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Sample records for minimum error discrimination

  1. Distinguishing mixed quantum states: Minimum-error discrimination versus optimum unambiguous discrimination

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Herzog, Ulrike; Bergou, Janos A.

    2004-01-01

    We consider two different optimized measurement strategies for the discrimination of nonorthogonal quantum states. The first is ambiguous discrimination with a minimum probability of inferring an erroneous result, and the second is unambiguous, i.e., error-free, discrimination with a minimum probability of getting an inconclusive outcome, where the measurement fails to give a definite answer. For distinguishing between two mixed quantum states, we investigate the relation between the minimum-error probability achievable in ambiguous discrimination, and the minimum failure probability that can be reached in unambiguous discrimination of the same two states. The latter turns out to be at least twice as large as the former for any two given states. As an example, we treat the case where the state of the quantum system is known to be, with arbitrary prior probability, either a given pure state, or a uniform statistical mixture of any number of mutually orthogonal states. For this case we derive an analytical result for the minimum probability of error and perform a quantitative comparison with the minimum failure probability

  2. Minimum-error discrimination of entangled quantum states

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lu, Y.; Coish, N.; Kaltenbaek, R.; Hamel, D. R.; Resch, K. J.; Croke, S.

    2010-01-01

    Strategies to optimally discriminate between quantum states are critical in quantum technologies. We present an experimental demonstration of minimum-error discrimination between entangled states, encoded in the polarization of pairs of photons. Although the optimal measurement involves projection onto entangled states, we use a result of J. Walgate et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 85, 4972 (2000)] to design an optical implementation employing only local polarization measurements and feed-forward, which performs at the Helstrom bound. Our scheme can achieve perfect discrimination of orthogonal states and minimum-error discrimination of nonorthogonal states. Our experimental results show a definite advantage over schemes not using feed-forward.

  3. Achieving minimum-error discrimination of an arbitrary set of laser-light pulses

    Science.gov (United States)

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

    2013-05-01

    Laser light is widely used for communication and sensing applications, so the optimal discrimination of coherent states—the quantum states of light emitted by an ideal laser—has immense practical importance. Due to fundamental limits imposed by quantum mechanics, such discrimination has a finite minimum probability of error. While concrete optical circuits for the optimal discrimination between two coherent states are well known, the generalization to larger sets of coherent states has been challenging. In this paper, we show how to achieve optimal discrimination of any set of coherent states using a resource-efficient quantum computer. Our construction leverages a recent result on discriminating multicopy quantum hypotheses [Blume-Kohout, Croke, and Zwolak, arXiv:1201.6625]. As illustrative examples, we analyze the performance of discriminating a ternary alphabet and show how the quantum circuit of a receiver designed to discriminate a binary alphabet can be reused in discriminating multimode hypotheses. Finally, we show that our result can be used to achieve the quantum limit on the rate of classical information transmission on a lossy optical channel, which is known to exceed the Shannon rate of all conventional optical receivers.

  4. The 95% confidence intervals of error rates and discriminant coefficients

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shuichi Shinmura

    2015-02-01

    Full Text Available Fisher proposed a linear discriminant function (Fisher’s LDF. From 1971, we analysed electrocardiogram (ECG data in order to develop the diagnostic logic between normal and abnormal symptoms by Fisher’s LDF and a quadratic discriminant function (QDF. Our four years research was inferior to the decision tree logic developed by the medical doctor. After this experience, we discriminated many data and found four problems of the discriminant analysis. A revised Optimal LDF by Integer Programming (Revised IP-OLDF based on the minimum number of misclassification (minimum NM criterion resolves three problems entirely [13, 18]. In this research, we discuss fourth problem of the discriminant analysis. There are no standard errors (SEs of the error rate and discriminant coefficient. We propose a k-fold crossvalidation method. This method offers a model selection technique and a 95% confidence intervals (C.I. of error rates and discriminant coefficients.

  5. Minimum error discrimination for an ensemble of linearly independent pure states

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Singal, Tanmay; Ghosh, Sibasish

    2016-01-01

    Inspired by the work done by Belavkin (1975 Stochastics 1 315) and independently by Mochon, (2006 Phys. Rev. A 73 032328), we formulate the problem of minimum error discrimination (MED) of any ensemble of n linearly independent pure states by stripping the problem of its rotational covariance and retaining only the rotationally invariant aspect of the problem. This is done by embedding the optimal conditions in a matrix equality as well as matrix inequality. Employing the implicit function theorem in these conditions we get a set of first-order coupled ordinary nonlinear differential equations which can be used to drag the solution from an initial point (where solution is known) to another point (whose solution is sought). This way of obtaining the solution can be done through a simple Taylor series expansion and analytic continuation when required. Thus, we complete the work done by Belavkin and Mochon by ultimately leading their theory to a solution for the MED problem of linearly independent pure state ensembles. We also compare the computational complexity of our technique with the barrier-type interior point method of SDP and show that our technique is computationally as efficient as (actually, a bit more than) the SDP algorithm, with the added advantage of being much simpler to implement. (paper)

  6. Quantum-state comparison and discrimination

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hayashi, A.; Hashimoto, T.; Horibe, M.

    2018-05-01

    We investigate the performance of discrimination strategy in the comparison task of known quantum states. In the discrimination strategy, one infers whether or not two quantum systems are in the same state on the basis of the outcomes of separate discrimination measurements on each system. In some cases with more than two possible states, the optimal strategy in minimum-error comparison is that one should infer the two systems are in different states without any measurement, implying that the discrimination strategy performs worse than the trivial "no-measurement" strategy. We present a sufficient condition for this phenomenon to happen. For two pure states with equal prior probabilities, we determine the optimal comparison success probability with an error margin, which interpolates the minimum-error and unambiguous comparison. We find that the discrimination strategy is not optimal except for the minimum-error case.

  7. Contextual Advantage for State Discrimination

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schmid, David; Spekkens, Robert W.

    2018-02-01

    Finding quantitative aspects of quantum phenomena which cannot be explained by any classical model has foundational importance for understanding the boundary between classical and quantum theory. It also has practical significance for identifying information processing tasks for which those phenomena provide a quantum advantage. Using the framework of generalized noncontextuality as our notion of classicality, we find one such nonclassical feature within the phenomenology of quantum minimum-error state discrimination. Namely, we identify quantitative limits on the success probability for minimum-error state discrimination in any experiment described by a noncontextual ontological model. These constraints constitute noncontextuality inequalities that are violated by quantum theory, and this violation implies a quantum advantage for state discrimination relative to noncontextual models. Furthermore, our noncontextuality inequalities are robust to noise and are operationally formulated, so that any experimental violation of the inequalities is a witness of contextuality, independently of the validity of quantum theory. Along the way, we introduce new methods for analyzing noncontextuality scenarios and demonstrate a tight connection between our minimum-error state discrimination scenario and a Bell scenario.

  8. Contextual Advantage for State Discrimination

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    David Schmid

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available Finding quantitative aspects of quantum phenomena which cannot be explained by any classical model has foundational importance for understanding the boundary between classical and quantum theory. It also has practical significance for identifying information processing tasks for which those phenomena provide a quantum advantage. Using the framework of generalized noncontextuality as our notion of classicality, we find one such nonclassical feature within the phenomenology of quantum minimum-error state discrimination. Namely, we identify quantitative limits on the success probability for minimum-error state discrimination in any experiment described by a noncontextual ontological model. These constraints constitute noncontextuality inequalities that are violated by quantum theory, and this violation implies a quantum advantage for state discrimination relative to noncontextual models. Furthermore, our noncontextuality inequalities are robust to noise and are operationally formulated, so that any experimental violation of the inequalities is a witness of contextuality, independently of the validity of quantum theory. Along the way, we introduce new methods for analyzing noncontextuality scenarios and demonstrate a tight connection between our minimum-error state discrimination scenario and a Bell scenario.

  9. Discriminative learning for speech recognition

    CERN Document Server

    He, Xiadong

    2008-01-01

    In this book, we introduce the background and mainstream methods of probabilistic modeling and discriminative parameter optimization for speech recognition. The specific models treated in depth include the widely used exponential-family distributions and the hidden Markov model. A detailed study is presented on unifying the common objective functions for discriminative learning in speech recognition, namely maximum mutual information (MMI), minimum classification error, and minimum phone/word error. The unification is presented, with rigorous mathematical analysis, in a common rational-functio

  10. Minimum Error Entropy Classification

    CERN Document Server

    Marques de Sá, Joaquim P; Santos, Jorge M F; Alexandre, Luís A

    2013-01-01

    This book explains the minimum error entropy (MEE) concept applied to data classification machines. Theoretical results on the inner workings of the MEE concept, in its application to solving a variety of classification problems, are presented in the wider realm of risk functionals. Researchers and practitioners also find in the book a detailed presentation of practical data classifiers using MEE. These include multi‐layer perceptrons, recurrent neural networks, complexvalued neural networks, modular neural networks, and decision trees. A clustering algorithm using a MEE‐like concept is also presented. Examples, tests, evaluation experiments and comparison with similar machines using classic approaches, complement the descriptions.

  11. Proportionate Minimum Error Entropy Algorithm for Sparse System Identification

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zongze Wu

    2015-08-01

    Full Text Available Sparse system identification has received a great deal of attention due to its broad applicability. The proportionate normalized least mean square (PNLMS algorithm, as a popular tool, achieves excellent performance for sparse system identification. In previous studies, most of the cost functions used in proportionate-type sparse adaptive algorithms are based on the mean square error (MSE criterion, which is optimal only when the measurement noise is Gaussian. However, this condition does not hold in most real-world environments. In this work, we use the minimum error entropy (MEE criterion, an alternative to the conventional MSE criterion, to develop the proportionate minimum error entropy (PMEE algorithm for sparse system identification, which may achieve much better performance than the MSE based methods especially in heavy-tailed non-Gaussian situations. Moreover, we analyze the convergence of the proposed algorithm and derive a sufficient condition that ensures the mean square convergence. Simulation results confirm the excellent performance of the new algorithm.

  12. Normalized Minimum Error Entropy Algorithm with Recursive Power Estimation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Namyong Kim

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available The minimum error entropy (MEE algorithm is known to be superior in signal processing applications under impulsive noise. In this paper, based on the analysis of behavior of the optimum weight and the properties of robustness against impulsive noise, a normalized version of the MEE algorithm is proposed. The step size of the MEE algorithm is normalized with the power of input entropy that is estimated recursively for reducing its computational complexity. The proposed algorithm yields lower minimum MSE (mean squared error and faster convergence speed simultaneously than the original MEE algorithm does in the equalization simulation. On the condition of the same convergence speed, its performance enhancement in steady state MSE is above 3 dB.

  13. An Improved Minimum Error Interpolator of CNC for General Curves Based on FPGA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jiye HUANG

    2014-05-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents an improved minimum error interpolation algorithm for general curves generation in computer numerical control (CNC. Compared with the conventional interpolation algorithms such as the By-Point Comparison method, the Minimum- Error method and the Digital Differential Analyzer (DDA method, the proposed improved Minimum-Error interpolation algorithm can find a balance between accuracy and efficiency. The new algorithm is applicable for the curves of linear, circular, elliptical and parabolic. The proposed algorithm is realized on a field programmable gate array (FPGA with Verilog HDL language, and simulated by the ModelSim software, and finally verified on a two-axis CNC lathe. The algorithm has the following advantages: firstly, the maximum interpolation error is only half of the minimum step-size; and secondly the computing time is only two clock cycles of the FPGA. Simulations and actual tests have proved that the high accuracy and efficiency of the algorithm, which shows that it is highly suited for real-time applications.

  14. Euclidean Geometry Codes, minimum weight words and decodable error-patterns using bit-flipping

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Høholdt, Tom; Justesen, Jørn; Jonsson, Bergtor

    2005-01-01

    We determine the number of minimum wigth words in a class of Euclidean Geometry codes and link the performance of the bit-flipping decoding algorithm to the geometry of the error patterns.......We determine the number of minimum wigth words in a class of Euclidean Geometry codes and link the performance of the bit-flipping decoding algorithm to the geometry of the error patterns....

  15. Magnetic Nanoparticle Thermometer: An Investigation of Minimum Error Transmission Path and AC Bias Error

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zhongzhou Du

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available The signal transmission module of a magnetic nanoparticle thermometer (MNPT was established in this study to analyze the error sources introduced during the signal flow in the hardware system. The underlying error sources that significantly affected the precision of the MNPT were determined through mathematical modeling and simulation. A transfer module path with the minimum error in the hardware system was then proposed through the analysis of the variations of the system error caused by the significant error sources when the signal flew through the signal transmission module. In addition, a system parameter, named the signal-to-AC bias ratio (i.e., the ratio between the signal and AC bias, was identified as a direct determinant of the precision of the measured temperature. The temperature error was below 0.1 K when the signal-to-AC bias ratio was higher than 80 dB, and other system errors were not considered. The temperature error was below 0.1 K in the experiments with a commercial magnetic fluid (Sample SOR-10, Ocean Nanotechnology, Springdale, AR, USA when the hardware system of the MNPT was designed with the aforementioned method.

  16. Minimum Mean-Square Error Estimation of Mel-Frequency Cepstral Features

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jensen, Jesper; Tan, Zheng-Hua

    2015-01-01

    In this work we consider the problem of feature enhancement for noise-robust automatic speech recognition (ASR). We propose a method for minimum mean-square error (MMSE) estimation of mel-frequency cepstral features, which is based on a minimum number of well-established, theoretically consistent......-of-the-art MFCC feature enhancement algorithms within this class of algorithms, while theoretically suboptimal or based on theoretically inconsistent assumptions, perform close to optimally in the MMSE sense....

  17. Adaptive color halftoning for minimum perceived error using the blue noise mask

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yu, Qing; Parker, Kevin J.

    1997-04-01

    Color halftoning using a conventional screen requires careful selection of screen angles to avoid Moire patterns. An obvious advantage of halftoning using a blue noise mask (BNM) is that there are no conventional screen angle or Moire patterns produced. However, a simple strategy of employing the same BNM on all color planes is unacceptable in case where a small registration error can cause objectionable color shifts. In a previous paper by Yao and Parker, strategies were presented for shifting or inverting the BNM as well as using mutually exclusive BNMs for different color planes. In this paper, the above schemes will be studied in CIE-LAB color space in terms of root mean square error and variance for luminance channel and chrominance channel respectively. We will demonstrate that the dot-on-dot scheme results in minimum chrominance error, but maximum luminance error and the 4-mask scheme results in minimum luminance error but maximum chrominance error, while the shift scheme falls in between. Based on this study, we proposed a new adaptive color halftoning algorithm that takes colorimetric color reproduction into account by applying 2-mutually exclusive BNMs on two different color planes and applying an adaptive scheme on other planes to reduce color error. We will show that by having one adaptive color channel, we obtain increased flexibility to manipulate the output so as to reduce colorimetric error while permitting customization to specific printing hardware.

  18. Numerical modeling and the physical basis of seismic discriminants

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Denny, M.D.

    1993-01-01

    Accurate seismic event discrimination is critical to detection of nuclear explosions. Numerical modeling applied to seismic event discrimination can lead to increased reliability of proliferation detection. It is particularly applicable to error budgeting and to understanding explosion and earthquake phenomenologies. There also is a need for minimum requirements to validate the models used in numerical modeling

  19. Minimum Time Trajectory Optimization of CNC Machining with Tracking Error Constraints

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Qiang Zhang

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available An off-line optimization approach of high precision minimum time feedrate for CNC machining is proposed. Besides the ordinary considered velocity, acceleration, and jerk constraints, dynamic performance constraint of each servo drive is also considered in this optimization problem to improve the tracking precision along the optimized feedrate trajectory. Tracking error is applied to indicate the servo dynamic performance of each axis. By using variable substitution, the tracking error constrained minimum time trajectory planning problem is formulated as a nonlinear path constrained optimal control problem. Bang-bang constraints structure of the optimal trajectory is proved in this paper; then a novel constraint handling method is proposed to realize a convex optimization based solution of the nonlinear constrained optimal control problem. A simple ellipse feedrate planning test is presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the approach. Then the practicability and robustness of the trajectory generated by the proposed approach are demonstrated by a butterfly contour machining example.

  20. Minimum Probability of Error-Based Equalization Algorithms for Fading Channels

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Janos Levendovszky

    2007-06-01

    Full Text Available Novel channel equalizer algorithms are introduced for wireless communication systems to combat channel distortions resulting from multipath propagation. The novel algorithms are based on newly derived bounds on the probability of error (PE and guarantee better performance than the traditional zero forcing (ZF or minimum mean square error (MMSE algorithms. The new equalization methods require channel state information which is obtained by a fast adaptive channel identification algorithm. As a result, the combined convergence time needed for channel identification and PE minimization still remains smaller than the convergence time of traditional adaptive algorithms, yielding real-time equalization. The performance of the new algorithms is tested by extensive simulations on standard mobile channels.

  1. The Best Model of the Swiss Banknote Data -Validation by the 95% CI of coefficients and t-test of discriminant scores

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shuichi Shinmura

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available The discriminant analysis is not the inferential statistics since there are no equations for standard error (SE of error rate and discriminant coefficient based on the normal distribution. In this paper, we proposed the “k-fold cross validation for small sample” and can obtain the 95% confidence interval (CI of error rates and discriminant coefficients. This method is the computer-intensive approach by statistical and mathematical programming (MP software such as JMP and LINGO. By the proposed approach, we can choose the best model with the minimum mean of error rate in the validation samples (Minimum M2 Standard. In this research, we examine the sixteen linear separable models of Swiss banknote data by eight linear discriminant functions (LDFs. M2 of the best model of Revised IP-OLDF is the smallest value of all models. We find all coefficients of six Revised IP-OLDF among sixteen models rejected by the 95% CI of discriminant coefficients (Discriminant coefficient standard. We compare t-values of the discriminant scores. The t-value of the best model has the maximum values among sixteen models (Maximum t-value Standard. Moreover, we can conclude that all standards support the best model of Revised IP-OLDF.

  2. Classification of Error-Diffused Halftone Images Based on Spectral Regression Kernel Discriminant Analysis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zhigao Zeng

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper proposes a novel algorithm to solve the challenging problem of classifying error-diffused halftone images. We firstly design the class feature matrices, after extracting the image patches according to their statistics characteristics, to classify the error-diffused halftone images. Then, the spectral regression kernel discriminant analysis is used for feature dimension reduction. The error-diffused halftone images are finally classified using an idea similar to the nearest centroids classifier. As demonstrated by the experimental results, our method is fast and can achieve a high classification accuracy rate with an added benefit of robustness in tackling noise.

  3. A minimum bit error-rate detector for amplify and forward relaying systems

    KAUST Repository

    Ahmed, Qasim Zeeshan; Alouini, Mohamed-Slim; Aissa, Sonia

    2012-01-01

    In this paper, a new detector is being proposed for amplify-and-forward (AF) relaying system when communicating with the assistance of L number of relays. The major goal of this detector is to improve the bit error rate (BER) performance of the system. The complexity of the system is further reduced by implementing this detector adaptively. The proposed detector is free from channel estimation. Our results demonstrate that the proposed detector is capable of achieving a gain of more than 1-dB at a BER of 10 -5 as compared to the conventional minimum mean square error detector when communicating over a correlated Rayleigh fading channel. © 2012 IEEE.

  4. A minimum bit error-rate detector for amplify and forward relaying systems

    KAUST Repository

    Ahmed, Qasim Zeeshan

    2012-05-01

    In this paper, a new detector is being proposed for amplify-and-forward (AF) relaying system when communicating with the assistance of L number of relays. The major goal of this detector is to improve the bit error rate (BER) performance of the system. The complexity of the system is further reduced by implementing this detector adaptively. The proposed detector is free from channel estimation. Our results demonstrate that the proposed detector is capable of achieving a gain of more than 1-dB at a BER of 10 -5 as compared to the conventional minimum mean square error detector when communicating over a correlated Rayleigh fading channel. © 2012 IEEE.

  5. Evaluation of errors for mass-spectrometric analysis with surface-ionization type mass-spectrometer (statistical evaluation of mass-discrimination effect)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wada, Y.

    1981-01-01

    The surface-ionization type mass-spectrometer is widely used as an apparatus for quality assurance, accountability and safeguarding of nuclear materials, and for this analysis it has become an important factor to statistically evaluate an analytical error which consists of a random error and a systematic error. The major factor of this systematic error was the mass-discrimination effect. In this paper, various assays for evaluating the factor of variation on the mass-discrimination effect were studied and the data obtained were statistically evaluated. As a result of these analyses, it was proved that the factor of variation on the mass-discrimination effect was not attributed to the acid concentration of sample, sample size on the filament and supplied voltage for a multiplier, but mainly to the filament temperature during the mass-spectrometric analysis. The mass-discrimination effect values β which were usually calculated from the measured data of uranium, plutonium or boron isotopic standard sample were not so significant dependently of the difference of U-235, Pu-239 or B-10 isotopic abundance. Furthermore, in the case of U and Pu, measurement conditions and the mass range of these isotopes were almost similar, and these values β were not statistically significant between U and Pu. On the other hand, the value β for boron was about a third of the value β for U or Pu, but compared with the coefficient of the correction on the mass-discrimination effect for the difference of mass-number, ΔM, these coefficient values were almost the same among U, Pu, and B.As for the isotopic analysis error of U, Pu, Nd and B, it was proved that the isotopic abundance of these elements and the isotopic analysis error were in a relationship of quadratic curves on a logarithmic-logarithmic scale

  6. Minimum Symbol Error Rate Detection in Single-Input Multiple-Output Channels with Markov Noise

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Christensen, Lars P.B.

    2005-01-01

    Minimum symbol error rate detection in Single-Input Multiple- Output(SIMO) channels with Markov noise is presented. The special case of zero-mean Gauss-Markov noise is examined closer as it only requires knowledge of the second-order moments. In this special case, it is shown that optimal detection...

  7. Augmented GNSS Differential Corrections Minimum Mean Square Error Estimation Sensitivity to Spatial Correlation Modeling Errors

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nazelie Kassabian

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available Railway signaling is a safety system that has evolved over the last couple of centuries towards autonomous functionality. Recently, great effort is being devoted in this field, towards the use and exploitation of Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS signals and GNSS augmentation systems in view of lower railway track equipments and maintenance costs, that is a priority to sustain the investments for modernizing the local and regional lines most of which lack automatic train protection systems and are still manually operated. The objective of this paper is to assess the sensitivity of the Linear Minimum Mean Square Error (LMMSE algorithm to modeling errors in the spatial correlation function that characterizes true pseudorange Differential Corrections (DCs. This study is inspired by the railway application; however, it applies to all transportation systems, including the road sector, that need to be complemented by an augmentation system in order to deliver accurate and reliable positioning with integrity specifications. A vector of noisy pseudorange DC measurements are simulated, assuming a Gauss-Markov model with a decay rate parameter inversely proportional to the correlation distance that exists between two points of a certain environment. The LMMSE algorithm is applied on this vector to estimate the true DC, and the estimation error is compared to the noise added during simulation. The results show that for large enough correlation distance to Reference Stations (RSs distance separation ratio values, the LMMSE brings considerable advantage in terms of estimation error accuracy and precision. Conversely, the LMMSE algorithm may deteriorate the quality of the DC measurements whenever the ratio falls below a certain threshold.

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

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yoshida, Yuhsuke; Takeoka, Masahiro; Sasaki, Masahide

    2010-01-01

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

  9. Effects of measurement errors on psychometric measurements in ergonomics studies: Implications for correlations, ANOVA, linear regression, factor analysis, and linear discriminant analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Yan; Salvendy, Gavriel

    2009-05-01

    This paper aims to demonstrate the effects of measurement errors on psychometric measurements in ergonomics studies. A variety of sources can cause random measurement errors in ergonomics studies and these errors can distort virtually every statistic computed and lead investigators to erroneous conclusions. The effects of measurement errors on five most widely used statistical analysis tools have been discussed and illustrated: correlation; ANOVA; linear regression; factor analysis; linear discriminant analysis. It has been shown that measurement errors can greatly attenuate correlations between variables, reduce statistical power of ANOVA, distort (overestimate, underestimate or even change the sign of) regression coefficients, underrate the explanation contributions of the most important factors in factor analysis and depreciate the significance of discriminant function and discrimination abilities of individual variables in discrimination analysis. The discussions will be restricted to subjective scales and survey methods and their reliability estimates. Other methods applied in ergonomics research, such as physical and electrophysiological measurements and chemical and biomedical analysis methods, also have issues of measurement errors, but they are beyond the scope of this paper. As there has been increasing interest in the development and testing of theories in ergonomics research, it has become very important for ergonomics researchers to understand the effects of measurement errors on their experiment results, which the authors believe is very critical to research progress in theory development and cumulative knowledge in the ergonomics field.

  10. Minimum-error quantum distinguishability bounds from matrix monotone functions: A comment on 'Two-sided estimates of minimum-error distinguishability of mixed quantum states via generalized Holevo-Curlander bounds' [J. Math. Phys. 50, 032106 (2009)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tyson, Jon

    2009-01-01

    Matrix monotonicity is used to obtain upper bounds on minimum-error distinguishability of arbitrary ensembles of mixed quantum states. This generalizes one direction of a two-sided bound recently obtained by the author [J. Tyson, J. Math. Phys. 50, 032106 (2009)]. It is shown that the previously obtained special case has unique properties.

  11. Decoding linear error-correcting codes up to half the minimum distance with Gröbner bases

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bulygin, S.; Pellikaan, G.R.; Sala, M.; Mora, T.; Perret, L.; Sakata, S.; Traverso, C.

    2009-01-01

    In this short note we show how one can decode linear error-correcting codes up to half the minimum distance via solving a system of polynomial equations over a finite field. We also explicitly present the reduced Gröbner basis for the system considered.

  12. Tradeoff between energy and error in the discrimination of quantum-optical devices

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bisio, Alessandro; Dall' Arno, Michele; D' Ariano, Giacomo Mauro [Quit group, Dipartimento di Fisica ' ' A. Volta' ' , via Bassi 6, I-27100 Pavia (Italy) and Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Gruppo IV, via Bassi 6, I-27100 Pavia (Italy)

    2011-07-15

    We address the problem of energy-error tradeoff in the discrimination between two linear passive quantum optical devices with a single use. We provide an analytical derivation of the optimal strategy for beamsplitters and an iterative algorithm converging to the optimum in the general case. We then compare the optimal strategy with a simpler strategy using coherent input states and homodyne detection. It turns out that the former requires much less energy in order to achieve the same performances.

  13. Tradeoff between energy and error in the discrimination of quantum-optical devices

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bisio, Alessandro; Dall'Arno, Michele; D'Ariano, Giacomo Mauro

    2011-01-01

    We address the problem of energy-error tradeoff in the discrimination between two linear passive quantum optical devices with a single use. We provide an analytical derivation of the optimal strategy for beamsplitters and an iterative algorithm converging to the optimum in the general case. We then compare the optimal strategy with a simpler strategy using coherent input states and homodyne detection. It turns out that the former requires much less energy in order to achieve the same performances.

  14. Vicarious trial-and-error behavior and hippocampal cytochrome oxidase activity during Y-maze discrimination learning in the rat.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hu, Dan; Xu, Xiaojuan; Gonzalez-Lima, Francisco

    2006-03-01

    The present study investigated whether more vicarious trial-and-error (VTE) behavior, defined by head movement from one stimulus to another at a choice point during simultaneous discriminations, led to better visual discrimination learning in a Y-maze, and whether VTE behavior was a function of the hippocampus by measuring regional brain cytochrome oxidase (C.O.) activity, an index of neuronal metabolic activity. The results showed that the more VTEs a rat made, the better the rat learned the visual discrimination. Furthermore, both learning and VTE behavior during learning were correlated to C.O. activity in the hippocampus, suggesting that the hippocampus plays a role in VTE behavior during discrimination learning.

  15. Effects of MK-801 on vicarious trial-and-error and reversal of olfactory discrimination learning in weanling rats.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Griesbach, G S; Hu, D; Amsel, A

    1998-12-01

    The effects of dizocilpine maleate (MK-801) on vicarious trial-and-error (VTE), and on simultaneous olfactory discrimination learning and its reversal, were observed in weanling rats. The term VTE was used by Tolman (The determiners of behavior at a choice point. Psychol. Rev. 1938;46:318-336), who described it as conflict-like behavior at a choice-point in simultaneous discrimination learning. It takes the form of head movements from one stimulus to the other, and has recently been proposed by Amsel (Hippocampal function in the rat: cognitive mapping or vicarious trial-and-error? Hippocampus, 1993;3:251-256) as related to hippocampal, nonspatial function during this learning. Weanling male rats received systemic MK-801 either 30 min before the onset of olfactory discrimination training and its reversal, or only before its reversal. The MK-801-treated animals needed significantly more sessions to acquire the discrimination and showed significantly fewer VTEs in the acquisition phase of learning. Impaired reversal learning was shown only when MK-801 was administered during the reversal-learning phase, itself, and not when it was administered throughout both phases.

  16. On Kolmogorov asymptotics of estimators of the misclassification error rate in linear discriminant analysis

    KAUST Repository

    Zollanvari, Amin

    2013-05-24

    We provide a fundamental theorem that can be used in conjunction with Kolmogorov asymptotic conditions to derive the first moments of well-known estimators of the actual error rate in linear discriminant analysis of a multivariate Gaussian model under the assumption of a common known covariance matrix. The estimators studied in this paper are plug-in and smoothed resubstitution error estimators, both of which have not been studied before under Kolmogorov asymptotic conditions. As a result of this work, we present an optimal smoothing parameter that makes the smoothed resubstitution an unbiased estimator of the true error. For the sake of completeness, we further show how to utilize the presented fundamental theorem to achieve several previously reported results, namely the first moment of the resubstitution estimator and the actual error rate. We provide numerical examples to show the accuracy of the succeeding finite sample approximations in situations where the number of dimensions is comparable or even larger than the sample size.

  17. On Kolmogorov asymptotics of estimators of the misclassification error rate in linear discriminant analysis

    KAUST Repository

    Zollanvari, Amin; Genton, Marc G.

    2013-01-01

    We provide a fundamental theorem that can be used in conjunction with Kolmogorov asymptotic conditions to derive the first moments of well-known estimators of the actual error rate in linear discriminant analysis of a multivariate Gaussian model under the assumption of a common known covariance matrix. The estimators studied in this paper are plug-in and smoothed resubstitution error estimators, both of which have not been studied before under Kolmogorov asymptotic conditions. As a result of this work, we present an optimal smoothing parameter that makes the smoothed resubstitution an unbiased estimator of the true error. For the sake of completeness, we further show how to utilize the presented fundamental theorem to achieve several previously reported results, namely the first moment of the resubstitution estimator and the actual error rate. We provide numerical examples to show the accuracy of the succeeding finite sample approximations in situations where the number of dimensions is comparable or even larger than the sample size.

  18. The spontaneous replication error and the mismatch discrimination mechanisms of human DNA polymerase β

    Science.gov (United States)

    Koag, Myong-Chul; Nam, Kwangho; Lee, Seongmin

    2014-01-01

    To provide molecular-level insights into the spontaneous replication error and the mismatch discrimination mechanisms of human DNA polymerase β (polβ), we report four crystal structures of polβ complexed with dG•dTTP and dA•dCTP mismatches in the presence of Mg2+ or Mn2+. The Mg2+-bound ground-state structures show that the dA•dCTP-Mg2+ complex adopts an ‘intermediate’ protein conformation while the dG•dTTP-Mg2+ complex adopts an open protein conformation. The Mn2+-bound ‘pre-chemistry-state’ structures show that the dA•dCTP-Mn2+ complex is structurally very similar to the dA•dCTP-Mg2+ complex, whereas the dG•dTTP-Mn2+ complex undergoes a large-scale conformational change to adopt a Watson–Crick-like dG•dTTP base pair and a closed protein conformation. These structural differences, together with our molecular dynamics simulation studies, suggest that polβ increases replication fidelity via a two-stage mismatch discrimination mechanism, where one is in the ground state and the other in the closed conformation state. In the closed conformation state, polβ appears to allow only a Watson–Crick-like conformation for purine•pyrimidine base pairs, thereby discriminating the mismatched base pairs based on their ability to form the Watson–Crick-like conformation. Overall, the present studies provide new insights into the spontaneous replication error and the replication fidelity mechanisms of polβ. PMID:25200079

  19. Minimum Tracking Error Volatility

    OpenAIRE

    Luca RICCETTI

    2010-01-01

    Investors assign part of their funds to asset managers that are given the task of beating a benchmark. The risk management department usually imposes a maximum value of the tracking error volatility (TEV) in order to keep the risk of the portfolio near to that of the selected benchmark. However, risk management does not establish a rule on TEV which enables us to understand whether the asset manager is really active or not and, in practice, asset managers sometimes follow passively the corres...

  20. A Theoretically Consistent Method for Minimum Mean-Square Error Estimation of Mel-Frequency Cepstral Features

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jensen, Jesper; Tan, Zheng-Hua

    2014-01-01

    We propose a method for minimum mean-square error (MMSE) estimation of mel-frequency cepstral features for noise robust automatic speech recognition (ASR). The method is based on a minimum number of well-established statistical assumptions; no assumptions are made which are inconsistent with others....... The strength of the proposed method is that it allows MMSE estimation of mel-frequency cepstral coefficients (MFCC's), cepstral mean-subtracted MFCC's (CMS-MFCC's), velocity, and acceleration coefficients. Furthermore, the method is easily modified to take into account other compressive non-linearities than...... the logarithmic which is usually used for MFCC computation. The proposed method shows estimation performance which is identical to or better than state-of-the-art methods. It further shows comparable ASR performance, where the advantage of being able to use mel-frequency speech features based on a power non...

  1. Development of vicarious trial-and-error behavior in odor discrimination learning in the rat: relation to hippocampal function?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hu, D; Griesbach, G; Amsel, A

    1997-06-01

    Previous work from our laboratory has suggested that hippocampal electrolytic lesions result in a deficit in simultaneous, black-white discrimination learning and reduce the frequency of vicarious trial-and-error (VTE) at a choice-point. VTE is a term Tolman used to describe the rat's conflict-like behavior, moving its head from one stimulus to the other at a choice point, and has been proposed as a major nonspatial feature of hippocampal function in both visual and olfactory discrimination learning. Simultaneous odor discrimination and VTE behavior were examined at three different ages. The results were that 16-day-old pups made fewer VTEs and learned much more slowly than 30- and 60-day-olds, a finding in accord with levels of hippocampal maturity in the rat.

  2. Improved variable reduction in partial least squares modelling by Global-Minimum Error Uninformative-Variable Elimination.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Andries, Jan P M; Vander Heyden, Yvan; Buydens, Lutgarde M C

    2017-08-22

    The calibration performance of Partial Least Squares regression (PLS) can be improved by eliminating uninformative variables. For PLS, many variable elimination methods have been developed. One is the Uninformative-Variable Elimination for PLS (UVE-PLS). However, the number of variables retained by UVE-PLS is usually still large. In UVE-PLS, variable elimination is repeated as long as the root mean squared error of cross validation (RMSECV) is decreasing. The set of variables in this first local minimum is retained. In this paper, a modification of UVE-PLS is proposed and investigated, in which UVE is repeated until no further reduction in variables is possible, followed by a search for the global RMSECV minimum. The method is called Global-Minimum Error Uninformative-Variable Elimination for PLS, denoted as GME-UVE-PLS or simply GME-UVE. After each iteration, the predictive ability of the PLS model, built with the remaining variable set, is assessed by RMSECV. The variable set with the global RMSECV minimum is then finally selected. The goal is to obtain smaller sets of variables with similar or improved predictability than those from the classical UVE-PLS method. The performance of the GME-UVE-PLS method is investigated using four data sets, i.e. a simulated set, NIR and NMR spectra, and a theoretical molecular descriptors set, resulting in twelve profile-response (X-y) calibrations. The selective and predictive performances of the models resulting from GME-UVE-PLS are statistically compared to those from UVE-PLS and 1-step UVE, one-sided paired t-tests. The results demonstrate that variable reduction with the proposed GME-UVE-PLS method, usually eliminates significantly more variables than the classical UVE-PLS, while the predictive abilities of the resulting models are better. With GME-UVE-PLS, a lower number of uninformative variables, without a chemical meaning for the response, may be retained than with UVE-PLS. The selectivity of the classical UVE method

  3. Robust linear discriminant analysis with distance based estimators

    Science.gov (United States)

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

    2017-11-01

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

  4. Over-Sampling Codebook-Based Hybrid Minimum Sum-Mean-Square-Error Precoding for Millimeter-Wave 3D-MIMO

    KAUST Repository

    Mao, Jiening

    2018-05-23

    Abstract: Hybrid precoding design is challenging for millimeter-wave (mmWave) massive MIMO. Most prior hybrid precoding schemes are designed to maximize the sum spectral efficiency (SSE), while seldom investigate the bit-error-rate (BER). Therefore, this letter designs an over-sampling codebook (OSC)-based hybrid minimum sum-mean-square-error (min-SMSE) precoding to optimize the BER. Specifically, given the effective baseband channel consisting of the real channel and analog precoding, we first design the digital precoder/combiner based on min-SMSE criterion to optimize the BER. To further reduce the SMSE between the transmit and receive signals, we propose an OSC-based joint analog precoder/combiner (JAPC) design. Simulation results show that the proposed scheme can achieve the better performance than its conventional counterparts.

  5. Over-Sampling Codebook-Based Hybrid Minimum Sum-Mean-Square-Error Precoding for Millimeter-Wave 3D-MIMO

    KAUST Repository

    Mao, Jiening; Gao, Zhen; Wu, Yongpeng; Alouini, Mohamed-Slim

    2018-01-01

    Hybrid precoding design is challenging for millimeter-wave (mmWave) massive MIMO. Most prior hybrid precoding schemes are designed to maximize the sum spectral efficiency (SSE), while seldom investigate the bit-error-rate (BER). Therefore, this letter designs an over-sampling codebook (OSC)-based hybrid minimum sum-mean-square-error (min-SMSE) precoding to optimize the BER. Specifically, given the effective baseband channel consisting of the real channel and analog precoding, we first design the digital precoder/combiner based on min-SMSE criterion to optimize the BER. To further reduce the SMSE between the transmit and receive signals, we propose an OSC-based joint analog precoder/combiner (JAPC) design. Simulation results show that the proposed scheme can achieve the better performance than its conventional counterparts.

  6. A Trivial Linear Discriminant Function

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shuichi Shinmura

    2015-11-01

    Full Text Available In this paper, we focus on the new model selection procedure of the discriminant analysis. Combining re-sampling technique with k-fold cross validation, we develop a k-fold cross validation for small sample method. By this breakthrough, we obtain the mean error rate in the validation samples (M2 and the 95\\% confidence interval (CI of discriminant coefficient. Moreover, we propose the model  selection  procedure  in  which  the model having a minimum M2 was  chosen  to  the  best  model.  We  apply  this  new  method and procedure to the pass/ fail determination of  exam  scores.  In  this  case,  we  fix  the constant =1 for seven linear discriminant  functions  (LDFs  and  several  good  results  were obtained as follows: 1 M2 of Fisher's LDF are over 4.6\\% worse than Revised IP-OLDF. 2 A soft-margin  SVM  for  penalty c=1  (SVM1  is  worse  than  another  mathematical  programming (MP based LDFs and logistic regression . 3 The 95\\% CI of the best discriminant coefficients was obtained. Seven LDFs except for Fisher's LDF are almost the same as a trivial LDF for the linear separable model. Furthermore, if we choose the median of the coefficient of seven LDFs except for Fisher's LDF,  those are almost the same as the trivial LDF for the linear separable model.

  7. Flash-Type Discrimination

    Science.gov (United States)

    Koshak, William J.

    2010-01-01

    This viewgraph presentation describes the significant progress made in the flash-type discrimination algorithm development. The contents include: 1) Highlights of Progress for GLM-R3 Flash-Type discrimination Algorithm Development; 2) Maximum Group Area (MGA) Data; 3) Retrieval Errors from Simulations; and 4) Preliminary Global-scale Retrieval.

  8. Fast differential pulse discriminator-counter

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shelevoj, K.D.

    1985-01-01

    The flowsheet of a differential pulse discriminator counter is described; the result of discrimination here is independent from the shape of the input pulse. Rate of the analysis of input pulses with minimum amplitude up to 0.3 mV coming out from the photomultiplier makes up 220 MHz. The flowsheet of the discriminator used in the system of photon counting for atmosphere probing is presented

  9. Mass discrimination

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Broeckman, A. [Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht (Netherlands)

    1978-12-15

    In thermal ionization mass spectrometry the phenomenon of mass discrimination has led to the use of a correction factor for isotope ratio-measurements. The correction factor is defined as the measured ratio divided by the true or accepted value of this ratio. In fact this factor corrects for systematic errors of the whole procedure; however mass discrimination is often associated just with the mass spectrometer.

  10. Minimum quality standards and international trade

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Baltzer, Kenneth Thomas

    2011-01-01

    This paper investigates the impact of a non-discriminating minimum quality standard (MQS) on trade and welfare when the market is characterized by imperfect competition and asymmetric information. A simple partial equilibrium model of an international Cournot duopoly is presented in which a domes...... prefer different levels of regulation. As a result, international trade disputes are likely to arise even when regulation is non-discriminating....

