely rich and detailed narratives. Phenomenologically, a NDE can be described as a set of distinguishable features. Some authors have proposed regular patterns of NDEs, however, the actual temporality sequence of NDE core features remains a little explored area.Objectives: The aim of the present study was to investigate the frequency distribution of these features (globally and according to the position of features in narratives as well as the most frequently reported temporality sequences of features.Methods: We collected 154 French freely expressed written NDE narratives (i.e., Greyson NDE scale total score ≥ 7/32. A text analysis was conducted on all narratives in order to infer temporal ordering and frequency distribution of NDE features.Results: Our analyses highlighted the following most frequently reported sequence of consecutive NDE features: Out-of-Body Experience, Experiencing a tunnel, Seeing a bright light, Feeling of peace. Yet, this sequence was encountered in a very limited number of NDErs.Conclusion: These findings may suggest that NDEs temporality sequences can vary across NDErs. Exploring associations and relationships among features encountered during NDEs may complete the rigorous definition and scientific comprehension of the phenomenon.

  17. Feature Optimization for Long-Range Visual Homing in Changing Environments

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Qidan Zhu

    2014-02-01

    Full Text Available This paper introduces a feature optimization method for robot long-range feature-based visual homing in changing environments. To cope with the changing environmental appearance, the optimization procedure is introduced to distinguish the most relevant features for feature-based visual homing, including the spatial distribution, selection and updating. In the previous research on feature-based visual homing, less effort has been spent on the way to improve the feature distribution to get uniformly distributed features, which are closely related to homing performance. This paper presents a modified feature extraction algorithm to decrease the influence of anisotropic feature distribution. In addition, the feature selection and updating mechanisms, which have hardly drawn any attention in the domain of feature-based visual homing, are crucial in improving homing accuracy and in maintaining the representation of changing environments. To verify the feasibility of the proposal, several comprehensive evaluations are conducted. The results indicate that the feature optimization method can find optimal feature sets for feature-based visual homing, and adapt the appearance representation to the changing environments as well.

  18. Acoustic Features Influence Musical Choices Across Multiple Genres.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barone, Michael D; Bansal, Jotthi; Woolhouse, Matthew H

    2017-01-01

    Based on a large behavioral dataset of music downloads, two analyses investigate whether the acoustic features of listeners' preferred musical genres influence their choice of tracks within non-preferred, secondary musical styles. Analysis 1 identifies feature distributions for pairs of genre-defined subgroups that are distinct. Using correlation analysis, these distributions are used to test the degree of similarity between subgroups' main genres and the other music within their download collections. Analysis 2 explores the issue of main-to-secondary genre influence through the production of 10 feature-influence matrices, one per acoustic feature, in which cell values indicate the percentage change in features for genres and subgroups compared to overall population averages. In total, 10 acoustic features and 10 genre-defined subgroups are explored within the two analyses. Results strongly indicate that the acoustic features of people's main genres influence the tracks they download within non-preferred, secondary musical styles. The nature of this influence and its possible actuating mechanisms are discussed with respect to research on musical preference, personality, and statistical learning.

  19. Imaging features of kaposiform lymphangiomatosis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Goyal, Pradeep; Alomari, Ahmad I.; Shaikh, Raja; Chaudry, Gulraiz; Kozakewich, Harry P.; Perez-Atayde, Antonio R.; Trenor, Cameron C.; Fishman, Steven J.; Greene, Arin K.

    2016-01-01

    Kaposiform lymphangiomatosis is a rare, aggressive lymphatic disorder. The imaging and presenting features of kaposiform lymphangiomatosis can overlap with those of central conducting lymphatic anomaly and generalized lymphatic anomaly. To analyze the imaging findings of kaposiform lymphangiomatosis disorder and highlight features most suggestive of this diagnosis. We retrospectively identified and characterized 20 children and young adults with histopathological diagnosis of kaposiform lymphangiomatosis and radiologic imaging referred to the vascular anomalies center between 1995 and 2015. The median age at onset was 6.5 years (range 3 months to 27 years). The most common presenting features were respiratory compromise (dyspnea, cough, chest pain; 55.5%), swelling/mass (25%), bleeding (15%) and fracture (5%). The thoracic cavity was involved in all patients; all patients had mediastinal involvement followed by lung parenchymal disease (90%) and pleural (85%) and pericardial (50%) effusions. The most common extra-thoracic sites of disease were the retroperitoneum (80%), bone (60%), abdominal viscera (55%) and muscles (45%). There was characteristic enhancing and infiltrative soft-tissue thickening in the mediastinum and retroperitoneum extending along the lymphatic distribution. Kaposiform lymphangiomatosis has overlapping imaging features with central conducting lymphatic anomaly and generalized lymphatic anomaly. Presence of mediastinal or retroperitoneal enhancing and infiltrative soft-tissue disease along the lymphatic distribution, hemorrhagic effusions and moderate thrombocytopenia (50-100,000/μl) should favor diagnosis of kaposiform lymphangiomatosis. (orig.)