  11. Classification of resistance to passive motion using minimum probability of error criterion.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chan, H C; Manry, M T; Kondraske, G V

    1987-01-01

    Neurologists diagnose many muscular and nerve disorders by classifying the resistance to passive motion of patients' limbs. Over the past several years, a computer-based instrument has been developed for automated measurement and parameterization of this resistance. In the device, a voluntarily relaxed lower extremity is moved at constant velocity by a motorized driver. The torque exerted on the extremity by the machine is sampled, along with the angle of the extremity. In this paper a computerized technique is described for classifying a patient's condition as 'Normal' or 'Parkinson disease' (rigidity), from the torque versus angle curve for the knee joint. A Legendre polynomial, fit to the curve, is used to calculate a set of eight normally distributed features of the curve. The minimum probability of error approach is used to classify the curve as being from a normal or Parkinson disease patient. Data collected from 44 different subjects was processes and the results were compared with an independent physician's subjective assessment of rigidity. There is agreement in better than 95% of the cases, when all of the features are used.

  12. The influence of random and systematic errors on a general definition of minimum detectable amount (MDA) applicable to all radiobioassay measurements

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Brodsky, A.

    1985-01-01

    An approach to defining minimum detectable amount (MDA) of radioactivity in a sample will be discussed, with the aim of obtaining comments helpful in developing a formulation of MDA that will be broadly applicable to all kinds of radiobioassay measurements, and acceptable to the scientists who make these measurements. Also, the influence of random and systematic errors on the defined MDA are examined

  13. Discrimination of optical coherent states using a photon number resolving detector

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Wittmann, C.; Andersen, Ulrik Lund; Leuchs, G.

    2010-01-01

    The discrimination of non-orthogonal quantum states with reduced or without errors is a fundamental task in quantum measurement theory. In this work, we investigate a quantum measurement strategy capable of discriminating two coherent states probabilistically with significantly smaller error...... probabilities than can be obtained using non-probabilistic state discrimination. We find that appropriate postselection of the measurement data of a photon number resolving detector can be used to discriminate two coherent states with small error probability. We compare our new receiver to an optimal...

  14. The influence of gender and bruxism on human minimum interdental threshold ability

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Patrícia dos Santos Calderon

    2009-06-01

    Full Text Available OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the influence of gender and bruxism on the ability to discriminate minimum interdental threshold. MATERIAL AND METHODS: One hundred and fifteen individuals, representing both genders, bruxers and non-bruxers, with a mean age of 23.64 years, were selected for this study. For group allocation, every individual was subjected to a specific physical examination to detect bruxism (performed by three different examiners. Evaluation of the ability to discriminate minimum interdental threshold was performed using industrialized 0.010 mm-, 0.024 mm-, 0.030 mm-, 0.050 mm-, 0.080 mm- and 0.094 mm-thick aluminum foils that were placed between upper and lower premolars. Data were analyzed statistically by multiple linear regression analysis at 5% significance level. RESULTS: Neither gender nor bruxism influenced the ability to discriminate minimum interdental threshold (p>0.05. CONCLUSIONS: Gender and the presence of bruxism do not play a role in the minimum interdental threshold.

  15. Approximate error conjugation gradient minimization methods

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kallman, Jeffrey S

    2013-05-21

    In one embodiment, a method includes selecting a subset of rays from a set of all rays to use in an error calculation for a constrained conjugate gradient minimization problem, calculating an approximate error using the subset of rays, and calculating a minimum in a conjugate gradient direction based on the approximate error. In another embodiment, a system includes a processor for executing logic, logic for selecting a subset of rays from a set of all rays to use in an error calculation for a constrained conjugate gradient minimization problem, logic for calculating an approximate error using the subset of rays, and logic for calculating a minimum in a conjugate gradient direction based on the approximate error. In other embodiments, computer program products, methods, and systems are described capable of using approximate error in constrained conjugate gradient minimization problems.

  16. Robust linear discriminant models to solve financial crisis in banking sectors

    Science.gov (United States)

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

    2014-12-01

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

  17. Adaptive estimation and discrimination of Holevo-Werner channels

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cope Thomas P. W.

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available The class of quantum states known as Werner states have several interesting properties, which often serve to illuminate unusual properties of quantum information. Closely related to these states are the Holevo- Werner channels whose Choi matrices are Werner states. Exploiting the fact that these channels are teleportation covariant, and therefore simulable by teleportation, we compute the ultimate precision in the adaptive estimation of their channel-defining parameter. Similarly, we bound the minimum error probability affecting the adaptive discrimination of any two of these channels. In this case, we prove an analytical formula for the quantum Chernoff bound which also has a direct counterpart for the class of depolarizing channels. Our work exploits previous methods established in [Pirandola and Lupo, PRL 118, 100502 (2017] to set the metrological limits associated with this interesting class of quantum channels at any finite dimension.

  18. Error-related potentials during continuous feedback: using EEG to detect errors of different type and severity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Spüler, Martin; Niethammer, Christian

    2015-01-01

    When a person recognizes an error during a task, an error-related potential (ErrP) can be measured as response. It has been shown that ErrPs can be automatically detected in tasks with time-discrete feedback, which is widely applied in the field of Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs) for error correction or adaptation. However, there are only a few studies that concentrate on ErrPs during continuous feedback. With this study, we wanted to answer three different questions: (i) Can ErrPs be measured in electroencephalography (EEG) recordings during a task with continuous cursor control? (ii) Can ErrPs be classified using machine learning methods and is it possible to discriminate errors of different origins? (iii) Can we use EEG to detect the severity of an error? To answer these questions, we recorded EEG data from 10 subjects during a video game task and investigated two different types of error (execution error, due to inaccurate feedback; outcome error, due to not achieving the goal of an action). We analyzed the recorded data to show that during the same task, different kinds of error produce different ErrP waveforms and have a different spectral response. This allows us to detect and discriminate errors of different origin in an event-locked manner. By utilizing the error-related spectral response, we show that also a continuous, asynchronous detection of errors is possible. Although the detection of error severity based on EEG was one goal of this study, we did not find any significant influence of the severity on the EEG. PMID:25859204

  19. Error-related potentials during continuous feedback: using EEG to detect errors of different type and severity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Martin eSpüler

    2015-03-01

    Full Text Available When a person recognizes an error during a task, an error-related potential (ErrP can be measured as response. It has been shown that ErrPs can be automatically detected in tasks with time-discrete feedback, which is widely applied in the field of Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs for error correction or adaptation. However, there are only a few studies that concentrate on ErrPs during continuous feedback.With this study, we wanted to answer three different questions: (i Can ErrPs be measured in electroencephalography (EEG recordings during a task with continuous cursor control? (ii Can ErrPs be classified using machine learning methods and is it possible to discriminate errors of different origins? (iii Can we use EEG to detect the severity of an error? To answer these questions, we recorded EEG data from 10 subjects during a video game task and investigated two different types of error (execution error, due to inaccurate feedback; outcome error, due to not achieving the goal of an action. We analyzed the recorded data to show that during the same task, different kinds of error produce different ErrP waveforms and have a different spectral response. This allows us to detect and discriminate errors of different origin in an event-locked manner. By utilizing the error-related spectral response, we show that also a continuous, asynchronous detection of errors is possible.Although the detection of error severity based on EEG was one goal of this study, we did not find any significant influence of the severity on the EEG.

  20. Conjugate descent formulation of backpropagation error in feedforward neural networks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    NK Sharma

    2009-06-01

    Full Text Available The feedforward neural network architecture uses backpropagation learning to determine optimal weights between different interconnected layers. This learning procedure uses a gradient descent technique applied to a sum-of-squares error function for the given input-output pattern. It employs an iterative procedure to minimise the error function for a given set of patterns, by adjusting the weights of the network. The first derivates of the error with respect to the weights identify the local error surface in the descent direction. Hence the network exhibits a different local error surface for every different pattern presented to it, and weights are iteratively modified in order to minimise the current local error. The determination of an optimal weight vector is possible only when the total minimum error (mean of the minimum local errors for all patterns from the training set may be minimised. In this paper, we present a general mathematical formulation for the second derivative of the error function with respect to the weights (which represents a conjugate descent for arbitrary feedforward neural network topologies, and we use this derivative information to obtain the optimal weight vector. The local error is backpropagated among the units of hidden layers via the second order derivative of the error with respect to the weights of the hidden and output layers independently and also in combination. The new total minimum error point may be evaluated with the help of the current total minimum error and the current minimised local error. The weight modification processes is performed twice: once with respect to the present local error and once more with respect to the current total or mean error. We present some numerical evidence that our proposed method yields better network weights than those determined via a conventional gradient descent approach.

  1. Estimasi Kanal Akustik Bawah Air Untuk Perairan Dangkal Menggunakan Metode Least Square (LS dan Minimum Mean Square Error (MMSE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mardawia M Panrereng

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available Dalam beberapa tahun terakhir, sistem komunikasi akustik bawah air banyak dikembangkan oleh beberapa peneliti. Besarnya tantangan yang dihadapi membuat para peneliti semakin tertarik untuk mengembangkan penelitian dibidang ini. Kanal bawah air merupakan media komunikasi yang sulit karena adanya attenuasi, absorption, dan multipath yang disebabkan oleh gerakan gelombang air setiap saat. Untuk perairan dangkal, multipath disebabkan adanya pantulan dari permukaan dan dasar laut. Kebutuhan pengiriman data cepat dengan bandwidth terbatas menjadikan Ortogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM sebagai solusi untuk komunikasi transmisi tinggi dengan modulasi menggunakan Binary Phase-Shift Keying (BPSK. Estimasi kanal bertujuan untuk mengetahui karakteristik respon impuls kanal propagasi dengan mengirimkan pilot simbol. Pada estimasi kanal menggunakan metode Least Square (LS nilai Mean Square Error (MSE yang diperoleh cenderung lebih besar dari metode estimasi kanal menggunakan metode Minimum Mean Square (MMSE. Hasil kinerja estimasi kanal berdasarkan perhitungan Bit Error Rate (BER untuk estimasi kanal menggunakan metode LS dan metode MMSE tidak menunjukkan perbedaan yang signifikan yaitu berselisih satu SNR untuk setiap metode estimasi kanal yang digunakan.

  2. Novel discrimination parameters for neutron-gamma discrimination with liquid scintillation detectors using wavelet transform

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Singh, H.; Singh, S.

    2015-01-01

    It has been observed that the discrimination performance of the wavelet transform method strongly depends on definition of discrimination parameters. These parameters are usually obtained from a combination of scaling functions at different scales, which represents the energy density of the wavelet coefficients. In this paper, the discrete wavelet transform (DWT) at minimum possible values of scale was investigated. Novel pulse shape discrimination parameters have been proposed for neutron and gamma discrimination in a mixed radiation field and tested with modeled pulses. The performance of these parameters was also validated in terms of quality of discrimination using experimental data of mixed events from an AmBe source collected with BC501 liquid scintillation detector. The quality of discrimination was evaluated by calculating a figure of merit (FOM) with all parameters under same experimental and simulation conditions. The FOM obtained with the proposed novel parameters was also compared with the charge comparison method. The proposed parameters exhibit better FOM as compared to the charge comparison method when high levels of noise are present in the data

  3. Regularized Discriminant Analysis: A Large Dimensional Study

    KAUST Repository

    Yang, Xiaoke

    2018-04-28

    In this thesis, we focus on studying the performance of general regularized discriminant analysis (RDA) classifiers. The data used for analysis is assumed to follow Gaussian mixture model with different means and covariances. RDA offers a rich class of regularization options, covering as special cases the regularized linear discriminant analysis (RLDA) and the regularized quadratic discriminant analysis (RQDA) classi ers. We analyze RDA under the double asymptotic regime where the data dimension and the training size both increase in a proportional way. This double asymptotic regime allows for application of fundamental results from random matrix theory. Under the double asymptotic regime and some mild assumptions, we show that the asymptotic classification error converges to a deterministic quantity that only depends on the data statistical parameters and dimensions. This result not only implicates some mathematical relations between the misclassification error and the class statistics, but also can be leveraged to select the optimal parameters that minimize the classification error, thus yielding the optimal classifier. Validation results on the synthetic data show a good accuracy of our theoretical findings. We also construct a general consistent estimator to approximate the true classification error in consideration of the unknown previous statistics. We benchmark the performance of our proposed consistent estimator against classical estimator on synthetic data. The observations demonstrate that the general estimator outperforms others in terms of mean squared error (MSE).

  4. Discrete Discriminant analysis based on tree-structured graphical models

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Perez de la Cruz, Gonzalo; Eslava, Guillermina

    The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the potential use of discriminant analysis based on tree{structured graphical models for discrete variables. This is done by comparing its empirical performance using estimated error rates for real and simulated data. The results show that discriminant a...... analysis based on tree{structured graphical models is a simple nonlinear method competitive with, and sometimes superior to, other well{known linear methods like those assuming mutual independence between variables and linear logistic regression.......The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the potential use of discriminant analysis based on tree{structured graphical models for discrete variables. This is done by comparing its empirical performance using estimated error rates for real and simulated data. The results show that discriminant...

  5. LDPC Codes with Minimum Distance Proportional to Block Size

    Science.gov (United States)

    Divsalar, Dariush; Jones, Christopher; Dolinar, Samuel; Thorpe, Jeremy

    2009-01-01

    Low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes characterized by minimum Hamming distances proportional to block sizes have been demonstrated. Like the codes mentioned in the immediately preceding article, the present codes are error-correcting codes suitable for use in a variety of wireless data-communication systems that include noisy channels. The previously mentioned codes have low decoding thresholds and reasonably low error floors. However, the minimum Hamming distances of those codes do not grow linearly with code-block sizes. Codes that have this minimum-distance property exhibit very low error floors. Examples of such codes include regular LDPC codes with variable degrees of at least 3. Unfortunately, the decoding thresholds of regular LDPC codes are high. Hence, there is a need for LDPC codes characterized by both low decoding thresholds and, in order to obtain acceptably low error floors, minimum Hamming distances that are proportional to code-block sizes. The present codes were developed to satisfy this need. The minimum Hamming distances of the present codes have been shown, through consideration of ensemble-average weight enumerators, to be proportional to code block sizes. As in the cases of irregular ensembles, the properties of these codes are sensitive to the proportion of degree-2 variable nodes. A code having too few such nodes tends to have an iterative decoding threshold that is far from the capacity threshold. A code having too many such nodes tends not to exhibit a minimum distance that is proportional to block size. Results of computational simulations have shown that the decoding thresholds of codes of the present type are lower than those of regular LDPC codes. Included in the simulations were a few examples from a family of codes characterized by rates ranging from low to high and by thresholds that adhere closely to their respective channel capacity thresholds; the simulation results from these examples showed that the codes in question have low

  6. Optimal design of minimum mean-square error noise reduction algorithms using the simulated annealing technique.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bai, Mingsian R; Hsieh, Ping-Ju; Hur, Kur-Nan

    2009-02-01

    The performance of the minimum mean-square error noise reduction (MMSE-NR) algorithm in conjunction with time-recursive averaging (TRA) for noise estimation is found to be very sensitive to the choice of two recursion parameters. To address this problem in a more systematic manner, this paper proposes an optimization method to efficiently search the optimal parameters of the MMSE-TRA-NR algorithms. The objective function is based on a regression model, whereas the optimization process is carried out with the simulated annealing algorithm that is well suited for problems with many local optima. Another NR algorithm proposed in the paper employs linear prediction coding as a preprocessor for extracting the correlated portion of human speech. Objective and subjective tests were undertaken to compare the optimized MMSE-TRA-NR algorithm with several conventional NR algorithms. The results of subjective tests were processed by using analysis of variance to justify the statistic significance. A post hoc test, Tukey's Honestly Significant Difference, was conducted to further assess the pairwise difference between the NR algorithms.

  7. Pay equity, minimum wage and equality at work

    OpenAIRE

    Rubery, Jill

    2003-01-01

    Reviews the underlying causes of pay discrimination embedded within the organization of the labour market and structures of pay and reward. Discusses the need to focus on pay equity as part of a general strategy of promoting equity and decent work and examines the case for using minimum wage policies in comparison to more targeted equal pay policies to reduce gender pay equity. Identifies potential obstacles to or support for such policies and describes experiences of the use of minimum wages...

  8. A quadri-constant fraction discriminator

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wang Wei; Gu Zhongdao

    1992-01-01

    A quad Constant Fraction (Amplitude and Rise Time Compensation) Discriminator Circuit is described, which is based on the ECL high-speed dual comparator AD 9687. The CFD (ARCD) is of the constant fraction timing type (the amplitude and rise time compensation timing type) employing a leading edge discriminator to eliminate error triggers caused by noises. A timing walk measurement indicates a timing walk of less than +- 150 ps from -50 mV to -5 V

  9. Discriminating between antihydrogen and mirror-trapped antiprotons in a minimum-B trap

    CERN Document Server

    Amole, C; Ashkezari, M D; Baquero-Ruiz, M; Bertsche, W; Butler, E; Cesar, C L; Chapman, S; Charlton, M; Deller, A; Eriksson, S; Fajans, J; Friesen, T; Fujiwara, M C; Gill, D R; Gutierrez, A; Hangst, J S; Hardy, W N; Hayden, M E; Humphries, A J; Hydomako, R; Kurchaninov, L; Jonsell, S; Madsen, N; Menary, S; Nolan, P; Olchanski, K; Olin, A; Povilus, A; Pusa, P; Robicheaux, F; Sarid, E; Silveira, D M; So, C; Storey, J W; Thompson, R I; van der Werf, D P; Wurtele, J S

    2012-01-01

    Recently, antihydrogen atoms were trapped at CERN in a magnetic minimum (minimum-B) trap formed by superconducting octupole and mirror magnet coils. The trapped antiatoms were detected by rapidly turning off these magnets, thereby eliminating the magnetic minimum and releasing any antiatoms contained in the trap. Once released, these antiatoms quickly hit the trap wall, whereupon the positrons and antiprotons in the antiatoms annihilated. The antiproton annihilations produce easily detected signals; we used these signals to prove that we trapped antihydrogen. However, our technique could be confounded by mirror-trapped antiprotons, which would produce seemingly-identical annihilation signals upon hitting the trap wall. In this paper, we discuss possible sources of mirror-trapped antiprotons and show that antihydrogen and antiprotons can be readily distinguished, often with the aid of applied electric fields, by analyzing the annihilation locations and times. We further discuss the general properties of antipr...

  10. A high-performance, low-cost, leading edge discriminator

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    Abstract. A high-performance, low-cost, leading edge discriminator has been designed with a timing performance comparable to state-of-the-art, commercially available discrim- inators. A timing error of 16 ps is achieved under ideal operating conditions. Under more realistic operating conditions the discriminator displays a ...

  11. Performance comparison of weighted sum-minimum mean square error and virtual signal-to-interference plus noise ratio algorithms in simulated and measured channels

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Rahimi, Maryam; Nielsen, Jesper Ødum; Pedersen, Troels

    2014-01-01

    A comparison in data achievement between two well-known algorithms with simulated and real measured data is presented. The algorithms maximise the data rate in cooperative base stations (BS) multiple-input-single-output scenario. Weighted sum-minimum mean square error algorithm could be used...... in multiple-input-multiple-output scenarios, but it has lower performance than virtual signal-to-interference plus noise ratio algorithm in theory and practice. A real measurement environment consisting of two BS and two users have been studied to evaluate the simulation results....

  12. Error rate performance of narrowband multilevel CPFSK signals

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ekanayake, N.; Fonseka, K. J. P.

    1987-04-01

    The paper presents a relatively simple method for analyzing the effect of IF filtering on the performance of multilevel FM signals. Using this method, the error rate performance of narrowband FM signals is analyzed for three different detection techniques, namely limiter-discriminator detection, differential detection and coherent detection followed by differential decoding. The symbol error probabilities are computed for a Gaussian IF filter and a second-order Butterworth IF filter. It is shown that coherent detection and differential decoding yields better performance than limiter-discriminator detection and differential detection, whereas two noncoherent detectors yield approximately identical performance.

  13. Zero-Forcing and Minimum Mean-Square Error Multiuser Detection in Generalized Multicarrier DS-CDMA Systems for Cognitive Radio

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lie-Liang Yang

    2008-01-01

    Full Text Available In wireless communications, multicarrier direct-sequence code-division multiple access (MC DS-CDMA constitutes one of the highly flexible multiple access schemes. MC DS-CDMA employs a high number of degrees-of-freedom, which are beneficial to design and reconfiguration for communications in dynamic communications environments, such as in the cognitive radios. In this contribution, we consider the multiuser detection (MUD in MC DS-CDMA, which motivates lowcomplexity, high flexibility, and robustness so that the MUD schemes are suitable for deployment in dynamic communications environments. Specifically, a range of low-complexity MUDs are derived based on the zero-forcing (ZF, minimum mean-square error (MMSE, and interference cancellation (IC principles. The bit-error rate (BER performance of the MC DS-CDMA aided by the proposed MUDs is investigated by simulation approaches. Our study shows that, in addition to the advantages provided by a general ZF, MMSE, or IC-assisted MUD, the proposed MUD schemes can be implemented using modular structures, where most modules are independent of each other. Due to the independent modular structure, in the proposed MUDs one module may be reconfigured without yielding impact on the others. Therefore, the MC DS-CDMA, in conjunction with the proposed MUDs, constitutes one of the promising multiple access schemes for communications in the dynamic communications environments such as in the cognitive radios.

  14. Zero-Forcing and Minimum Mean-Square Error Multiuser Detection in Generalized Multicarrier DS-CDMA Systems for Cognitive Radio

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wang Li-Chun

    2008-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract In wireless communications, multicarrier direct-sequence code-division multiple access (MC DS-CDMA constitutes one of the highly flexible multiple access schemes. MC DS-CDMA employs a high number of degrees-of-freedom, which are beneficial to design and reconfiguration for communications in dynamic communications environments, such as in the cognitive radios. In this contribution, we consider the multiuser detection (MUD in MC DS-CDMA, which motivates lowcomplexity, high flexibility, and robustness so that the MUD schemes are suitable for deployment in dynamic communications environments. Specifically, a range of low-complexity MUDs are derived based on the zero-forcing (ZF, minimum mean-square error (MMSE, and interference cancellation (IC principles. The bit-error rate (BER performance of the MC DS-CDMA aided by the proposed MUDs is investigated by simulation approaches. Our study shows that, in addition to the advantages provided by a general ZF, MMSE, or IC-assisted MUD, the proposed MUD schemes can be implemented using modular structures, where most modules are independent of each other. Due to the independent modular structure, in the proposed MUDs one module may be reconfigured without yielding impact on the others. Therefore, the MC DS-CDMA, in conjunction with the proposed MUDs, constitutes one of the promising multiple access schemes for communications in the dynamic communications environments such as in the cognitive radios.

  15. Speed and accuracy of visual image discrimination by rats

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pamela eReinagel

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available The trade-off between speed and accuracy of sensory discrimination has most often been studying using sensory stimuli that evolve over time, such as random dot motion discrimination tasks. We previously reported that when rats perform motion discrimination, correct trials have longer reaction times than errors, accuracy increases with reaction time, and reaction time increases with stimulus ambiguity. In such experiments, new sensory information is continually presented, which could partly explain interactions between reaction time and accuracy. The present study shows that a changing physical stimulus is not essential to those findings. Freely behaving rats were trained to discriminate between two static visual images in a self-paced, 2-alternative forced-choice (2AFC reaction time task. Each trial was initiated by the rat, and the two images were presented simultaneously and persisted until the rat responded, with no time limit. Reaction times were longer in correct trials than in error trials, and accuracy increased with reaction time, comparable to results previously reported for rats performing motion discrimination. In the motion task, coherence has been used to vary discrimination difficulty. Here morphs between the previously learned images were used to parametrically vary the image similarity. In randomly interleaved trials, rats took more time on average to respond in trials in which they had to discriminate more similar stimuli. For both the motion and image tasks, the dependence of reaction time on ambiguity is weak, as if rats prioritized speed over accuracy. Therefore we asked whether rats can change the priority of speed and accuracy adaptively in response to a change in reward contingencies. For two rats, the penalty delay was increased from two to six seconds. When the penalty was longer, reaction times increased, and accuracy improved. This demonstrates that rats can flexibly adjust their behavioral strategy in response to the

  16. Patterning control strategies for minimum edge placement error in logic devices

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mulkens, Jan; Hanna, Michael; Slachter, Bram; Tel, Wim; Kubis, Michael; Maslow, Mark; Spence, Chris; Timoshkov, Vadim

    2017-03-01

    In this paper we discuss the edge placement error (EPE) for multi-patterning semiconductor manufacturing. In a multi-patterning scheme the creation of the final pattern is the result of a sequence of lithography and etching steps, and consequently the contour of the final pattern contains error sources of the different process steps. We describe the fidelity of the final pattern in terms of EPE, which is defined as the relative displacement of the edges of two features from their intended target position. We discuss our holistic patterning optimization approach to understand and minimize the EPE of the final pattern. As an experimental test vehicle we use the 7-nm logic device patterning process flow as developed by IMEC. This patterning process is based on Self-Aligned-Quadruple-Patterning (SAQP) using ArF lithography, combined with line cut exposures using EUV lithography. The computational metrology method to determine EPE is explained. It will be shown that ArF to EUV overlay, CDU from the individual process steps, and local CD and placement of the individual pattern features, are the important contributors. Based on the error budget, we developed an optimization strategy for each individual step and for the final pattern. Solutions include overlay and CD metrology based on angle resolved scatterometry, scanner actuator control to enable high order overlay corrections and computational lithography optimization to minimize imaging induced pattern placement errors of devices and metrology targets.

  17. Programmable quantum-state discriminator by nuclear magnetic resonance

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gopinath, T.; Das, Ranabir; Kumar, Anil

    2005-01-01

    A programmable quantum-state discriminator is implemented by using nuclear magnetic resonance. We use a two-qubit spin-1/2 system, one for the data qubit and one for the ancilla (program) qubit. This device does the unambiguous (error-free) discrimination of a pair of states of the data qubit that are symmetrically located about a fixed state. The device is used to discriminate both linearly polarized states and elliptically polarized states. The maximum probability of successful discrimination is achieved by suitably preparing the ancilla qubit. It is also shown that the probability of discrimination depends on the angle of the unitary operator of the protocol and ellipticity of the data qubit state

  18. Robustification and Optimization in Repetitive Control For Minimum Phase and Non-Minimum Phase Systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Prasitmeeboon, Pitcha

    repetitive control FIR compensator. The aim is to reduce the final error level by using real time frequency response model updates to successively increase the cutoff frequency, each time creating the improved model needed to produce convergence zero error up to the higher cutoff. Non-minimum phase systems present a difficult design challenge to the sister field of Iterative Learning Control. The third topic investigates to what extent the same challenges appear in RC. One challenge is that the intrinsic non-minimum phase zero mapped from continuous time is close to the pole of repetitive controller at +1 creating behavior similar to pole-zero cancellation. The near pole-zero cancellation causes slow learning at DC and low frequencies. The Min-Max cost function over the learning rate is presented. The Min-Max can be reformulated as a Quadratically Constrained Linear Programming problem. This approach is shown to be an RC design approach that addresses the main challenge of non-minimum phase systems to have a reasonable learning rate at DC. Although it was illustrated that using the Min-Max objective improves learning at DC and low frequencies compared to other designs, the method requires model accuracy at high frequencies. In the real world, models usually have error at high frequencies. The fourth topic addresses how one can merge the quadratic penalty to the Min-Max cost function to increase robustness at high frequencies. The topic also considers limiting the Min-Max optimization to some frequencies interval and applying an FIR zero-phase low-pass filter to cutoff the learning for frequencies above that interval.

  19. Application of Phase Congruency for Discriminating Some Lung Diseases Using Chest Radiograph

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Omar Mohd Rijal

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available A novel procedure using phase congruency is proposed for discriminating some lung disease using chest radiograph. Phase congruency provides information about transitions between adjacent pixels. Abrupt changes of phase congruency values between pixels may suggest a possible boundary or another feature that may be used for discrimination. This property of phase congruency may have potential for deciding between disease present and disease absent where the regions of infection on the images have no obvious shape, size, or configuration. Five texture measures calculated from phase congruency and Gabor were shown to be normally distributed. This gave good indicators of discrimination errors in the form of the probability of Type I Error (δ and the probability of Type II Error (β. However, since 1 −  δ is the true positive fraction (TPF and β is the false positive fraction (FPF, an ROC analysis was used to decide on the choice of texture measures. Given that features are normally distributed, for the discrimination between disease present and disease absent, energy, contrast, and homogeneity from phase congruency gave better results compared to those using Gabor. Similarly, for the more difficult problem of discriminating lobar pneumonia and lung cancer, entropy and homogeneity from phase congruency gave better results relative to Gabor.

  20. Correcting AUC for Measurement Error.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rosner, Bernard; Tworoger, Shelley; Qiu, Weiliang

    2015-12-01

    Diagnostic biomarkers are used frequently in epidemiologic and clinical work. The ability of a diagnostic biomarker to discriminate between subjects who develop disease (cases) and subjects who do not (controls) is often measured by the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC). The diagnostic biomarkers are usually measured with error. Ignoring measurement error can cause biased estimation of AUC, which results in misleading interpretation of the efficacy of a diagnostic biomarker. Several methods have been proposed to correct AUC for measurement error, most of which required the normality assumption for the distributions of diagnostic biomarkers. In this article, we propose a new method to correct AUC for measurement error and derive approximate confidence limits for the corrected AUC. The proposed method does not require the normality assumption. Both real data analyses and simulation studies show good performance of the proposed measurement error correction method.

  1. Appliance Efficiency Standards and Price Discrimination

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Spurlock, Cecily Anna [Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)

    2013-05-08

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

  2. Joint entropy for space and spatial frequency domains estimated from psychometric functions of achromatic discrimination.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Silveira, Vladímir de Aquino; Souza, Givago da Silva; Gomes, Bruno Duarte; Rodrigues, Anderson Raiol; Silveira, Luiz Carlos de Lima

    2014-01-01

    We used psychometric functions to estimate the joint entropy for space discrimination and spatial frequency discrimination. Space discrimination was taken as discrimination of spatial extent. Seven subjects were tested. Gábor functions comprising unidimensionalsinusoidal gratings (0.4, 2, and 10 cpd) and bidimensionalGaussian envelopes (1°) were used as reference stimuli. The experiment comprised the comparison between reference and test stimulithat differed in grating's spatial frequency or envelope's standard deviation. We tested 21 different envelope's standard deviations around the reference standard deviation to study spatial extent discrimination and 19 different grating's spatial frequencies around the reference spatial frequency to study spatial frequency discrimination. Two series of psychometric functions were obtained for 2%, 5%, 10%, and 100% stimulus contrast. The psychometric function data points for spatial extent discrimination or spatial frequency discrimination were fitted with Gaussian functions using the least square method, and the spatial extent and spatial frequency entropies were estimated from the standard deviation of these Gaussian functions. Then, joint entropy was obtained by multiplying the square root of space extent entropy times the spatial frequency entropy. We compared our results to the theoretical minimum for unidimensional Gábor functions, 1/4π or 0.0796. At low and intermediate spatial frequencies and high contrasts, joint entropy reached levels below the theoretical minimum, suggesting non-linear interactions between two or more visual mechanisms. We concluded that non-linear interactions of visual pathways, such as the M and P pathways, could explain joint entropy values below the theoretical minimum at low and intermediate spatial frequencies and high contrasts. These non-linear interactions might be at work at intermediate and high contrasts at all spatial frequencies once there was a substantial decrease in joint

  3. Long-Term Capital Goods Importation and Minimum Wage Relationship in Turkey: Bounds Testing Approach

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tastan Serkan

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available In order to examine the long-term relationship between capital goods importation and minimum wage, autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL bounds testing approach to the cointegration is used in the study. According to bounds test results, a cointegration relation exists between the capital goods importation and the minimum wage. Therefore an ARDL(4,0 model is estimated in order to determine the long and short term relations between variables. According to the empirical analysis, there is a positive and significant relationship between the capital goods importation and the minimum wage in Turkey in the long term. A 1% increase in the minimum wage leads to a 0.8% increase in the capital goods importation in the long term. The result is similar for short term coefficients. The relationship observed in the long term is preserved in short term, though in a lower level. In terms of error correction model, it can be concluded that error correction mechanism works as the error correction term is negative and significant. Short term deviations might be resolved with the error correction mechanism in the long term. Accordingly, approximately 75% of any deviation from equilibrium which might arise in the previous six month period will be resolved in the current six month period. This means that returning to long term equilibrium progresses rapidly.

  4. Discrimination of binary coherent states using a homodyne detector and a photon number resolving detector

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Wittmann, Christoffer; Andersen, Ulrik Lund; Takeoka, Masahiro

    2010-01-01

    We investigate quantum measurement strategies capable of discriminating two coherent states probabilistically with significantly smaller error probabilities than can be obtained using nonprobabilistic state discrimination. We apply a postselection strategy to the measurement data of a homodyne...... detector as well as a photon number resolving detector in order to lower the error probability. We compare the two different receivers with an optimal intermediate measurement scheme where the error rate is minimized for a fixed rate of inconclusive results. The photon number resolving (PNR) receiver...

  5. Parameters Tuning of Model Free Adaptive Control Based on Minimum Entropy

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    Chao Ji; Jing Wang; Liulin Cao; Qibing Jin

    2014-01-01

    Dynamic linearization based model free adaptive control(MFAC) algorithm has been widely used in practical systems, in which some parameters should be tuned before it is successfully applied to process industries. Considering the random noise existing in real processes, a parameter tuning method based on minimum entropy optimization is proposed,and the feature of entropy is used to accurately describe the system uncertainty. For cases of Gaussian stochastic noise and non-Gaussian stochastic noise, an entropy recursive optimization algorithm is derived based on approximate model or identified model. The extensive simulation results show the effectiveness of the minimum entropy optimization for the partial form dynamic linearization based MFAC. The parameters tuned by the minimum entropy optimization index shows stronger stability and more robustness than these tuned by other traditional index,such as integral of the squared error(ISE) or integral of timeweighted absolute error(ITAE), when the system stochastic noise exists.

  6. Design of Linear - and Minimum-phase FIR-equalizers

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bysted, Tommy Kristensen; Jensen, K.J.; Gaunholt, Hans

    1996-01-01

    an error function which is quadratic in the filtercoefficients. The advantage of the quadratic function is the ability to find the optimal coefficients solving a system of linear equations without iterations.The transformation to a minimum-phase equalizer is carried out by homomorphic deconvolution...

  7. L1-norm kernel discriminant analysis via Bayes error bound optimization for robust feature extraction.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zheng, Wenming; Lin, Zhouchen; Wang, Haixian

    2014-04-01

    A novel discriminant analysis criterion is derived in this paper under the theoretical framework of Bayes optimality. In contrast to the conventional Fisher's discriminant criterion, the major novelty of the proposed one is the use of L1 norm rather than L2 norm, which makes it less sensitive to the outliers. With the L1-norm discriminant criterion, we propose a new linear discriminant analysis (L1-LDA) method for linear feature extraction problem. To solve the L1-LDA optimization problem, we propose an efficient iterative algorithm, in which a novel surrogate convex function is introduced such that the optimization problem in each iteration is to simply solve a convex programming problem and a close-form solution is guaranteed to this problem. Moreover, we also generalize the L1-LDA method to deal with the nonlinear robust feature extraction problems via the use of kernel trick, and hereafter proposed the L1-norm kernel discriminant analysis (L1-KDA) method. Extensive experiments on simulated and real data sets are conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed method in comparing with the state-of-the-art methods.

  8. A novel approach to error function minimization for feedforward neural networks

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sinkus, R.

    1995-01-01

    Feedforward neural networks with error backpropagation are widely applied to pattern recognition. One general problem encountered with this type of neural networks is the uncertainty, whether the minimization procedure has converged to a global minimum of the cost function. To overcome this problem a novel approach to minimize the error function is presented. It allows to monitor the approach to the global minimum and as an outcome several ambiguities related to the choice of free parameters of the minimization procedure are removed. (orig.)

  9. Parietal lesions produce illusory conjunction errors in rats

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Raymond PIERRE Kesner

    2012-05-01

    Full Text Available When several different objects are presented, visual objects are perceived correctly only if their features are identified and then bound together. Illusory-conjunction errors result when an object is correctly identified but is combined incorrectly. The parietal cortex (PPC has been shown repeatedly to play an important role in feature binding. The present study builds on a series of recent studies that have made use of visual search paradigms to elucidate the neural system involved in feature binding. This experiment attempts to define the role the PPC plays in binding the properties of a visual object that varies on the features of color and size in rats. Rats with PPC lesions or control surgery were exposed to three blocks of 20 trials administered over a 1-week period, with each block containing ten-one feature and ten-two feature trials. The target object consisted of one color object (e.g. black and white and one size object (e.g. short and tall. Of the ten one feature trials, five of the trials were tailored specifically for size discrimination and five for color discrimination. In the two-feature condition, the animal was required to locate the targeted object among four objects with two objects differing in size and two objects differing in color. The results showed a significant decrease in learning the task for the PPC lesioned rats compared to controls, especially for the two-feature condition. Based on a subsequent error analysis for color and size, the results showed a significant increase in illusory conjunction errors for the PPC lesioned rats relative to controls for color and relative to color discrimination, suggesting that the PPC may support feature binding as it relates to color. There was an increase in illusory conjunctions errors for both the PPC lesioned and control animals for size, but this appeared to be due to a difficulty with size discrimination.

  10. Improved Minimum Entropy Filtering for Continuous Nonlinear Non-Gaussian Systems Using a Generalized Density Evolution Equation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jinliang Xu

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available This paper investigates the filtering problem for multivariate continuous nonlinear non-Gaussian systems based on an improved minimum error entropy (MEE criterion. The system is described by a set of nonlinear continuous equations with non-Gaussian system noises and measurement noises. The recently developed generalized density evolution equation is utilized to formulate the joint probability density function (PDF of the estimation errors. Combining the entropy of the estimation error with the mean squared error, a novel performance index is constructed to ensure the estimation error not only has small uncertainty but also approaches to zero. According to the conjugate gradient method, the optimal filter gain matrix is then obtained by minimizing the improved minimum error entropy criterion. In addition, the condition is proposed to guarantee that the estimation error dynamics is exponentially bounded in the mean square sense. Finally, the comparative simulation results are presented to show that the proposed MEE filter is superior to nonlinear unscented Kalman filter (UKF.

  11. Discriminant WSRC for Large-Scale Plant Species Recognition

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shanwen Zhang

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available In sparse representation based classification (SRC and weighted SRC (WSRC, it is time-consuming to solve the global sparse representation problem. A discriminant WSRC (DWSRC is proposed for large-scale plant species recognition, including two stages. Firstly, several subdictionaries are constructed by dividing the dataset into several similar classes, and a subdictionary is chosen by the maximum similarity between the test sample and the typical sample of each similar class. Secondly, the weighted sparse representation of the test image is calculated with respect to the chosen subdictionary, and then the leaf category is assigned through the minimum reconstruction error. Different from the traditional SRC and its improved approaches, we sparsely represent the test sample on a subdictionary whose base elements are the training samples of the selected similar class, instead of using the generic overcomplete dictionary on the entire training samples. Thus, the complexity to solving the sparse representation problem is reduced. Moreover, DWSRC is adapted to newly added leaf species without rebuilding the dictionary. Experimental results on the ICL plant leaf database show that the method has low computational complexity and high recognition rate and can be clearly interpreted.

  12. Error Control in Distributed Node Self-Localization

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ying Zhang

    2008-03-01

    Full Text Available Location information of nodes in an ad hoc sensor network is essential to many tasks such as routing, cooperative sensing, and service delivery. Distributed node self-localization is lightweight and requires little communication overhead, but often suffers from the adverse effects of error propagation. Unlike other localization papers which focus on designing elaborate localization algorithms, this paper takes a different perspective, focusing on the error propagation problem, addressing questions such as where localization error comes from and how it propagates from node to node. To prevent error from propagating and accumulating, we develop an error-control mechanism based on characterization of node uncertainties and discrimination between neighboring nodes. The error-control mechanism uses only local knowledge and is fully decentralized. Simulation results have shown that the active selection strategy significantly mitigates the effect of error propagation for both range and directional sensors. It greatly improves localization accuracy and robustness.

  13. An Enhanced Non-Coherent Pre-Filter Design for Tracking Error Estimation in GNSS Receivers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Luo, Zhibin; Ding, Jicheng; Zhao, Lin; Wu, Mouyan

    2017-11-18

    Tracking error estimation is of great importance in global navigation satellite system (GNSS) receivers. Any inaccurate estimation for tracking error will decrease the signal tracking ability of signal tracking loops and the accuracies of position fixing, velocity determination, and timing. Tracking error estimation can be done by traditional discriminator, or Kalman filter-based pre-filter. The pre-filter can be divided into two categories: coherent and non-coherent. This paper focuses on the performance improvements of non-coherent pre-filter. Firstly, the signal characteristics of coherent and non-coherent integration-which are the basis of tracking error estimation-are analyzed in detail. After that, the probability distribution of estimation noise of four-quadrant arctangent (ATAN2) discriminator is derived according to the mathematical model of coherent integration. Secondly, the statistical property of observation noise of non-coherent pre-filter is studied through Monte Carlo simulation to set the observation noise variance matrix correctly. Thirdly, a simple fault detection and exclusion (FDE) structure is introduced to the non-coherent pre-filter design, and thus its effective working range for carrier phase error estimation extends from (-0.25 cycle, 0.25 cycle) to (-0.5 cycle, 0.5 cycle). Finally, the estimation accuracies of discriminator, coherent pre-filter, and the enhanced non-coherent pre-filter are evaluated comprehensively through the carefully designed experiment scenario. The pre-filter outperforms traditional discriminator in estimation accuracy. In a highly dynamic scenario, the enhanced non-coherent pre-filter provides accuracy improvements of 41.6%, 46.4%, and 50.36% for carrier phase error, carrier frequency error, and code phase error estimation, respectively, when compared with coherent pre-filter. The enhanced non-coherent pre-filter outperforms the coherent pre-filter in code phase error estimation when carrier-to-noise density ratio

  14. Global minimum profile error (GMPE) - a least-squares-based approach for extracting macroscopic rate coefficients for complex gas-phase chemical reactions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Duong, Minh V; Nguyen, Hieu T; Mai, Tam V-T; Huynh, Lam K

    2018-01-03

    Master equation/Rice-Ramsperger-Kassel-Marcus (ME/RRKM) has shown to be a powerful framework for modeling kinetic and dynamic behaviors of a complex gas-phase chemical system on a complicated multiple-species and multiple-channel potential energy surface (PES) for a wide range of temperatures and pressures. Derived from the ME time-resolved species profiles, the macroscopic or phenomenological rate coefficients are essential for many reaction engineering applications including those in combustion and atmospheric chemistry. Therefore, in this study, a least-squares-based approach named Global Minimum Profile Error (GMPE) was proposed and implemented in the MultiSpecies-MultiChannel (MSMC) code (Int. J. Chem. Kinet., 2015, 47, 564) to extract macroscopic rate coefficients for such a complicated system. The capability and limitations of the new approach were discussed in several well-defined test cases.

  15. A Formal Approach to the Selection by Minimum Error and Pattern Method for Sensor Data Loss Reduction in Unstable Wireless Sensor Network Communications.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Changhwa; Shin, DongHyun

    2017-05-12

    There are wireless networks in which typically communications are unsafe. Most terrestrial wireless sensor networks belong to this category of networks. Another example of an unsafe communication network is an underwater acoustic sensor network (UWASN). In UWASNs in particular, communication failures occur frequently and the failure durations can range from seconds up to a few hours, days, or even weeks. These communication failures can cause data losses significant enough to seriously damage human life or property, depending on their application areas. In this paper, we propose a framework to reduce sensor data loss during communication failures and we present a formal approach to the Selection by Minimum Error and Pattern (SMEP) method that plays the most important role for the reduction in sensor data loss under the proposed framework. The SMEP method is compared with other methods to validate its effectiveness through experiments using real-field sensor data sets. Moreover, based on our experimental results and performance comparisons, the SMEP method has been validated to be better than others in terms of the average sensor data value error rate caused by sensor data loss.

  16. Nowcasting daily minimum air and grass temperature

    Science.gov (United States)

    Savage, M. J.

    2016-02-01

    Site-specific and accurate prediction of daily minimum air and grass temperatures, made available online several hours before their occurrence, would be of significant benefit to several economic sectors and for planning human activities. Site-specific and reasonably accurate nowcasts of daily minimum temperature several hours before its occurrence, using measured sub-hourly temperatures hours earlier in the morning as model inputs, was investigated. Various temperature models were tested for their ability to accurately nowcast daily minimum temperatures 2 or 4 h before sunrise. Temperature datasets used for the model nowcasts included sub-hourly grass and grass-surface (infrared) temperatures from one location in South Africa and air temperature from four subtropical sites varying in altitude (USA and South Africa) and from one site in central sub-Saharan Africa. Nowcast models used employed either exponential or square root functions to describe the rate of nighttime temperature decrease but inverted so as to determine the minimum temperature. The models were also applied in near real-time using an open web-based system to display the nowcasts. Extrapolation algorithms for the site-specific nowcasts were also implemented in a datalogger in an innovative and mathematically consistent manner. Comparison of model 1 (exponential) nowcasts vs measured daily minima air temperatures yielded root mean square errors (RMSEs) <1 °C for the 2-h ahead nowcasts. Model 2 (also exponential), for which a constant model coefficient ( b = 2.2) was used, was usually slightly less accurate but still with RMSEs <1 °C. Use of model 3 (square root) yielded increased RMSEs for the 2-h ahead comparisons between nowcasted and measured daily minima air temperature, increasing to 1.4 °C for some sites. For all sites for all models, the comparisons for the 4-h ahead air temperature nowcasts generally yielded increased RMSEs, <2.1 °C. Comparisons for all model nowcasts of the daily grass

  17. Limiter discriminator detection of M-ary FSK signals

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fonseka, John P.

    1990-10-01

    The performance of limiter discriminator detection of M-ary FSK signals is analyzed at arbitrary modulation indices. It is shown that the error rate performance of limiter discriminator detection can be significantly improved by increasing the modulation index above 1/M. The optimum modulation index that minimizes the overall error probability is determined for the cases M = 2, 4 and 8. The analysis is carried out for wideband and bandlimited channels with Gaussian and second-order Butterworth filters. It is shown that the optimum modulation index depends on the signal/noise ratio (SNR), in a wideband channel, and on both SNR and time-bandwidth product in a bandlimited channel. Finally, it is shown that the optimum sampling instance in presence of a nonzero phase IF filter can be approximately determined by using only the worst case symbol pattern.

  18. An Economical Fast Discriminator for Nuclear Pulse Counting

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Issarachai, Opas; Punnachaiya, Suvit

    2009-07-01

    Full text: This research work was aimed to develop a fast discriminator at low cost but high capability for discrimination a nanosecond nuclear pulse. The fast discriminator can be used in association with fast photon counting system. The designed structure consisted of the ultra-fast voltage comparator using ADCMP601 integrated circuit, the monostable multivibrator with controllable pulse width output by propagation delay of logic gate, and the fast response buffer amplifier. The tested results of pulse height discrimination of 0-5 V nuclear pulse with 20 ns (FWHM) pulse width showed the correlation coefficient (R 2 ) between discrimination level and pulse height was 0.998, while the pulse rate more than 10 MHz could be counted. The 30 ns logic pulse width output revealed high stable and could be smoothly driven to low impedance load at 50 Ω. For pulse signal transmission to the counter, it was also found that the termination of reflected signal must be considered because it may cause pulse counting error

  19. Reliability, standard error, and minimum detectable change of clinical pressure pain threshold testing in people with and without acute neck pain.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Walton, David M; Macdermid, Joy C; Nielson, Warren; Teasell, Robert W; Chiasson, Marco; Brown, Lauren

    2011-09-01

    Clinical measurement. To evaluate the intrarater, interrater, and test-retest reliability of an accessible digital algometer, and to determine the minimum detectable change in normal healthy individuals and a clinical population with neck pain. Pressure pain threshold testing may be a valuable assessment and prognostic indicator for people with neck pain. To date, most of this research has been completed using algometers that are too resource intensive for routine clinical use. Novice raters (physiotherapy students or clinical physiotherapists) were trained to perform algometry testing over 2 clinically relevant sites: the angle of the upper trapezius and the belly of the tibialis anterior. A convenience sample of normal healthy individuals and a clinical sample of people with neck pain were tested by 2 different raters (all participants) and on 2 different days (healthy participants only). Intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), standard error of measurement, and minimum detectable change were calculated. A total of 60 healthy volunteers and 40 people with neck pain were recruited. Intrarater reliability was almost perfect (ICC = 0.94-0.97), interrater reliability was substantial to near perfect (ICC = 0.79-0.90), and test-retest reliability was substantial (ICC = 0.76-0.79). Smaller change was detectable in the trapezius compared to the tibialis anterior. This study provides evidence that novice raters can perform digital algometry with adequate reliability for research and clinical use in people with and without neck pain.

  20. Comments on the 'minimum flux corona' concept

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Antiochos, S.K.; Underwood, J.H.

    1978-01-01

    Hearn's (1975) models of the energy balance and mass loss of stellar coronae, based on a 'minimum flux corona' concept, are critically examined. First, it is shown that the neglect of the relevant length scales for coronal temperature variation leads to an inconsistent computation of the total energy flux F. The stability arguments upon which the minimum flux concept is based are shown to be fallacious. Errors in the computation of the stellar wind contribution to the energy budget are identified. Finally we criticize Hearn's (1977) suggestion that the model, with a value of the thermal conductivity modified by the magnetic field, can explain the difference between solar coronal holes and quiet coronal regions. (orig.) 891 WL [de

  1. Measuring Error Identification and Recovery Skills in Surgical Residents.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sternbach, Joel M; Wang, Kevin; El Khoury, Rym; Teitelbaum, Ezra N; Meyerson, Shari L

    2017-02-01

    Although error identification and recovery skills are essential for the safe practice of surgery, they have not traditionally been taught or evaluated in residency training. This study validates a method for assessing error identification and recovery skills in surgical residents using a thoracoscopic lobectomy simulator. We developed a 5-station, simulator-based examination containing the most commonly encountered cognitive and technical errors occurring during division of the superior pulmonary vein for left upper lobectomy. Successful completion of each station requires identification and correction of these errors. Examinations were video recorded and scored in a blinded fashion using an examination-specific rating instrument evaluating task performance as well as error identification and recovery skills. Evidence of validity was collected in the categories of content, response process, internal structure, and relationship to other variables. Fifteen general surgical residents (9 interns and 6 third-year residents) completed the examination. Interrater reliability was high, with an intraclass correlation coefficient of 0.78 between 4 trained raters. Station scores ranged from 64% to 84% correct. All stations adequately discriminated between high- and low-performing residents, with discrimination ranging from 0.35 to 0.65. The overall examination score was significantly higher for intermediate residents than for interns (mean, 74 versus 64 of 90 possible; p = 0.03). The described simulator-based examination with embedded errors and its accompanying assessment tool can be used to measure error identification and recovery skills in surgical residents. This examination provides a valid method for comparing teaching strategies designed to improve error recognition and recovery to enhance patient safety. Copyright © 2017 The Society of Thoracic Surgeons. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  2. Bayesian ensemble approach to error estimation of interatomic potentials

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Frederiksen, Søren Lund; Jacobsen, Karsten Wedel; Brown, K.S.

    2004-01-01

    Using a Bayesian approach a general method is developed to assess error bars on predictions made by models fitted to data. The error bars are estimated from fluctuations in ensembles of models sampling the model-parameter space with a probability density set by the minimum cost. The method...... is applied to the development of interatomic potentials for molybdenum using various potential forms and databases based on atomic forces. The calculated error bars on elastic constants, gamma-surface energies, structural energies, and dislocation properties are shown to provide realistic estimates...

  3. An Improved CO2-Crude Oil Minimum Miscibility Pressure Correlation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hao Zhang

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Minimum miscibility pressure (MMP, which plays an important role in miscible flooding, is a key parameter in determining whether crude oil and gas are completely miscible. On the basis of 210 groups of CO2-crude oil system minimum miscibility pressure data, an improved CO2-crude oil system minimum miscibility pressure correlation was built by modified conjugate gradient method and global optimizing method. The new correlation is a uniform empirical correlation to calculate the MMP for both thin oil and heavy oil and is expressed as a function of reservoir temperature, C7+ molecular weight of crude oil, and mole fractions of volatile components (CH4 and N2 and intermediate components (CO2, H2S, and C2~C6 of crude oil. Compared to the eleven most popular and relatively high-accuracy CO2-oil system MMP correlations in the previous literature by other nine groups of CO2-oil MMP experimental data, which have not been used to develop the new correlation, it is found that the new empirical correlation provides the best reproduction of the nine groups of CO2-oil MMP experimental data with a percentage average absolute relative error (%AARE of 8% and a percentage maximum absolute relative error (%MARE of 21%, respectively.

  4. Discrimination performance in aging is vulnerable to interference and dissociable from spatial memory

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johnson, Sarah A.; Sacks, Patricia K.; Turner, Sean M.; Gaynor, Leslie S.; Ormerod, Brandi K.; Maurer, Andrew P.; Bizon, Jennifer L.

    2016-01-01

    Hippocampal-dependent episodic memory and stimulus discrimination abilities are both compromised in the elderly. The reduced capacity to discriminate between similar stimuli likely contributes to multiple aspects of age-related cognitive impairment; however, the association of these behaviors within individuals has never been examined in an animal model. In the present study, young and aged F344×BN F1 hybrid rats were cross-characterized on the Morris water maze test of spatial memory and a dentate gyrus-dependent match-to-position test of spatial discrimination ability. Aged rats showed overall impairments relative to young in spatial learning and memory on the water maze task. Although young and aged learned to apply a match-to-position response strategy in performing easy spatial discriminations within a similar number of trials, a majority of aged rats were impaired relative to young in performing difficult spatial discriminations on subsequent tests. Moreover, all aged rats were susceptible to cumulative interference during spatial discrimination tests, such that error rate increased on later trials of test sessions. These data suggest that when faced with difficult discriminations, the aged rats were less able to distinguish current goal locations from those of previous trials. Increasing acetylcholine levels with donepezil did not improve aged rats’ abilities to accurately perform difficult spatial discriminations or reduce their susceptibility to interference. Interestingly, better spatial memory abilities were not significantly associated with higher performance on difficult spatial discriminations. This observation, along with the finding that aged rats made more errors under conditions in which interference was high, suggests that match-to-position spatial discrimination performance may rely on extra-hippocampal structures such as the prefrontal cortex, in addition to the dentate gyrus. PMID:27317194

  5. Runge-Kutta methods with minimum storage implementations

    KAUST Repository

    Ketcheson, David I.

    2010-03-01

    Solution of partial differential equations by the method of lines requires the integration of large numbers of ordinary differential equations (ODEs). In such computations, storage requirements are typically one of the main considerations, especially if a high order ODE solver is required. We investigate Runge-Kutta methods that require only two storage locations per ODE. Existing methods of this type require additional memory if an error estimate or the ability to restart a step is required. We present a new, more general class of methods that provide error estimates and/or the ability to restart a step while still employing the minimum possible number of memory registers. Examples of such methods are found to have good properties. © 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  6. Improvement of CPU time of Linear Discriminant Function based on MNM criterion by IP

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shuichi Shinmura

    2014-05-01

    Full Text Available Revised IP-OLDF (optimal linear discriminant function by integer programming is a linear discriminant function to minimize the number of misclassifications (NM of training samples by integer programming (IP. However, IP requires large computation (CPU time. In this paper, it is proposed how to reduce CPU time by using linear programming (LP. In the first phase, Revised LP-OLDF is applied to all cases, and all cases are categorized into two groups: those that are classified correctly or those that are not classified by support vectors (SVs. In the second phase, Revised IP-OLDF is applied to the misclassified cases by SVs. This method is called Revised IPLP-OLDF.In this research, it is evaluated whether NM of Revised IPLP-OLDF is good estimate of the minimum number of misclassifications (MNM by Revised IP-OLDF. Four kinds of the real data—Iris data, Swiss bank note data, student data, and CPD data—are used as training samples. Four kinds of 20,000 re-sampling cases generated from these data are used as the evaluation samples. There are a total of 149 models of all combinations of independent variables by these data. NMs and CPU times of the 149 models are compared with Revised IPLP-OLDF and Revised IP-OLDF. The following results are obtained: 1 Revised IPLP-OLDF significantly improves CPU time. 2 In the case of training samples, all 149 NMs of Revised IPLP-OLDF are equal to the MNM of Revised IP-OLDF. 3 In the case of evaluation samples, most NMs of Revised IPLP-OLDF are equal to NM of Revised IP-OLDF. 4 Generalization abilities of both discriminant functions are concluded to be high, because the difference between the error rates of training and evaluation samples are almost within 2%.   Therefore, Revised IPLP-OLDF is recommended for the analysis of big data instead of Revised IP-OLDF. Next, Revised IPLP-OLDF is compared with LDF and logistic regression by 100-fold cross validation using 100 re-sampling samples. Means of error rates of

  7. Entanglement as a resource for discrimination of classical environments

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Trapani, Jacopo, E-mail: jacopo.trapani@unimi.it [Quantum Technology Lab, Dipartimento di Fisica, Università degli Studi di Milano, I-20133 Milano (Italy); Paris, Matteo G.A., E-mail: matteo.paris@fisica.unimi.it [Quantum Technology Lab, Dipartimento di Fisica, Università degli Studi di Milano, I-20133 Milano (Italy); INFN, Sezione di Milano, I-20133 Milano (Italy)

    2017-01-30

    We address extended systems interacting with classical fluctuating environments and analyze the use of quantum probes to discriminate local noise, described by independent fluctuating fields, from common noise, corresponding to the interaction with a common one. In particular, we consider a bipartite system made of two non-interacting harmonic oscillators and assess discrimination strategies based on homodyne detection, comparing their performances with the ultimate bounds on the error probabilities of quantum-limited measurements. We analyze in details the use of Gaussian probes, with emphasis on experimentally friendly signals. Our results show that a joint measurement of the position-quadrature on the two oscillators outperforms any other homodyne-based scheme for any input Gaussian state. - Highlights: • Strategies to discriminate local or common noise are proposed for CV systems. • Homodyne detection outperforms QC bound for experimentally friendly signals. • Entanglement may be exploited as a resource for discrimination of classical fields.

  8. Discriminative power of visual attributes in dermatology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Giotis, Ioannis; Visser, Margaretha; Jonkman, Marcel; Petkov, Nicolai

    2013-02-01

    Visual characteristics such as color and shape of skin lesions play an important role in the diagnostic process. In this contribution, we quantify the discriminative power of such attributes using an information theoretical approach. We estimate the probability of occurrence of each attribute as a function of the skin diseases. We use the distribution of this probability across the studied diseases and its entropy to define the discriminative power of the attribute. The discriminative power has a maximum value for attributes that occur (or do not occur) for only one disease and a minimum value for those which are equally likely to be observed among all diseases. Verrucous surface, red and brown colors, and the presence of more than 10 lesions are among the most informative attributes. A ranking of attributes is also carried out and used together with a naive Bayesian classifier, yielding results that confirm the soundness of the proposed method. proposed measure is proven to be a reliable way of assessing the discriminative power of dermatological attributes, and it also helps generate a condensed dermatological lexicon. Therefore, it can be of added value to the manual or computer-aided diagnostic process. © 2012 John Wiley & Sons A/S.

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

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

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

    1999-01-01

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

  10. Material Discriminated X-Ray CT System by Using New X-Ray Imager with Energy Discriminate Function

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Toru Aoki

    2008-04-01

    Full Text Available Material discriminated X-ray CT system has been constructed by using conventional X-ray tube (white X-ray source and photon-counting X-ray imager as an application with energy band detection. We have already reported material identify X-ray CT using K-shell edge method elsewhere. In this report the principle of material discrimination was adapted the separation of electron-density and atomic number from attenuation coefficient mapping in X-ray CT reconstructed image in two wavelength X-ray CT method using white X-ray source and energy discriminated X-ray imager by using two monochrome X-ray source method. The measurement phantom was prepared as four kinds material rods (Carbon(C, Iron(Fe, Copper(Cu, Titanium(Ti rods of 3mm-diameter inside an aluminum(Al rod of 20mm-diameter. We could observed material discriminated X-ray CT reconstructed image, however, the discrimination properties were not good than two monochrome X-ray CT method. This results was could be explained because X-ray scattering, beam-hardening and so on based on white X-ray source, which could not observe in two monochrome X-ray CT method. However, since our developed CdTe imager can be detect five energy-bands at the same time, we can use multi-band analysis to decrease the least square error margin. We will be able to obtain more high separation in atomic number mapping in X-ray CT reconstructed image by using this system.

  11. Asymptotic state discrimination and a strict hierarchy in distinguishability norms

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Chitambar, Eric [Department of Physics and Astronomy, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, Illinois 62901 (United States); Hsieh, Min-Hsiu [Centre for Quantum Computation and Intelligent Systems (QCIS), Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology (FEIT), University of Technology Sydney - UTS, NSW 2007 (Australia)

    2014-11-15

    In this paper, we consider the problem of discriminating quantum states by local operations and classical communication (LOCC) when an arbitrarily small amount of error is permitted. This paradigm is known as asymptotic state discrimination, and we derive necessary conditions for when two multipartite states of any size can be discriminated perfectly by asymptotic LOCC. We use this new criterion to prove a gap in the LOCC and separable distinguishability norms. We then turn to the operational advantage of using two-way classical communication over one-way communication in LOCC processing. With a simple two-qubit product state ensemble, we demonstrate a strict majorization of the two-way LOCC norm over the one-way norm.

  12. Logistic Regression Analysis of Operational Errors and Routine Operations Using Sector Characteristics

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Pfleiderer, Elaine M; Scroggins, Cheryl L; Manning, Carol A

    2009-01-01

    Two separate logistic regression analyses were conducted for low- and high-altitude sectors to determine whether a set of dynamic sector characteristics variables could reliably discriminate between operational error (OE...

  13. Reference respiratory waveforms by minimum jerk model analysis

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Anetai, Yusuke, E-mail: anetai@radonc.med.osaka-u.ac.jp; Sumida, Iori; Takahashi, Yutaka; Yagi, Masashi; Mizuno, Hirokazu; Ogawa, Kazuhiko [Department of Radiation Oncology, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, Yamadaoka 2-2, Suita-shi, Osaka 565-0871 (Japan); Ota, Seiichi [Department of Medical Technology, Osaka University Hospital, Yamadaoka 2-15, Suita-shi, Osaka 565-0871 (Japan)

    2015-09-15

    Purpose: CyberKnife{sup ®} robotic surgery system has the ability to deliver radiation to a tumor subject to respiratory movements using Synchrony{sup ®} mode with less than 2 mm tracking accuracy. However, rapid and rough motion tracking causes mechanical tracking errors and puts mechanical stress on the robotic joint, leading to unexpected radiation delivery errors. During clinical treatment, patient respiratory motions are much more complicated, suggesting the need for patient-specific modeling of respiratory motion. The purpose of this study was to propose a novel method that provides a reference respiratory wave to enable smooth tracking for each patient. Methods: The minimum jerk model, which mathematically derives smoothness by means of jerk, or the third derivative of position and the derivative of acceleration with respect to time that is proportional to the time rate of force changed was introduced to model a patient-specific respiratory motion wave to provide smooth motion tracking using CyberKnife{sup ®}. To verify that patient-specific minimum jerk respiratory waves were being tracked smoothly by Synchrony{sup ®} mode, a tracking laser projection from CyberKnife{sup ®} was optically analyzed every 0.1 s using a webcam and a calibrated grid on a motion phantom whose motion was in accordance with three pattern waves (cosine, typical free-breathing, and minimum jerk theoretical wave models) for the clinically relevant superior–inferior directions from six volunteers assessed on the same node of the same isocentric plan. Results: Tracking discrepancy from the center of the grid to the beam projection was evaluated. The minimum jerk theoretical wave reduced the maximum-peak amplitude of radial tracking discrepancy compared with that of the waveforms modeled by cosine and typical free-breathing model by 22% and 35%, respectively, and provided smooth tracking for radial direction. Motion tracking constancy as indicated by radial tracking discrepancy

  14. Reference respiratory waveforms by minimum jerk model analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anetai, Yusuke; Sumida, Iori; Takahashi, Yutaka; Yagi, Masashi; Mizuno, Hirokazu; Ogawa, Kazuhiko; Ota, Seiichi

    2015-01-01

    Purpose: CyberKnife"® robotic surgery system has the ability to deliver radiation to a tumor subject to respiratory movements using Synchrony"® mode with less than 2 mm tracking accuracy. However, rapid and rough motion tracking causes mechanical tracking errors and puts mechanical stress on the robotic joint, leading to unexpected radiation delivery errors. During clinical treatment, patient respiratory motions are much more complicated, suggesting the need for patient-specific modeling of respiratory motion. The purpose of this study was to propose a novel method that provides a reference respiratory wave to enable smooth tracking for each patient. Methods: The minimum jerk model, which mathematically derives smoothness by means of jerk, or the third derivative of position and the derivative of acceleration with respect to time that is proportional to the time rate of force changed was introduced to model a patient-specific respiratory motion wave to provide smooth motion tracking using CyberKnife"®. To verify that patient-specific minimum jerk respiratory waves were being tracked smoothly by Synchrony"® mode, a tracking laser projection from CyberKnife"® was optically analyzed every 0.1 s using a webcam and a calibrated grid on a motion phantom whose motion was in accordance with three pattern waves (cosine, typical free-breathing, and minimum jerk theoretical wave models) for the clinically relevant superior–inferior directions from six volunteers assessed on the same node of the same isocentric plan. Results: Tracking discrepancy from the center of the grid to the beam projection was evaluated. The minimum jerk theoretical wave reduced the maximum-peak amplitude of radial tracking discrepancy compared with that of the waveforms modeled by cosine and typical free-breathing model by 22% and 35%, respectively, and provided smooth tracking for radial direction. Motion tracking constancy as indicated by radial tracking discrepancy affected by respiratory

  15. Discriminative Multi-View Interactive Image Re-Ranking.

    Science.gov (United States)

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

    2017-07-01

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

  16. Fast Erasure and Error decoding of Algebraic Geometry Codes up to the Feng-Rao Bound

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jensen, Helge Elbrønd; Sakata, S.; Leonard, D.

    1996-01-01

    This paper gives an errata(that is erasure-and error-) decoding algorithm of one-point algebraic geometry codes up to the Feng-Rao designed minimum distance using Sakata's multidimensional generalization of the Berlekamp-massey algorithm and the votin procedure of Feng and Rao.......This paper gives an errata(that is erasure-and error-) decoding algorithm of one-point algebraic geometry codes up to the Feng-Rao designed minimum distance using Sakata's multidimensional generalization of the Berlekamp-massey algorithm and the votin procedure of Feng and Rao....

  17. Interferometric filters for spectral discrimination in high-spectral-resolution lidar: performance comparisons between Fabry-Perot interferometer and field-widened Michelson interferometer.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cheng, Zhongtao; Liu, Dong; Yang, Yongying; Yang, Liming; Huang, Hanlu

    2013-11-10

    Thanks to wavelength flexibility, interferometric filters such as Fabry-Perot interferometers (FPIs) and field-widened Michelson interferometers (FWMIs) have shown great convenience for spectrally separating the molecule and aerosol scattering components in the high-spectral-resolution lidar (HSRL) return signal. In this paper, performance comparisons between the FPI and FWMI as a spectroscopic discrimination filter in HSRL are performed. We first present a theoretical method for spectral transmission analysis and quantitative evaluation on the spectral discrimination. Then the process in determining the parameters of the FPI and FWMI for the performance comparisons is described. The influences from the incident field of view (FOV), the cumulative wavefront error induced by practical imperfections, and the frequency locking error on the spectral discrimination performance of the two filters are discussed in detail. Quantitative analyses demonstrate that FPI can produce higher transmittance while the remarkable spectral discrimination is one of the most appealing advantages of FWMI. As a result of the field-widened design, the FWMI still performs well even under the illumination with large FOV while the FPI is only qualified for a small incident angle. The cumulative wavefront error attaches a great effect on the spectral discrimination performance of the interferometric filters. We suggest if a cumulative wavefront error is less than 0.05 waves RMS, it is beneficial to employ the FWMI; otherwise, FPI may be more proper. Although the FWMI shows much more sensitivity to the frequency locking error, it can outperform the FPI given a locking error less than 0.1 GHz is achieved. In summary, the FWMI is very competent in HSRL applications if these practical engineering and control problems can be solved, theoretically. Some other estimations neglected in this paper can also be carried out through the analytical method illustrated herein.

  18. Minimum BER Receiver Filters with Block Memory for Uplink DS-CDMA Systems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Debbah Mérouane

    2008-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract The problem of synchronous multiuser receiver design in the case of direct-sequence single-antenna code division multiple access (DS-CDMA uplink networks is studied over frequency selective fading channels. An exact expression for the bit error rate (BER is derived in the case of BPSK signaling. Moreover, an algorithm is proposed for finding the finite impulse response (FIR receiver filters with block memory such that the exact BER of the active users is minimized. Several properties of the minimum BER FIR filters with block memory are identified. The algorithm performance is found for scenarios with different channel qualities, spreading code lengths, receiver block memory size, near-far effects, and channel mismatch. For the BPSK constellation, the proposed FIR receiver structure with block memory has significant better BER with respect to and near-far resistance than the corresponding minimum mean square error (MMSE filters with block memory.

  19. A GPS Phase-Locked Loop Performance Metric Based on the Phase Discriminator Output.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stevanovic, Stefan; Pervan, Boris

    2018-01-19

    We propose a novel GPS phase-lock loop (PLL) performance metric based on the standard deviation of tracking error (defined as the discriminator's estimate of the true phase error), and explain its advantages over the popular phase jitter metric using theory, numerical simulation, and experimental results. We derive an augmented GPS phase-lock loop (PLL) linear model, which includes the effect of coherent averaging, to be used in conjunction with this proposed metric. The augmented linear model allows more accurate calculation of tracking error standard deviation in the presence of additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) as compared to traditional linear models. The standard deviation of tracking error, with a threshold corresponding to half of the arctangent discriminator pull-in region, is shown to be a more reliable/robust measure of PLL performance under interference conditions than the phase jitter metric. In addition, the augmented linear model is shown to be valid up until this threshold, which facilitates efficient performance prediction, so that time-consuming direct simulations and costly experimental testing can be reserved for PLL designs that are much more likely to be successful. The effect of varying receiver reference oscillator quality on the tracking error metric is also considered.

  20. Performance Analysis for Bit Error Rate of DS- CDMA Sensor Network Systems with Source Coding

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Haider M. AlSabbagh

    2012-03-01

    Full Text Available The minimum energy (ME coding combined with DS-CDMA wireless sensor network is analyzed in order to reduce energy consumed and multiple access interference (MAI with related to number of user(receiver. Also, the minimum energy coding which exploits redundant bits for saving power with utilizing RF link and On-Off-Keying modulation. The relations are presented and discussed for several levels of errors expected in the employed channel via amount of bit error rates and amount of the SNR for number of users (receivers.

  1. NINO an ultrafast low-power front-end amplifier discriminator for the time-of-flight detector in the ALICE experiment

    CERN Document Server

    Anghinolfi, F; Krummenacher, F; Usenko, E; Williams, M C S

    2004-01-01

    An ultrafast front-end preamplifier-discriminator chip called NINO has been developed for use in the ALICE time-of-flight detector. The chip has eight channels. Each channel is designed with an amplifier with less than 1-ns peaking time, a discriminator with a minimum detection threshold of 10 fC and an output stage. The output pulse has minimum time jitter (less than 25 ps) on the front edge, and the pulsewidth is dependent of the input signal charge. Each channel consumes 27 mW, and the eight channels fit in a 2*4 mm/sup 2/ ASIC processed in IBM 0.25- mu m CMOS technology. (3 refs).

  2. NINO, an ultra-fast, low-power, front-end amplifier discriminator for the Time-Of-Flight detector in ALICE experiment

    CERN Document Server

    Anghinolfi, F; Krummenacher, F; Usenko, E; Williams, M C S

    2004-01-01

    An ultra fast front-end preamplifier-discriminator chip NINO has been developed for use in the ALICE Time-Of-Flight detector. The chip has 8 channels. Each channel is designed with an amplifier with less than 1 ns peaking time, a discriminator with a minimum detection threshold of 10fC and an output stage. The output pulse has minimum time jitter (less than 25ps) on the front edge, and the pulse width is dependent of the input signal charge. Each channel consumes 27mW, and the 8 channels fit in a 2*4mm/sup 2/ ASIC processed in IBM 0.2 mu m CMOS technology. (3 refs).

  3. Aftershock Characteristics as a Means of Discriminating Explosions from Earthquakes

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ford, S R; Walter, W R

    2009-05-20

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

  4. NQAR: Network Quality Aware Routing in Error-Prone Wireless Sensor Networks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jaewon Choi

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available We propose a network quality aware routing (NQAR mechanism to provide an enabling method of the delay-sensitive data delivery over error-prone wireless sensor networks. Unlike the existing routing methods that select routes with the shortest arrival latency or the minimum hop count, the proposed scheme adaptively selects the route based on the network qualities including link errors and collisions with minimum additional complexity. It is designed to avoid the paths with potential noise and collision that may cause many non-deterministic backoffs and retransmissions. We propose a generic framework to select a minimum cost route that takes the packet loss rate and collision history into account. NQAR uses a data centric approach to estimate a single-hop delay based on processing time, propagation delay, packet loss rate, number of backoffs, and the retransmission timeout between two neighboring nodes. This enables a source node to choose the shortest expected end-to-end delay path to send a delay-sensitive data. The experiment results show that NQAR reduces the end-to-end transfer delay up to approximately 50% in comparison with the latency-based directed diffusion and the hop count-based directed diffusion under the error-prone network environments. Moreover, NQAR shows better performance than those routing methods in terms of jitter, reachability, and network lifetime.

  5. Development and application of α-hull and Voronoi diagrams in the assessment of roundness error

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Li, Xiuming; Liu, Hongqi; Li, Wei

    2011-01-01

    Computational geometry has been used to select effective data points from the measured data points for evaluating the roundness error to improve the computational complexity. However, for precision parts most of the measured points are on the vertices of the convex hull; it cannot have any effect on improving the computational complexity with the Voronoi diagrams. In this paper the roundness error is evaluated with α-hull and the Voronoi diagram instead of convex hull. An approach for constructing α-hull with the minimum radius separation is presented to determine the vertices of the Voronoi diagram. The experimental results showed that the roundness error of the minimum zone circle could be solved efficiently with α-hull and the Voronoi diagram

  6. Time-order errors and standard-position effects in duration discrimination: An experimental study and an analysis by the sensation-weighting model.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hellström, Åke; Rammsayer, Thomas H

    2015-10-01

    Studies have shown that the discriminability of successive time intervals depends on the presentation order of the standard (St) and the comparison (Co) stimuli. Also, this order affects the point of subjective equality. The first effect is here called the standard-position effect (SPE); the latter is known as the time-order error. In the present study, we investigated how these two effects vary across interval types and standard durations, using Hellström's sensation-weighting model to describe the results and relate them to stimulus comparison mechanisms. In Experiment 1, four modes of interval presentation were used, factorially combining interval type (filled, empty) and sensory modality (auditory, visual). For each mode, two presentation orders (St-Co, Co-St) and two standard durations (100 ms, 1,000 ms) were used; half of the participants received correctness feedback, and half of them did not. The interstimulus interval was 900 ms. The SPEs were negative (i.e., a smaller difference limen for St-Co than for Co-St), except for the filled-auditory and empty-visual 100-ms standards, for which a positive effect was obtained. In Experiment 2, duration discrimination was investigated for filled auditory intervals with four standards between 100 and 1,000 ms, an interstimulus interval of 900 ms, and no feedback. Standard duration interacted with presentation order, here yielding SPEs that were negative for standards of 100 and 1,000 ms, but positive for 215 and 464 ms. Our findings indicate that the SPE can be positive as well as negative, depending on the interval type and standard duration, reflecting the relative weighting of the stimulus information, as is described by the sensation-weighting model.

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

    Science.gov (United States)

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

    2013-01-01

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

  8. Discrimination of Temperature and Strain in Brillouin Optical Time Domain Analysis Using a Multicore Optical Fiber.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zaghloul, Mohamed A S; Wang, Mohan; Milione, Giovanni; Li, Ming-Jun; Li, Shenping; Huang, Yue-Kai; Wang, Ting; Chen, Kevin P

    2018-04-12

    Brillouin optical time domain analysis is the sensing of temperature and strain changes along an optical fiber by measuring the frequency shift changes of Brillouin backscattering. Because frequency shift changes are a linear combination of temperature and strain changes, their discrimination is a challenge. Here, a multicore optical fiber that has two cores is fabricated. The differences between the cores' temperature and strain coefficients are such that temperature (strain) changes can be discriminated with error amplification factors of 4.57 °C/MHz (69.11 μ ϵ /MHz), which is 2.63 (3.67) times lower than previously demonstrated. As proof of principle, using the multicore optical fiber and a commercial Brillouin optical time domain analyzer, the temperature (strain) changes of a thermally expanding metal cylinder are discriminated with an error of 0.24% (3.7%).

  9. Discrimination of Temperature and Strain in Brillouin Optical Time Domain Analysis Using a Multicore Optical Fiber

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mohamed A. S. Zaghloul

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available Brillouin optical time domain analysis is the sensing of temperature and strain changes along an optical fiber by measuring the frequency shift changes of Brillouin backscattering. Because frequency shift changes are a linear combination of temperature and strain changes, their discrimination is a challenge. Here, a multicore optical fiber that has two cores is fabricated. The differences between the cores’ temperature and strain coefficients are such that temperature (strain changes can be discriminated with error amplification factors of 4.57 °C/MHz (69.11 μ ϵ /MHz, which is 2.63 (3.67 times lower than previously demonstrated. As proof of principle, using the multicore optical fiber and a commercial Brillouin optical time domain analyzer, the temperature (strain changes of a thermally expanding metal cylinder are discriminated with an error of 0.24% (3.7%.

  10. Temporal Resolution and Active Auditory Discrimination Skill in Vocal Musicians

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kumar, Prawin

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available Introduction Enhanced auditory perception in musicians is likely to result from auditory perceptual learning during several years of training and practice. Many studies have focused on biological processing of auditory stimuli among musicians. However, there is a lack of literature on temporal resolution and active auditory discrimination skills in vocal musicians. Objective The aim of the present study is to assess temporal resolution and active auditory discrimination skill in vocal musicians. Method The study participants included 15 vocal musicians with a minimum professional experience of 5 years of music exposure, within the age range of 20 to 30 years old, as the experimental group, while 15 age-matched non-musicians served as the control group. We used duration discrimination using pure-tones, pulse-train duration discrimination, and gap detection threshold tasks to assess temporal processing skills in both groups. Similarly, we assessed active auditory discrimination skill in both groups using Differential Limen of Frequency (DLF. All tasks were done using MATLab software installed in a personal computer at 40dBSL with maximum likelihood procedure. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS (version 17.0. Result Descriptive statistics showed better threshold for vocal musicians compared with non-musicians for all tasks. Further, independent t-test showed that vocal musicians performed significantly better compared with non-musicians on duration discrimination using pure tone, pulse train duration discrimination, gap detection threshold, and differential limen of frequency. Conclusion The present study showed enhanced temporal resolution ability and better (lower active discrimination threshold in vocal musicians in comparison to non-musicians.

  11. Protograph based LDPC codes with minimum distance linearly growing with block size

    Science.gov (United States)

    Divsalar, Dariush; Jones, Christopher; Dolinar, Sam; Thorpe, Jeremy

    2005-01-01

    We propose several LDPC code constructions that simultaneously achieve good threshold and error floor performance. Minimum distance is shown to grow linearly with block size (similar to regular codes of variable degree at least 3) by considering ensemble average weight enumerators. Our constructions are based on projected graph, or protograph, structures that support high-speed decoder implementations. As with irregular ensembles, our constructions are sensitive to the proportion of degree-2 variable nodes. A code with too few such nodes tends to have an iterative decoding threshold that is far from the capacity threshold. A code with too many such nodes tends to not exhibit a minimum distance that grows linearly in block length. In this paper we also show that precoding can be used to lower the threshold of regular LDPC codes. The decoding thresholds of the proposed codes, which have linearly increasing minimum distance in block size, outperform that of regular LDPC codes. Furthermore, a family of low to high rate codes, with thresholds that adhere closely to their respective channel capacity thresholds, is presented. Simulation results for a few example codes show that the proposed codes have low error floors as well as good threshold SNFt performance.

  12. Comparative analysis of methods for classification in predicting the quality of bread

    OpenAIRE

    E. A. Balashova; V. K. Bitjukov; E. A. Savvina

    2013-01-01

    The comparative analysis of classification methods of two-stage cluster and discriminant analysis and neural networks was performed. System of informative signs which classifies with a minimum of errors has been proposed.

  13. Minimum BER Receiver Filters with Block Memory for Uplink DS-CDMA Systems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mérouane Debbah

    2008-05-01

    Full Text Available The problem of synchronous multiuser receiver design in the case of direct-sequence single-antenna code division multiple access (DS-CDMA uplink networks is studied over frequency selective fading channels. An exact expression for the bit error rate (BER is derived in the case of BPSK signaling. Moreover, an algorithm is proposed for finding the finite impulse response (FIR receiver filters with block memory such that the exact BER of the active users is minimized. Several properties of the minimum BER FIR filters with block memory are identified. The algorithm performance is found for scenarios with different channel qualities, spreading code lengths, receiver block memory size, near-far effects, and channel mismatch. For the BPSK constellation, the proposed FIR receiver structure with block memory has significant better BER with respect to Eb/N0 and near-far resistance than the corresponding minimum mean square error (MMSE filters with block memory.