  20. Spectral features in the cosmic ray fluxes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lipari, Paolo

    2018-01-01

    The cosmic ray energy distributions contain spectral features, that is narrow energy regions where the slope of the spectrum changes rapidly. The identification and study of these features is of great importance to understand the astrophysical mechanisms of acceleration and propagation that form the spectra. In first approximation a spectral feature is often described as a discontinuous change in slope, however very valuable information is also contained in its width, that is the length of the energy interval where the change in spectral index develops. In this work we discuss the best way to define and parameterize the width a spectral feature, and for illustration discuss some of the most prominent known structures.

  1. A Novel Real-Time Feature Matching Scheme

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ying Liu

    2014-02-01

    Full Text Available Affine Scale Invariant Feature Transform (ASIFT can obtain fully affine invariance, however, its time cost reaches about twice that in Scale Invariant Feature Transform (SIFT. We propose an improved ASIFT algorithm based on feature points in scale space for real-time application. In order to detect the affine invariant feature point, we establish a second-order difference of Gaussian (DOG pyramid and replace the extreme detection in the DOG pyramid by zero detection in the proposed second-order DOG pyramid, which decreases the complexity of the scheme. Experimental results show that the proposed method has a big progress in the real-time performance compared to the traditional one, while preserving the fully affine invariance and precision.

  2. Single-labelled music genre classification using content-based features

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Ajoodha, R

    2015-11-01

    Full Text Available In this paper we use content-based features to perform automatic classification of music pieces into genres. We categorise these features into four groups: features extracted from the Fourier transform’s magnitude spectrum, features designed...

  3. SIP-FS: a novel feature selection for data representation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yiyou Guo

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Multiple features are widely used to characterize real-world datasets. It is desirable to select leading features with stability and interpretability from a set of distinct features for a comprehensive data description. However, most of existing feature selection methods focus on the predictability (e.g., prediction accuracy of selected results yet neglect stability. To obtain compact data representation, a novel feature selection method is proposed to improve stability, and interpretability without sacrificing predictability (SIP-FS. Instead of mutual information, generalized correlation is adopted in minimal redundancy maximal relevance to measure the relation between different feature types. Several feature types (each contains a certain number of features can then be selected and evaluated quantitatively to determine what types contribute to a specific class, thereby enhancing the so-called interpretability of features. Moreover, stability is introduced in the criterion of SIP-FS to obtain consistent results of ranking. We conduct experiments on three publicly available datasets using one-versus-all strategy to select class-specific features. The experiments illustrate that SIP-FS achieves significant performance improvements in terms of stability and interpretability with desirable prediction accuracy and indicates advantages over several state-of-the-art approaches.

  4. Integration of heterogeneous features for remote sensing scene classification

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Xin; Xiong, Xingnan; Ning, Chen; Shi, Aiye; Lv, Guofang

    2018-01-01

    Scene classification is one of the most important issues in remote sensing (RS) image processing. We find that features from different channels (shape, spectral, texture, etc.), levels (low-level and middle-level), or perspectives (local and global) could provide various properties for RS images, and then propose a heterogeneous feature framework to extract and integrate heterogeneous features with different types for RS scene classification. The proposed method is composed of three modules (1) heterogeneous features extraction, where three heterogeneous feature types, called DS-SURF-LLC, mean-Std-LLC, and MS-CLBP, are calculated, (2) heterogeneous features fusion, where the multiple kernel learning (MKL) is utilized to integrate the heterogeneous features, and (3) an MKL support vector machine classifier for RS scene classification. The proposed method is extensively evaluated on three challenging benchmark datasets (a 6-class dataset, a 12-class dataset, and a 21-class dataset), and the experimental results show that the proposed method leads to good classification performance. It produces good informative features to describe the RS image scenes. Moreover, the integration of heterogeneous features outperforms some state-of-the-art features on RS scene classification tasks.

  5. EOG feature relevance determination for microsleep detection

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Golz Martin

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available Automatic relevance determination (ARD was applied to two-channel EOG recordings for microsleep event (MSE recognition. 10 s immediately before MSE and also before counterexamples of fatigued, but attentive driving were analysed. Two type of signal features were extracted: the maximum cross correlation (MaxCC and logarithmic power spectral densities (PSD averaged in spectral bands of 0.5 Hz width ranging between 0 and 8 Hz. Generalised learn-ing vector quantisation (GRLVQ was used as ARD method to show the potential of feature reduction. This is compared to support-vector machines (SVM, in which the feature reduction plays a much smaller role. Cross validation yielded mean normalised relevancies of PSD features in the range of 1.6 – 4.9 % and 1.9 – 10.4 % for horizontal and vertical EOG, respectively. MaxCC relevancies were 0.002 – 0.006 % and 0.002 – 0.06 %, respectively. This shows that PSD features of vertical EOG are indispensable, whereas MaxCC can be neglected. Mean classification accuracies were estimated at 86.6±b 1.3 % and 92.3±b 0.2 % for GRLVQ and SVM, respectively. GRLVQ permits objective feature reduction by inclusion of all processing stages, but is not as accurate as SVM.

  6. EOG feature relevance determination for microsleep detection

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Golz Martin

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available Automatic relevance determination (ARD was applied to two-channel EOG recordings for microsleep event (MSE recognition. 10 s immediately before MSE and also before counterexamples of fatigued, but attentive driving were analysed. Two type of signal features were extracted: the maximum cross correlation (MaxCC and logarithmic power spectral densities (PSD averaged in spectral bands of 0.5 Hz width ranging between 0 and 8 Hz. Generalised learn-ing vector quantisation (GRLVQ was used as ARD method to show the potential of feature reduction. This is compared to support-vector machines (SVM, in which the feature reduction plays a much smaller role. Cross validation yielded mean normalised relevancies of PSD features in the range of 1.6 - 4.9 % and 1.9 - 10.4 % for horizontal and vertical EOG, respectively. MaxCC relevancies were 0.002 - 0.006 % and 0.002 - 0.06 %, respectively. This shows that PSD features of vertical EOG are indispensable, whereas MaxCC can be neglected. Mean classification accuracies were estimated at 86.6±b 1.3 % and 92.3±b 0.2 % for GRLVQ and SVM, respec-tively. GRLVQ permits objective feature reduction by inclu-sion of all processing stages, but is not as accurate as SVM.

  7. Tunable features of magnetoelectric transformers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dong, Shuxiang; Zhai, Junyi; Priya, Shashank; Li, Jie-Fang; Viehland, Dwight

    2009-06-01

    We have found that magnetostrictive FeBSiC alloy ribbons laminated with piezoelectric Pb(Zr,Ti)O(3) fiber can act as a tunable transformer when driven under resonant conditions. These composites were also found to exhibit the strongest resonant magnetoelectric voltage coefficient of 750 V/cm-Oe. The tunable features were achieved by applying small dc magnetic biases of -5 transformer features can be attributed to large changes in the piezomagnetic coefficient and permeability of the magnetostrictive phase under H(dc).

  8. Enhanced feature integration in musicians

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hansen, Niels Christian; Højlund, Andreas; Møller, Cecilie

    the classical oddball control paradigm which used identical sounds. This novel finding supports the dependent processing hypothesis suggesting that musicians recruit overlapping neural resources facilitating more holistic representations of domain-relevant stimuli. These specialised refinements in predictive......Distinguishing and integrating features of sensory input is essential to human survival and no less paramount in music perception and cognition. Yet, little is known about training-induced plasticity of neural mechanisms for auditory feature integration. This study aimed to contrast the two...

  9. Solving jigsaw puzzles using image features

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nielsen, Ture R.; Drewsen, Peter; Hansen, Klaus

    2008-01-01

    In this article, we describe a method for automatic solving of the jigsaw puzzle problem based on using image features instead of the shape of the pieces. The image features are used for obtaining an accurate measure for edge similarity to be used in a new edge matching algorithm. The algorithm i...