  14. Minimum distance determination between consecutive carriers in the gamma irradiator IR-200 K trajectory

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Achmad Suntoro

    2014-01-01

    A design to determine the minimum distance between the consecutive carriers at the trajectory of gamma irradiators IR-200K is implemented. Equilibrium between centrifugal force of a moving carrier in circular trajectory and its gravity force as well as carrier dimensions are used as parameters in determining such a minimum distance. The minimum distance between the consecutive carriers in the design is defined 1.2 meters. The distance is 11.5% greater than the minimum distance theoretically calculated, namely 1,076 meters. Errors tolerance in construction/installation of the trajectory and other unexpected things during irradiator's operation are part of the consideration to enlarge the minimum distance from its theoretical value. The distance between the consecutive carriers will not affect throughput and efficiency of using radiation due to the straight trajectory segments do not need to follow such the minimum distance between the carriers, as the trajectory segments around the i radiation sources are straight. (author)

  15. A Large Dimensional Analysis of Regularized Discriminant Analysis Classifiers

    KAUST Repository

    Elkhalil, Khalil

    2017-11-01

    This article carries out a large dimensional analysis of standard regularized discriminant analysis classifiers designed on the assumption that data arise from a Gaussian mixture model with different means and covariances. The analysis relies on fundamental results from random matrix theory (RMT) when both the number of features and the cardinality of the training data within each class grow large at the same pace. Under mild assumptions, we show that the asymptotic classification error approaches a deterministic quantity that depends only on the means and covariances associated with each class as well as the problem dimensions. Such a result permits a better understanding of the performance of regularized discriminant analsysis, in practical large but finite dimensions, and can be used to determine and pre-estimate the optimal regularization parameter that minimizes the misclassification error probability. Despite being theoretically valid only for Gaussian data, our findings are shown to yield a high accuracy in predicting the performances achieved with real data sets drawn from the popular USPS data base, thereby making an interesting connection between theory and practice.

  16. A Short Introduction to Model Selection, Kolmogorov Complexity and Minimum Description Length (MDL)

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Nannen, Volker

    2010-01-01

    The concept of overtting in model selection is explained and demon- strated. After providing some background information on information theory and Kolmogorov complexity, we provide a short explanation of Minimum Description Length and error minimization. We conclude with a discussion of the typical

  17. How discriminating are discriminative instruments?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hankins, Matthew

    2008-05-27

    The McMaster framework introduced by Kirshner & Guyatt is the dominant paradigm for the development of measures of health status and health-related quality of life (HRQL). The framework defines the functions of such instruments as evaluative, predictive or discriminative. Evaluative instruments are required to be sensitive to change (responsiveness), but there is no corresponding index of the degree to which discriminative instruments are sensitive to cross-sectional differences. This paper argues that indices of validity and reliability are not sufficient to demonstrate that a discriminative instrument performs its function of discriminating between individuals, and that the McMaster framework would be augmented by the addition of a separate index of discrimination. The coefficient proposed by Ferguson (Delta) is easily adapted to HRQL instruments and is a direct, non-parametric index of the degree to which an instrument distinguishes between individuals. While Delta should prove useful in the development and evaluation of discriminative instruments, further research is required to elucidate the relationship between the measurement properties of discrimination, reliability and responsiveness.

  18. How discriminating are discriminative instruments?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hankins Matthew

    2008-05-01

    Full Text Available Abstract The McMaster framework introduced by Kirshner & Guyatt is the dominant paradigm for the development of measures of health status and health-related quality of life (HRQL. The framework defines the functions of such instruments as evaluative, predictive or discriminative. Evaluative instruments are required to be sensitive to change (responsiveness, but there is no corresponding index of the degree to which discriminative instruments are sensitive to cross-sectional differences. This paper argues that indices of validity and reliability are not sufficient to demonstrate that a discriminative instrument performs its function of discriminating between individuals, and that the McMaster framework would be augmented by the addition of a separate index of discrimination. The coefficient proposed by Ferguson (Delta is easily adapted to HRQL instruments and is a direct, non-parametric index of the degree to which an instrument distinguishes between individuals. While Delta should prove useful in the development and evaluation of discriminative instruments, further research is required to elucidate the relationship between the measurement properties of discrimination, reliability and responsiveness.

  19. Automatic detection of frequent pronunciation errors made by L2-learners

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Truong, K.P.; Neri, A.; Wet, F. de; Cucchiarini, C.; Strik, H.

    2005-01-01

    In this paper, we present an acoustic-phonetic approach to automatic pronunciation error detection. Classifiers using techniques such as Linear Discriminant Analysis and Decision Trees were developed for three sounds that are frequently pronounced incorrectly by L2-learners of Dutch: /a/, /y/ and

  20. Chemometric analysis for discrimination of extra virgin olive oils from whole and stoned olive pastes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    De Luca, Michele; Restuccia, Donatella; Clodoveo, Maria Lisa; Puoci, Francesco; Ragno, Gaetano

    2016-07-01

    Chemometric discrimination of extra virgin olive oils (EVOO) from whole and stoned olive pastes was carried out by using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) data and partial least squares-discriminant analysis (PLS1-DA) approach. Four Italian commercial EVOO brands, all in both whole and stoned version, were considered in this study. The adopted chemometric methodologies were able to describe the different chemical features in phenolic and volatile compounds contained in the two types of oil by using unspecific IR spectral information. Principal component analysis (PCA) was employed in cluster analysis to capture data patterns and to highlight differences between technological processes and EVOO brands. The PLS1-DA algorithm was used as supervised discriminant analysis to identify the different oil extraction procedures. Discriminant analysis was extended to the evaluation of possible adulteration by addition of aliquots of oil from whole paste to the most valuable oil from stoned olives. The statistical parameters from external validation of all the PLS models were very satisfactory, with low root mean square error of prediction (RMSEP) and relative error (RE%). Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  1. The Achilles Heel of Normal Determinations via Minimum Variance Techniques: Worldline Dependencies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ma, Z.; Scudder, J. D.; Omidi, N.

    2002-12-01

    Time series of data collected across current layers are usually organized by divining coordinate transformations (as from minimum variance) that permits a geometrical interpretation for the data collected. Almost without exception the current layer geometry is inferred by supposing that the current carrying layer is locally planar. Only after this geometry is ``determined'' can the various quantities predicted by theory calculated. The precision of reconnection rated ``measured'' and the quantitative support for or against component reconnection be evaluated. This paper defines worldline traversals across fully resolved Hall two fluid models of reconnecting current sheets (with varying sizes of guide fields) and across a 2-D hybrid solution of a super critical shock layer. Along each worldline various variance techniques are used to infer current sheet normals based on the data observed along this worldline alone. We then contrast these inferred normals with those known from the overview of the fully resolved spatial pictures of the layer. Absolute errors of 20 degrees in the normal are quite commonplace, but errors of 40-90 deg are also implied, especially for worldlines that make more and more oblique angles to the true current sheet normal. These mistaken ``inferences'' are traceable to the degree that the data collected sample 2-D variations within these layers or not. While it is not surprising that these variance techniques give incorrect errors in the presence of layers that possess 2-D variations, it is illuminating that such large errors need not be signalled by the traditional error formulae for the error cones on normals that have been previously used to estimate the errors of normal choices. Frequently the absolute errors that depend on worldline path can be 10 times the random error that formulae would predict based on eigenvalues of the covariance matrix. A given time series cannot be associated in any a priori way with a specific worldline

  2. Evaluating the Appropriateness and Use of Domain Critical Errors

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chad W. Buckendahl

    2012-10-01

    Full Text Available The consequences associated with the uses and interpretations of scores for many credentialing testing programs have important implications for a range of stakeholders. Within licensure settings specifically, results from examination programs are often one of the final steps in the process of assessing whether individuals will be allowed to enter practice. This article focuses on the concept of domain critical errors and suggests a framework for considering their use in practice. Domain critical errors are defined here as knowledge, skills, abilities, or judgments that are essential to the definition of minimum qualifications in a testing program's pass-'fail decision-making process. Using domain critical errors has psychometric and policy implications, particularly for licensure programs that are mandatory for entry-level practice. Because these errors greatly influence pass-'fail decisions, the measurement community faces an ongoing challenge to promote defensible practices while concurrently providing assessment literacy development about the appropriate design and use of testing methods like domain critical errors.

  3. Verification of surface minimum, mean, and maximum temperature forecasts in Calabria for summer 2008

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    S. Federico

    2011-02-01

    Full Text Available Since 2005, one-hour temperature forecasts for the Calabria region (southern Italy, modelled by the Regional Atmospheric Modeling System (RAMS, have been issued by CRATI/ISAC-CNR (Consortium for Research and Application of Innovative Technologies/Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Sciences of the National Research Council and are available online at http://meteo.crati.it/previsioni.html (every six hours. Beginning in June 2008, the horizontal resolution was enhanced to 2.5 km. In the present paper, forecast skill and accuracy are evaluated out to four days for the 2008 summer season (from 6 June to 30 September, 112 runs. For this purpose, gridded high horizontal resolution forecasts of minimum, mean, and maximum temperatures are evaluated against gridded analyses at the same horizontal resolution (2.5 km.

    Gridded analysis is based on Optimal Interpolation (OI and uses the RAMS first-day temperature forecast as the background field. Observations from 87 thermometers are used in the analysis system. The analysis error is introduced to quantify the effect of using the RAMS first-day forecast as the background field in the OI analyses and to define the forecast error unambiguously, while spatial interpolation (SI analysis is considered to quantify the statistics' sensitivity to the verifying analysis and to show the quality of the OI analyses for different background fields.

    Two case studies, the first one with a low (less than the 10th percentile root mean square error (RMSE in the OI analysis, the second with the largest RMSE of the whole period in the OI analysis, are discussed to show the forecast performance under two different conditions. Cumulative statistics are used to quantify forecast errors out to four days. Results show that maximum temperature has the largest RMSE, while minimum and mean temperature errors are similar. For the period considered

  4. Estimation of Minimum DNBR Using Cascaded Fuzzy Neural Networks

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kim, Dong Yeong; Yoo, Kwae Hwan; Na, Man Gyun

    2015-01-01

    This phenomenon of boiling crisis is called a departure from nucleate boiling (DNB). The DNB phenomena can influence the fuel cladding and fuel pellets. The DNB ratio (DNBR) is defined as the ratio of the expected DNB heat flux to the actual fuel rod heat flux. Since it is very important to monitor and predict the minimum DNBR in a reactor core to prevent the boiling crisis and clad melting, a number of researches have been conducted to predict DNBR values. The aim of this study is to estimate the minimum DNBR in a reactor core using the measured signals of the reactor coolant system (RCS) by applying cascaded fuzzy neural networks (CFNN) according to operating conditions. Reactor core monitoring and protection systems require minimum DNBR prediction. The CFNN can be used to optimize the minimum DNBR value through the process of adding fuzzy neural networks (FNN) repeatedly. The proposed algorithm is trained by using the data set prepared for training (development data) and verified by using another data set different (independent) from the development data. The developed CFNN models were applied to the first fuel cycle of OPR1000. The RMS errors are 0.23% and 0.12% for the positive and negative ASI, respectively

  5. Comparative analysis of methods for classification in predicting the quality of bread

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    E. A. Balashova

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available The comparative analysis of classification methods of two-stage cluster and discriminant analysis and neural networks was performed. System of informative signs which classifies with a minimum of errors has been proposed.

  6. Tight bounds on computing error-correcting codes by bounded-depth circuits with arbitrary gates

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Gal, A.; Hansen, Kristoffer Arnsfelt; Koucky, Michal

    2013-01-01

    We bound the minimum number w of wires needed to compute any (asymptotically good) error-correcting code C:{0,1}Ω(n)→{0,1}n with minimum distance Ω(n), using unbounded fan-in circuits of depth d with arbitrary gates. Our main results are: 1) if d=2, then w=Θ(n (lgn/lglgn)2); 2) if d=3, then w...

  7. Tight bounds on computing error-correcting codes by bounded-depth circuits with arbitrary gates

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Gál, Anna; Hansen, Kristoffer Arnsfelt; Koucký, Michal

    2012-01-01

    We bound the minimum number w of wires needed to compute any (asymptotically good) error-correcting code C:{0,1}Ω(n) -> {0,1}n with minimum distance Ω(n), using unbounded fan-in circuits of depth d with arbitrary gates. Our main results are: (1) If d=2 then w = Θ(n ({log n/ log log n})2). (2) If d...

  8. MIDAS: Regionally linear multivariate discriminative statistical mapping.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Varol, Erdem; Sotiras, Aristeidis; Davatzikos, Christos

    2018-07-01

    Statistical parametric maps formed via voxel-wise mass-univariate tests, such as the general linear model, are commonly used to test hypotheses about regionally specific effects in neuroimaging cross-sectional studies where each subject is represented by a single image. Despite being informative, these techniques remain limited as they ignore multivariate relationships in the data. Most importantly, the commonly employed local Gaussian smoothing, which is important for accounting for registration errors and making the data follow Gaussian distributions, is usually chosen in an ad hoc fashion. Thus, it is often suboptimal for the task of detecting group differences and correlations with non-imaging variables. Information mapping techniques, such as searchlight, which use pattern classifiers to exploit multivariate information and obtain more powerful statistical maps, have become increasingly popular in recent years. However, existing methods may lead to important interpretation errors in practice (i.e., misidentifying a cluster as informative, or failing to detect truly informative voxels), while often being computationally expensive. To address these issues, we introduce a novel efficient multivariate statistical framework for cross-sectional studies, termed MIDAS, seeking highly sensitive and specific voxel-wise brain maps, while leveraging the power of regional discriminant analysis. In MIDAS, locally linear discriminative learning is applied to estimate the pattern that best discriminates between two groups, or predicts a variable of interest. This pattern is equivalent to local filtering by an optimal kernel whose coefficients are the weights of the linear discriminant. By composing information from all neighborhoods that contain a given voxel, MIDAS produces a statistic that collectively reflects the contribution of the voxel to the regional classifiers as well as the discriminative power of the classifiers. Critically, MIDAS efficiently assesses the

  9. Studying and comparing spectrum efficiency and error probability in GMSK and DBPSK modulation schemes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Juan Mario Torres Nova

    2008-09-01

    Full Text Available Gaussian minimum shift keying (GMSK and differential binary phase shift keying (DBPSK are two digital modulation schemes which are -frequently used in radio communication systems; however, there is interdependence in the use of its benefits (spectral efficiency, low bit error rate, low inter symbol interference, etc. Optimising one parameter creates problems for another; for example, the GMSK scheme succeeds in reducing bandwidth when introducing a Gaussian filter into an MSK (minimum shift ke-ying modulator in exchange for increasing inter-symbol interference in the system. The DBPSK scheme leads to lower error pro-bability, occupying more bandwidth; it likewise facilitates synchronous data transmission due to the receiver’s bit delay when re-covering a signal.

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

    Science.gov (United States)

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

    2016-02-01

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

  11. Comparing Response Times and Error Rates in a Simultaneous Masking Paradigm

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    F Hermens

    2014-08-01

    Full Text Available In simultaneous masking, performance on a foveally presented target is impaired by one or more flanking elements. Previous studies have demonstrated strong effects of the grouping of the target and the flankers on the strength of masking (e.g., Malania, Herzog & Westheimer, 2007. These studies have predominantly examined performance by measuring offset discrimination thresholds as a measure of performance, and it is therefore unclear whether other measures of performance provide similar outcomes. A recent study, which examined the role of grouping on error rates and response times in a speeded vernier offset discrimination task, similar to that used by Malania et al. (2007, suggested a possible dissociation between the two measures, with error rates mimicking threshold performance, but response times showing differential results (Panis & Hermens, 2014. We here report the outcomes of three experiments examining this possible dissociation, and demonstrate an overall similar pattern of results for error rates and response times across a broad range of mask layouts. Moreover, the pattern of results in our experiments strongly correlates with threshold performance reported earlier (Malania et al., 2007. Our results suggest that outcomes in a simultaneous masking paradigm do not critically depend on the outcome measure used, and therefore provide evidence for a common underlying mechanism.

  12. Spatial discrimination and visual discrimination

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Haagensen, Annika M. J.; Grand, Nanna; Klastrup, Signe

    2013-01-01

    Two methods investigating learning and memory in juvenile Gottingen minipigs were evaluated for potential use in preclinical toxicity testing. Twelve minipigs were tested using a spatial hole-board discrimination test including a learning phase and two memory phases. Five minipigs were tested...... in a visual discrimination test. The juvenile minipigs were able to learn the spatial hole-board discrimination test and showed improved working and reference memory during the learning phase. Performance in the memory phases was affected by the retention intervals, but the minipigs were able to remember...... the concept of the test in both memory phases. Working memory and reference memory were significantly improved in the last trials of the memory phases. In the visual discrimination test, the minipigs learned to discriminate between the three figures presented to them within 9-14 sessions. For the memory test...

  13. Evaluation of Classifier Performance for Multiclass Phenotype Discrimination in Untargeted Metabolomics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Trainor, Patrick J; DeFilippis, Andrew P; Rai, Shesh N

    2017-06-21

    Statistical classification is a critical component of utilizing metabolomics data for examining the molecular determinants of phenotypes. Despite this, a comprehensive and rigorous evaluation of the accuracy of classification techniques for phenotype discrimination given metabolomics data has not been conducted. We conducted such an evaluation using both simulated and real metabolomics datasets, comparing Partial Least Squares-Discriminant Analysis (PLS-DA), Sparse PLS-DA, Random Forests, Support Vector Machines (SVM), Artificial Neural Network, k -Nearest Neighbors ( k -NN), and Naïve Bayes classification techniques for discrimination. We evaluated the techniques on simulated data generated to mimic global untargeted metabolomics data by incorporating realistic block-wise correlation and partial correlation structures for mimicking the correlations and metabolite clustering generated by biological processes. Over the simulation studies, covariance structures, means, and effect sizes were stochastically varied to provide consistent estimates of classifier performance over a wide range of possible scenarios. The effects of the presence of non-normal error distributions, the introduction of biological and technical outliers, unbalanced phenotype allocation, missing values due to abundances below a limit of detection, and the effect of prior-significance filtering (dimension reduction) were evaluated via simulation. In each simulation, classifier parameters, such as the number of hidden nodes in a Neural Network, were optimized by cross-validation to minimize the probability of detecting spurious results due to poorly tuned classifiers. Classifier performance was then evaluated using real metabolomics datasets of varying sample medium, sample size, and experimental design. We report that in the most realistic simulation studies that incorporated non-normal error distributions, unbalanced phenotype allocation, outliers, missing values, and dimension reduction

  14. The Differences in Error Rate and Type between IELTS Writing Bands and Their Impact on Academic Workload

    Science.gov (United States)

    Müller, Amanda

    2015-01-01

    This paper attempts to demonstrate the differences in writing between International English Language Testing System (IELTS) bands 6.0, 6.5 and 7.0. An analysis of exemplars provided from the IELTS test makers reveals that IELTS 6.0, 6.5 and 7.0 writers can make a minimum of 206 errors, 96 errors and 35 errors per 1000 words. The following section…

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

    Science.gov (United States)

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

    2015-01-01

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

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    2015-01-01

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

  17. A Minimum Variance Algorithm for Overdetermined TOA Equations with an Altitude Constraint.

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Romero, Louis A; Mason, John J.

    2018-04-01

    We present a direct (non-iterative) method for solving for the location of a radio frequency (RF) emitter, or an RF navigation receiver, using four or more time of arrival (TOA) measurements and an assumed altitude above an ellipsoidal earth. Both the emitter tracking problem and the navigation application are governed by the same equations, but with slightly different interpreta- tions of several variables. We treat the assumed altitude as a soft constraint, with a specified noise level, just as the TOA measurements are handled, with their respective noise levels. With 4 or more TOA measurements and the assumed altitude, the problem is overdetermined and is solved in the weighted least squares sense for the 4 unknowns, the 3-dimensional position and time. We call the new technique the TAQMV (TOA Altitude Quartic Minimum Variance) algorithm, and it achieves the minimum possible error variance for given levels of TOA and altitude estimate noise. The method algebraically produces four solutions, the least-squares solution, and potentially three other low residual solutions, if they exist. In the lightly overdermined cases where multiple local minima in the residual error surface are more likely to occur, this algebraic approach can produce all of the minima even when an iterative approach fails to converge. Algorithm performance in terms of solution error variance and divergence rate for bas eline (iterative) and proposed approach are given in tables.

  18. Discrimination and Anti-discrimination in Denmark

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Olsen, Tore Vincents

    The purpose of this report is to describe and analyse Danish anti-discrimination legislation and the debate about discrimination in Denmark in order to identify present and future legal challenges. The main focus is the implementation of the EU anti-discrimination directives in Danish law...

  19. Questionnaire discrimination: (re-introducing coefficient δ

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hankins Matthew

    2007-05-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Questionnaires are used routinely in clinical research to measure health status and quality of life. Questionnaire measurements are traditionally formally assessed by indices of reliability (the degree of measurement error and validity (the extent to which the questionnaire measures what it is supposed to measure. Neither of these indices assesses the degree to which the questionnaire is able to discriminate between individuals, an important aspect of measurement. This paper introduces and extends an existing index of a questionnaire's ability to distinguish between individuals, that is, the questionnaire's discrimination. Methods Ferguson (1949 1 derived an index of test discrimination, coefficient δ, for psychometric tests with dichotomous (correct/incorrect items. In this paper a general form of the formula, δG, is derived for the more general class of questionnaires allowing for several response choices. The calculation and characteristics of δG are then demonstrated using questionnaire data (GHQ-12 from 2003–2004 British Household Panel Survey (N = 14761. Coefficients for reliability (α and discrimination (δG are computed for two commonly-used GHQ-12 coding methods: dichotomous coding and four-point Likert-type coding. Results Both scoring methods were reliable (α > 0.88. However, δG was substantially lower (0.73 for the dichotomous coding of the GHQ-12 than for the Likert-type method (δG = 0.96, indicating that the dichotomous coding, although reliable, failed to discriminate between individuals. Conclusion Coefficient δG was shown to have decisive utility in distinguishing between the cross-sectional discrimination of two equally reliable scoring methods. Ferguson's δ has been neglected in discussions of questionnaire design and performance, perhaps because it has not been implemented in software and was restricted to questionnaires with dichotomous items, which are rare in health care research. It is

  20. Error-transparent evolution: the ability of multi-body interactions to bypass decoherence

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vy, Os; Jacobs, Kurt; Wang Xiaoting

    2013-01-01

    We observe that multi-body interactions, unlike two-body interactions, can implement any unitary operation on an encoded system in such a way that the evolution is uninterrupted by noise that the encoding is designed to protect against. Such ‘error-transparent’ evolution is distinct from that usually considered in quantum computing, as the latter is merely correctable. We prove that the minimum body-ness required to protect (i) a qubit from a single type of Pauli error, (ii) a target qubit from a controller with such errors and (iii) a single qubit from all errors is three-body, four-body and five-body, respectively. We also discuss applications to computing, coherent feedback control and quantum metrology. Finally, we evaluate the performance of error-transparent evolution for some examples using numerical simulations. (paper)

  1. Experiments performed with a functional model based on statistical discrimination in mixed nuclear radiation field

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Valcov, N.; Celarel, A.; Purghel, L.

    1999-01-01

    By using the statistical discrimination technique, the components of on ionization current, due to a mixed radiation field, may be simultaneously measured. A functional model, including a serially manufactured gamma-ray ratemeter was developed, as an intermediate step in the design of specialised nuclear instrumentation, in order to check the concept of statistical discrimination method. The obtained results are in good agreement with the estimations of the statistical discrimination method. The main characteristics of the functional model are the following: - dynamic range of measurement: >300: l; - simultaneous measurement of natural radiation background and gamma-ray fields; - accuracy (for equal exposure rates from gamma's and natural radiation background): 17%, for both radiation fields; - minimum detectable exposure rate: 2μR/h. (authors)

  2. Temporal Discrimination: Mechanisms and Relevance to Adult-Onset Dystonia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Antonella Conte

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available Temporal discrimination is the ability to determine that two sequential sensory stimuli are separated in time. For any individual, the temporal discrimination threshold (TDT is the minimum interval at which paired sequential stimuli are perceived as being asynchronous; this can be assessed, with high test–retest and inter-rater reliability, using a simple psychophysical test. Temporal discrimination is disordered in a number of basal ganglia diseases including adult-onset dystonia, of which the two most common phenotypes are cervical dystonia and blepharospasm. The causes of adult-onset focal dystonia are unknown; genetic, epigenetic, and environmental factors are relevant. Abnormal TDTs in adult-onset dystonia are associated with structural and neurophysiological changes considered to reflect defective inhibitory interneuronal processing within a network which includes the superior colliculus, basal ganglia, and primary somatosensory cortex. It is hypothesized that abnormal temporal discrimination is a mediational endophenotype and, when present in unaffected relatives of patients with adult-onset dystonia, indicates non-manifesting gene carriage. Using the mediational endophenotype concept, etiological factors in adult-onset dystonia may be examined including (i the role of environmental exposures in disease penetrance and expression; (ii sexual dimorphism in sex ratios at age of onset; (iii the pathogenesis of non-motor symptoms of adult-onset dystonia; and (iv subcortical mechanisms in disease pathogenesis.

  3. A Computational Discriminability Analysis on Twin Fingerprints

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Yu; Srihari, Sargur N.

    Sharing similar genetic traits makes the investigation of twins an important study in forensics and biometrics. Fingerprints are one of the most commonly found types of forensic evidence. The similarity between twins’ prints is critical establish to the reliability of fingerprint identification. We present a quantitative analysis of the discriminability of twin fingerprints on a new data set (227 pairs of identical twins and fraternal twins) recently collected from a twin population using both level 1 and level 2 features. Although the patterns of minutiae among twins are more similar than in the general population, the similarity of fingerprints of twins is significantly different from that between genuine prints of the same finger. Twins fingerprints are discriminable with a 1.5%~1.7% higher EER than non-twins. And identical twins can be distinguished by examine fingerprint with a slightly higher error rate than fraternal twins.

  4. Near optimal discrimination of binary coherent signals via atom–light interaction

    Science.gov (United States)

    Han, Rui; Bergou, János A.; Leuchs, Gerd

    2018-04-01

    We study the discrimination of weak coherent states of light with significant overlaps by nondestructive measurements on the light states through measuring atomic states that are entangled to the coherent states via dipole coupling. In this way, the problem of measuring and discriminating coherent light states is shifted to finding the appropriate atom–light interaction and atomic measurements. We show that this scheme allows us to attain a probability of error extremely close to the Helstrom bound, the ultimate quantum limit for discriminating binary quantum states, through the simple Jaynes–Cummings interaction between the field and ancilla with optimized light–atom coupling and projective measurements on the atomic states. Moreover, since the measurement is nondestructive on the light state, information that is not detected by one measurement can be extracted from the post-measurement light states through subsequent measurements.

  5. A highly accurate finite-difference method with minimum dispersion error for solving the Helmholtz equation

    KAUST Repository

    Wu, Zedong

    2018-04-05

    Numerical simulation of the acoustic wave equation in either isotropic or anisotropic media is crucial to seismic modeling, imaging and inversion. Actually, it represents the core computation cost of these highly advanced seismic processing methods. However, the conventional finite-difference method suffers from severe numerical dispersion errors and S-wave artifacts when solving the acoustic wave equation for anisotropic media. We propose a method to obtain the finite-difference coefficients by comparing its numerical dispersion with the exact form. We find the optimal finite difference coefficients that share the dispersion characteristics of the exact equation with minimal dispersion error. The method is extended to solve the acoustic wave equation in transversely isotropic (TI) media without S-wave artifacts. Numerical examples show that the method is is highly accurate and efficient.

  6. PERFORMANCE OF THE ZERO FORCING PRECODING MIMO BROADCAST SYSTEMS WITH CHANNEL ESTIMATION ERRORS

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    Wang Jing; Liu Zhanli; Wang Yan; You Xiaohu

    2007-01-01

    In this paper, the effect of channel estimation errors upon the Zero Forcing (ZF) precoding Multiple Input Multiple Output Broadcast (MIMO BC) systems was studied. Based on the two kinds of Gaussian estimation error models, the performance analysis is conducted under different power allocation strategies. Analysis and simulation show that if the covariance of channel estimation errors is independent of the received Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR), imperfect channel knowledge deteriorates the sum capacity and the Bit Error Rate (BER) performance severely. However, under the situation of orthogonal training and the Minimum Mean Square Error (MMSE) channel estimation, the sum capacity and BER performance are consistent with those of the perfect Channel State Information (CSI)with only a performance degradation.

  7. Re-Normalization Method of Doppler Lidar Signal for Error Reduction

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Park, Nakgyu; Baik, Sunghoon; Park, Seungkyu; Kim, Donglyul [Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of); Kim, Dukhyeon [Hanbat National Univ., Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

    2014-05-15

    In this paper, we presented a re-normalization method for the fluctuations of Doppler signals from the various noises mainly due to the frequency locking error for a Doppler lidar system. For the Doppler lidar system, we used an injection-seeded pulsed Nd:YAG laser as the transmitter and an iodine filter as the Doppler frequency discriminator. For the Doppler frequency shift measurement, the transmission ratio using the injection-seeded laser is locked to stabilize the frequency. If the frequency locking system is not perfect, the Doppler signal has some error due to the frequency locking error. The re-normalization process of the Doppler signals was performed to reduce this error using an additional laser beam to an Iodine cell. We confirmed that the renormalized Doppler signal shows the stable experimental data much more than that of the averaged Doppler signal using our calibration method, the reduced standard deviation was 4.838 Χ 10{sup -3}.

  8. Analysis of interactive fixed effects dynamic linear panel regression with measurement error

    OpenAIRE

    Nayoung Lee; Hyungsik Roger Moon; Martin Weidner

    2011-01-01

    This paper studies a simple dynamic panel linear regression model with interactive fixed effects in which the variable of interest is measured with error. To estimate the dynamic coefficient, we consider the least-squares minimum distance (LS-MD) estimation method.

  9. The probability and the management of human error

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dufey, R.B.; Saull, J.W.

    2004-01-01

    Embedded within modern technological systems, human error is the largest, and indeed dominant contributor to accident cause. The consequences dominate the risk profiles for nuclear power and for many other technologies. We need to quantify the probability of human error for the system as an integral contribution within the overall system failure, as it is generally not separable or predictable for actual events. We also need to provide a means to manage and effectively reduce the failure (error) rate. The fact that humans learn from their mistakes allows a new determination of the dynamic probability and human failure (error) rate in technological systems. The result is consistent with and derived from the available world data for modern technological systems. Comparisons are made to actual data from large technological systems and recent catastrophes. Best estimate values and relationships can be derived for both the human error rate, and for the probability. We describe the potential for new approaches to the management of human error and safety indicators, based on the principles of error state exclusion and of the systematic effect of learning. A new equation is given for the probability of human error (λ) that combines the influences of early inexperience, learning from experience (ε) and stochastic occurrences with having a finite minimum rate, this equation is λ 5.10 -5 + ((1/ε) - 5.10 -5 ) exp(-3*ε). The future failure rate is entirely determined by the experience: thus the past defines the future

  10. Adaptive control of nonlinear system using online error minimum neural networks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jia, Chao; Li, Xiaoli; Wang, Kang; Ding, Dawei

    2016-11-01

    In this paper, a new learning algorithm named OEM-ELM (Online Error Minimized-ELM) is proposed based on ELM (Extreme Learning Machine) neural network algorithm and the spreading of its main structure. The core idea of this OEM-ELM algorithm is: online learning, evaluation of network performance, and increasing of the number of hidden nodes. It combines the advantages of OS-ELM and EM-ELM, which can improve the capability of identification and avoid the redundancy of networks. The adaptive control based on the proposed algorithm OEM-ELM is set up which has stronger adaptive capability to the change of environment. The adaptive control of chemical process Continuous Stirred Tank Reactor (CSTR) is also given for application. The simulation results show that the proposed algorithm with respect to the traditional ELM algorithm can avoid network redundancy and improve the control performance greatly. Copyright © 2016 ISA. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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

    Science.gov (United States)

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

    2013-06-01

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

  12. Discriminating the precipitation phase based on different temperature thresholds in the Songhua River Basin, China

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhong, Keyuan; Zheng, Fenli; Xu, Ximeng; Qin, Chao

    2018-06-01

    Different precipitation phases (rain, snow or sleet) differ greatly in their hydrological and erosional processes. Therefore, accurate discrimination of the precipitation phase is highly important when researching hydrologic processes and climate change at high latitudes and mountainous regions. The objective of this study was to identify suitable temperature thresholds for discriminating the precipitation phase in the Songhua River Basin (SRB) based on 20-year daily precipitation collected from 60 meteorological stations located in and around the basin. Two methods, the air temperature method (AT method) and the wet bulb temperature method (WBT method), were used to discriminate the precipitation phase. Thirteen temperature thresholds were used to discriminate snowfall in the SRB. These thresholds included air temperatures from 0 to 5.5 °C at intervals of 0.5 °C and the wet bulb temperature (WBT). Three evaluation indices, the error percentage of discriminated snowfall days (Ep), the relative error of discriminated snowfall (Re) and the determination coefficient (R2), were applied to assess the discrimination accuracy. The results showed that 2.5 °C was the optimum threshold temperature for discriminating snowfall at the scale of the entire basin. Due to differences in the landscape conditions at the different stations, the optimum threshold varied by station. The optimal threshold ranged 1.5-4.0 °C, and 19 stations, 17 stations and 18 stations had optimal thresholds of 2.5 °C, 3.0 °C, and 3.5 °C respectively, occupying 90% of all stations. Compared with using a single suitable temperature threshold to discriminate snowfall throughout the basin, it was more accurate to use the optimum threshold at each station to estimate snowfall in the basin. In addition, snowfall was underestimated when the temperature threshold was the WBT and when the temperature threshold was below 2.5 °C, whereas snowfall was overestimated when the temperature threshold exceeded 4

  13. Anesthesiologists' perceptions of minimum acceptable work habits of nurse anesthetists.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Logvinov, Ilana I; Dexter, Franklin; Hindman, Bradley J; Brull, Sorin J

    2017-05-01

    Work habits are non-technical skills that are an important part of job performance. Although non-technical skills are usually evaluated on a relative basis (i.e., "grading on a curve"), validity of evaluation on an absolute basis (i.e., "minimum passing score") needs to be determined. Survey and observational study. None. None. The theme of "work habits" was assessed using a modification of Dannefer et al.'s 6-item scale, with scores ranging from 1 (lowest performance) to 5 (highest performance). E-mail invitations were sent to all consultant and fellow anesthesiologists at Mayo Clinic in Florida, Arizona, and Minnesota. Because work habits expectations can be generational, the survey was designed for adjustment based on all invited (responding or non-responding) anesthesiologists' year of graduation from residency. The overall mean±standard deviation of the score for anesthesiologists' minimum expectations of nurse anesthetists' work habits was 3.64±0.66 (N=48). Minimum acceptable scores were correlated with the year of graduation from anesthesia residency (linear regression P=0.004). Adjusting for survey non-response using all N=207 anesthesiologists, the mean of the minimum acceptable work habits adjusted for year of graduation was 3.69 (standard error 0.02). The minimum expectations for nurse anesthetists' work habits were compared with observational data obtained from the University of Iowa. Among 8940 individual nurse anesthetist work habits scores, only 2.6% were habits scores were significantly greater than the Mayo estimate (3.69) for the minimum expectations; all Phabits of nurse anesthetists within departments should not be compared with an appropriate minimum score (i.e., of 3.69). Instead, work habits scores should be analyzed based on relative reporting among anesthetists. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  14. Fast neutron-gamma discrimination on neutron emission profile measurement on JT-60U

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ishii, K.; Okamoto, A.; Kitajima, S.; Sasao, M.; Shinohara, K.; Ishikawa, M.; Baba, M.; Isobe, M.

    2010-01-01

    A digital signal processing (DSP) system is applied to stilbene scintillation detectors of the multichannel neutron emission profile monitor in JT-60U. Automatic analysis of the neutron-γ pulse shape discrimination is a key issue to diminish the processing time in the DSP system, and it has been applied using the two-dimensional (2D) map. Linear discriminant function is used to determine the dividing line between neutron events and γ-ray events on a 2D map. In order to verify the validity of the dividing line determination, the pulse shape discrimination quality is evaluated. As a result, the γ-ray contamination in most of the beam heating phase was negligible compared with the statistical error with 10 ms time resolution.

  15. ecco: An error correcting comparator theory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ghirlanda, Stefano

    2018-03-08

    Building on the work of Ralph Miller and coworkers (Miller and Matzel, 1988; Denniston et al., 2001; Stout and Miller, 2007), I propose a new formalization of the comparator hypothesis that seeks to overcome some shortcomings of existing formalizations. The new model, dubbed ecco for "Error-Correcting COmparisons," retains the comparator process and the learning of CS-CS associations based on contingency. ecco assumes, however, that learning of CS-US associations is driven by total error correction, as first introduced by Rescorla and Wagner (1972). I explore ecco's behavior in acquisition, compound conditioning, blocking, backward blocking, and unovershadowing. In these paradigms, ecco appears capable of avoiding the problems of current comparator models, such as the inability to solve some discriminations and some paradoxical effects of stimulus salience. At the same time, ecco exhibits the retrospective revaluation phenomena that are characteristic of comparator theory. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    R. Burston

    2014-03-01

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

  17. Linear transceiver design for nonorthogonal amplify-and-forward protocol using a bit error rate criterion

    KAUST Repository

    Ahmed, Qasim Zeeshan

    2014-04-01

    The ever growing demand of higher data rates can now be addressed by exploiting cooperative diversity. This form of diversity has become a fundamental technique for achieving spatial diversity by exploiting the presence of idle users in the network. This has led to new challenges in terms of designing new protocols and detectors for cooperative communications. Among various amplify-and-forward (AF) protocols, the half duplex non-orthogonal amplify-and-forward (NAF) protocol is superior to other AF schemes in terms of error performance and capacity. However, this superiority is achieved at the cost of higher receiver complexity. Furthermore, in order to exploit the full diversity of the system an optimal precoder is required. In this paper, an optimal joint linear transceiver is proposed for the NAF protocol. This transceiver operates on the principles of minimum bit error rate (BER), and is referred as joint bit error rate (JBER) detector. The BER performance of JBER detector is superior to all the proposed linear detectors such as channel inversion, the maximal ratio combining, the biased maximum likelihood detectors, and the minimum mean square error. The proposed transceiver also outperforms previous precoders designed for the NAF protocol. © 2002-2012 IEEE.

  18. Soybean varieties discrimination using non-imaging hyperspectral sensor

    Science.gov (United States)

    da Silva Junior, Carlos Antonio; Nanni, Marcos Rafael; Shakir, Muhammad; Teodoro, Paulo Eduardo; de Oliveira-Júnior, José Francisco; Cezar, Everson; de Gois, Givanildo; Lima, Mendelson; Wojciechowski, Julio Cesar; Shiratsuchi, Luciano Shozo

    2018-03-01

    Infrared region of electromagnetic spectrum has remarkable applications in crop studies. Infrared along with Red band has been used to develop certain vegetation indices. These indices like NDVI, EVI provide important information on any crop physiological stages. The main objective of this research was to discriminate 4 different soybean varieties (BMX Potência, NA5909, FT Campo Mourão and Don Mario) using non-imaging hyperspectral sensor. The study was conducted in four agricultural areas in the municipality of Deodápolis (MS), Brazil. For spectral analysis, 2400 field samples were taken from soybean leaves by means of FieldSpec 3 JR spectroradiometer in the range from 350 to 2500 nm. The data were evaluated through multivariate analysis with the whole set of spectral curves isolated by blue, green, red and near infrared wavelengths along with the addition of vegetation indices like (Enhanced Vegetation Index - EVI, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index - NDVI, Green Normalized Difference Vegetation Index - GNDVI, Soil-adjusted Vegetation Index - SAVI, Transformed Vegetation Index - TVI and Optimized Soil-Adjusted Vegetation Index - OSAVI). A number of the analysis performed where, discriminant (60 and 80% of the data), simulated discriminant (40 and 20% of data), principal component (PC) and cluster analysis (CA). Discriminant and simulated discriminant analyze presented satisfactory results, with average global hit rates of 99.28 and 98.77%, respectively. The results obtained by PC and CA revealed considerable associations between the evaluated variables and the varieties, which indicated that each variety has a variable that discriminates it more effectively in relation to the others. There was great variation in the sample size (number of leaves) for estimating the mean of variables. However, it was possible to observe that 200 leaves allow to obtain a maximum error of 2% in relation to the mean.

  19. An error analysis in the early grades mathematics – a learning opportunity?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Roelien Herholdt

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available Error analysis is the study of errors in learners’ work with a view to looking for possible explanations for these errors. It is a multifaceted activity involving analysis of correct, partially correct and incorrect processes and thinking about possible remediating strategies. This paper reports on such an analysis of learner tests. The tests were administered as part of the evaluation of an intervention project that aimed to teach mathematical problem solving skills to grade 1-4 learners. Quantitative error analysis was carried out using a coding sheet for each grade. A reliability coefficient was found for each test, as were item means and discrimination indexes for each item. The analysis provided some insight into the more common procedural and conceptual errors evidenced in the learners’ scripts. Findings showed similar difficulties across intervention and control schools and highlighted particular areas of difficulty. The authors argue that this analysis is an example of large-scale error analysis, but that the analysis method could be adopted by teachers of grades 1-4.