  10. FEATURE EVALUATION FOR BUILDING FACADE IMAGES – AN EMPIRICAL STUDY

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M. Y. Yang

    2012-08-01

    Full Text Available The classification of building facade images is a challenging problem that receives a great deal of attention in the photogrammetry community. Image classification is critically dependent on the features. In this paper, we perform an empirical feature evaluation task for building facade images. Feature sets we choose are basic features, color features, histogram features, Peucker features, texture features, and SIFT features. We present an approach for region-wise labeling using an efficient randomized decision forest classifier and local features. We conduct our experiments with building facade image classification on the eTRIMS dataset, where our focus is the object classes building, car, door, pavement, road, sky, vegetation, and window.

  11. Learning Transferable Features with Deep Adaptation Networks

    OpenAIRE

    Long, Mingsheng; Cao, Yue; Wang, Jianmin; Jordan, Michael I.

    2015-01-01

    Recent studies reveal that a deep neural network can learn transferable features which generalize well to novel tasks for domain adaptation. However, as deep features eventually transition from general to specific along the network, the feature transferability drops significantly in higher layers with increasing domain discrepancy. Hence, it is important to formally reduce the dataset bias and enhance the transferability in task-specific layers. In this paper, we propose a new Deep Adaptation...

  12. SIFT based algorithm for point feature tracking

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Adrian BURLACU

    2007-12-01

    Full Text Available In this paper a tracking algorithm for SIFT features in image sequences is developed. For each point feature extracted using SIFT algorithm a descriptor is computed using information from its neighborhood. Using an algorithm based on minimizing the distance between two descriptors tracking point features throughout image sequences is engaged. Experimental results, obtained from image sequences that capture scaling of different geometrical type object, reveal the performances of the tracking algorithm.

  13. Mining Videos for Features that Drive Attention

    Science.gov (United States)

    2015-04-01

    that can be added or removed from the final saliency computation. Examples of these features include intensity contrast, motion energy , color opponent...corresponding to the image. Each pixel in the feature map indicates the energy that the feature in question contributes at that location. In the standard...eye and head animation using a neurobio - logical model of visual attention. In: Bosacchi B, Fogel DB, Bezdek JC (eds) Proceedings of SPIE 48th annual

  14. Radiographic features of periapical cysts and granulomas

    OpenAIRE

    Zain, R. B.; Roswati, N.; Ismail, K.

    1989-01-01

    Many studies have been reported on radiographic lesion sizes of periapical lesions. However no studies have been reported on prevalences of subjective radiographic features in these lesions except for the early assumption that a periapical cyst usually exhibit a radiopaque cortex. This study is conducted to evaluate the prevalences of several subjective radiographic features of periapical cysts and granulomas in the hope to identify features that maybe suggestive of either diagnosis. The resu...

  15. PROBLEMATIC FEATURES OF THE POLITICAL DECISION MAKERS

    OpenAIRE

    Aleksey Sergeevih Voynov

    2014-01-01

    Purpose: identify the most important features in the process of making political decisions that affect the effectiveness of problem-solving situationsScientific novelty: as a result of the analysis identified the problematic features of major importance for the efficiency of the development and adoption of the most rational solution to a problem situation.Results: the analysis of the most significant features affecting the quality of decisions among them the interest of the person making deci...

  16. Recognition of handwritten characters using local gradient feature descriptors

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Surinta, Olarik; Karaaba, Mahir F.; Schomaker, Lambert R.B.; Wiering, Marco A.

    2015-01-01

    Abstract In this paper we propose to use local gradient feature descriptors, namely the scale invariant feature transform keypoint descriptor and the histogram of oriented gradients, for handwritten character recognition. The local gradient feature descriptors are used to extract feature vectors

  17. MetaFIND: A feature analysis tool for metabolomics data

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cunningham Pádraig

    2008-11-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Metabolomics, or metabonomics, refers to the quantitative analysis of all metabolites present within a biological sample and is generally carried out using NMR spectroscopy or Mass Spectrometry. Such analysis produces a set of peaks, or features, indicative of the metabolic composition of the sample and may be used as a basis for sample classification. Feature selection may be employed to improve classification accuracy or aid model explanation by establishing a subset of class discriminating features. Factors such as experimental noise, choice of technique and threshold selection may adversely affect the set of selected features retrieved. Furthermore, the high dimensionality and multi-collinearity inherent within metabolomics data may exacerbate discrepancies between the set of features retrieved and those required to provide a complete explanation of metabolite signatures. Given these issues, the latter in particular, we present the MetaFIND application for 'post-feature selection' correlation analysis of metabolomics data. Results In our evaluation we show how MetaFIND may be used to elucidate metabolite signatures from the set of features selected by diverse techniques over two metabolomics datasets. Importantly, we also show how MetaFIND may augment standard feature selection and aid the discovery of additional significant features, including those which represent novel class discriminating metabolites. MetaFIND also supports the discovery of higher level metabolite correlations. Conclusion Standard feature selection techniques may fail to capture the full set of relevant features in the case of high dimensional, multi-collinear metabolomics data. We show that the MetaFIND 'post-feature selection' analysis tool may aid metabolite signature elucidation, feature discovery and inference of metabolic correlations.

  18. Interactive music composition driven by feature evolution.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kaliakatsos-Papakostas, Maximos A; Floros, Andreas; Vrahatis, Michael N

    2016-01-01

    Evolutionary music composition is a prominent technique for automatic music generation. The immense adaptation potential of evolutionary algorithms has allowed the realisation of systems that automatically produce music through feature and interactive-based composition approaches. Feature-based composition employs qualitatively descriptive music features as fitness landmarks. Interactive composition systems on the other hand, derive fitness directly from human ratings and/or selection. The paper at hand introduces a methodological framework that combines the merits of both evolutionary composition methodologies. To this end, a system is presented that is organised in two levels: the higher level of interaction and the lower level of composition. The higher level incorporates the particle swarm optimisation algorithm, along with a proposed variant and evolves musical features according to user ratings. The lower level realizes feature-based music composition with a genetic algorithm, according to the top level features. The aim of this work is not to validate the efficiency of the currently utilised setup in each level, but to examine the convergence behaviour of such a two-level technique in an objective manner. Therefore, an additional novelty in this work concerns the utilisation of artificial raters that guide the system through the space of musical features, allowing the exploration of its convergence characteristics: does the system converge to optimal melodies, is this convergence fast enough for potential human listeners and is the trajectory to convergence "interesting' and "creative" enough? The experimental results reveal that the proposed methodological framework represents a fruitful and robust, novel approach to interactive music composition.

  19. Feature-aware natural texture synthesis

    KAUST Repository

    Wu, Fuzhang

    2014-12-04

    This article presents a framework for natural texture synthesis and processing. This framework is motivated by the observation that given examples captured in natural scene, texture synthesis addresses a critical problem, namely, that synthesis quality can be affected adversely if the texture elements in an example display spatially varied patterns, such as perspective distortion, the composition of different sub-textures, and variations in global color pattern as a result of complex illumination. This issue is common in natural textures and is a fundamental challenge for previously developed methods. Thus, we address it from a feature point of view and propose a feature-aware approach to synthesize natural textures. The synthesis process is guided by a feature map that represents the visual characteristics of the input texture. Moreover, we present a novel adaptive initialization algorithm that can effectively avoid the repeat and verbatim copying artifacts. Our approach improves texture synthesis in many images that cannot be handled effectively with traditional technologies.

  20. Histological image classification using biologically interpretable shape-based features

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kothari, Sonal; Phan, John H; Young, Andrew N; Wang, May D

    2013-01-01

    Automatic cancer diagnostic systems based on histological image classification are important for improving therapeutic decisions. Previous studies propose textural and morphological features for such systems. These features capture patterns in histological images that are useful for both cancer grading and subtyping. However, because many of these features lack a clear biological interpretation, pathologists may be reluctant to adopt these features for clinical diagnosis. We examine the utility of biologically interpretable shape-based features for classification of histological renal tumor images. Using Fourier shape descriptors, we extract shape-based features that capture the distribution of stain-enhanced cellular and tissue structures in each image and evaluate these features using a multi-class prediction model. We compare the predictive performance of the shape-based diagnostic model to that of traditional models, i.e., using textural, morphological and topological features. The shape-based model, with an average accuracy of 77%, outperforms or complements traditional models. We identify the most informative shapes for each renal tumor subtype from the top-selected features. Results suggest that these shapes are not only accurate diagnostic features, but also correlate with known biological characteristics of renal tumors. Shape-based analysis of histological renal tumor images accurately classifies disease subtypes and reveals biologically insightful discriminatory features. This method for shape-based analysis can be extended to other histological datasets to aid pathologists in diagnostic and therapeutic decisions