  20. Sensitivity of Multicarrier Two-Dimensional Spreading Schemes to Synchronization Errors

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Geneviève Jourdain

    2008-06-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents the impact of synchronization errors on the performance of a downlink multicarrier two-dimensional spreading OFDM-CDMA system. This impact is measured by the degradation of the signal to interference and noise ratio (SINR obtained after despreading and equalization. The contribution of this paper is twofold. First, we use some properties of random matrix and free probability theories to derive a new expression of the SINR. This expression is then independent of the actual value of the spreading codes while still accounting for the orthogonality between codes. This model is validated by means of Monte Carlo simulations. Secondly, the model is exploited to derive the SINR degradation of OFDM-CDMA systems due to synchronization errors which include a timing error, a carrier frequency offset, and a sampling frequency offset. It is also exploited to compare the sensitivities of MC-CDMA and MC-DS-CDMA systems to these errors in a frequency selective channel. This work is carried out for zero-forcing and minimum mean square error equalizers.

  1. Differential discriminator

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dukhanov, V.I.; Mazurov, I.B.

    1981-01-01

    A principal flowsheet of a differential discriminator intended for operation in a spectrometric circuit with statistical time distribution of pulses is described. The differential discriminator includes four integrated discriminators and a channel of piled-up signal rejection. The presence of the rejection channel enables the discriminator to operate effectively at loads of 14x10 3 pulse/s. The temperature instability of the discrimination thresholds equals 250 μV/ 0 C. The discrimination level changes within 0.1-5 V, the level shift constitutes 0.5% for the filling ratio of 1:10. The rejection coefficient is not less than 90%. Alpha spectrum of the 228 Th source is presented to evaluate the discriminator operation with the rejector. The rejector provides 50 ns time resolution

  2. Structural Discrimination

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Thorsen, Mira Skadegård

    discrimination as two ways of articulating particular, opaque forms of racial discrimination that occur in everyday Danish (and other) contexts, and have therefore become normalized. I present and discuss discrimination as it surfaces in data from my empirical studies of discrimination in Danish contexts...

  3. The impact of the UK National Minimum Wage on mental health

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Christoph Kronenberg

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Despite an emerging literature, there is still sparse and mixed evidence on the wider societal benefits of Minimum Wage policies, including their effects on mental health. Furthermore, causal evidence on the relationship between earnings and mental health is limited. We focus on low-wage earners, who are at higher risk of psychological distress, and exploit the quasi-experiment provided by the introduction of the UK National Minimum Wage (NMW to identify the causal impact of wage increases on mental health. We employ difference-in-differences models and find that the introduction of the UK NMW had no effect on mental health. Our estimates do not appear to support earlier findings which indicate that minimum wages affect mental health of low-wage earners. A series of robustness checks accounting for measurement error, as well as treatment and control group composition, confirm our main results. Overall, our findings suggest that policies aimed at improving the mental health of low-wage earners should either consider the non-wage characteristics of employment or potentially larger wage increases.

  4. The impact of the UK National Minimum Wage on mental health.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kronenberg, Christoph; Jacobs, Rowena; Zucchelli, Eugenio

    2017-12-01

    Despite an emerging literature, there is still sparse and mixed evidence on the wider societal benefits of Minimum Wage policies, including their effects on mental health. Furthermore, causal evidence on the relationship between earnings and mental health is limited. We focus on low-wage earners, who are at higher risk of psychological distress, and exploit the quasi-experiment provided by the introduction of the UK National Minimum Wage (NMW) to identify the causal impact of wage increases on mental health. We employ difference-in-differences models and find that the introduction of the UK NMW had no effect on mental health. Our estimates do not appear to support earlier findings which indicate that minimum wages affect mental health of low-wage earners. A series of robustness checks accounting for measurement error, as well as treatment and control group composition, confirm our main results. Overall, our findings suggest that policies aimed at improving the mental health of low-wage earners should either consider the non-wage characteristics of employment or potentially larger wage increases.

  5. Colour discrimination of dental professionals and colour deficient laypersons.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Poljak-Guberina, Renata; Celebic, Asja; Powers, John M; Paravina, Rade D

    2011-12-01

    The aim of the present study was to compare results of non-dental (conventional) and dental colour discrimination tests (customized, shade guide test), to evaluate influence of profession, gender and age of colour normal dentists and laboratory technicians on colour discrimination results and to evaluate results of colour deficient laypersons. A total of 36 colour normal dental professionals, all volunteers were divided into two groups consisting of 18 participants each: dentists (DDS) and laboratory technicians (CDT). In addition, a group 15 colour deficient males also volunteered (CDP). Colour discrimination was examined using Farnsworth-Munsell 100 Hue Test and total error scores (TES) were calculated. Participants performed a dentistry related colour discrimination test by matching 26 pairs of shade tabs. Shade guide scores (3DS) were calculated. These tests were performed under the controlled conditions of a viewing booth. Mean values and standard deviations were determined. ANOVA, Mann-Whitney test, t-test and Pearson's correlation coefficient (r) were used for result analysis. TES and 3DS were correlated for colour normal observers, r = 0.47 (p gender and age were recorded. TES of 159 (83) and 3DS of 6.7 (2.7) were recorded for colour deficient laypersons. Based on TES, 33% of colour deficient laypersons had average discrimination, whilst 67% had low discrimination. Within the limitation of this study, it was concluded that results of non-dental and dental colour discrimination tests were correlated, and that profession (DDS/CDT), gender and age gender did not influence colour discrimination of colour normal participants. Although colour and appearance of dental restorations are of paramount importance for the aesthetic outcome, colour vision of dental professionals is not routinely tested. This paper validates and recommends the usage of dental shade guides for a simple, affordable and understandable testing of colour vision, either as a sole test or

  6. Neutron/gamma discrimination employing the power spectrum analysis of the signal from the liquid scintillator BC501A

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Luo, X.L.; Wang, Y.K; Yang, J.; Liu, G.; Lin, C.B.; Hu, Q.Q.; Peng, J.X.

    2013-01-01

    A digital method for the discrimination of neutron and γ-ray events based on analyzing the power spectra of the signals from a BC501A liquid scintillator detector was presented and investigated in this paper. In order to evaluate the feasibility of this novel pulse shape discrimination method, a 5GSample/s 8-bit oscilloscope was used to acquire waveforms for n/γ discrimination. Furthermore, the performance of this novel n/γ discrimination method was compared with that of a widely used method called the reference-pulses method which averaged a large number of neutron and γ-ray pulses to obtain the reference-pulse as the criterion for n/γ discrimination. The results showed that the proposed method performed well over the reference-pulses method, which was verified by the considerable decrease in the error rate of n/γ discrimination and the improvement of the Figure of Merit

  7. On the model-dependence of the relation between minimum-bias and inelastic proton-proton cross sections

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ostapchenko, S.

    2011-01-01

    The model-dependence of the relation between the inelastic and various minimum-bias proton-proton cross sections is analyzed, paying a special attention to the sensitivity of minimum-bias triggers to diffractive collisions. Concentrating on the trigger selections of the ATLAS experiment, the measured cross sections are compared to predictions of a number of hadronic Monte Carlo models used in the cosmic ray field. It is demonstrated that the ATLAS results are able to discriminate between different models and between certain theoretical approaches for soft multi-particle production. On the other hand, the strong model-dependence of the selection efficiency of the minimum-bias triggers prevents one from inferring high mass diffraction rate from the discussed data. Moreover, the measured cross sections prove to be insensitive to the production of low mass diffractive states in proton-proton collisions. Consequently, a reliable determination of the total inelastic cross section requires forward proton tracking by a dedicated experiment.

  8. Examining Workplace Discrimination in a Discrimination-Free Environment

    OpenAIRE

    Braxton, Shawn Lamont

    2010-01-01

    Examining Workplace Discrimination in a Discrimination-Free Environment Shawn L. Braxton Abstract The purpose of this study is to explore how racial and gender discrimination is reproduced in concrete workplace settings even when anti-discrimination policies are present, and to understand the various reactions utilized by those who commonly experience it. I have selected a particular medical center, henceforth referred to by a pseudonym, â The Bliley Medical Centerâ as my case ...

  9. Evidence of Syndemics and Sexuality-Related Discrimination Among Young Sexual-Minority Women.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Coulter, Robert W S; Kinsky, Suzanne M; Herrick, Amy L; Stall, Ron D; Bauermeister, José A

    2015-09-01

    Syndemics, or the co-occurrence and interaction of health problems, have been examined extensively among young men who have sex with men, but their existence remain unexamined, to our knowledge, among sexual-minority (i.e., lesbian, gay, and bisexual) women. Thus, we investigated if syndemics were present among young sexual-minority women, and if sexual-orientation discrimination was an independent variable of syndemic production. A total of 467 sexual-minority women between the ages of 18 and 24 completed a cross-sectional online survey regarding their substance use, mental health, sexual behaviors, height, weight, and experiences of discrimination. We used structural equation modeling to investigate the presence of syndemics and their relationship to sexual-orientation discrimination. Heavy episodic drinking, marijuana use, ecstasy use, hallucinogen use, depressive symptoms, multiple sexual partners, and history of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) comprised syndemics in this population (chi-square=24.989, P=.201; comparative fit index [CFI]=0.946; root mean square error of approximation [RMSEA]=0.023). Sexual-orientation discrimination is significantly and positively associated with the latent syndemic variable (unstandardized coefficient=0.095, Pdiscrimination (unstandardized coefficient=0.602, P>.05). Syndemics appear to be present and associated with sexual-orientation discrimination among young sexual-minority women. Interventions aimed at reducing discrimination or increasing healthy coping may help reduce substance use, depressive symptoms, and sexual risk behaviors in this population.

  10. Error correcting code with chip kill capability and power saving enhancement

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Gara, Alan G [Mount Kisco, NY; Chen, Dong [Croton On Husdon, NY; Coteus, Paul W [Yorktown Heights, NY; Flynn, William T [Rochester, MN; Marcella, James A [Rochester, MN; Takken, Todd [Brewster, NY; Trager, Barry M [Yorktown Heights, NY; Winograd, Shmuel [Scarsdale, NY

    2011-08-30

    A method and system are disclosed for detecting memory chip failure in a computer memory system. The method comprises the steps of accessing user data from a set of user data chips, and testing the user data for errors using data from a set of system data chips. This testing is done by generating a sequence of check symbols from the user data, grouping the user data into a sequence of data symbols, and computing a specified sequence of syndromes. If all the syndromes are zero, the user data has no errors. If one of the syndromes is non-zero, then a set of discriminator expressions are computed, and used to determine whether a single or double symbol error has occurred. In the preferred embodiment, less than two full system data chips are used for testing and correcting the user data.

  11. Machine-learning-assisted correction of correlated qubit errors in a topological code

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Paul Baireuther

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available A fault-tolerant quantum computation requires an efficient means to detect and correct errors that accumulate in encoded quantum information. In the context of machine learning, neural networks are a promising new approach to quantum error correction. Here we show that a recurrent neural network can be trained, using only experimentally accessible data, to detect errors in a widely used topological code, the surface code, with a performance above that of the established minimum-weight perfect matching (or blossom decoder. The performance gain is achieved because the neural network decoder can detect correlations between bit-flip (X and phase-flip (Z errors. The machine learning algorithm adapts to the physical system, hence no noise model is needed. The long short-term memory layers of the recurrent neural network maintain their performance over a large number of quantum error correction cycles, making it a practical decoder for forthcoming experimental realizations of the surface code.

  12. Multiple-copy state discrimination: Thinking globally, acting locally

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Higgins, B. L.; Pryde, G. J.; Wiseman, H. M.; Doherty, A. C.; Bartlett, S. D.

    2011-01-01

    We theoretically investigate schemes to discriminate between two nonorthogonal quantum states given multiple copies. We consider a number of state discrimination schemes as applied to nonorthogonal, mixed states of a qubit. In particular, we examine the difference that local and global optimization of local measurements makes to the probability of obtaining an erroneous result, in the regime of finite numbers of copies N, and in the asymptotic limit as N→∞. Five schemes are considered: optimal collective measurements over all copies, locally optimal local measurements in a fixed single-qubit measurement basis, globally optimal fixed local measurements, locally optimal adaptive local measurements, and globally optimal adaptive local measurements. Here an adaptive measurement is one in which the measurement basis can depend on prior measurement results. For each of these measurement schemes we determine the probability of error (for finite N) and the scaling of this error in the asymptotic limit. In the asymptotic limit, it is known analytically (and we verify numerically) that adaptive schemes have no advantage over the optimal fixed local scheme. Here we show moreover that, in this limit, the most naive scheme (locally optimal fixed local measurements) is as good as any noncollective scheme except for states with less than 2% mixture. For finite N, however, the most sophisticated local scheme (globally optimal adaptive local measurements) is better than any other noncollective scheme for any degree of mixture.

  13. Sex differences in discriminative power of volleyball game-related statistics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    João, Paulo Vicente; Leite, Nuno; Mesquita, Isabel; Sampaio, Jaime

    2010-12-01

    To identify sex differences in volleyball game-related statistics, the game-related statistics of several World Championships in 2007 (N=132) were analyzed using the software VIS from the International Volleyball Federation. Discriminant analysis was used to identify the game-related statistics which better discriminated performances by sex. Analysis yielded an emphasis on fault serves (SC = -.40), shot spikes (SC = .40), and reception digs (SC = .31). Specific robust numbers represent that considerable variability was evident in the game-related statistics profile, as men's volleyball games were better associated with terminal actions (errors of service), and women's volleyball games were characterized by continuous actions (in defense and attack). These differences may be related to the anthropometric and physiological differences between women and men and their influence on performance profiles.

  14. [Discrimination of types of polyacrylamide based on near infrared spectroscopy coupled with least square support vector machine].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Hong-Guang; Yang, Qin-Min; Lu, Jian-Gang

    2014-04-01

    In this paper, a novel discriminant methodology based on near infrared spectroscopic analysis technique and least square support vector machine was proposed for rapid and nondestructive discrimination of different types of Polyacrylamide. The diffuse reflectance spectra of samples of Non-ionic Polyacrylamide, Anionic Polyacrylamide and Cationic Polyacrylamide were measured. Then principal component analysis method was applied to reduce the dimension of the spectral data and extract of the principal compnents. The first three principal components were used for cluster analysis of the three different types of Polyacrylamide. Then those principal components were also used as inputs of least square support vector machine model. The optimization of the parameters and the number of principal components used as inputs of least square support vector machine model was performed through cross validation based on grid search. 60 samples of each type of Polyacrylamide were collected. Thus a total of 180 samples were obtained. 135 samples, 45 samples for each type of Polyacrylamide, were randomly split into a training set to build calibration model and the rest 45 samples were used as test set to evaluate the performance of the developed model. In addition, 5 Cationic Polyacrylamide samples and 5 Anionic Polyacrylamide samples adulterated with different proportion of Non-ionic Polyacrylamide were also prepared to show the feasibilty of the proposed method to discriminate the adulterated Polyacrylamide samples. The prediction error threshold for each type of Polyacrylamide was determined by F statistical significance test method based on the prediction error of the training set of corresponding type of Polyacrylamide in cross validation. The discrimination accuracy of the built model was 100% for prediction of the test set. The prediction of the model for the 10 mixing samples was also presented, and all mixing samples were accurately discriminated as adulterated samples. The

  15. Determination of global and regional heart functions with minimum transit times

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Feinendegen, L.E.; Becker, V.; Vyska, K.; Freundlieb, C.; Bosiljanoff, P.

    1980-01-01

    The minimum transit time obviously represents the most constant flow parameter. By means of a constant, that was chosen to be 1.2 for cardiac flow, it is equal to the quotient of volume to flow and is also inversely related proportional to the fraction of ejection that is concerned. The first indicator passage through the heart is measured for the minimum cardiac transit time, whereby interesting regions were chosen for the two auricula, the two ventricula, the pulmonary artery and the aorta. The time activity characteristica obtained from the particular regions need a special smoothing by means of the gliding mean, so that the arrival times can easily be recognized. This way in one examination process the differences of arrival times respectively the minimal transit times can be obtained for each particular cardiac segment, the pulmonary circuit and the whole cardio-pulmonary circuit. The advantages of minimum cardiac transit time measurements are the simplicity and the speed of the noninvasive functional diagnostic with lower radiation load and accuracy and reproductability with low error limits, especially for the whole cardio-pulmonary MTT. The simultaneous acquisition of multiple cardiac segments is to emphasize a special way. For its particular values similar error widths were found as for the left ventricular function measurement with the triggered scintigraphy of the interior of the heart. A further advantage of the measurement is an almost problem-less application in body load. Therefore the MTT-measurement is especially useful for preventive diagnostics of coronary diseases. A combination of MTT-measurements of all segments of the small circuit with the triggered scintigraphy of the interior of the heart for analysis of regional left-ventricular ejection fractions and left-ventricular wall movements would essentially enrich the noninvasive cardiac diagnostics. (orig./APR) [de

  16. Discrimination of Aspergillus isolates at the species and strain level by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry fingerprinting.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hettick, Justin M; Green, Brett J; Buskirk, Amanda D; Kashon, Michael L; Slaven, James E; Janotka, Erika; Blachere, Francoise M; Schmechel, Detlef; Beezhold, Donald H

    2008-09-15

    Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) was used to generate highly reproducible mass spectral fingerprints for 12 species of fungi of the genus Aspergillus and 5 different strains of Aspergillus flavus. Prior to MALDI-TOF MS analysis, the fungi were subjected to three 1-min bead beating cycles in an acetonitrile/trifluoroacetic acid solvent. The mass spectra contain abundant peaks in the range of 5 to 20kDa and may be used to discriminate between species unambiguously. A discriminant analysis using all peaks from the MALDI-TOF MS data yielded error rates for classification of 0 and 18.75% for resubstitution and cross-validation methods, respectively. If a subset of 28 significant peaks is chosen, resubstitution and cross-validation error rates are 0%. Discriminant analysis of the MALDI-TOF MS data for 5 strains of A. flavus using all peaks yielded error rates for classification of 0 and 5% for resubstitution and cross-validation methods, respectively. These data indicate that MALDI-TOF MS data may be used for unambiguous identification of members of the genus Aspergillus at both the species and strain levels.

  17. Model-observer similarity, error modeling and social learning in rhesus macaques.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Elisabetta Monfardini

    Full Text Available Monkeys readily learn to discriminate between rewarded and unrewarded items or actions by observing their conspecifics. However, they do not systematically learn from humans. Understanding what makes human-to-monkey transmission of knowledge work or fail could help identify mediators and moderators of social learning that operate regardless of language or culture, and transcend inter-species differences. Do monkeys fail to learn when human models show a behavior too dissimilar from the animals' own, or when they show a faultless performance devoid of error? To address this question, six rhesus macaques trained to find which object within a pair concealed a food reward were successively tested with three models: a familiar conspecific, a 'stimulus-enhancing' human actively drawing the animal's attention to one object of the pair without actually performing the task, and a 'monkey-like' human performing the task in the same way as the monkey model did. Reward was manipulated to ensure that all models showed equal proportions of errors and successes. The 'monkey-like' human model improved the animals' subsequent object discrimination learning as much as a conspecific did, whereas the 'stimulus-enhancing' human model tended on the contrary to retard learning. Modeling errors rather than successes optimized learning from the monkey and 'monkey-like' models, while exacerbating the adverse effect of the 'stimulus-enhancing' model. These findings identify error modeling as a moderator of social learning in monkeys that amplifies the models' influence, whether beneficial or detrimental. By contrast, model-observer similarity in behavior emerged as a mediator of social learning, that is, a prerequisite for a model to work in the first place. The latter finding suggests that, as preverbal infants, macaques need to perceive the model as 'like-me' and that, once this condition is fulfilled, any agent can become an effective model.

  18. A procedure for the significance testing of unmodeled errors in GNSS observations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Bofeng; Zhang, Zhetao; Shen, Yunzhong; Yang, Ling

    2018-01-01

    It is a crucial task to establish a precise mathematical model for global navigation satellite system (GNSS) observations in precise positioning. Due to the spatiotemporal complexity of, and limited knowledge on, systematic errors in GNSS observations, some residual systematic errors would inevitably remain even after corrected with empirical model and parameterization. These residual systematic errors are referred to as unmodeled errors. However, most of the existing studies mainly focus on handling the systematic errors that can be properly modeled and then simply ignore the unmodeled errors that may actually exist. To further improve the accuracy and reliability of GNSS applications, such unmodeled errors must be handled especially when they are significant. Therefore, a very first question is how to statistically validate the significance of unmodeled errors. In this research, we will propose a procedure to examine the significance of these unmodeled errors by the combined use of the hypothesis tests. With this testing procedure, three components of unmodeled errors, i.e., the nonstationary signal, stationary signal and white noise, are identified. The procedure is tested by using simulated data and real BeiDou datasets with varying error sources. The results show that the unmodeled errors can be discriminated by our procedure with approximately 90% confidence. The efficiency of the proposed procedure is further reassured by applying the time-domain Allan variance analysis and frequency-domain fast Fourier transform. In summary, the spatiotemporally correlated unmodeled errors are commonly existent in GNSS observations and mainly governed by the residual atmospheric biases and multipath. Their patterns may also be impacted by the receiver.

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chudasama, Y; Robbins, Trevor W

    2003-09-24

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

  20. Method of statistical estimation of temperature minimums in binary systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mireev, V.A.; Safonov, V.V.

    1985-01-01

    On the basis of statistical processing of literature data the technique for evaluation of temperature minima on liquidus curves in binary systems with common ion chloride systems being taken as an example, is developed. The systems are formed by 48 chlorides of 45 chemical elements including alkali, alkaline earth, rare earth and transition metals as well as Cd, In, Th. It is shown that calculation error in determining minimum melting points depends on topology of the phase diagram. The comparison of calculated and experimental data for several previously nonstudied systems is given

  1. Active and passive compensation of APPLE II-introduced multipole errors through beam-based measurement

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Chung, Ting-Yi; Huang, Szu-Jung; Fu, Huang-Wen; Chang, Ho-Ping; Chang, Cheng-Hsiang [National Synchrotron Radiation Research Center, Hsinchu Science Park, Hsinchu 30076, Taiwan (China); Hwang, Ching-Shiang [National Synchrotron Radiation Research Center, Hsinchu Science Park, Hsinchu 30076, Taiwan (China); Department of Electrophysics, National Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu 30050, Taiwan (China)

    2016-08-01

    The effect of an APPLE II-type elliptically polarized undulator (EPU) on the beam dynamics were investigated using active and passive methods. To reduce the tune shift and improve the injection efficiency, dynamic multipole errors were compensated using L-shaped iron shims, which resulted in stable top-up operation for a minimum gap. The skew quadrupole error was compensated using a multipole corrector, which was located downstream of the EPU for minimizing betatron coupling, and it ensured the enhancement of the synchrotron radiation brightness. The investigation methods, a numerical simulation algorithm, a multipole error correction method, and the beam-based measurement results are discussed.

  2. Discrimination thresholds for smiles in genuine versus blended facial expressions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aida Gutiérrez-García

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available Genuine smiles convey enjoyment or positive affect, whereas fake smiles conceal or leak negative feelings or motives (e.g. arrogance, contempt, embarrassment, or merely show affiliation or politeness. We investigated the minimum display time (i.e. threshold; ranging from 50 to 1,000 ms that is necessary to distinguish a fake from a genuine smile. Variants of fake smiles were created by varying the type of non-happy (e.g. neutral, angry, sad, etc. eyes in blended expressions with a smiling mouth. Participants judged whether faces conveyed happiness or not. Results showed that thresholds vary as a function of type of eyes: blended expressions with angry eyes are discriminated early (100 ms, followed by those with disgusted eyes, fearful, and sad (from 250 to 500 ms, surprised (750 ms, and neutral (from 750 to 1,000 ms eyes. An important issue for further research is the extent to which such discrimination threshold differences depend on physical or affective factors.

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

    Science.gov (United States)

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

    2009-01-01

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

  4. Fast converging minimum probability of error neural network receivers for DS-CDMA communications.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Matyjas, John D; Psaromiligkos, Ioannis N; Batalama, Stella N; Medley, Michael J

    2004-03-01

    We consider a multilayer perceptron neural network (NN) receiver architecture for the recovery of the information bits of a direct-sequence code-division-multiple-access (DS-CDMA) user. We develop a fast converging adaptive training algorithm that minimizes the bit-error rate (BER) at the output of the receiver. The adaptive algorithm has three key features: i) it incorporates the BER, i.e., the ultimate performance evaluation measure, directly into the learning process, ii) it utilizes constraints that are derived from the properties of the optimum single-user decision boundary for additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) multiple-access channels, and iii) it embeds importance sampling (IS) principles directly into the receiver optimization process. Simulation studies illustrate the BER performance of the proposed scheme.

  5. Acute stress influences the discrimination of complex scenes and complex faces in young healthy men.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Paul, M; Lech, R K; Scheil, J; Dierolf, A M; Suchan, B; Wolf, O T

    2016-04-01

    The stress-induced release of glucocorticoids has been demonstrated to influence hippocampal functions via the modulation of specific receptors. At the behavioral level stress is known to influence hippocampus dependent long-term memory. In recent years, studies have consistently associated the hippocampus with the non-mnemonic perception of scenes, while adjacent regions in the medial temporal lobe were associated with the perception of objects, and faces. So far it is not known whether and how stress influences non-mnemonic perceptual processes. In a behavioral study, fifty male participants were subjected either to the stressful socially evaluated cold-pressor test or to a non-stressful control procedure, before they completed a visual discrimination task, comprising scenes and faces. The complexity of the face and scene stimuli was manipulated in easy and difficult conditions. A significant three way interaction between stress, stimulus type and complexity was found. Stressed participants tended to commit more errors in the complex scenes condition. For complex faces a descriptive tendency in the opposite direction (fewer errors under stress) was observed. As a result the difference between the number of errors for scenes and errors for faces was significantly larger in the stress group. These results indicate that, beyond the effects of stress on long-term memory, stress influences the discrimination of spatial information, especially when the perception is characterized by a high complexity. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  6. Error-related brain activity and error awareness in an error classification paradigm.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Di Gregorio, Francesco; Steinhauser, Marco; Maier, Martin E

    2016-10-01

    Error-related brain activity has been linked to error detection enabling adaptive behavioral adjustments. However, it is still unclear which role error awareness plays in this process. Here, we show that the error-related negativity (Ne/ERN), an event-related potential reflecting early error monitoring, is dissociable from the degree of error awareness. Participants responded to a target while ignoring two different incongruent distractors. After responding, they indicated whether they had committed an error, and if so, whether they had responded to one or to the other distractor. This error classification paradigm allowed distinguishing partially aware errors, (i.e., errors that were noticed but misclassified) and fully aware errors (i.e., errors that were correctly classified). The Ne/ERN was larger for partially aware errors than for fully aware errors. Whereas this speaks against the idea that the Ne/ERN foreshadows the degree of error awareness, it confirms the prediction of a computational model, which relates the Ne/ERN to post-response conflict. This model predicts that stronger distractor processing - a prerequisite of error classification in our paradigm - leads to lower post-response conflict and thus a smaller Ne/ERN. This implies that the relationship between Ne/ERN and error awareness depends on how error awareness is related to response conflict in a specific task. Our results further indicate that the Ne/ERN but not the degree of error awareness determines adaptive performance adjustments. Taken together, we conclude that the Ne/ERN is dissociable from error awareness and foreshadows adaptive performance adjustments. Our results suggest that the relationship between the Ne/ERN and error awareness is correlative and mediated by response conflict. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  7. PENERAPAN METODE LEAST MEDIAN SQUARE-MINIMUM COVARIANCE DETERMINANT (LMS-MCD DALAM REGRESI KOMPONEN UTAMA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    I PUTU EKA IRAWAN

    2013-11-01

    Full Text Available Principal Component Regression is a method to overcome multicollinearity techniques by combining principal component analysis with regression analysis. The calculation of classical principal component analysis is based on the regular covariance matrix. The covariance matrix is optimal if the data originated from a multivariate normal distribution, but is very sensitive to the presence of outliers. Alternatives are used to overcome this problem the method of Least Median Square-Minimum Covariance Determinant (LMS-MCD. The purpose of this research is to conduct a comparison between Principal Component Regression (RKU and Method of Least Median Square - Minimum Covariance Determinant (LMS-MCD in dealing with outliers. In this study, Method of Least Median Square - Minimum Covariance Determinant (LMS-MCD has a bias and mean square error (MSE is smaller than the parameter RKU. Based on the difference of parameter estimators, still have a test that has a difference of parameter estimators method LMS-MCD greater than RKU method.

  8. Characterization of two-phase mixture (petroleum, salted water or gas) by gamma radiation transmission

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Eichlt, Jair Romeu

    2003-01-01

    A mathematical description was accomplished to determine the discrimination of a substance in a two-phase mixture, for one beam system, using the five energy lines (13.9, 17.8,26.35 and 59,54 keV) of the 241 Am source. The mathematical description was also accomplished to determine the discrimination of two substances in a three-phase mixture, for a double beam system.. he simulated mixtures for the one beam system were petroleum/salted water or gas. The materials considered in these simulations were: four oils types, denominated as A, B, Bell and Generic, one kind of natural gas and salted water with the following salinities: 35.5, 50, 100, 150, 200, 250 and 300 kg/m 3 of Na Cl. The simulation for the one beam system consisted of a box with acrylic walls and other situation with a box of epoxi walls reinforced with fiber of carbon. The epoxi with carbon fiber was used mainly due to the fact that this material offers little attenuation to the fotons and it resists great pressures. With the results of the simulations it was calculated tables of minimum discrimination for each possible two-phase mixture with petroleum, gas and salted water at several salinities. These discrimination tables are the theoretical forecasts for experimental measurements, since they supply the minimum mensurable percentage for each energy line, as well as the ideal energy for the measurement of each mixture, or situation. The simulated discrimination levels were tested employing experimental arrangements with conditions and materials similar to those of the simulations, for the case of box with epoxi wall reinforced with carbon fiber, at the energies of 20.8 and 59.54 keV. It was obtained good results. For example, for the mixture of salted water (35.5 kg/m 3 ) in paraffin (simulating the petroleum), it was obtained an experimental discrimination minimum of 10% of salted water for error statistics of 5% in I and I o , while the theoretical simulation foresaw the same discrimination level

  9. LOWER BOUNDS ON PHOTOMETRIC REDSHIFT ERRORS FROM TYPE Ia SUPERNOVA TEMPLATES

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Asztalos, S.; Nikolaev, S.; De Vries, W.; Olivier, S.; Cook, K.; Wang, L.

    2010-01-01

    Cosmology with Type Ia supernova heretofore has required extensive spectroscopic follow-up to establish an accurate redshift. Though this resource-intensive approach is tolerable at the present discovery rate, the next generation of ground-based all-sky survey instruments will render it unsustainable. Photometry-based redshift determination may be a viable alternative, though the technique introduces non-negligible errors that ultimately degrade the ability to discriminate between competing cosmologies. We present a strictly template-based photometric redshift estimator and compute redshift reconstruction errors in the presence of statistical errors. Under highly degraded photometric conditions corresponding to a statistical error σ of 0.5, the residual redshift error is found to be 0.236 when assuming a nightly observing cadence and a single Large Synoptic Science Telescope (LSST) u-band filter. Utilizing all six LSST bandpass filters reduces the residual redshift error to 9.1 x 10 -3 . Assuming a more optimistic statistical error σ of 0.05, we derive residual redshift errors of 4.2 x 10 -4 , 5.2 x 10 -4 , 9.2 x 10 -4 , and 1.8 x 10 -3 for observations occuring nightly, every 5th, 20th and 45th night, respectively, in each of the six LSST bandpass filters. Adopting an observing cadence in which photometry is acquired with all six filters every 5th night and a realistic supernova distribution, binned redshift errors are combined with photometric errors with a σ of 0.17 and systematic errors with a σ∼ 0.003 to derive joint errors (σ w , σ w ' ) of (0.012, 0.066), respectively, in (w,w') with 68% confidence using Fisher matrix formalism. Though highly idealized in the present context, the methodology is nonetheless quite relevant for the next generation of ground-based all-sky surveys.

  10. Fast Erasure-and error decoding of algebraic geometry codes up to the Feng-Rao bound

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Høholdt, Tom; Jensen, Helge Elbrønd; Sakata, Shojiro

    1998-01-01

    This correspondence gives an errata (that is erasure-and error-) decoding algorithm of one-point algebraic-geometry codes up to the Feng-Rao designed minimum distance using Sakata's multidimensional generalization of the Berlekamp-Massey algorithm and the voting procedure of Feng and Rao....

  11. Pulse duration discriminator

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kosakovskij, L.F.

    1980-01-01

    Basic circuits of a discriminator for discrimination of pulses with the duration greater than the preset one, and of a multifunctional discriminator allowing to discriminate pulses with the duration greater (tsub(p)>tsub(s)) and lesser (tsub(p) tsub(s) and with the duration tsub(p) [ru

  12. Alpha/beta pulse shape discrimination in plastic scintillation using commercial scintillation detectors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bagan, H.; Tarancon, A.; Rauret, G.; Garcia, J.F.

    2010-01-01

    Activity determination in different types of samples is a current need in many different fields. Simultaneously analysing alpha and beta emitters is now a routine option when using liquid scintillation (LS) and pulse shape discrimination. However, LS has an important drawback, the generation of mixed waste. Recently, several studies have shown the capability of plastic scintillation (PS) as an alternative to LS, but no research has been carried out to determine its capability for alpha/beta discrimination. The objective of this study was to evaluate the capability of PS to discriminate alpha/beta emitters on the basis of pulse shape analysis (PSA). The results obtained show that PS pulses had lower energy than LS pulses. As a consequence, a lower detection efficiency, a shift to lower energies and a better discrimination of beta and a worst discrimination of alpha disintegrations was observed for PS. Colour quenching also produced a decrease in the energy of the particles, as well as the effects described above. It is clear that in PS, the discrimination capability was correlated with the energy of the particles detected. Taking into account the discrimination capabilities of PS, a protocol for the measurement and the calculation of alpha and beta activities in mixtures using PS and commercial scintillation detectors has been proposed. The new protocol was applied to the quantification of spiked river water samples containing a pair of radionuclides ( 3 H- 241 Am or 90 Sr/ 90 Y- 241 Am) in different activity proportions. The relative errors in all determinations were lower than 7%. These results demonstrate the capability of PS to discriminate alpha/beta emitters on the basis of pulse shape and to quantify mixtures without generating mixed waste.

  13. Stochastic modelling of the monthly average maximum and minimum temperature patterns in India 1981-2015

    Science.gov (United States)

    Narasimha Murthy, K. V.; Saravana, R.; Vijaya Kumar, K.

    2018-04-01

    The paper investigates the stochastic modelling and forecasting of monthly average maximum and minimum temperature patterns through suitable seasonal auto regressive integrated moving average (SARIMA) model for the period 1981-2015 in India. The variations and distributions of monthly maximum and minimum temperatures are analyzed through Box plots and cumulative distribution functions. The time series plot indicates that the maximum temperature series contain sharp peaks in almost all the years, while it is not true for the minimum temperature series, so both the series are modelled separately. The possible SARIMA model has been chosen based on observing autocorrelation function (ACF), partial autocorrelation function (PACF), and inverse autocorrelation function (IACF) of the logarithmic transformed temperature series. The SARIMA (1, 0, 0) × (0, 1, 1)12 model is selected for monthly average maximum and minimum temperature series based on minimum Bayesian information criteria. The model parameters are obtained using maximum-likelihood method with the help of standard error of residuals. The adequacy of the selected model is determined using correlation diagnostic checking through ACF, PACF, IACF, and p values of Ljung-Box test statistic of residuals and using normal diagnostic checking through the kernel and normal density curves of histogram and Q-Q plot. Finally, the forecasting of monthly maximum and minimum temperature patterns of India for the next 3 years has been noticed with the help of selected model.

  14. Discriminative clustering on manifold for adaptive transductive classification.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Zhao; Jia, Lei; Zhang, Min; Li, Bing; Zhang, Li; Li, Fanzhang

    2017-10-01

    In this paper, we mainly propose a novel adaptive transductive label propagation approach by joint discriminative clustering on manifolds for representing and classifying high-dimensional data. Our framework seamlessly combines the unsupervised manifold learning, discriminative clustering and adaptive classification into a unified model. Also, our method incorporates the adaptive graph weight construction with label propagation. Specifically, our method is capable of propagating label information using adaptive weights over low-dimensional manifold features, which is different from most existing studies that usually predict the labels and construct the weights in the original Euclidean space. For transductive classification by our formulation, we first perform the joint discriminative K-means clustering and manifold learning to capture the low-dimensional nonlinear manifolds. Then, we construct the adaptive weights over the learnt manifold features, where the adaptive weights are calculated through performing the joint minimization of the reconstruction errors over features and soft labels so that the graph weights can be joint-optimal for data representation and classification. Using the adaptive weights, we can easily estimate the unknown labels of samples. After that, our method returns the updated weights for further updating the manifold features. Extensive simulations on image classification and segmentation show that our proposed algorithm can deliver the state-of-the-art performance on several public datasets. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  15. Testing the inverse-square law of gravity: Error and design with the upward continuation integral

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Thomas, J.

    1989-01-01

    It has been reported that the inverse-square law of gravity is violated over a range of a few hundred meters. I present a different method for the analysis of the data from that experiment. In this method, the experimental error can be evaluated analytically and I confirm the previous analysis but show that it is a 2σ effect. The method can also be used to design new experiments that will yield minimum errors for a fixed number of data points

  16. Human errors evaluation for muster in emergency situations applying human error probability index (HEPI, in the oil company warehouse in Hamadan City

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available Introduction: Emergency situation is one of the influencing factors on human error. The aim of this research was purpose to evaluate human error in emergency situation of fire and explosion at the oil company warehouse in Hamadan city applying human error probability index (HEPI. . Material and Method: First, the scenario of emergency situation of those situation of fire and explosion at the oil company warehouse was designed and then maneuver against, was performed. The scaled questionnaire of muster for the maneuver was completed in the next stage. Collected data were analyzed to calculate the probability success for the 18 actions required in an emergency situation from starting point of the muster until the latest action to temporary sheltersafe. .Result: The result showed that the highest probability of error occurrence was related to make safe workplace (evaluation phase with 32.4 % and lowest probability of occurrence error in detection alarm (awareness phase with 1.8 %, probability. The highest severity of error was in the evaluation phase and the lowest severity of error was in the awareness and recovery phase. Maximum risk level was related to the evaluating exit routes and selecting one route and choosy another exit route and minimum risk level was related to the four evaluation phases. . Conclusion: To reduce the risk of reaction in the exit phases of an emergency situation, the following actions are recommended, based on the finding in this study: A periodic evaluation of the exit phase and modifying them if necessary, conducting more maneuvers and analyzing this results along with a sufficient feedback to the employees.

  17. Fast high resolution ADC based on the flash type with a special error correcting technique

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Xiao-Zhong, Liang; Jing-Xi, Cao [Beijing Univ. (China). Inst. of Atomic Energy

    1984-03-01

    A fast 12 bits ADC based on the flash type with a simple special error correcting technique which can effectively compensate the level drift of the discriminators and the droop of the stretcher voltage is described. The DNL is comparable with the Wilkinson's ADC and long term drift is far better than its.

  18. Discriminative illumination: per-pixel classification of raw materials based on optimal projections of spectral BRDF.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Chao; Gu, Jinwei

    2014-01-01

    Classifying raw, unpainted materials--metal, plastic, ceramic, fabric, and so on--is an important yet challenging task for computer vision. Previous works measure subsets of surface spectral reflectance as features for classification. However, acquiring the full spectral reflectance is time consuming and error-prone. In this paper, we propose to use coded illumination to directly measure discriminative features for material classification. Optimal illumination patterns--which we call "discriminative illumination"--are learned from training samples, after projecting to which the spectral reflectance of different materials are maximally separated. This projection is automatically realized by the integration of incident light for surface reflection. While a single discriminative illumination is capable of linear, two-class classification, we show that multiple discriminative illuminations can be used for nonlinear and multiclass classification. We also show theoretically that the proposed method has higher signal-to-noise ratio than previous methods due to light multiplexing. Finally, we construct an LED-based multispectral dome and use the discriminative illumination method for classifying a variety of raw materials, including metal (aluminum, alloy, steel, stainless steel, brass, and copper), plastic, ceramic, fabric, and wood. Experimental results demonstrate its effectiveness.

  19. Hippocampal-cortical contributions to strategic exploration during perceptual discrimination.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Voss, Joel L; Cohen, Neal J

    2017-06-01

    The hippocampus is crucial for long-term memory; its involvement in short-term or immediate expressions of memory is more controversial. Rodent hippocampus has been implicated in an expression of memory that occurs on-line during exploration termed "vicarious trial-and-error" (VTE) behavior. VTE occurs when rodents iteratively explore options during perceptual discrimination or at choice points. It is strategic in that it accelerates learning and improves later memory. VTE has been associated with activity of rodent hippocampal neurons, and lesions of hippocampus disrupt VTE and associated learning and memory advantages. Analogous findings of VTE in humans would support the role of hippocampus in active use of short-term memory to guide strategic behavior. We therefore measured VTE using eye-movement tracking during perceptual discrimination and identified relevant neural correlates with functional magnetic resonance imaging. A difficult perceptual-discrimination task was used that required visual information to be maintained during a several second trial, but with no long-term memory component. VTE accelerated discrimination. Neural correlates of VTE included robust activity of hippocampus and activity of a network of medial prefrontal and lateral parietal regions involved in memory-guided behavior. This VTE-related activity was distinct from activity associated with simply viewing visual stimuli and making eye movements during the discrimination task, which occurred in regions frequently associated with visual processing and eye-movement control. Subjects were mostly unaware of performing VTE, thus further distancing VTE from explicit long-term memory processing. These findings bridge the rodent and human literatures on neural substrates of memory-guided behavior, and provide further support for the role of hippocampus and a hippocampal-centered network of cortical regions in the immediate use of memory in on-line processing and the guidance of behavior. © 2017

  20. Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised Block Design broken configuration errors in nonpenetrating traumatic brain injury.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wilde, M C; Boake, C; Sherer, M

    2000-01-01

    Final broken configuration errors on the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised (WAIS-R; Wechsler, 1981) Block Design subtest were examined in 50 moderate and severe nonpenetrating traumatically brain injured adults. Patients were divided into left (n = 15) and right hemisphere (n = 19) groups based on a history of unilateral craniotomy for treatment of an intracranial lesion and were compared to a group with diffuse or negative brain CT scan findings and no history of neurosurgery (n = 16). The percentage of final broken configuration errors was related to injury severity, Benton Visual Form Discrimination Test (VFD; Benton, Hamsher, Varney, & Spreen, 1983) total score and the number of VFD rotation and peripheral errors. The percentage of final broken configuration errors was higher in the patients with right craniotomies than in the left or no craniotomy groups, which did not differ. Broken configuration errors did not occur more frequently on designs without an embedded grid pattern. Right craniotomy patients did not show a greater percentage of broken configuration errors on nongrid designs as compared to grid designs.

  1. Implementing nonprojective measurements via linear optics: An approach based on optimal quantum-state discrimination

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Loock, Peter van; Nemoto, Kae; Munro, William J.; Raynal, Philippe; Luetkenhaus, Norbert

    2006-01-01

    We discuss the problem of implementing generalized measurements [positive operator-valued measures (POVMs)] with linear optics, either based upon a static linear array or including conditional dynamics. In our approach, a given POVM shall be identified as a solution to an optimization problem for a chosen cost function. We formulate a general principle: the implementation is only possible if a linear-optics circuit exists for which the quantum mechanical optimum (minimum) is still attainable after dephasing the corresponding quantum states. The general principle enables us, for instance, to derive a set of necessary conditions for the linear-optics implementation of the POVM that realizes the quantum mechanically optimal unambiguous discrimination of two pure nonorthogonal states. This extends our previous results on projection measurements and the exact discrimination of orthogonal states

  2. Quantifying explainable discrimination and removing illegal discrimination in automated decision making

    KAUST Repository

    Kamiran, Faisal

    2012-11-18

    Recently, the following discrimination-aware classification problem was introduced. Historical data used for supervised learning may contain discrimination, for instance, with respect to gender. The question addressed by discrimination-aware techniques is, given sensitive attribute, how to train discrimination-free classifiers on such historical data that are discriminative, with respect to the given sensitive attribute. Existing techniques that deal with this problem aim at removing all discrimination and do not take into account that part of the discrimination may be explainable by other attributes. For example, in a job application, the education level of a job candidate could be such an explainable attribute. If the data contain many highly educated male candidates and only few highly educated women, a difference in acceptance rates between woman and man does not necessarily reflect gender discrimination, as it could be explained by the different levels of education. Even though selecting on education level would result in more males being accepted, a difference with respect to such a criterion would not be considered to be undesirable, nor illegal. Current state-of-the-art techniques, however, do not take such gender-neutral explanations into account and tend to overreact and actually start reverse discriminating, as we will show in this paper. Therefore, we introduce and analyze the refined notion of conditional non-discrimination in classifier design. We show that some of the differences in decisions across the sensitive groups can be explainable and are hence tolerable. Therefore, we develop methodology for quantifying the explainable discrimination and algorithmic techniques for removing the illegal discrimination when one or more attributes are considered as explanatory. Experimental evaluation on synthetic and real-world classification datasets demonstrates that the new techniques are superior to the old ones in this new context, as they succeed in

  3. Perceived Discrimination in LGBTIQ Discourse: A Typology of Verbal Discrimination

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sol Rojas Lizana

    2014-08-01

    Full Text Available New within the field of Discourse Analysis, Perceived Discrimination (PD is the study of discourse that focuses on the perspective of the victims of discrimination. This article explores the experiences of verbal discrimination as reported by eighteen LGBTIQ participants during semi-structured, co-constructed interviews. Data were classified in order to develop a taxonomy of discrimination based on Mellor’s (2003, 2004. This taxonomy foregrounds two types of discrimination: verbal and behavioural. In this paper, I exemplify the forms of verbal discrimination encountered and offer an analysis of the discourse used in the construction of the experiences and of the effects reported. The results show that verbal discrimination is an overt phenomenon and that participants are stressed by the ever present possibility of facing it. Verbal discrimination is mainly triggered by a perceived transgression to the normalised standards of people’s behaviour, movements and look in a heterosexist society. It presents three subtypes: name calling, abuse and remarks. These subtypes are described through the analysis of keywords, effects and expressions (such as faggot, gay, dyke, queer, the pronoun ‘it’, religious comments and other remarks. The type of discrimination used was associated with the level of acquaintance perpetrators have with the experiencers; that is, name calling was used by people unknown to the victims while abuse and remarks by acquaintances and family members. Participants resorted to several discursive strategies to convey their intentions. They used mitigation strategies when wanting to minimize the experience, hedging and repetition were used for emphasis, and to convey urgency and pervasiveness. Metaphorical expressions related to internal or external injuries were also used to express the powerful effect of verbal discrimination on people.

  4. Unified Scaling Law for flux pinning in practical superconductors: III. Minimum datasets, core parameters, and application of the Extrapolative Scaling Expression

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ekin, Jack W.; Cheggour, Najib; Goodrich, Loren; Splett, Jolene

    2017-03-01

    In Part 2 of these articles, an extensive analysis of pinning-force curves and raw scaling data was used to derive the Extrapolative Scaling Expression (ESE). This is a parameterization of the Unified Scaling Law (USL) that has the extrapolation capability of fundamental unified scaling, coupled with the application ease of a simple fitting equation. Here in Part 3, the accuracy of the ESE relation to interpolate and extrapolate limited critical-current data to obtain complete I c(B,T,ɛ) datasets is evaluated and compared with present fitting equations. Accuracy is analyzed in terms of root mean square (RMS) error and fractional deviation statistics. Highlights from 92 test cases are condensed and summarized, covering most fitting protocols and proposed parameterizations of the USL. The results show that ESE reliably extrapolates critical currents at fields B, temperatures T, and strains ɛ that are remarkably different from the fitted minimum dataset. Depending on whether the conductor is moderate-J c or high-J c, effective RMS extrapolation errors for ESE are in the range 2-5 A at 12 T, which approaches the I c measurement error (1-2%). The minimum dataset for extrapolating full I c(B,T,ɛ) characteristics is also determined from raw scaling data. It consists of one set of I c(B,ɛ) data at a fixed temperature (e.g., liquid helium temperature), and one set of I c(B,T) data at a fixed strain (e.g., zero applied strain). Error analysis of extrapolations from the minimum dataset with different fitting equations shows that ESE reduces the percentage extrapolation errors at individual data points at high fields, temperatures, and compressive strains down to 1/10th to 1/40th the size of those for extrapolations with present fitting equations. Depending on the conductor, percentage fitting errors for interpolations are also reduced to as little as 1/15th the size. The extrapolation accuracy of the ESE relation offers the prospect of straightforward implementation of

  5. Validation of a model-based measurement of the minimum insert thickness of knee prostheses: a retrieval study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    van IJsseldijk, E A; Harman, M K; Luetzner, J; Valstar, E R; Stoel, B C; Nelissen, R G H H; Kaptein, B L

    2014-10-01

    Wear of polyethylene inserts plays an important role in failure of total knee replacement and can be monitored in vivo by measuring the minimum joint space width in anteroposterior radiographs. The objective of this retrospective cross-sectional study was to compare the accuracy and precision of a new model-based method with the conventional method by analysing the difference between the minimum joint space width measurements and the actual thickness of retrieved polyethylene tibial inserts. Before revision, the minimum joint space width values and their locations on the insert were measured in 15 fully weight-bearing radiographs. These measurements were compared with the actual minimum thickness values and locations of the retrieved tibial inserts after revision. The mean error in the model-based minimum joint space width measurement was significantly smaller than the conventional method for medial condyles (0.50 vs 0.94 mm, p model-based measurements was less than 10 mm in the medial direction in 12 cases and less in the lateral direction in 13 cases. The model-based minimum joint space width measurement method is more accurate than the conventional measurement with the same precision. Cite this article: Bone Joint Res 2014;3:289-96. ©2014 The British Editorial Society of Bone & Joint Surgery.

  6. Do Minimum Wages Fight Poverty?

    OpenAIRE

    David Neumark; William Wascher

    1997-01-01

    The primary goal of a national minimum wage floor is to raise the incomes of poor or near-poor families with members in the work force. However, estimates of employment effects of minimum wages tell us little about whether minimum wages are can achieve this goal; even if the disemployment effects of minimum wages are modest, minimum wage increases could result in net income losses for poor families. We present evidence on the effects of minimum wages on family incomes from matched March CPS s...

  7. Pulse-width discriminators

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Budyashov, Yu.G.; Grebenyuk, V.M.; Zinov, V.G.

    1978-01-01

    A pulse duration discriminator is described which is intended for processing signals from multilayer scintillators. The basic elements of the scintillator are: an input gate, a current generator, an integrating capacitor, a Schmidt trigger and an anticoincidence circuit. The basic circuit of the discriminator and its time diagrams explaining its operating are given. The discriminator is based on microcircuits. Pulse duration discrimination threshold changes continuously from 20 to 100 ns, while its amplitude threshold changes within 20 to 100 mV. The temperature instability of discrimination thresholds (both in pulse width and in amplitude) is better than 0.1 per cent/deg C

  8. Common ECG Lead Placement Errors. Part I: Limb Lead Reversals

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Allison V. Rosen

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available Background: Electrocardiography (ECG is a very useful diagnostic tool. However, errors in placement of ECG leads can create artifacts, mimic pathologies, and hinder proper ECG interpretation. It is important for members of the health care team to be able to recognize the common patterns resulting from lead placement errors. Methods: 12-lead ECGs were recorded in a single male healthy subject in his mid 20s. Six different limb lead reversals were compared to ECG recordings from correct lead placement. Results: Classic ECG patterns were observed when leads were reversed. Methods of discriminating these ECG patterns from true pathologic findings were described. Conclusion: Correct recording and interpretation of ECGs is key to providing optimal patient care. It is therefore crucial to be able to recognize common ECG patterns that are indicative of lead reversals.

  9. Learning from mistakes: errors in approaches to melanoma and the urgent need for updated national guidelines.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Simionescu, Olga; Blum, Andreas; Grigore, Mariana; Costache, Mariana; Avram, Alina; Testori, Alessandro

    2016-09-01

    The tracking and identification of errors in the detection and follow-up of melanoma are important because there is huge potential to increase awareness about the most vulnerable aspects of diagnosis and treatment, and to improve both from the perspective of healthcare economics. The present study was designed to identify where errors occur and to propose a minimum set of rules for the routine guidance of any specialist in melanoma management. This report describes the evaluation of a unique series of 33 cases in which errors applying to many steps in the diagnosis and treatment of melanoma were detected. Cases were collected at two centers in Romania, one public and one private, as part of a process of obtaining patient-requested second opinions. A total of 166 errors were identified across the 33 patients, most of which were treatment errors. The errors fell into six categories: clinical diagnostic errors (36 errors among 30 patients); primary surgical errors (31 errors among 16 patients); pathology errors (24 errors among 17 patients); sentinel lymph node biopsy errors (13 errors among 13 patients); staging errors (17 errors among 13 patients); and treatment or management errors (45 errors among 33 patients). Based on the present results, we propose that in countries lacking national guidelines, clinicians should adhere to international evidence-based guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of melanoma. © 2015 The International Society of Dermatology.

  10. Metrological Array of Cyber-Physical Systems. Part 7. Additive Error Correction for Measuring Instrument

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yuriy YATSUK

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available Since during design it is impossible to use the uncertainty approach because the measurement results are still absent and as noted the error approach that can be successfully applied taking as true the nominal value of instruments transformation function. Limiting possibilities of additive error correction of measuring instruments for Cyber-Physical Systems are studied basing on general and special methods of measurement. Principles of measuring circuit maximal symmetry and its minimal reconfiguration are proposed for measurement or/and calibration. It is theoretically justified for the variety of correction methods that minimum additive error of measuring instruments exists under considering the real equivalent parameters of input electronic switches. Terms of self-calibrating and verification the measuring instruments in place are studied.

  11. Discrimination-related health inequality and role of social capital among marriage migrant women in South Korea.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Chang-O

    2016-10-26

    This study aimed to evaluate whether social capital could alleviate health inequality against racial discrimination and identify the critical nature of social capital that generates health inequality differences within the social context of South Korea. Using the data of the 2009 National Survey of Multicultural Families, a nationally representative sample in which 40,430 foreign wives participated, the concentration index (CI) was used to measure the discrimination-related inequalities in self-rated health and was decomposed into contributing factors. The results showed a significant concentration of poor self-rated health unfavorable to foreign wives who were highly discriminated (CI 0.023, standard error [SE] 0.001, p inequality in health was observed among the group of linking social capital (CI 0.008, SE 0.008, p .332). The total differential decomposition method showed two major factors that generate differences in health inequality between the groups of non-linking and linking social capital: protest against discrimination (35.8 %); experiences of discrimination (28.3 %). The present results indicated that linking social capital can be a useful resource of health resilience factor that equalizes discrimination-related health inequality among marriage migrant women in South Korea. This study provides additional evidence that social capital needs to be placed in its political context.

  12. Action errors, error management, and learning in organizations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Frese, Michael; Keith, Nina

    2015-01-03

    Every organization is confronted with errors. Most errors are corrected easily, but some may lead to negative consequences. Organizations often focus on error prevention as a single strategy for dealing with errors. Our review suggests that error prevention needs to be supplemented by error management--an approach directed at effectively dealing with errors after they have occurred, with the goal of minimizing negative and maximizing positive error consequences (examples of the latter are learning and innovations). After defining errors and related concepts, we review research on error-related processes affected by error management (error detection, damage control). Empirical evidence on positive effects of error management in individuals and organizations is then discussed, along with emotional, motivational, cognitive, and behavioral pathways of these effects. Learning from errors is central, but like other positive consequences, learning occurs under certain circumstances--one being the development of a mind-set of acceptance of human error.

  13. Modeling coherent errors in quantum error correction

    Science.gov (United States)

    Greenbaum, Daniel; Dutton, Zachary

    2018-01-01

    Analysis of quantum error correcting codes is typically done using a stochastic, Pauli channel error model for describing the noise on physical qubits. However, it was recently found that coherent errors (systematic rotations) on physical data qubits result in both physical and logical error rates that differ significantly from those predicted by a Pauli model. Here we examine the accuracy of the Pauli approximation for noise containing coherent errors (characterized by a rotation angle ɛ) under the repetition code. We derive an analytic expression for the logical error channel as a function of arbitrary code distance d and concatenation level n, in the small error limit. We find that coherent physical errors result in logical errors that are partially coherent and therefore non-Pauli. However, the coherent part of the logical error is negligible at fewer than {ε }-({dn-1)} error correction cycles when the decoder is optimized for independent Pauli errors, thus providing a regime of validity for the Pauli approximation. Above this number of correction cycles, the persistent coherent logical error will cause logical failure more quickly than the Pauli model would predict, and this may need to be combated with coherent suppression methods at the physical level or larger codes.

  14. Improvement on Timing Accuracy of LIDAR for Remote Sensing

    Science.gov (United States)

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

    2018-05-01

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

  15. Assessing Seasonal and Inter-Annual Variations of Lake Surface Areas in Mongolia during 2000-2011 Using Minimum Composite MODIS NDVI.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kang, Sinkyu; Hong, Suk Young

    2016-01-01

    A minimum composite method was applied to produce a 15-day interval normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) dataset from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) daily 250 m reflectance in the red and near-infrared bands. This dataset was applied to determine lake surface areas in Mongolia. A total of 73 lakes greater than 6.25 km2in area were selected, and 28 of these lakes were used to evaluate detection errors. The minimum composite NDVI showed a better detection performance on lake water pixels than did the official MODIS 16-day 250 m NDVI based on a maximum composite method. The overall lake area detection performance based on the 15-day minimum composite NDVI showed -2.5% error relative to the Landsat-derived lake area for the 28 evaluated lakes. The errors increased with increases in the perimeter-to-area ratio but decreased with lake size over 10 km(2). The lake area decreased by -9.3% at an annual rate of -53.7 km(2) yr(-1) during 2000 to 2011 for the 73 lakes. However, considerable spatial variations, such as slight-to-moderate lake area reductions in semi-arid regions and rapid lake area reductions in arid regions, were also detected. This study demonstrated applicability of MODIS 250 m reflectance data for biweekly monitoring of lake area change and diagnosed considerable lake area reduction and its spatial variability in arid and semi-arid regions of Mongolia. Future studies are required for explaining reasons of lake area changes and their spatial variability.

  16. Random and systematic beam modulator errors in dynamic intensity modulated radiotherapy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Parsai, Homayon; Cho, Paul S; Phillips, Mark H; Giansiracusa, Robert S; Axen, David

    2003-01-01

    This paper reports on the dosimetric effects of random and systematic modulator errors in delivery of dynamic intensity modulated beams. A sliding-widow type delivery that utilizes a combination of multileaf collimators (MLCs) and backup diaphragms was examined. Gaussian functions with standard deviations ranging from 0.5 to 1.5 mm were used to simulate random positioning errors. A clinical example involving a clival meningioma was chosen with optic chiasm and brain stem as limiting critical structures in the vicinity of the tumour. Dose calculations for different modulator fluctuations were performed, and a quantitative analysis was carried out based on cumulative and differential dose volume histograms for the gross target volume and surrounding critical structures. The study indicated that random modulator errors have a strong tendency to reduce minimum target dose and homogeneity. Furthermore, it was shown that random perturbation of both MLCs and backup diaphragms in the order of σ = 1 mm can lead to 5% errors in prescribed dose. In comparison, when MLCs or backup diaphragms alone was perturbed, the system was more robust and modulator errors of at least σ = 1.5 mm were required to cause dose discrepancies greater than 5%. For systematic perturbation, even errors in the order of ±0.5 mm were shown to result in significant dosimetric deviations

  17. Error amplification to promote motor learning and motivation in therapy robotics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shirzad, Navid; Van der Loos, H F Machiel

    2012-01-01

    To study the effects of different feedback error amplification methods on a subject's upper-limb motor learning and affect during a point-to-point reaching exercise, we developed a real-time controller for a robotic manipulandum. The reaching environment was visually distorted by implementing a thirty degrees rotation between the coordinate systems of the robot's end-effector and the visual display. Feedback error amplification was provided to subjects as they trained to learn reaching within the visually rotated environment. Error amplification was provided either visually or through both haptic and visual means, each method with two different amplification gains. Subjects' performance (i.e., trajectory error) and self-reports to a questionnaire were used to study the speed and amount of adaptation promoted by each error amplification method and subjects' emotional changes. We found that providing haptic and visual feedback promotes faster adaptation to the distortion and increases subjects' satisfaction with the task, leading to a higher level of attentiveness during the exercise. This finding can be used to design a novel exercise regimen, where alternating between error amplification methods is used to both increase a subject's motor learning and maintain a minimum level of motivational engagement in the exercise. In future experiments, we will test whether such exercise methods will lead to a faster learning time and greater motivation to pursue a therapy exercise regimen.

  18. Errors in causal inference: an organizational schema for systematic error and random error.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Suzuki, Etsuji; Tsuda, Toshihide; Mitsuhashi, Toshiharu; Mansournia, Mohammad Ali; Yamamoto, Eiji

    2016-11-01

    To provide an organizational schema for systematic error and random error in estimating causal measures, aimed at clarifying the concept of errors from the perspective of causal inference. We propose to divide systematic error into structural error and analytic error. With regard to random error, our schema shows its four major sources: nondeterministic counterfactuals, sampling variability, a mechanism that generates exposure events and measurement variability. Structural error is defined from the perspective of counterfactual reasoning and divided into nonexchangeability bias (which comprises confounding bias and selection bias) and measurement bias. Directed acyclic graphs are useful to illustrate this kind of error. Nonexchangeability bias implies a lack of "exchangeability" between the selected exposed and unexposed groups. A lack of exchangeability is not a primary concern of measurement bias, justifying its separation from confounding bias and selection bias. Many forms of analytic errors result from the small-sample properties of the estimator used and vanish asymptotically. Analytic error also results from wrong (misspecified) statistical models and inappropriate statistical methods. Our organizational schema is helpful for understanding the relationship between systematic error and random error from a previously less investigated aspect, enabling us to better understand the relationship between accuracy, validity, and precision. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  19. Error Analysis of 3D Metal Micromold Fabricated by Femtosecond Laser Cutting and Microelectric Resistance Slip Welding

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bin Xu

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available We used micro-double-staged laminated object manufacturing process (micro-DLOM to fabricate 3D micromold. Moreover, the error of the micro-DLOM was also studied. Firstly, we got the principle error of the micro-DLOM. Based on the mathematical expression, it can be deduced that the smaller the opening angle α and the steel foil thickness h are, the smaller the principle error δ is. Secondly, we studied the error of femtosecond laser cutting. Through the experimental results, we know that the error of femtosecond laser cutting is 0.5 μm under 110 mW femtosecond laser power, 100 μm/s cutting speed, and 0.75 μm dimension compensation. Finally, we researched the error of microelectric resistance slip welding. Based on the research results, we can know that the minimum error of microcavity mold in the height direction is only 0.22 μm when welding voltage is 0.21 V and the number of slip welding discharge is 160.

  20. Systematic errors of EIT systems determined by easily-scalable resistive phantoms.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hahn, G; Just, A; Dittmar, J; Hellige, G

    2008-06-01

    We present a simple method to determine systematic errors that will occur in the measurements by EIT systems. The approach is based on very simple scalable resistive phantoms for EIT systems using a 16 electrode adjacent drive pattern. The output voltage of the phantoms is constant for all combinations of current injection and voltage measurements and the trans-impedance of each phantom is determined by only one component. It can be chosen independently from the input and output impedance, which can be set in order to simulate measurements on the human thorax. Additional serial adapters allow investigation of the influence of the contact impedance at the electrodes on resulting errors. Since real errors depend on the dynamic properties of an EIT system, the following parameters are accessible: crosstalk, the absolute error of each driving/sensing channel and the signal to noise ratio in each channel. Measurements were performed on a Goe-MF II EIT system under four different simulated operational conditions. We found that systematic measurement errors always exceeded the error level of stochastic noise since the Goe-MF II system had been optimized for a sufficient signal to noise ratio but not for accuracy. In time difference imaging and functional EIT (f-EIT) systematic errors are reduced to a minimum by dividing the raw data by reference data. This is not the case in absolute EIT (a-EIT) where the resistivity of the examined object is determined on an absolute scale. We conclude that a reduction of systematic errors has to be one major goal in future system design.

  1. Systematic errors of EIT systems determined by easily-scalable resistive phantoms

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hahn, G; Just, A; Dittmar, J; Hellige, G

    2008-01-01

    We present a simple method to determine systematic errors that will occur in the measurements by EIT systems. The approach is based on very simple scalable resistive phantoms for EIT systems using a 16 electrode adjacent drive pattern. The output voltage of the phantoms is constant for all combinations of current injection and voltage measurements and the trans-impedance of each phantom is determined by only one component. It can be chosen independently from the input and output impedance, which can be set in order to simulate measurements on the human thorax. Additional serial adapters allow investigation of the influence of the contact impedance at the electrodes on resulting errors. Since real errors depend on the dynamic properties of an EIT system, the following parameters are accessible: crosstalk, the absolute error of each driving/sensing channel and the signal to noise ratio in each channel. Measurements were performed on a Goe-MF II EIT system under four different simulated operational conditions. We found that systematic measurement errors always exceeded the error level of stochastic noise since the Goe-MF II system had been optimized for a sufficient signal to noise ratio but not for accuracy. In time difference imaging and functional EIT (f-EIT) systematic errors are reduced to a minimum by dividing the raw data by reference data. This is not the case in absolute EIT (a-EIT) where the resistivity of the examined object is determined on an absolute scale. We conclude that a reduction of systematic errors has to be one major goal in future system design

  2. Asymptotic performance of regularized quadratic discriminant analysis based classifiers

    KAUST Repository

    Elkhalil, Khalil

    2017-12-13

    This paper carries out a large dimensional analysis of the standard regularized quadratic discriminant analysis (QDA) classifier designed on the assumption that data arise from a Gaussian mixture model. The analysis relies on fundamental results from random matrix theory (RMT) when both the number of features and the cardinality of the training data within each class grow large at the same pace. Under some mild assumptions, we show that the asymptotic classification error converges to a deterministic quantity that depends only on the covariances and means associated with each class as well as the problem dimensions. Such a result permits a better understanding of the performance of regularized QDA and can be used to determine the optimal regularization parameter that minimizes the misclassification error probability. Despite being valid only for Gaussian data, our theoretical findings are shown to yield a high accuracy in predicting the performances achieved with real data sets drawn from popular real data bases, thereby making an interesting connection between theory and practice.

  3. Hard and soft age discrimination: the dual nature of workplace discrimination.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stypinska, Justyna; Turek, Konrad

    2017-03-01

    The paper concentrates on the problem of age discrimination in the labour market and the way it can be conceptualised and measured in a multi-disciplinary way. The approach proposed here combines two understandings of age discrimination-a sociological and legal one, what allows for a fuller and expanded understanding of ageism in the workplace. At the heart of the study is a survey carried out in Poland with a sample of 1000 men and women aged 45-65 years. The study takes a deeper and innovative look into the issue of age discrimination in employment. Confirmatory factor analysis with WLSMV estimation and logistic regressions were used to test the hypotheses. The study shows that age discrimination in labour market can take on different forms: hard and soft, where the hard type of age discrimination mirrors the legally prohibited types of behaviours and those which relate to the actual decisions of employers which can impact on the employee's career development. The soft discrimination corresponds with those occurrences, which are not inscribed in the legal system per se, are occurring predominantly in the interpersonal sphere, but can nevertheless have negative consequences. Soft discrimination was experienced more often (28.6% of respondents) than hard discrimination (15.7%) with higher occurrences among women, persons in precarious job situation or residents of urban areas. The role of education was not confirmed to influence the levels of perceived age discrimination.

  4. Quantifying explainable discrimination and removing illegal discrimination in automated decision making

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kamiran, F.; Zliobaite, I.; Calders, T.G.K.

    2013-01-01

    Recently, the following discrimination-aware classification problem was introduced. Historical data used for supervised learning may contain discrimination, for instance, with respect to gender. The question addressed by discrimination-aware techniques is, given sensitive attribute, how to train

  5. Social Status Correlates of Reporting Racial Discrimination and Gender Discrimination among Racially Diverse Women

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ro, Annie E.; Choi, Kyung-Hee

    2009-01-01

    The growing body of research on discrimination and health indicates a deleterious effect of discrimination on various health outcomes. However, less is known about the sociodemographic correlates of reporting racial discrimination and gender discrimination among racially diverse women. We examined the associations of social status characteristics with lifetime experiences of racial discrimination and gender discrimination using a racially-diverse sample of 754 women attending family planning clinics in Northern California (11.4% African American, 16.8% Latina, 10.1% Asian and 61.7% Caucasian). A multivariate analysis revealed that race, financial difficulty and marital status were significantly correlated with higher reports of racial discrimination, while race, education, financial difficulty and nativity were significantly correlated with gender discrimination scores. Our findings suggest that the social patterning of perceiving racial discrimination is somewhat different from that of gender discrimination. This has implications in the realm of discrimination research and applied interventions, as different forms of discrimination may have unique covariates that should be accounted for in research analysis or program design. PMID:19485231

  6. Social status correlates of reporting gender discrimination and racial discrimination among racially diverse women.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ro, Annie E; Choi, Kyung-Hee

    2009-01-01

    The growing body of research on discrimination and health indicates a deleterious effect of discrimination on various health outcomes. However, less is known about the sociodemographic correlates of reporting racial discrimination and gender discrimination among racially diverse women. We examined the associations of social status characteristics with lifetime experiences of racial discrimination and gender discrimination using a racially-diverse sample of 754 women attending family planning clinics in North California (11.4% African American, 16.8% Latina, 10.1% Asian and 61.7% Caucasian). A multivariate analysis revealed that race, financial difficulty and marital status were significantly correlated with higher reports of racial discrimination, while race, education, financial difficulty and nativity were significantly correlated with gender discrimination scores. Our findings suggest that the social patterning of perceiving racial discrimination is somewhat different from that of gender discrimination. This has implications in the realm of discrimination research and applied interventions, as different forms of discrimination may have unique covariates that should be accounted for in research analysis or program design.

  7. Hypoxia in the St. Lawrence Estuary: How a Coding Error Led to the Belief that "Physics Controls Spatial Patterns".

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Daniel Bourgault

    Full Text Available Two fundamental sign errors were found in a computer code used for studying the oxygen minimum zone (OMZ and hypoxia in the Estuary and Gulf of St. Lawrence. These errors invalidate the conclusions drawn from the model, and call into question a proposed mechanism for generating OMZ that challenges classical understanding. The study in question is being cited frequently, leading the discipline in the wrong direction.

  8. Measurement Error, Reliability, and Minimum Detectable Change in the Mini-Mental State Examination, Montreal Cognitive Assessment, and Color Trails Test among Community Living Middle-Aged and Older Adults.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Feeney, Joanne; Savva, George M; O'Regan, Claire; King-Kallimanis, Bellinda; Cronin, Hilary; Kenny, Rose Anne

    2016-05-31

    Knowing the reliability of cognitive tests, particularly those commonly used in clinical practice, is important in order to interpret the clinical significance of a change in performance or a low score on a single test. To report the intra-class correlation (ICC), standard error of measurement (SEM) and minimum detectable change (MDC) for the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), and Color Trails Test (CTT) among community dwelling older adults. 130 participants aged 55 and older without severe cognitive impairment underwent two cognitive assessments between two and four months apart. Half the group changed rater between assessments and half changed time of day. Mean (standard deviation) MMSE was 28.1 (2.1) at baseline and 28.4 (2.1) at repeat. Mean (SD) MoCA increased from 24.8 (3.6) to 25.2 (3.6). There was a rater effect on CTT, but not on the MMSE or MoCA. The SEM of the MMSE was 1.0, leading to an MDC (based on a 95% confidence interval) of 3 points. The SEM of the MoCA was 1.5, implying an MDC95 of 4 points. MoCA (ICC = 0.81) was more reliable than MMSE (ICC = 0.75), but all tests examined showed substantial within-patient variation. An individual's score would have to change by greater than or equal to 3 points on the MMSE and 4 points on the MoCA for the rater to be confident that the change was not due to measurement error. This has important implications for epidemiologists and clinicians in dementia screening and diagnosis.

  9. Discovery of X-Ray Emission from the Crab Pulsar at Pulse Minimum

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tennant, Allyn F.; Becker, Werner; Juda, Michael; Elsner, Ronald F.; Kolodziejczak, Jeffery J.; Murray, Stephen S.; ODell, Stephen L.; Paerels, Frits; Swartz, Douglas A.

    2001-01-01

    The Chandra X-Ray Observatory observed the Crab pulsar using the Low-Energy Transmission Grating with the High-Resolution Camera. Time-resolved zeroth-order images reveal that the pulsar emits X-rays at all pulse phases. Analysis of the flux at minimum - most likely non-thermal in origin - places an upper limit (T(sub infinity) < 2.1 MK) on the surface temperature of the underlying neutron star. In addition, analysis of the pulse profile establishes that the error in the Chandra-determined absolute time is quite small, -0.2 +/- 0.1 ms.

  10. Conversion and matched filter approximations for serial minimum-shift keyed modulation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ziemer, R. E.; Ryan, C. R.; Stilwell, J. H.

    1982-01-01

    Serial minimum-shift keyed (MSK) modulation, a technique for generating and detecting MSK using series filtering, is ideally suited for high data rate applications provided the required conversion and matched filters can be closely approximated. Low-pass implementations of these filters as parallel inphase- and quadrature-mixer structures are characterized in this paper in terms of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) degradation from ideal and envelope deviation. Several hardware implementation techniques utilizing microwave devices or lumped elements are presented. Optimization of parameter values results in realizations whose SNR degradation is less than 0.5 dB at error probabilities of .000001.

  11. Objective Tests and Their Discriminating Power in Business Courses: a Case Study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Edgard B. Cornachione Jr.

    2005-07-01

    Full Text Available Evaluating students’ learning experiences outcomes cannot be considered a simple task. This paper aims at investigating students’ overall performance and the discriminating power of particular tests’ items in the context of business courses. The purpose of this paper is to contribute with this issue while analyzing it, with scientific approach, from an accounting information systems standpoint: two experiments based on a database management system (DBMS undergraduate course, involving 66 and 62 students (experiments E1 and E2, respectively. The discriminant analysis generated discriminant functions with high canonical correlations (E1=0.898 and E2= 0.789. As a result, high percentages of original grouped cases were correctly classified (E1=98.5% and E2= 95.2% based on a relatively small number of items: 7 out of 22 items from E1 (multiple-choice, and 3 out of 6 from E2 (short-answer. So, with only a few items from the analyzed instruments it is possible todiscriminate “good” or “bad” academic performance, and this is a measure of quality of the observed testing instruments. According to these findings, especially in business area, instructors and institutions, together, are able to analyze and act towards improving their assessment methods, to be of minimum influence whileevaluating students’ performance.

  12. Handling conditional discrimination

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Zliobaite, I.; Kamiran, F.; Calders, T.G.K.

    2011-01-01

    Historical data used for supervised learning may contain discrimination. We study how to train classifiers on such data, so that they are discrimination free with respect to a given sensitive attribute, e.g., gender. Existing techniques that deal with this problem aim at removing all discrimination

  13. Human listeners provide insights into echo features used by dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) to discriminate among objects.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Delong, Caroline M; Au, Whitlow W L; Harley, Heidi E; Roitblat, Herbert L; Pytka, Lisa

    2007-08-01

    Echolocating bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) discriminate between objects on the basis of the echoes reflected by the objects. However, it is not clear which echo features are important for object discrimination. To gain insight into the salient features, the authors had a dolphin perform a match-to-sample task and then presented human listeners with echoes from the same objects used in the dolphin's task. In 2 experiments, human listeners performed as well or better than the dolphin at discriminating objects, and they reported the salient acoustic cues. The error patterns of the humans and the dolphin were compared to determine which acoustic features were likely to have been used by the dolphin. The results indicate that the dolphin did not appear to use overall echo amplitude, but that it attended to the pattern of changes in the echoes across different object orientations. Human listeners can quickly identify salient combinations of echo features that permit object discrimination, which can be used to generate hypotheses that can be tested using dolphins as subjects.

  14. Social Status Correlates of Reporting Racial Discrimination and Gender Discrimination among Racially Diverse Women

    OpenAIRE

    Ro, Annie E.; Choi, Kyung-Hee

    2009-01-01

    The growing body of research on discrimination and health indicates a deleterious effect of discrimination on various health outcomes. However, less is known about the sociodemographic correlates of reporting racial discrimination and gender discrimination among racially diverse women. We examined the associations of social status characteristics with lifetime experiences of racial discrimination and gender discrimination using a racially-diverse sample of 754 women attending family planning ...

  15. Racial discrimination, gender discrimination, and substance abuse among Latina/os nationwide.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Otiniano Verissimo, Angie Denisse; Gee, Gilbert C; Ford, Chandra L; Iguchi, Martin Y

    2014-01-01

    This study investigates the relationship between discrimination and substance abuse among Latina/os, and further examines whether this relationship differs by gender and type of discrimination. Analyses focus on the Latina/o respondents (n = 1,039 men; n = 1,273 women) from the National Latino and Asian American Study carried out from 2002-2003. Outcomes were alcohol abuse and drug abuse measured using DSM-IV definitions and criteria. Additional covariates included immigrant characteristics and demographics. Analyses were completed using gender-stratified multinomial logistic regression. Men reported more discrimination (39.6% vs. 30.3%) and had higher prevalence of alcohol abuse (16.5% vs. 4.5%) and drug abuse (9.5% vs. 2.3%) than women. Discrimination was significantly associated with increased risk of alcohol abuse for women and increased risk of drug abuse for men. Men and women also varied in the types of discrimination (e.g., racial vs. gender) reported, and in the associations between these types of discrimination and substance abuse. These data indicate that discrimination is associated with different substance abuse outcomes between genders. Future research should consider the mechanisms that explain these differences.

  16. Reliability of the minimum basic dataset for diagnoses of cerebrovascular disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hernández Medrano, I; Guillán, M; Masjuan, J; Alonso Cánovas, A; Gogorcena, M A

    2017-03-01

    The minimum basic dataset is the largest available hospital care administrative database that is used in clinical studies and hospital management in association with diagnosis-related groups (DRGs). In 2011, the quality of the national MBDS in hospital discharges was audited, in order to assess its reliability. This paper presents a sub-analysis of the results from that analysis which are referred to cerebrovascular disease (CVD). Using all discharge reports from the Spanish MBDS in 2009, a representative sample was obtained by stratified sampling and 11 209 records were evaluated. Outcome indicators were obtained to measure any differences observed between the national MBDS being evaluated and the hospital's original MBDS. Analysis of codes for CVD as a primary diagnosis was performed for ICD-9-CM diagnostic categories 430 through 438. We evaluated error rates in the selection and classification of main diagnoses, as well as in DRG assignment. There were 397 discharges of cases of CVD which included 21 different DRGs. Diagnostic coding showed a concordance rate of 81.87%; the selection error rate was 2.26% and the classification error rate was 15.87%. The error rate in the DRG was 16.12% and associated with the greatest impact on the mortality risk level. While the errors we observed must be taken into account, data suggest that the quality of the MBDS for CVD is sufficient to ensure delivery of valid information. The hospital discharge registry serves as a valuable tool for use in studies of this disease. Copyright © 2014 Sociedad Española de Neurología. Publicado por Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

  17. Type I Error Inflation in DIF Identification with Mantel-Haenszel: An Explanation and a Solution

    Science.gov (United States)

    Magis, David; De Boeck, Paul

    2014-01-01

    It is known that sum score-based methods for the identification of differential item functioning (DIF), such as the Mantel-Haenszel (MH) approach, can be affected by Type I error inflation in the absence of any DIF effect. This may happen when the items differ in discrimination and when there is item impact. On the other hand, outlier DIF methods…

  18. Unambiguous state discrimination of two density matrices in quantum information theory

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Raynal, P.

    2008-01-01

    Quantum state discrimination is a fundamental task in quantum information theory. The signals are usually nonorthogonal quantum states, which implies that they can not be perfectly distinguished. One possible discrimination strategy is the so-called Unambiguous State Discrimination (USD) where the states are successfully identified with non-unit probability, but without error. The optimal USD measurement has been extensively studied in the case of pure states, especially for any pair of pure states. Recently, the problem of unambiguously discriminating mixed quantum states has attracted much attention. In the case of a pair of generic mixed states, no complete solution is known. In this thesis, we first present reduction theorems for optimal unambiguous discrimination of two generic density matrices. We show that this problem can be reduced to that of two density matrices that have the same rank r in a 2r-dimensional Hilbert space. These reduction theorems also allow us to reduce USD problems to simpler ones for which the solution might be known. As an application, we consider the unambiguous comparison of n linearly independent pure states with a simple symmetry. Moreover, lower bounds on the optimal failure probability have been derived. For two mixed states they are given in terms of the fidelity. Here we give tighter bounds as well as necessary and sufficient conditions for two mixed states to reach these bounds. We also construct the corresponding optimal measurement. With this result, we provide analytical solutions for unambiguously discriminating a class of generic mixed states. This goes beyond known results which are all reducible to some pure state case. We however show that examples exist where the bounds cannot be reached. Next, we derive properties on the rank and the spectrum of an optimal USD measurement. This finally leads to a second class of exact solutions. Indeed we present the optimal failure probability as well as the optimal measurement for

  19. LABOR DISCRIMINATION IN BULGARIA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vyara Slavyanska

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available Labor discrimination is a phenomenon with very serious social and economic consequences, which has increased actuality and importance in Bulgaria nowadays. Because of the high price of discrimination, building effective anti-discrimination legislation occupies a special place in the policy of the European Union. Despite the European directives, the presence of anti-discrimination legislation and the broadly declared anti-discrimination inclinations in our country, these are absolutely not enough for providing environment of equality, with a climate of respect and tolerance to the differences. It turns out that certain groups are definitely victims of labor discrimination. In this connection the present article consecutively identifies these groups, as well as the reasons for their discrimination, underlining the necessity and benefits of the integration of the different.

  20. Enhancement of ELM by Clustering Discrimination Manifold Regularization and Multiobjective FOA for Semisupervised Classification.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ye, Qing; Pan, Hao; Liu, Changhua

    2015-01-01

    A novel semisupervised extreme learning machine (ELM) with clustering discrimination manifold regularization (CDMR) framework named CDMR-ELM is proposed for semisupervised classification. By using unsupervised fuzzy clustering method, CDMR framework integrates clustering discrimination of both labeled and unlabeled data with twinning constraints regularization. Aiming at further improving the classification accuracy and efficiency, a new multiobjective fruit fly optimization algorithm (MOFOA) is developed to optimize crucial parameters of CDME-ELM. The proposed MOFOA is implemented with two objectives: simultaneously minimizing the number of hidden nodes and mean square error (MSE). The results of experiments on actual datasets show that the proposed semisupervised classifier can obtain better accuracy and efficiency with relatively few hidden nodes compared with other state-of-the-art classifiers.

  1. Enhancement of ELM by Clustering Discrimination Manifold Regularization and Multiobjective FOA for Semisupervised Classification

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Qing Ye

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available A novel semisupervised extreme learning machine (ELM with clustering discrimination manifold regularization (CDMR framework named CDMR-ELM is proposed for semisupervised classification. By using unsupervised fuzzy clustering method, CDMR framework integrates clustering discrimination of both labeled and unlabeled data with twinning constraints regularization. Aiming at further improving the classification accuracy and efficiency, a new multiobjective fruit fly optimization algorithm (MOFOA is developed to optimize crucial parameters of CDME-ELM. The proposed MOFOA is implemented with two objectives: simultaneously minimizing the number of hidden nodes and mean square error (MSE. The results of experiments on actual datasets show that the proposed semisupervised classifier can obtain better accuracy and efficiency with relatively few hidden nodes compared with other state-of-the-art classifiers.

  2. Rising above the Minimum Wage.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Even, William; Macpherson, David

    An in-depth analysis was made of how quickly most people move up the wage scale from minimum wage, what factors influence their progress, and how minimum wage increases affect wage growth above the minimum. Very few workers remain at the minimum wage over the long run, according to this study of data drawn from the 1977-78 May Current Population…

  3. Optical timing receiver for the NASA Spaceborne Ranging System. Part I. Dual peak-sensing timing discriminator

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Leskovar, B.; Lo, C.C.; Zizka, G.

    1978-01-01

    Position-resolution capabilities of the NASA Spaceborne Laser Ranging System are essentially determined by the time-resolution capabilities of its optical timing receiver. The optical timing receiver consists of a fast photoelectric device; (e.g., photomultiplier or an avalanche photodiode detector), a timing discriminator, a high-precision event-timing digitizer, and a signal-processing system. The time-resolution capabilities of the receiver are determined by the photoelectron time spread of the photoelectric device, the time walk and resolution characteristics of the timing discriminator, and the resolution of the event-timing digitizer. It is thus necessary to evaluate available fast photoelectronic devices with respect to their time-resolution capabilities, to design a very low time walk timing discriminator and to develop a high-resolution event-timing digitizer which will be used in the high-resolution spaceborne laser ranging system receiver. The development of a new dual-peak sensing timing discriminator is described. The amplitude dependent time walk is less than +-150 psec for a 100:1 dynamic range of Gaussian-shaped input signals having pulse widths between 11 and 17 nsec. The unit produces 800 mV negative output pulses, each 10 nsec wide, and 3V positive pulses with widths of 15 nsec. The time delay through the discriminator is approximately 37 nsec. In this discriminator the input signal is processed by a peak-crossing circuit which produces a bipolar pulse having its zero-crossing point at the peak of the input signal. All essential functions in the discriminator are performed by means of tunnel diodes with backward diodes as nonlinear loads. The discriminator is designed to be CAMAC compatible to a conventional time-interval unit or a high-precision event timing digitizer. The adjustment procedure for obtaining minimum time walk is also given

  4. The minimum sit-to-stand height test: reliability, responsiveness and relationship to leg muscle strength.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schurr, Karl; Sherrington, Catherine; Wallbank, Geraldine; Pamphlett, Patricia; Olivetti, Lynette

    2012-07-01

    To determine the reliability of the minimum sit-to-stand height test, its responsiveness and its relationship to leg muscle strength among rehabilitation unit inpatients and outpatients. Reliability study using two measurers and two test occasions. Secondary analysis of data from two clinical trials. Inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation services in three public hospitals. Eighteen hospital patients and five others participated in the reliability study. Seventy-two rehabilitation unit inpatients and 80 outpatients participated in the clinical trials. The minimum sit-to-stand height test was assessed using a standard procedure. For the reliability study, a second tester repeated the minimum sit-to-stand height test on the same day. In the inpatient clinical trial the measures were repeated two weeks later. In the outpatient trial the measures were repeated five weeks later. Knee extensor muscle strength was assessed in the clinical trials using a hand-held dynamometer. The reliability for the minimum sit-to-stand height test was excellent (intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) 0.91, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.81-0.96). The standard error of measurement was 34 mm. Responsiveness was moderate in the inpatient trial (effect size: 0.53) but small in the outpatient trial (effect size: 0.16). A small proportion (8-17%) of variability in minimum sit-to-stand height test was explained by knee extensor muscle strength. The minimum sit-to-stand height test has excellent reliability and moderate responsiveness in an inpatient rehabilitation setting. Responsiveness in an outpatient rehabilitation setting requires further investigation. Performance is influenced by factors other than knee extensor muscle strength.

  5. Error begat error: design error analysis and prevention in social infrastructure projects.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Love, Peter E D; Lopez, Robert; Edwards, David J; Goh, Yang M

    2012-09-01

    Design errors contribute significantly to cost and schedule growth in social infrastructure projects and to engineering failures, which can result in accidents and loss of life. Despite considerable research that has addressed their error causation in construction projects they still remain prevalent. This paper identifies the underlying conditions that contribute to design errors in social infrastructure projects (e.g. hospitals, education, law and order type buildings). A systemic model of error causation is propagated and subsequently used to develop a learning framework for design error prevention. The research suggests that a multitude of strategies should be adopted in congruence to prevent design errors from occurring and so ensure that safety and project performance are ameliorated. Copyright © 2011. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

  6. The impact of the self-interaction error on the density functional theory description of dissociating radical cations: ionic and covalent dissociation limits.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gräfenstein, Jürgen; Kraka, Elfi; Cremer, Dieter

    2004-01-08

    Self-interaction corrected density functional theory was used to determine the self-interaction error for dissociating one-electron bonds. The self-interaction error of the unpaired electron mimics nondynamic correlation effects that have no physical basis where these effects increase for increasing separation distance. For short distances the magnitude of the self-interaction error takes a minimum and increases then again for decreasing R. The position of the minimum of the magnitude of the self-interaction error influences the equilibrium properties of the one-electron bond in the radical cations H2+ (1), B2H4+ (2), and C2H6+ (3), which differ significantly. These differences are explained by hyperconjugative interactions in 2 and 3 that are directly reflected by the self-interaction error and its orbital contributions. The density functional theory description of the dissociating radical cations suffers not only from the self-interaction error but also from the simplified description of interelectronic exchange. The calculated differences between ionic and covalent dissociation for 1, 2, and 3 provide an excellent criterion for determining the basic failures of density functional theory, self-interaction corrected density functional theory, and other methods. Pure electronic, orbital relaxation, and geometric relaxation contributions to the self-interaction error are discussed. The relevance of these effects for the description of transition states and charge transfer complexes is shown. Suggestions for the construction of new exchange-correlation functionals are given. In this connection, the disadvantages of recently suggested self-interaction error-free density functional theory methods are emphasized. (c) 2004 American Institute of Physics

  7. Set discrimination of quantum states

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhang Shengyu; Ying Mingsheng

    2002-01-01

    We introduce a notion of set discrimination, which is an interesting extension of quantum state discrimination. A state is secretly chosen from a number of quantum states, which are partitioned into some disjoint sets. A set discrimination is required to identify which set the given state belongs to. Several essential problems are addressed in this paper, including the condition of perfect set discrimination, unambiguous set discrimination, and in the latter case, the efficiency of the discrimination. This generalizes some important results on quantum state discrimination in the literature. A combination of state and set discrimination and the efficiency are also studied

  8. Discrimination and delusional ideation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Janssen, I; Hanssen, M; Bak, M; Bijl, R V; de Graaf, R; Vollebergh, W; McKenzie, K; van Os, J

    2003-01-01

    In the UK and The Netherlands, people with high rates of psychosis are chronically exposed to discrimination. To test whether perceived discrimination is associated longitudinally with onset of psychosis. A 3-year prospective study of cohorts with no history of psychosis and differential rates of reported discrimination on the basis of age, gender, disability, appearance, skin colour or ethnicity and sexual orientation was conducted in the Dutch general population (n=4076). The main outcome was onset of psychotic symptoms (delusions and hallucinations). The rate of delusional ideation was 0.5% (n=19) in those who did not report discrimination, 0.9% (n=4) in those who reported discrimination in one domain, and 2.7% (n=3) in those who reported discrimination in more than one domain (exact P=0.027). This association remained after adjustment for possible confounders. No association was found between baseline discrimination and onset of hallucinatory experiences. Perceived discrimination may induce delusional ideation and thus contribute to the high observed rates of psychotic disorder in exposed minority populations.

  9. Perceptions of weight discrimination: prevalence and comparison to race and gender discrimination in America.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Puhl, R M; Andreyeva, T; Brownell, K D

    2008-06-01

    Limited data are available on the prevalence and patterns of body weight discrimination from representative samples. This study examined experiences of weight/height discrimination in a nationally representative sample of US adults and compared their prevalence and patterns with discrimination experiences based on race and gender. Data were from the National Survey of Midlife Development in the United States, a 1995-1996 community-based survey of English-speaking adults aged 25-74 (N=2290). Reported experiences of weight/height discrimination included a variety of institutional settings and interpersonal relationships. Multivariate regression analyses were used to predict weight/height discrimination controlling for sociodemographic characteristics and body weight status. The prevalence of weight/height discrimination ranged from 5% among men to 10% among women, but these average percentages obscure the much higher risk of weight discrimination among heavier individuals (40% for adults with body mass index (BMI) of 35 and above). Younger individuals with a higher BMI had a particularly high risk of weight/height discrimination regardless of their race, education and weight status. Women were at greater risk for weight/height discrimination than men, especially women with a BMI of 30-35 who were three times more likely to report weight/height discrimination compared to male peers of a similar weight. Weight/height discrimination is prevalent in American society and is relatively close to reported rates of racial discrimination, particularly among women. Both institutional forms of weight/height discrimination (for example, in employment settings) and interpersonal mistreatment due to weight/height (for example, being called names) were common, and in some cases were even more prevalent than discrimination due to gender and race.

  10. On the Symbol Error Rate of M-ary MPSK over Generalized Fading Channels with Additive Laplacian Noise

    KAUST Repository

    Soury, Hamza

    2015-01-07

    This work considers the symbol error rate of M-ary phase shift keying (MPSK) constellations over extended Generalized-K fading with Laplacian noise and using a minimum distance detector. A generic closed form expression of the conditional and the average probability of error is obtained and simplified in terms of the Fox’s H function. More simplifications to well known functions for some special cases of fading are also presented. Finally, the mathematical formalism is validated with some numerical results examples done by computer based simulations [1].

  11. On the Symbol Error Rate of M-ary MPSK over Generalized Fading Channels with Additive Laplacian Noise

    KAUST Repository

    Soury, Hamza; Alouini, Mohamed-Slim

    2015-01-01

    This work considers the symbol error rate of M-ary phase shift keying (MPSK) constellations over extended Generalized-K fading with Laplacian noise and using a minimum distance detector. A generic closed form expression of the conditional and the average probability of error is obtained and simplified in terms of the Fox’s H function. More simplifications to well known functions for some special cases of fading are also presented. Finally, the mathematical formalism is validated with some numerical results examples done by computer based simulations [1].

  12. Place of birth effects on self-reported discrimination: Variations by type of discrimination.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brondolo, Elizabeth; Rahim, Reanne; Grimaldi, Stephanie; Ashraf, Amina; Bui, Nini; Schwartz, Joseph

    2015-11-01

    Researchers have suggested that perceptions of discrimination may vary depending on place of birth and the length of time spent living in the U.S., variables related to acculturation. However, the existing literature provides a mixed picture, with data suggesting that the effects of acculturation on perceptions of discrimination vary by race and other sociodemographic factors. This study evaluated the role of place of birth (POB: defined as U.S.-born vs. foreign-born), age at immigration, and length of residence in the U.S. on self-reported discrimination in a sample of urban-dwelling Asian and Black adults (n= 1454). Analyses examined POB effects on different types of discrimination including race-related stigmatization, exclusion, threat, and workplace discrimination. Sociodemographic variables (including age, gender, employment status and education level) were tested as potential moderators of the relationship between POB and discrimination. The results revealed a significant main effect for POB on discrimination, with U.S.-born individuals reporting significantly more discrimination than foreign-born individuals, although the effect was reduced when sociodemographic variables were controlled. Across the sample, POB effects were seen only for race-related stigmatization and exclusion, not for threat and workplace discrimination. With the exception of limited effects for gender, sociodemographic variables did not moderate these effects. Younger age at immigration and greater years of residence in the U.S. were also positively associated with higher levels of perceived discrimination. These findings suggest increasing acculturation may shape the experience and perception of racial and ethnic discrimination.

  13. Place of birth effects on self-reported discrimination: Variations by type of discrimination

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brondolo, Elizabeth; Rahim, Reanne; Grimaldi, Stephanie; Ashraf, Amina; Bui, Nini; Schwartz, Joseph

    2016-01-01

    Researchers have suggested that perceptions of discrimination may vary depending on place of birth and the length of time spent living in the U.S., variables related to acculturation. However, the existing literature provides a mixed picture, with data suggesting that the effects of acculturation on perceptions of discrimination vary by race and other sociodemographic factors. This study evaluated the role of place of birth (POB: defined as U.S.-born vs. foreign-born), age at immigration, and length of residence in the U.S. on self-reported discrimination in a sample of urban-dwelling Asian and Black adults (n= 1454). Analyses examined POB effects on different types of discrimination including race-related stigmatization, exclusion, threat, and workplace discrimination. Sociodemographic variables (including age, gender, employment status and education level) were tested as potential moderators of the relationship between POB and discrimination. The results revealed a significant main effect for POB on discrimination, with U.S.-born individuals reporting significantly more discrimination than foreign-born individuals, although the effect was reduced when sociodemographic variables were controlled. Across the sample, POB effects were seen only for race-related stigmatization and exclusion, not for threat and workplace discrimination. With the exception of limited effects for gender, sociodemographic variables did not moderate these effects. Younger age at immigration and greater years of residence in the U.S. were also positively associated with higher levels of perceived discrimination. These findings suggest increasing acculturation may shape the experience and perception of racial and ethnic discrimination. PMID:27647943

  14. Comparison of the balance accelerometer measure and balance error scoring system in adolescent concussions in sports.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Furman, Gabriel R; Lin, Chia-Cheng; Bellanca, Jennica L; Marchetti, Gregory F; Collins, Michael W; Whitney, Susan L

    2013-06-01

    High-technology methods demonstrate that balance problems may persist up to 30 days after a concussion, whereas with low-technology methods such as the Balance Error Scoring System (BESS), performance becomes normal after only 3 days based on previously published studies in collegiate and high school athletes. To compare the National Institutes of Health's Balance Accelerometer Measure (BAM) with the BESS regarding the ability to detect differences in postural sway between adolescents with sports concussions and age-matched controls. Cohort study (diagnosis); Level of evidence, 2. Forty-three patients with concussions and 27 control participants were tested with the standard BAM protocol, while sway was quantified using the normalized path length (mG/s) of pelvic accelerations in the anterior-posterior direction. The BESS was scored by experts using video recordings. The BAM was not able to discriminate between healthy and concussed adolescents, whereas the BESS, especially the tandem stance conditions, was good at discriminating between healthy and concussed adolescents. A total BESS score of 21 or more errors optimally identified patients in the acute concussion group versus healthy participants at 60% sensitivity and 82% specificity. The BAM is not as effective as the BESS in identifying abnormal postural control in adolescents with sports concussions. The BESS, a simple and economical method of assessing postural control, was effective in discriminating between young adults with acute concussions and young healthy people, suggesting that the test has value in the assessment of acute concussions.

  15. Employment effects of minimum wages

    OpenAIRE

    Neumark, David

    2014-01-01

    The potential benefits of higher minimum wages come from the higher wages for affected workers, some of whom are in low-income families. The potential downside is that a higher minimum wage may discourage employers from using the low-wage, low-skill workers that minimum wages are intended to help. Research findings are not unanimous, but evidence from many countries suggests that minimum wages reduce the jobs available to low-skill workers.

  16. Robust Visual Tracking via Online Discriminative and Low-Rank Dictionary Learning.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhou, Tao; Liu, Fanghui; Bhaskar, Harish; Yang, Jie

    2017-09-12

    In this paper, we propose a novel and robust tracking framework based on online discriminative and low-rank dictionary learning. The primary aim of this paper is to obtain compact and low-rank dictionaries that can provide good discriminative representations of both target and background. We accomplish this by exploiting the recovery ability of low-rank matrices. That is if we assume that the data from the same class are linearly correlated, then the corresponding basis vectors learned from the training set of each class shall render the dictionary to become approximately low-rank. The proposed dictionary learning technique incorporates a reconstruction error that improves the reliability of classification. Also, a multiconstraint objective function is designed to enable active learning of a discriminative and robust dictionary. Further, an optimal solution is obtained by iteratively computing the dictionary, coefficients, and by simultaneously learning the classifier parameters. Finally, a simple yet effective likelihood function is implemented to estimate the optimal state of the target during tracking. Moreover, to make the dictionary adaptive to the variations of the target and background during tracking, an online update criterion is employed while learning the new dictionary. Experimental results on a publicly available benchmark dataset have demonstrated that the proposed tracking algorithm performs better than other state-of-the-art trackers.

  17. Capacity of optical communications over a lossy bosonic channel with a receiver employing the most general coherent electro-optic feedback control

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chung, Hye Won; Guha, Saikat; Zheng, Lizhong

    2017-07-01

    We study the problem of designing optical receivers to discriminate between multiple coherent states using coherent processing receivers—i.e., one that uses arbitrary coherent feedback control and quantum-noise-limited direct detection—which was shown by Dolinar to achieve the minimum error probability in discriminating any two coherent states. We first derive and reinterpret Dolinar's binary-hypothesis minimum-probability-of-error receiver as the one that optimizes the information efficiency at each time instant, based on recursive Bayesian updates within the receiver. Using this viewpoint, we propose a natural generalization of Dolinar's receiver design to discriminate M coherent states, each of which could now be a codeword, i.e., a sequence of N coherent states, each drawn from a modulation alphabet. We analyze the channel capacity of the pure-loss optical channel with a general coherent-processing receiver in the low-photon number regime and compare it with the capacity achievable with direct detection and the Holevo limit (achieving the latter would require a quantum joint-detection receiver). We show compelling evidence that despite the optimal performance of Dolinar's receiver for the binary coherent-state hypothesis test (either in error probability or mutual information), the asymptotic communication rate achievable by such a coherent-processing receiver is only as good as direct detection. This suggests that in the infinitely long codeword limit, all potential benefits of coherent processing at the receiver can be obtained by designing a good code and direct detection, with no feedback within the receiver.

  18. Prediction Model of Collapse Risk Based on Information Entropy and Distance Discriminant Analysis Method

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hujun He

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available The prediction and risk classification of collapse is an important issue in the process of highway construction in mountainous regions. Based on the principles of information entropy and Mahalanobis distance discriminant analysis, we have produced a collapse hazard prediction model. We used the entropy measure method to reduce the influence indexes of the collapse activity and extracted the nine main indexes affecting collapse activity as the discriminant factors of the distance discriminant analysis model (i.e., slope shape, aspect, gradient, and height, along with exposure of the structural face, stratum lithology, relationship between weakness face and free face, vegetation cover rate, and degree of rock weathering. We employ postearthquake collapse data in relation to construction of the Yingxiu-Wolong highway, Hanchuan County, China, as training samples for analysis. The results were analyzed using the back substitution estimation method, showing high accuracy and no errors, and were the same as the prediction result of uncertainty measure. Results show that the classification model based on information entropy and distance discriminant analysis achieves the purpose of index optimization and has excellent performance, high prediction accuracy, and a zero false-positive rate. The model can be used as a tool for future evaluation of collapse risk.

  19. Thurstonian models for sensory discrimination tests as generalized linear models

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Brockhoff, Per B.; Christensen, Rune Haubo Bojesen

    2010-01-01

    as a so-called generalized linear model. The underlying sensory difference 6 becomes directly a parameter of the statistical model and the estimate d' and it's standard error becomes the "usual" output of the statistical analysis. The d' for the monadic A-NOT A method is shown to appear as a standard......Sensory discrimination tests such as the triangle, duo-trio, 2-AFC and 3-AFC tests produce binary data and the Thurstonian decision rule links the underlying sensory difference 6 to the observed number of correct responses. In this paper it is shown how each of these four situations can be viewed...

  20. Fault Estimation for Fuzzy Delay Systems: A Minimum Norm Least Squares Solution Approach.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huang, Sheng-Juan; Yang, Guang-Hong

    2017-09-01

    This paper mainly focuses on the problem of fault estimation for a class of Takagi-Sugeno fuzzy systems with state delays. A minimum norm least squares solution (MNLSS) approach is first introduced to establish a fault estimation compensator, which is able to optimize the fault estimator. Compared with most of the existing fault estimation methods, the MNLSS-based fault estimation method can effectively decrease the effect of state errors on the accuracy of fault estimation. Finally, three examples are given to illustrate the effectiveness and merits of the proposed method.

  1. Nitrate reductase 15N discrimination in Arabidopsis thaliana, Zea mays, Aspergillus niger, Pichea angusta, and Escherichia coli

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eli eCarlisle

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available Stable 15N isotopes have been used to examine movement of nitrogen (N through various pools of the global N cycle. A central reaction in the cycle involves nitrate (NO3– reduction to nitrite (NO2– catalyzed via nitrate reductase (NR. Discrimination against 15N by NR is a major determinant of isotopic differences among N pools. Here, we measured in vitro 15N discrimination by several NRs purified from plants, fungi, and a bacterium to determine the intrinsic 15N discrimination by the enzyme and to evaluate the validity of measurements made using 15N-enriched NO3–. Observed NR isotope discrimination ranged from 22‰ to 32‰ (kinetic isotope effects of 1.022 to 1.032 among the different isozymes at natural abundance 15N (0.37%. As the fractional 15N content of substrate NO3– increased from natural abundance, the product 15N fraction deviated significantly from that expected based on substrate enrichment and 15N discrimination measured at natural abundance. Additionally, isotopic discrimination by denitrifying bacteria used to reduce NO3– and NO2– in some protocols became a greater source of error as 15N enrichment increased. We briefly discuss potential causes of artifactual results with enriched 15N and recommend against the use of highly enriched 15N tracers to study N discrimination in plants or soils.

  2. Errors, error detection, error correction and hippocampal-region damage: data and theories.

    Science.gov (United States)

    MacKay, Donald G; Johnson, Laura W

    2013-11-01

    This review and perspective article outlines 15 observational constraints on theories of errors, error detection, and error correction, and their relation to hippocampal-region (HR) damage. The core observations come from 10 studies with H.M., an amnesic with cerebellar and HR damage but virtually no neocortical damage. Three studies examined the detection of errors planted in visual scenes (e.g., a bird flying in a fish bowl in a school classroom) and sentences (e.g., I helped themselves to the birthday cake). In all three experiments, H.M. detected reliably fewer errors than carefully matched memory-normal controls. Other studies examined the detection and correction of self-produced errors, with controls for comprehension of the instructions, impaired visual acuity, temporal factors, motoric slowing, forgetting, excessive memory load, lack of motivation, and deficits in visual scanning or attention. In these studies, H.M. corrected reliably fewer errors than memory-normal and cerebellar controls, and his uncorrected errors in speech, object naming, and reading aloud exhibited two consistent features: omission and anomaly. For example, in sentence production tasks, H.M. omitted one or more words in uncorrected encoding errors that rendered his sentences anomalous (incoherent, incomplete, or ungrammatical) reliably more often than controls. Besides explaining these core findings, the theoretical principles discussed here explain H.M.'s retrograde amnesia for once familiar episodic and semantic information; his anterograde amnesia for novel information; his deficits in visual cognition, sentence comprehension, sentence production, sentence reading, and object naming; and effects of aging on his ability to read isolated low frequency words aloud. These theoretical principles also explain a wide range of other data on error detection and correction and generate new predictions for future test. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  3. Minimum Wages and Poverty

    OpenAIRE

    Fields, Gary S.; Kanbur, Ravi

    2005-01-01

    Textbook analysis tells us that in a competitive labor market, the introduction of a minimum wage above the competitive equilibrium wage will cause unemployment. This paper makes two contributions to the basic theory of the minimum wage. First, we analyze the effects of a higher minimum wage in terms of poverty rather than in terms of unemployment. Second, we extend the standard textbook model to allow for incomesharing between the employed and the unemployed. We find that there are situation...

  4. On the symbol error rate of M-ary MPSK over generalized fading channels with additive Laplacian noise

    KAUST Repository

    Soury, Hamza

    2014-06-01

    This paper considers the symbol error rate of M-ary phase shift keying (MPSK) constellations over extended Generalized-K fading with Laplacian noise and using a minimum distance detector. A generic closed form expression of the conditional and the average probability of error is obtained and simplified in terms of the Fox\\'s H function. More simplifications to well known functions for some special cases of fading are also presented. Finally, the mathematical formalism is validated with some numerical results examples done by computer based simulations. © 2014 IEEE.

  5. On the symbol error rate of M-ary MPSK over generalized fading channels with additive Laplacian noise

    KAUST Repository

    Soury, Hamza; Alouini, Mohamed-Slim

    2014-01-01

    This paper considers the symbol error rate of M-ary phase shift keying (MPSK) constellations over extended Generalized-K fading with Laplacian noise and using a minimum distance detector. A generic closed form expression of the conditional and the average probability of error is obtained and simplified in terms of the Fox's H function. More simplifications to well known functions for some special cases of fading are also presented. Finally, the mathematical formalism is validated with some numerical results examples done by computer based simulations. © 2014 IEEE.

  6. Socially-Tolerable Discrimination

    OpenAIRE

    Amegashie, J. Atsu

    2008-01-01

    History is replete with overt discrimination on the basis of race, gender, age, citizenship, ethnicity, marital status, academic performance, health status, volume of market transactions, religion, sexual orientation, etc. However, these forms of discrimination are not equally tolerable. For example, discrimination based on immutable or prohibitively unalterable characteristics such as race, gender, or ethnicity is much less acceptable. Why? I develop a simple rent-seeking model of conflict w...

  7. 75 FR 6151 - Minimum Capital

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-02-08

    ... capital and reserve requirements to be issued by order or regulation with respect to a product or activity... minimum capital requirements. Section 1362(a) establishes a minimum capital level for the Enterprises... entities required under this section.\\6\\ \\3\\ The Bank Act's current minimum capital requirements apply to...

  8. Racial/Ethnic Workplace Discrimination

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chavez, Laura J.; Ornelas, India J.; Lyles, Courtney R.; Williams, Emily C.

    2014-01-01

    Background Experiences of discrimination are associated with tobacco and alcohol use, and work is a common setting where individuals experience racial/ethnic discrimination. Few studies have evaluated the association between workplace discrimination and these behaviors, and none have described associations across race/ethnicity. Purpose To examine the association between workplace discrimination and tobacco and alcohol use in a large, multistate sample of U.S. adult respondents to the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System survey Reactions to Race Module (2004–2010). Methods Multivariable logistic regression analyses evaluated cross-sectional associations between self-reported workplace discrimination and tobacco (current and daily smoking) and alcohol use (any and heavy use, and binge drinking) among all participants and stratified by race/ethnicity, adjusting for relevant covariates. Data were analyzed in 2013. Results Among respondents, 70,080 completed the workplace discrimination measure. Discrimination was more common among black non-Hispanic (21%), Hispanic (12%), and other race respondents (11%) than white non-Hispanics (4%) (pdiscrimination was associated with current smoking (risk ratio [RR]=1.32, 95% CI=1.19, 1.47), daily smoking (RR=1.41, 95% CI=1.24, 1.61), and heavy drinking (RR=1.11, 95% CI=1.01, 1.22), but not binge or any drinking. Among Hispanics, workplace discrimination was associated with increased heavy and binge drinking, but not any alcohol use or smoking. Workplace discrimination among black non-Hispanics and white Non-Hispanics was associated with increased current and daily smoking, but not alcohol outcomes. Conclusions Workplace discrimination is common, associated with smoking and alcohol use, and merits further policy attention given the impact of these behaviors on morbidity and mortality. PMID:25441232

  9. A Pareto-Improving Minimum Wage

    OpenAIRE

    Eliav Danziger; Leif Danziger

    2014-01-01

    This paper shows that a graduated minimum wage, in contrast to a constant minimum wage, can provide a strict Pareto improvement over what can be achieved with an optimal income tax. The reason is that a graduated minimum wage requires high-productivity workers to work more to earn the same income as low-productivity workers, which makes it more difficult for the former to mimic the latter. In effect, a graduated minimum wage allows the low-productivity workers to benefit from second-degree pr...

  10. A Human Error Analysis with Physiological Signals during Utilizing Digital Devices

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lee, Yong Hee; Oh, Yeon Ju; Shin, Kwang Hyeon [Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

    2011-10-15

    The introduction of advanced MCR is accompanied with lots of changes and different forms and features through the virtue of new digital technologies. There are various kinds of digital devices such as flat panel displays, touch screens, and so on. The characteristics of these digital devices give many chances to the interface management, and can be integrated into a compact single workstation in an advanced MCR so that workers can operate the plant with minimum burden during any operating condition. However, these devices may introduce new types of human errors, and thus we need a means to evaluate and prevent such error, especially those related to the digital devices. Human errors have been retrospectively assessed for accident reviews and quantitatively evaluated through HRA for PSA. However, the ergonomic verification and validation is an important process to defend all human error potential in the NPP design. HRA is a crucial part of a PSA, and helps in preparing a countermeasure for design by drawing potential human error items that affect the overall safety of NPPs. Various HRA techniques are available however: they reveal shortages of the HMI design in the digital era. - HRA techniques depend on PSFs: this means that the scope dealing with human factors is previously limited, and thus all attributes of new digital devices may not be considered in HRA. - The data used to HRA are not close to the evaluation items. So, human error analysis is not easy to apply to design by several individual experiments and cases. - The results of HRA are not statistically meaningful because accidents including human errors in NPPs are rare and have been estimated as having an extremely low probability

  11. Neutron-gamma discrimination in mixed field by pulse shape discriminator

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sharghi Ido, A.; Shahriari, M.; Etaati, G. R.

    2009-01-01

    In this study, a pulse shape discriminator, incorporating zero-crossing method has been developed. The separate measurements with 241 Am-Be and 252 Cf sources undertaken by BC501A liquid have shown that the purposed and the common-used pulse shape discriminator's are in good agreement. The improved characteristics of the presented pulse shape discriminator are FOM=1.36 at a threshold of 60 ke Vee and 1.5μsec dead time which allows the count rates up to 50 k Hz

  12. Effects of X-ray radiation on complex visual discrimination learning and social recognition memory in rats.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Catherine M Davis

    Full Text Available The present report describes an animal model for examining the effects of radiation on a range of neurocognitive functions in rodents that are similar to a number of basic human cognitive functions. Fourteen male Long-Evans rats were trained to perform an automated intra-dimensional set shifting task that consisted of their learning a basic discrimination between two stimulus shapes followed by more complex discrimination stages (e.g., a discrimination reversal, a compound discrimination, a compound reversal, a new shape discrimination, and an intra-dimensional stimulus discrimination reversal. One group of rats was exposed to head-only X-ray radiation (2.3 Gy at a dose rate of 1.9 Gy/min, while a second group received a sham-radiation exposure using the same anesthesia protocol. The irradiated group responded less, had elevated numbers of omitted trials, increased errors, and greater response latencies compared to the sham-irradiated control group. Additionally, social odor recognition memory was tested after radiation exposure by assessing the degree to which rats explored wooden beads impregnated with either their own odors or with the odors of novel, unfamiliar rats; however, no significant effects of radiation on social odor recognition memory were observed. These data suggest that rodent tasks assessing higher-level human cognitive domains are useful in examining the effects of radiation on the CNS, and may be applicable in approximating CNS risks from radiation exposure in clinical populations receiving whole brain irradiation.

  13. Effects of X-ray radiation on complex visual discrimination learning and social recognition memory in rats.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Davis, Catherine M; Roma, Peter G; Armour, Elwood; Gooden, Virginia L; Brady, Joseph V; Weed, Michael R; Hienz, Robert D

    2014-01-01

    The present report describes an animal model for examining the effects of radiation on a range of neurocognitive functions in rodents that are similar to a number of basic human cognitive functions. Fourteen male Long-Evans rats were trained to perform an automated intra-dimensional set shifting task that consisted of their learning a basic discrimination between two stimulus shapes followed by more complex discrimination stages (e.g., a discrimination reversal, a compound discrimination, a compound reversal, a new shape discrimination, and an intra-dimensional stimulus discrimination reversal). One group of rats was exposed to head-only X-ray radiation (2.3 Gy at a dose rate of 1.9 Gy/min), while a second group received a sham-radiation exposure using the same anesthesia protocol. The irradiated group responded less, had elevated numbers of omitted trials, increased errors, and greater response latencies compared to the sham-irradiated control group. Additionally, social odor recognition memory was tested after radiation exposure by assessing the degree to which rats explored wooden beads impregnated with either their own odors or with the odors of novel, unfamiliar rats; however, no significant effects of radiation on social odor recognition memory were observed. These data suggest that rodent tasks assessing higher-level human cognitive domains are useful in examining the effects of radiation on the CNS, and may be applicable in approximating CNS risks from radiation exposure in clinical populations receiving whole brain irradiation.

  14. Effects of X-Ray Radiation on Complex Visual Discrimination Learning and Social Recognition Memory in Rats

    Science.gov (United States)

    Davis, Catherine M.; Roma, Peter G.; Armour, Elwood; Gooden, Virginia L.; Brady, Joseph V.; Weed, Michael R.; Hienz, Robert D.

    2014-01-01

    The present report describes an animal model for examining the effects of radiation on a range of neurocognitive functions in rodents that are similar to a number of basic human cognitive functions. Fourteen male Long-Evans rats were trained to perform an automated intra-dimensional set shifting task that consisted of their learning a basic discrimination between two stimulus shapes followed by more complex discrimination stages (e.g., a discrimination reversal, a compound discrimination, a compound reversal, a new shape discrimination, and an intra-dimensional stimulus discrimination reversal). One group of rats was exposed to head-only X-ray radiation (2.3 Gy at a dose rate of 1.9 Gy/min), while a second group received a sham-radiation exposure using the same anesthesia protocol. The irradiated group responded less, had elevated numbers of omitted trials, increased errors, and greater response latencies compared to the sham-irradiated control group. Additionally, social odor recognition memory was tested after radiation exposure by assessing the degree to which rats explored wooden beads impregnated with either their own odors or with the odors of novel, unfamiliar rats; however, no significant effects of radiation on social odor recognition memory were observed. These data suggest that rodent tasks assessing higher-level human cognitive domains are useful in examining the effects of radiation on the CNS, and may be applicable in approximating CNS risks from radiation exposure in clinical populations receiving whole brain irradiation. PMID:25099152

  15. EJ-309 pulse shape discrimination performance with a high gamma-ray-to-neutron ratio and low threshold

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kaplan, A.C., E-mail: Alexis.C.Kaplan@gmail.com [Department of Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences, University of Michigan, 2355 Bonisteel Blvd., Ann Arbor, MI 48104 (United States); Nuclear Engineering and Nonproliferation Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87544 (United States); Flaska, M.; Enqvist, A.; Dolan, J.L.; Pozzi, S.A. [Department of Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences, University of Michigan, 2355 Bonisteel Blvd., Ann Arbor, MI 48104 (United States)

    2013-11-21

    Measuring neutrons in the presence of high gamma-ray fluence is a challenge with multi-particle detectors. Organic liquid scintillators such as the EJ-309 are capable of accurate pulse-shape discrimination (PSD) but the chance for particle misclassification is not negligible for some applications. By varying the distance from an EJ-309 scintillator to a strong-gamma-ray source and keeping a weak-neutron source at a fixed position, various gamma-to-neutron ratios can be measured and PSD performance can be quantified. Comparing neutron pulse-height distributions allows for pulse-height specific PSD evaluation, and quantification and visualization of deviation from {sup 252}Cf alone. Even with the addition of the misclassified gamma-rays, the PSD is effective in separating particles so that neutron count rate can be predicted with less than 10% error up to a gamma-to-neutron ratio of almost 650. For applications which can afford a reduction in neutron detection efficiency, PSD can be sufficiently effective in discriminating particles to measure a weak neutron source in a high gamma-ray background. -- Highlights: •We measure neutrons in a high photon background with EJ-309 liquid scintillators. •A low threshold is used to test the limits of particle discrimination. •A weak neutron signal is detectable with a gamma/neutron ratio as high as 770. •Photon pileup most commonly adds to error in classification of neutrons. •Neutron count rates are within 10% of expected rate under high gamma background.

  16. EJ-309 pulse shape discrimination performance with a high gamma-ray-to-neutron ratio and low threshold

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kaplan, A.C.; Flaska, M.; Enqvist, A.; Dolan, J.L.; Pozzi, S.A.

    2013-01-01

    Measuring neutrons in the presence of high gamma-ray fluence is a challenge with multi-particle detectors. Organic liquid scintillators such as the EJ-309 are capable of accurate pulse-shape discrimination (PSD) but the chance for particle misclassification is not negligible for some applications. By varying the distance from an EJ-309 scintillator to a strong-gamma-ray source and keeping a weak-neutron source at a fixed position, various gamma-to-neutron ratios can be measured and PSD performance can be quantified. Comparing neutron pulse-height distributions allows for pulse-height specific PSD evaluation, and quantification and visualization of deviation from 252 Cf alone. Even with the addition of the misclassified gamma-rays, the PSD is effective in separating particles so that neutron count rate can be predicted with less than 10% error up to a gamma-to-neutron ratio of almost 650. For applications which can afford a reduction in neutron detection efficiency, PSD can be sufficiently effective in discriminating particles to measure a weak neutron source in a high gamma-ray background. -- Highlights: •We measure neutrons in a high photon background with EJ-309 liquid scintillators. •A low threshold is used to test the limits of particle discrimination. •A weak neutron signal is detectable with a gamma/neutron ratio as high as 770. •Photon pileup most commonly adds to error in classification of neutrons. •Neutron count rates are within 10% of expected rate under high gamma background

  17. Minimum critical mass systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dam, H. van; Leege, P.F.A. de

    1987-01-01

    An analysis is presented of thermal systems with minimum critical mass, based on the use of materials with optimum neutron moderating and reflecting properties. The optimum fissile material distributions in the systems are obtained by calculations with standard computer codes, extended with a routine for flat fuel importance search. It is shown that in the minimum critical mass configuration a considerable part of the fuel is positioned in the reflector region. For 239 Pu a minimum critical mass of 87 g is found, which is the lowest value reported hitherto. (author)

  18. Learning time-dependent noise to reduce logical errors: real time error rate estimation in quantum error correction

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huo, Ming-Xia; Li, Ying

    2017-12-01

    Quantum error correction is important to quantum information processing, which allows us to reliably process information encoded in quantum error correction codes. Efficient quantum error correction benefits from the knowledge of error rates. We propose a protocol for monitoring error rates in real time without interrupting the quantum error correction. Any adaptation of the quantum error correction code or its implementation circuit is not required. The protocol can be directly applied to the most advanced quantum error correction techniques, e.g. surface code. A Gaussian processes algorithm is used to estimate and predict error rates based on error correction data in the past. We find that using these estimated error rates, the probability of error correction failures can be significantly reduced by a factor increasing with the code distance.

  19. DISCRIMINATION OF WOMEN IN THE LABOUR MARKET OF SR AND MODELS OF DISCRIMINATION

    OpenAIRE

    Ján Vravec; Radovan Baèík

    2012-01-01

    IThe paper deals with the problem of women’s discrimination in the labour market. Significant differences, among women and men in the labour market, are especially in unemployment rate in reward system, and high horizontal and vertical segregation of women. The aspects of discrimination arise despite of existing legislation, which gender discrimination strictly prohibits. An analysis of arguments, consequences and models of women’s discrimination in the labour market can significantly help to...

  20. An Analysis of Errors Committed by Saudi Non-English Major Students in the English Paragraph Writing: A Study of Comparisons

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mohammed Nuruzzaman

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available The present study investigates the writing errors of ninety Saudi non-English major undergraduate students of different proficiency levels from three faculties, who studied English as a foundation course at the English Language Center in the College of Languages &Translation at King Khalid University, Saudi Arabia in the academic year 2016-17. The findings reveal that the common errors the Saudi EFL students make in writing English paragraphs fall under four categories namely grammar, lexis, semantics and mechanics. Then it compares the categories, types and frequency of errors committed by these three groups of students. Among these categories, grammar has been observed as the most error-prone area where students commit errors the most. The study also posits that among the three groups, the students of the College of Medicine make the minimum errors in all the types and the highest number of errors is committed by the students of Engineering College. The College of Computer Science is in the second position in making errors. The frequency of error types is also found different among these three groups.

  1. Quantum-state discrimination

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Roa, Luis; Retamal, Juan Carlos; Saavedra, Carlos

    2002-01-01

    A proposal for a physical implementation of a quantum-state discrimination protocol using an ion in a linear trap is studied, where two nonorthogonal quantum states are codified using two electronic states of the ion. In addition, a protocol is given for discriminating superpositions of nonorthogonal entangled states between ions inside widely separated optical cavities. The discrimination protocol is extended to the case of N linearly independent nonorthogonal quantum states lying in a space of 2N-1 dimensions

  2. Perceived discrimination: why applicants and employees expect and perceive discrimination

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Abu Ghazaleh, N.

    2012-01-01

    In this dissertation we have investigated perceptions of discrimination. We have shown discrimination exists in the eyes of applicants and employees and especially when from an ethnic minority group. There are psychological variables that influence these perceptions differently for minority and

  3. Errors and limits in the determination of plasma electron density by measuring the absolute values of the emitted continuum radiation intensity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bilbao, L.; Bruzzone, H.; Grondona, D.

    1994-01-01

    The reliable determination of a plasma electron structure requires a good knowledge of the errors affecting the employed technique. A technique based on the measurements of the absolute light intensity emitted by travelling plasma structures in plasma focus devices has been used, but it can be easily modified to other geometries and even to stationary plasma structures with time-varying plasma densities. The purpose of this work is to discuss in some detail the errors and limits of this technique. Three separate errors are shown: the minimum size of the density structure that can be resolved, an overall error in the measurements themselves, and an uncertainty in the shape of the density profile. (author)

  4. Growth Simulation and Discrimination of Botrytis cinerea, Rhizopus stolonifer and Colletotrichum acutatum Using Hyperspectral Reflectance Imaging.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ye Sun

    Full Text Available This research aimed to develop a rapid and nondestructive method to model the growth and discrimination of spoilage fungi, like Botrytis cinerea, Rhizopus stolonifer and Colletotrichum acutatum, based on hyperspectral imaging system (HIS. A hyperspectral imaging system was used to measure the spectral response of fungi inoculated on potato dextrose agar plates and stored at 28°C and 85% RH. The fungi were analyzed every 12 h over two days during growth, and optimal simulation models were built based on HIS parameters. The results showed that the coefficients of determination (R2 of simulation models for testing datasets were 0.7223 to 0.9914, and the sum square error (SSE and root mean square error (RMSE were in a range of 2.03-53.40×10(-4 and 0.011-0.756, respectively. The correlation coefficients between the HIS parameters and colony forming units of fungi were high from 0.887 to 0.957. In addition, fungi species was discriminated by partial least squares discrimination analysis (PLSDA, with the classification accuracy of 97.5% for the test dataset at 36 h. The application of this method in real food has been addressed through the analysis of Botrytis cinerea, Rhizopus stolonifer and Colletotrichum acutatum inoculated in peaches, demonstrating that the HIS technique was effective for simulation of fungal infection in real food. This paper supplied a new technique and useful information for further study into modeling the growth of fungi and detecting fruit spoilage caused by fungi based on HIS.

  5. Medication errors: prescribing faults and prescription errors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Velo, Giampaolo P; Minuz, Pietro

    2009-06-01

    1. Medication errors are common in general practice and in hospitals. Both errors in the act of writing (prescription errors) and prescribing faults due to erroneous medical decisions can result in harm to patients. 2. Any step in the prescribing process can generate errors. Slips, lapses, or mistakes are sources of errors, as in unintended omissions in the transcription of drugs. Faults in dose selection, omitted transcription, and poor handwriting are common. 3. Inadequate knowledge or competence and incomplete information about clinical characteristics and previous treatment of individual patients can result in prescribing faults, including the use of potentially inappropriate medications. 4. An unsafe working environment, complex or undefined procedures, and inadequate communication among health-care personnel, particularly between doctors and nurses, have been identified as important underlying factors that contribute to prescription errors and prescribing faults. 5. Active interventions aimed at reducing prescription errors and prescribing faults are strongly recommended. These should be focused on the education and training of prescribers and the use of on-line aids. The complexity of the prescribing procedure should be reduced by introducing automated systems or uniform prescribing charts, in order to avoid transcription and omission errors. Feedback control systems and immediate review of prescriptions, which can be performed with the assistance of a hospital pharmacist, are also helpful. Audits should be performed periodically.

  6. 5 CFR 551.301 - Minimum wage.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 5 Administrative Personnel 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Minimum wage. 551.301 Section 551.301... FAIR LABOR STANDARDS ACT Minimum Wage Provisions Basic Provision § 551.301 Minimum wage. (a)(1) Except... employees wages at rates not less than the minimum wage specified in section 6(a)(1) of the Act for all...

  7. Videopanorama Frame Rate Requirements Derived from Visual Discrimination of Deceleration During Simulated Aircraft Landing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Furnstenau, Norbert; Ellis, Stephen R.

    2015-01-01

    In order to determine the required visual frame rate (FR) for minimizing prediction errors with out-the-window video displays at remote/virtual airport towers, thirteen active air traffic controllers viewed high dynamic fidelity simulations of landing aircraft and decided whether aircraft would stop as if to be able to make a turnoff or whether a runway excursion would be expected. The viewing conditions and simulation dynamics replicated visual rates and environments of transport aircraft landing at small commercial airports. The required frame rate was estimated using Bayes inference on prediction errors by linear FRextrapolation of event probabilities conditional on predictions (stop, no-stop). Furthermore estimates were obtained from exponential model fits to the parametric and non-parametric perceptual discriminabilities d' and A (average area under ROC-curves) as dependent on FR. Decision errors are biased towards preference of overshoot and appear due to illusionary increase in speed at low frames rates. Both Bayes and A - extrapolations yield a framerate requirement of 35 game scores the model based d'(FR)-extrapolation exhibits the best agreement and indicates even higher FRmin > 40 Hz for minimizing decision errors. Definitive recommendations require further experiments with FR > 30 Hz.

  8. The Badness of Discrimination

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lippert-Rasmussen, Kasper

    2006-01-01

    . In this paper I address these issues. First, I offer a taxonomy of discrimination. I then argue that discrimination is bad, when it is, because it harms people. Finally, I criticize a rival, disrespect-based account according to which discrimination is bad regardless of whether it causes harm....

  9. Sensitivity of risk parameters to human errors in reactor safety study for a PWR

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Samanta, P.K.; Hall, R.E.; Swoboda, A.L.

    1981-01-01

    Sensitivities of the risk parameters, emergency safety system unavailabilities, accident sequence probabilities, release category probabilities and core melt probability were investigated for changes in the human error rates within the general methodological framework of the Reactor Safety Study (RSS) for a Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR). Impact of individual human errors were assessed both in terms of their structural importance to core melt and reliability importance on core melt probability. The Human Error Sensitivity Assessment of a PWR (HESAP) computer code was written for the purpose of this study. The code employed point estimate approach and ignored the smoothing technique applied in RSS. It computed the point estimates for the system unavailabilities from the median values of the component failure rates and proceeded in terms of point values to obtain the point estimates for the accident sequence probabilities, core melt probability, and release category probabilities. The sensitivity measure used was the ratio of the top event probability before and after the perturbation of the constituent events. Core melt probability per reactor year showed significant increase with the increase in the human error rates, but did not show similar decrease with the decrease in the human error rates due to the dominance of the hardware failures. When the Minimum Human Error Rate (M.H.E.R.) used is increased to 10 -3 , the base case human error rates start sensitivity to human errors. This effort now allows the evaluation of new error rate data along with proposed changes in the man machine interface

  10. Discrimination of mixed quantum states. Reversible maps and unambiguous strategies

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kleinmann, Matthias

    2008-06-30

    The discrimination of two mixed quantum states is a fundamental task in quantum state estimation and quantum information theory. In quantum state discrimination a quantum system is assumed to be in one of two possible - in general mixed - non-orthogonal quantum states. The discrimination then consists of a measurement strategy that allows to decide in which state the system was before the measurement. In unambiguous state discrimination the aim is to make this decision without errors, but it is allowed to give an inconclusive answer. Especially interesting are measurement strategies that minimize the probability of an inconclusive answer. A starting point for the analysis of this optimization problem was a result by Eldar et al. [Phys. Rev. A 69, 062318 (2004)], which provides non-operational necessary and sufficient conditions for a given measurement strategy to be optimal. These conditions are reconsidered and simplified in such a way that they become operational. The simplified conditions are the basis for further central results: It is shown that the optimal measurement strategy is unique, a statement that is e.g. of importance for the complexity analysis of optimal measurement devices. The optimal measurement strategy is derived for the case, where one of the possible input states has at most rank two, which was an open problem for many years. Furthermore, using the optimality criterion it is shown that there always exists a threshold probability for each state, such that below this probability it is optimal to exclude this state from the discrimination strategy. If the two states subject to discrimination can be brought to a diagonal structure with (2 x 2)-dimensional blocks, then the unambiguous discrimination of these states can be reduced to the unambiguous discrimination of pure states. A criterion is presented that allows to identify the presence of such a structure for two self-adjoint operators. This criterion consists of the evaluation of three

  11. Role of amygdala central nucleus in feature negative discriminations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Holland, Peter C.

    2012-01-01

    Consistent with a popular theory of associative learning, the Pearce-Hall (1980) model, the surprising omission of expected events enhances cue associability (the ease with which a cue may enter into new associations), across a wide variety of behavioral training procedures. Furthermore, previous experiments from this laboratory showed that these enhancements are absent in rats with impaired function of the amygdala central nucleus (CeA). A notable exception to these assertions is found in feature negative (FN) discrimination learning, in which a “target” stimulus is reinforced when it is presented alone but nonreinforced when it is presented in compound with another, “feature” stimulus. According to the Pearce-Hall model, reinforcer omission on compound trials should enhance the associability of the feature relative to control training conditions. However, prior experiments have shown no evidence that CeA lesions affect FN discrimination learning. Here we explored this apparent contradiction by evaluating the hypothesis that the surprising omission of an event confers enhanced associability on a cue only if that cue itself generates the disconfirmed prediction. Thus, in a FN discrimination, the surprising omission of the reinforcer on compound trials would enhance the associability of the target stimulus but not that of the feature. Our data confirmed this hypothesis, and showed this enhancement to depend on intact CeA function, as in other procedures. The results are consistent with modern reformulations of both cue and reward processing theories that assign roles for both individual and aggregate error terms in associative learning. PMID:22889308

  12. The Impact of Handedness, Sex, and Cognitive Abilities on Left–Right Discrimination: A Behavioral Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Constant, Martin; Mellet, Emmanuel

    2018-01-01

    The present study examined the relationship between left–right discrimination (LRD) performance and handedness, sex and cognitive abilities. In total, 31 men and 35 women – with a balanced ratio of left-and right-handers – completed the Bergen Left–Right Discrimination Test. We found an advantage of left-handers in both identifying left hands and in verifying “left” propositions. A sex effect was also found, as women had an overall higher error rate than men, and increasing difficulty impacted their reaction time more than it did for men. Moreover, sex interacted with handedness and manual preference strength. A negative correlation of LRD reaction time with visuo-spatial and verbal long-term memory was found independently of sex, providing new insights into the relationship between cognitive skills and performance on LRD. PMID:29636718

  13. Color Discrimination in Patients with Gaucher Disease and Parkinson Disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Simon-Tov, Shlomi; Dinur, Tama; Giladi, Nir; Bar-Shira, Anat; Zelis, Mayaan; Zimran, Ari; Elstein, Deborah

    2015-01-01

    Poor color discrimination among patients with Parkinson disease (PD) has long been recognized. It has been shown that carrying one or two mutations in the β-glucocerebrosidase gene (GBA) for the autosomal disease Gaucher disease (GD), as based initially on clinical evidence, is a genetic risk factor for early-onset PD. The purpose of this study was to assess color discrimination in patients with one or two GBA mutations relative to healthy controls to ascertain whether this function is affected when persons with GD or even one GBA mutation develop PD. The Farnsworth-Munsell 100 hue test (FMHT) was evaluated among patients with GD+PD compared to patients with GD only, obligate GBA carriers with and without PD, patients with PD only, and healthy controls. FMHT outcome include computer-generated TES (Total Error Score) and values recommended by Vingrys & King-Smith. Six groups of 10 persons were tested. Significant differences were seen for male GD+PD and for age in PD. The highest mean TES was in the PD only group, the lowest in the GD only group. There was a significant difference because of PD in groups with GD and GBA carriers. GD+PD means were between GD only and PD only mean scores. These findings confirm that PD impacts color discrimination, more in males with GD+PD but nonetheless, GD+PD patients (but not GBA carriers) had better scores than PD only patients.

  14. On the maximum and minimum of two modified Gamma-Gamma variates with applications

    KAUST Repository

    Al-Quwaiee, Hessa

    2014-04-01

    In this work, we derive the statistical characteristics of the maximum and the minimum of two modified1 Gamma-Gamma variates in closed-form in terms of Meijer\\'s G-function and the extended generalized bivariate Meijer\\'s G-function. Then, we rely on these new results to present the performance analysis of (i) a dual-branch free-space optical selection combining diversity undergoing independent but not necessarily identically distributed Gamma-Gamma fading under the impact of pointing errors and of (ii) a dual-hop free-space optical relay transmission system. Computer-based Monte-Carlo simulations verify our new analytical results.

  15. Power and sample size calculations in the presence of phenotype errors for case/control genetic association studies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Finch Stephen J

    2005-04-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Phenotype error causes reduction in power to detect genetic association. We present a quantification of phenotype error, also known as diagnostic error, on power and sample size calculations for case-control genetic association studies between a marker locus and a disease phenotype. We consider the classic Pearson chi-square test for independence as our test of genetic association. To determine asymptotic power analytically, we compute the distribution's non-centrality parameter, which is a function of the case and control sample sizes, genotype frequencies, disease prevalence, and phenotype misclassification probabilities. We derive the non-centrality parameter in the presence of phenotype errors and equivalent formulas for misclassification cost (the percentage increase in minimum sample size needed to maintain constant asymptotic power at a fixed significance level for each percentage increase in a given misclassification parameter. We use a linear Taylor Series approximation for the cost of phenotype misclassification to determine lower bounds for the relative costs of misclassifying a true affected (respectively, unaffected as a control (respectively, case. Power is verified by computer simulation. Results Our major findings are that: (i the median absolute difference between analytic power with our method and simulation power was 0.001 and the absolute difference was no larger than 0.011; (ii as the disease prevalence approaches 0, the cost of misclassifying a unaffected as a case becomes infinitely large while the cost of misclassifying an affected as a control approaches 0. Conclusion Our work enables researchers to specifically quantify power loss and minimum sample size requirements in the presence of phenotype errors, thereby allowing for more realistic study design. For most diseases of current interest, verifying that cases are correctly classified is of paramount importance.

  16. Neuronal discrimination capacity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Deng Yingchun; Williams, Peter; Feng Jianfeng; Liu Feng

    2003-01-01

    We explore neuronal mechanisms of discriminating between masked signals. It is found that when the correlation between input signals is zero, the output signals are separable if and only if input signals are separable. With positively (negatively) correlated signals, the output signals are separable (mixed) even when input signals are mixed (separable). Exact values of discrimination capacity are obtained for two most interesting cases: the exactly balanced inhibitory and excitatory input case and the uncorrelated input case. Interestingly, the discrimination capacity obtained in these cases is independent of model parameters, input distribution and is universal. Our results also suggest a functional role of inhibitory inputs and correlated inputs or, more generally, the large variability of efferent spike trains observed in in vivo experiments: the larger the variability of efferent spike trains, the easier it is to discriminate between masked input signals

  17. Neuronal discrimination capacity

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Deng Yingchun [Department of Mathematics, Hunan Normal University 410081, Changsha (China); COGS, University of Sussex at Brighton, BN1 9QH (United Kingdom); Williams, Peter; Feng Jianfeng [COGS, University of Sussex at Brighton, BN1 9QH (United Kingdom); Liu Feng [COGS, University of Sussex at Brighton, BN1 9QH (United Kingdom); Physics Department, Nanjing University (China)

    2003-12-19

    We explore neuronal mechanisms of discriminating between masked signals. It is found that when the correlation between input signals is zero, the output signals are separable if and only if input signals are separable. With positively (negatively) correlated signals, the output signals are separable (mixed) even when input signals are mixed (separable). Exact values of discrimination capacity are obtained for two most interesting cases: the exactly balanced inhibitory and excitatory input case and the uncorrelated input case. Interestingly, the discrimination capacity obtained in these cases is independent of model parameters, input distribution and is universal. Our results also suggest a functional role of inhibitory inputs and correlated inputs or, more generally, the large variability of efferent spike trains observed in in vivo experiments: the larger the variability of efferent spike trains, the easier it is to discriminate between masked input signals.

  18. Multi-isocenter stereotactic radiotherapy: implications for target dose distributions of systematic and random localization errors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ebert, M.A.; Zavgorodni, S.F.; Kendrick, L.A.; Weston, S.; Harper, C.S.

    2001-01-01

    Purpose: This investigation examined the effect of alignment and localization errors on dose distributions in stereotactic radiotherapy (SRT) with arced circular fields. In particular, it was desired to determine the effect of systematic and random localization errors on multi-isocenter treatments. Methods and Materials: A research version of the FastPlan system from Surgical Navigation Technologies was used to generate a series of SRT plans of varying complexity. These plans were used to examine the influence of random setup errors by recalculating dose distributions with successive setup errors convolved into the off-axis ratio data tables used in the dose calculation. The influence of systematic errors was investigated by displacing isocenters from their planned positions. Results: For single-isocenter plans, it is found that the influences of setup error are strongly dependent on the size of the target volume, with minimum doses decreasing most significantly with increasing random and systematic alignment error. For multi-isocenter plans, similar variations in target dose are encountered, with this result benefiting from the conventional method of prescribing to a lower isodose value for multi-isocenter treatments relative to single-isocenter treatments. Conclusions: It is recommended that the systematic errors associated with target localization in SRT be tracked via a thorough quality assurance program, and that random setup errors be minimized by use of a sufficiently robust relocation system. These errors should also be accounted for by incorporating corrections into the treatment planning algorithm or, alternatively, by inclusion of sufficient margins in target definition

  19. Enhancement of Unequal Error Protection Properties of LDPC Codes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Poulliat Charly

    2007-01-01

    Full Text Available It has been widely recognized in the literature that irregular low-density parity-check (LDPC codes exhibit naturally an unequal error protection (UEP behavior. In this paper, we propose a general method to emphasize and control the UEP properties of LDPC codes. The method is based on a hierarchical optimization of the bit node irregularity profile for each sensitivity class within the codeword by maximizing the average bit node degree while guaranteeing a minimum degree as high as possible. We show that this optimization strategy is efficient, since the codes that we optimize show better UEP capabilities than the codes optimized for the additive white Gaussian noise channel.

  20. Workplace discrimination: experiences of practicing physicians.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Coombs, Alice A Tolbert; King, Roderick K

    2005-04-01

    In response to a growing concern regarding physician discrimination in the workplace, this study was developed to: (1) describe the types of discrimination that exist for the practicing physician and (2) determine which groups of physicians are more likely to experience the various forms of discrimination. Surveys were mailed to 1930 practicing physicians in Massachusetts. Participants were asked if they had encountered discrimination, how significant the discrimination was against a specific group, the frequency of personal discrimination, and the type of discrimination. Factor analysis identified four types of discrimination: career advancement, punitive behaviors, practice barriers and hiring barriers. A total of 445 responses were received (a 24% response rate). Sixty-three percent of responding physicians had experienced some form of discrimination. Respondents were women (46%), racial/ethnic minorities (42%) and international medical graduates (IMGs) (40%). In addition, 26% of those classified as white were also IMGs. Over 60% of respondents believed discrimination against IMGs was very or somewhat significant. Almost 27% of males acknowledged that gender bias against females was very or somewhat significant. IMGs were more likely to indicate that discrimination against IMGs was significant in their current organization. Of U.S. medical graduates (USMGs) 44% reported that discrimination against IMGs in their current organization was significant. Nonwhites were more likely to report that discrimination based on race/ethnicity was significant. Nearly 29% of white respondents also believed that such discrimination was very or somewhat significant. Physicians practicing in academic, research, and private practice sectors experience discrimination based on gender, ethnic/racial, and IMG status.

  1. Optimization of Trade-offs in Error-free Image Transmission

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cox, Jerome R.; Moore, Stephen M.; Blaine, G. James; Zimmerman, John B.; Wallace, Gregory K.

    1989-05-01

    The availability of ubiquitous wide-area channels of both modest cost and higher transmission rate than voice-grade lines promises to allow the expansion of electronic radiology services to a larger community. The band-widths of the new services becoming available from the Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) are typically limited to 128 Kb/s, almost two orders of magnitude lower than popular LANs can support. Using Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) techniques, a compressed approximation to an image may be rapidly transmitted. However, intensity or resampling transformations of the reconstructed image may reveal otherwise invisible artifacts of the approximate encoding. A progressive transmission scheme reported in ISO Working Paper N800 offers an attractive solution to this problem by rapidly reconstructing an apparently undistorted image from the DCT coefficients and then subse-quently transmitting the error image corresponding to the difference between the original and the reconstructed images. This approach achieves an error-free transmission without sacrificing the perception of rapid image delivery. Furthermore, subsequent intensity and resampling manipulations can be carried out with confidence. DCT coefficient precision affects the amount of error information that must be transmitted and, hence the delivery speed of error-free images. This study calculates the overall information coding rate for six radiographic images as a function of DCT coefficient precision. The results demonstrate that a minimum occurs for each of the six images at an average coefficient precision of between 0.5 and 1.0 bits per pixel (b/p). Apparently undistorted versions of these six images can be transmitted with a coding rate of between 0.25 and 0.75 b/p while error-free versions can be transmitted with an overall coding rate between 4.5 and 6.5 b/p.

  2. From discrimination to internalized mental illness stigma: The mediating roles of anticipated discrimination and anticipated stigma.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Quinn, Diane M; Williams, Michelle K; Weisz, Bradley M

    2015-06-01

    Internalizing mental illness stigma is related to poorer well-being, but less is known about the factors that predict levels of internalized stigma. This study explored how experiences of discrimination relate to greater anticipation of discrimination and devaluation in the future and how anticipation of stigma in turn predicts greater stigma internalization. Participants were 105 adults with mental illness who self-reported their experiences of discrimination based on their mental illness, their anticipation of discrimination and social devaluation from others in the future, and their level of internalized stigma. Participants were approached in several locations and completed surveys on laptop computers. Correlational analyses indicated that more experiences of discrimination due to one's mental illness were related to increased anticipated discrimination in the future, increased anticipated social stigma from others, and greater internalized stigma. Multiple serial mediator analyses showed that the effect of experiences of discrimination on internalized stigma was fully mediated by increased anticipated discrimination and anticipated stigma. Experiences of discrimination over one's lifetime may influence not only how much future discrimination people with mental illness are concerned with but also how much they internalize negative feelings about the self. Mental health professionals may need to address concerns with future discrimination and devaluation in order to decrease internalized stigma. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

  3. Discrimination of the change point in a quantum setting

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Akimoto, Daiki; Hayashi, Masahito

    2011-01-01

    In the change point problem, we determine when the observed distribution has changed to another one. We expand this problem to a quantum case where copies of an unknown pure state are being distributed. That is, we estimate when the distributed quantum pure state is changed. As the most fundamental case, we treat the problem of deciding the true change point t c between the two given candidates t 1 and t 2 . Our problem is mathematically equal to identifying a given state with one of the two unknown states when multiple copies of the states are provided. The minimum of the averaged error probability is given and the optimal positive operator-valued measure (POVM) is given to obtain it when the initial and final quantum pure states are subject to the invariant prior. We also compute the error probability for deciding the change point under the above POVM when the initial and final quantum pure states are fixed. These analytical results allow us to calculate the value in the asymptotic case.

  4. Perceived weight discrimination and obesity.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Angelina R Sutin

    Full Text Available Weight discrimination is prevalent in American society. Although associated consistently with psychological and economic outcomes, less is known about whether weight discrimination is associated with longitudinal changes in obesity. The objectives of this research are (1 to test whether weight discrimination is associated with risk of becoming obese (Body Mass Index≥30; BMI by follow-up among those not obese at baseline, and (2 to test whether weight discrimination is associated with risk of remaining obese at follow-up among those already obese at baseline. Participants were drawn from the Health and Retirement Study, a nationally representative longitudinal survey of community-dwelling US residents. A total of 6,157 participants (58.6% female completed the discrimination measure and had weight and height available from the 2006 and 2010 assessments. Participants who experienced weight discrimination were approximately 2.5 times more likely to become obese by follow-up (OR = 2.54, 95% CI = 1.58-4.08 and participants who were obese at baseline were three times more likely to remain obese at follow up (OR = 3.20, 95% CI = 2.06-4.97 than those who had not experienced such discrimination. These effects held when controlling for demographic factors (age, sex, ethnicity, education and when baseline BMI was included as a covariate. These effects were also specific to weight discrimination; other forms of discrimination (e.g., sex, race were unrelated to risk of obesity at follow-up. The present research demonstrates that, in addition to poorer mental health outcomes, weight discrimination has implications for obesity. Rather than motivating individuals to lose weight, weight discrimination increases risk for obesity.

  5. Low power constant fraction discriminator

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Krishnan, Shanti; Raut, S.M.; Mukhopadhyay, P.K.

    2001-01-01

    This paper describes the design of a low power ultrafast constant fraction discriminator, which significantly reduces the power consumption. A conventional fast discriminator consumes about 1250 MW of power whereas this low power version consumes about 440 MW. In a multi detector system, where the number of discriminators is very large, reduction of power is of utmost importance. This low power discriminator is being designed for GRACE (Gamma Ray Atmospheric Cerenkov Experiments) telescope where 1000 channels of discriminators are required. A novel method of decreasing power consumption has been described. (author)

  6. Does perceived discrimination affect health? Longitudinal relationships between work discrimination and women's physical and emotional health.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pavalko, Eliza K; Mossakowski, Krysia N; Hamilton, Vanessa J

    2003-03-01

    This study uses longitudinal data to examine the causal relationships between perceived work discrimination and women's physical and emotional health. Using data on 1,778 employed women in the National Longitudinal Survey of Mature Women, we investigate the structural and individual characteristics that predict later perceptions of discrimination and the effects of those perceptions on subsequent health. We find that perceptions of discrimination are influenced by job attitudes, prior experiences of discrimination, and work contexts, but prior health is not related to later perceptions. However, perceptions of discrimination do impact subsequent health, and these effects remain significant after controlling for prior emotional health, physical health limitations, discrimination, and job characteristics. Overall, the results provide even stronger support for the health impact of workplace discrimination and suggest a need for further longitudinal analyses of causes and consequences of perceived discrimination.

  7. DISCRIMINATION BY ASSOCIATION IN EUROPEAN LAW

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cătălina-Adriana Ivănuș

    2013-11-01

    Full Text Available The european law prohibit direct and indirect discrimination and harrasment on grounds of sex, racial or ethnic, religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation. The question is what is the situation when someone is discriminated on can claim to be the victim of unlawful discrimination because he or she is associated with another person who has the protected characteristic. The the Court of Justice of the European Union’s judgment in Coleman v Attridge Law and Steve Law confirms, for the first time in European law, the existence of the concept of discrimination by association. In this article I examine the implications of this case on all conceps of discrimination concepts of discrimination in European law (direct discrimination, indirect discrimination and harassment. I also examine the application of discrimination by association to grounds other than disability.

  8. Challenge and Error: Critical Events and Attention-Related Errors

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cheyne, James Allan; Carriere, Jonathan S. A.; Solman, Grayden J. F.; Smilek, Daniel

    2011-01-01

    Attention lapses resulting from reactivity to task challenges and their consequences constitute a pervasive factor affecting everyday performance errors and accidents. A bidirectional model of attention lapses (error [image omitted] attention-lapse: Cheyne, Solman, Carriere, & Smilek, 2009) argues that errors beget errors by generating attention…

  9. Bit Error-Rate Minimizing Detector for Amplify-and-Forward Relaying Systems Using Generalized Gaussian Kernel

    KAUST Repository

    Ahmed, Qasim Zeeshan

    2013-01-01

    In this letter, a new detector is proposed for amplifyand- forward (AF) relaying system when communicating with the assistance of relays. The major goal of this detector is to improve the bit error rate (BER) performance of the receiver. The probability density function is estimated with the help of kernel density technique. A generalized Gaussian kernel is proposed. This new kernel provides more flexibility and encompasses Gaussian and uniform kernels as special cases. The optimal window width of the kernel is calculated. Simulations results show that a gain of more than 1 dB can be achieved in terms of BER performance as compared to the minimum mean square error (MMSE) receiver when communicating over Rayleigh fading channels.

  10. Error forecasting schemes of error correction at receiver

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bhunia, C.T.

    2007-08-01

    To combat error in computer communication networks, ARQ (Automatic Repeat Request) techniques are used. Recently Chakraborty has proposed a simple technique called the packet combining scheme in which error is corrected at the receiver from the erroneous copies. Packet Combining (PC) scheme fails: (i) when bit error locations in erroneous copies are the same and (ii) when multiple bit errors occur. Both these have been addressed recently by two schemes known as Packet Reversed Packet Combining (PRPC) Scheme, and Modified Packet Combining (MPC) Scheme respectively. In the letter, two error forecasting correction schemes are reported, which in combination with PRPC offer higher throughput. (author)

  11. From Discrimination to Internalized Mental Illness Stigma: The Mediating Roles of Anticipated Discrimination and Anticipated Stigma

    Science.gov (United States)

    Quinn, Diane M.; Williams, Michelle K.; Weisz, Bradley M.

    2015-01-01

    Objective Internalizing mental illness stigma is related to poorer well-being, but less is known about the factors that predict levels of internalized stigma. This study explored how experiences of discrimination relate to greater anticipation of discrimination and devaluation in the future, and how anticipation of stigma, in turn predicts greater stigma internalization. Method Participants were 105 adults with mental illness who self-reported their experiences of discrimination based on their mental illness, their anticipation of discrimination and social devaluation from others in the future, and their level of internalized stigma. Participants were approached in several locations and completed surveys on laptop computers. Results Correlational analyses indicated that more experiences of discrimination due to one’s mental illness were related to increased anticipated discrimination in the future, increased anticipated social stigma from others, and greater internalized stigma. Multiple serial mediator analyses showed that the effect of experiences of discrimination on internalized stigma was fully mediated by increased anticipated discrimination and anticipated stigma. Conclusion and Implications for Practice Experiences of discrimination over the lifetime may influence not only how much future discrimination people with mental illness are concerned with but also how much they internalize negative feelings about the self. Mental health professionals may need to address concerns with future discrimination and devaluation in order to decrease internalized stigma. PMID:25844910

  12. Minimum income protection in the Netherlands

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van Peijpe, T.

    2009-01-01

    This article offers an overview of the Dutch legal system of minimum income protection through collective bargaining, social security, and statutory minimum wages. In addition to collective agreements, the Dutch statutory minimum wage offers income protection to a small number of workers. Its

  13. Automated Error Detection in Physiotherapy Training.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jovanović, Marko; Seiffarth, Johannes; Kutafina, Ekaterina; Jonas, Stephan M

    2018-01-01

    Manual skills teaching, such as physiotherapy education, requires immediate teacher feedback for the students during the learning process, which to date can only be performed by expert trainers. A machine-learning system trained only on correct performances to classify and score performed movements, to identify sources of errors in the movement and give feedback to the learner. We acquire IMU and sEMG sensor data from a commercial-grade wearable device and construct an HMM-based model for gesture classification, scoring and feedback giving. We evaluate the model on publicly available and self-generated data of an exemplary movement pattern executions. The model achieves an overall accuracy of 90.71% on the public dataset and 98.9% on our dataset. An AUC of 0.99 for the ROC of the scoring method could be achieved to discriminate between correct and untrained incorrect executions. The proposed system demonstrated its suitability for scoring and feedback in manual skills training.

  14. New definitions of pointing stability - ac and dc effects. [constant and time-dependent pointing error effects on image sensor performance

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lucke, Robert L.; Sirlin, Samuel W.; San Martin, A. M.

    1992-01-01

    For most imaging sensors, a constant (dc) pointing error is unimportant (unless large), but time-dependent (ac) errors degrade performance by either distorting or smearing the image. When properly quantified, the separation of the root-mean-square effects of random line-of-sight motions into dc and ac components can be used to obtain the minimum necessary line-of-sight stability specifications. The relation between stability requirements and sensor resolution is discussed, with a view to improving communication between the data analyst and the control systems engineer.

  15. Operator errors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Knuefer; Lindauer

    1980-01-01

    Besides that at spectacular events a combination of component failure and human error is often found. Especially the Rasmussen-Report and the German Risk Assessment Study show for pressurised water reactors that human error must not be underestimated. Although operator errors as a form of human error can never be eliminated entirely, they can be minimized and their effects kept within acceptable limits if a thorough training of personnel is combined with an adequate design of the plant against accidents. Contrary to the investigation of engineering errors, the investigation of human errors has so far been carried out with relatively small budgets. Intensified investigations in this field appear to be a worthwhile effort. (orig.)

  16. Introduction to integral discriminants

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Morozov, A.; Shakirov, Sh.

    2009-01-01

    The simplest partition function, associated with homogeneous symmetric forms S of degree r in n variables, is integral discriminant J n|r (S) = ∫e -S(x 1 ,...,x n ) dx 1 ...dx n . Actually, S-dependence remains the same if e -S in the integrand is substituted by arbitrary function f(S), i.e. integral discriminant is a characteristic of the form S itself, and not of the averaging procedure. The aim of the present paper is to calculate J n|r in a number of non-Gaussian cases. Using Ward identities - linear differential equations, satisfied by integral discriminants - we calculate J 2|3 ,J 2|4 ,J 2|5 and J 3|3 . In all these examples, integral discriminant appears to be a generalized hypergeometric function. It depends on several SL(n) invariants of S, with essential singularities controlled by the ordinary algebraic discriminant of S.

  17. Rate-compatible protograph LDPC code families with linear minimum distance

    Science.gov (United States)

    Divsalar, Dariush (Inventor); Dolinar, Jr., Samuel J. (Inventor); Jones, Christopher R. (Inventor)

    2012-01-01

    Digital communication coding methods are shown, which generate certain types of low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes built from protographs. A first method creates protographs having the linear minimum distance property and comprising at least one variable node with degree less than 3. A second method creates families of protographs of different rates, all structurally identical for all rates except for a rate-dependent designation of certain variable nodes as transmitted or non-transmitted. A third method creates families of protographs of different rates, all structurally identical for all rates except for a rate-dependent designation of the status of certain variable nodes as non-transmitted or set to zero. LDPC codes built from the protographs created by these methods can simultaneously have low error floors and low iterative decoding thresholds.

  18. Quantifying explainable discrimination and removing illegal discrimination in automated decision making

    KAUST Repository

    Kamiran, Faisal; Žliobaite, Indre; Calders, Toon

    2012-01-01

    discrimination and do not take into account that part of the discrimination may be explainable by other attributes. For example, in a job application, the education level of a job candidate could be such an explainable attribute. If the data contain many highly

  19. JUSTIFICATION FOR INDIRECT DISCRIMINATION IN EU

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cătălina-Adriana Ivănuş

    2014-11-01

    Full Text Available The right to non-discrimination is very important for a civilized society. EU legislation establishes direct and indirect discrimination, harassment, sexual harassment, instruction to discriminate and any less favourable treatment of a woman related to pregnancy or maternity leave as forms of discrimination. The law and the Court of Justice permit the justification of indirect discrimination.

  20. JUSTIFICATION FOR INDIRECT DISCRIMINATION IN EU

    OpenAIRE

    Cătălina-Adriana Ivănuş

    2014-01-01

    The right to non-discrimination is very important for a civilized society. EU legislation establishes direct and indirect discrimination, harassment, sexual harassment, instruction to discriminate and any less favourable treatment of a woman related to pregnancy or maternity leave as forms of discrimination. The law and the Court of Justice permit the justification of indirect discrimination.

  1. Different populations of subthalamic neurons encode cocaine vs. sucrose reward and predict future error.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lardeux, Sylvie; Paleressompoulle, Dany; Pernaud, Remy; Cador, Martine; Baunez, Christelle

    2013-10-01

    The search for treatment of cocaine addiction raises the challenge to find a way to diminish motivation for the drug without decreasing it for natural rewards. Subthalamic nucleus (STN) inactivation decreases motivation for cocaine while increasing motivation for food, suggesting that STN can dissociate different rewards. Here, we investigated how rat STN neurons respond to cues predicting cocaine or sucrose and to reward delivery while rats are performing a discriminative stimuli task. We show that different neuronal populations of STN neurons encode cocaine and sucrose. In addition, we show that STN activity at the cue onset predicts future error. When changing the reward predicted unexpectedly, STN neurons show capacities of adaptation, suggesting a role in reward-prediction error. Furthermore, some STN neurons show a response to executive error (i.e., "oops neurons") that is specific to the missed reward. These results position the STN as a nexus where natural rewards and drugs of abuse are coded differentially and can influence the performance. Therefore, STN can be viewed as a structure where action could be taken for the treatment of cocaine addiction.

  2. How Do Simulated Error Experiences Impact Attitudes Related to Error Prevention?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Breitkreuz, Karen R; Dougal, Renae L; Wright, Melanie C

    2016-10-01

    The objective of this project was to determine whether simulated exposure to error situations changes attitudes in a way that may have a positive impact on error prevention behaviors. Using a stratified quasi-randomized experiment design, we compared risk perception attitudes of a control group of nursing students who received standard error education (reviewed medication error content and watched movies about error experiences) to an experimental group of students who reviewed medication error content and participated in simulated error experiences. Dependent measures included perceived memorability of the educational experience, perceived frequency of errors, and perceived caution with respect to preventing errors. Experienced nursing students perceived the simulated error experiences to be more memorable than movies. Less experienced students perceived both simulated error experiences and movies to be highly memorable. After the intervention, compared with movie participants, simulation participants believed errors occurred more frequently. Both types of education increased the participants' intentions to be more cautious and reported caution remained higher than baseline for medication errors 6 months after the intervention. This study provides limited evidence of an advantage of simulation over watching movies describing actual errors with respect to manipulating attitudes related to error prevention. Both interventions resulted in long-term impacts on perceived caution in medication administration. Simulated error experiences made participants more aware of how easily errors can occur, and the movie education made participants more aware of the devastating consequences of errors.

  3. Perceiving discrimination in "real life" : Distinguishing negative events from discrimination attributions.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Thijs, J.T.; Piscoi, Dea

    2016-01-01

    The present survey study examined a sample of ethnic minority preadolescents (ages 9–13) and made the empirical distinction between their exposure to peer victimization and the extent to which they attributed this to discrimination. Both peer victimization and the attribution to discrimination were

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dyjas, Oliver; Ulrich, Rolf

    2014-01-01

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

  5. Digital voltage discriminator

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhou Zhicheng

    1992-01-01

    A digital voltage discriminator is described, which is synthesized by digital comparator and ADC. The threshold is program controllable with high stability. Digital region of confusion is approximately equal to 1.5 LSB. This discriminator has a single channel analyzer function model with channel width of 1.5 LSB

  6. Timbre discrimination in musical patterns.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grey, J M

    1978-08-01

    Most research on timbre perception has studied isolated tones. This study compares timbre discrimination of isolated tones with discrimination in various musical contexts, both single-voiced and multivoiced. Twelve different contexts were used (four isolated tonal comparisons, four single-voice musical patterns, and four multivoice patterns). Listerners judged whether the timbre remained the same or changed during the trial. Two possible versions of any instrumental timbre differed in the physical information used in their synthesis. Three instrumental timbres were tested in all contexts: clarinet, trumpet, and bassoon. The effects of context upon discrimination varied across instruments. The clarinet and trumpet versions were best discriminated in isolated contexts, with discrimination progressively worse in single-voice and multivoice patterns. The bassoon versions were best discriminated in the single-voice patterns, with equal discrimination in the isolated and multivoice cases. It is suggested that these results were due to pronounced physical differences observed between the spectra of the two versions of the bassoon that were not apparent between the versions of the clarinet or trumpet.

  7. Genetic algorithms and experimental discrimination of SUSY models

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Allanach, B.C.; Quevedo, F.; Grellscheid, D.

    2004-01-01

    We introduce genetic algorithms as a means to estimate the accuracy required to discriminate among different models using experimental observables. We exemplify the technique in the context of the minimal supersymmetric standard model. If supersymmetric particles are discovered, models of supersymmetry breaking will be fit to the observed spectrum and it is beneficial to ask beforehand: what accuracy is required to always allow the discrimination of two particular models and which are the most important masses to observe? Each model predicts a bounded patch in the space of observables once unknown parameters are scanned over. The questions can be answered by minimising a 'distance' measure between the two hypersurfaces. We construct a distance measure that scales like a constant fraction of an observable, since that is how the experimental errors are expected to scale. Genetic algorithms, including concepts such as natural selection, fitness and mutations, provide a solution to the minimisation problem. We illustrate the efficiency of the method by comparing three different classes of string models for which the above questions could not be answered with previous techniques. The required accuracy is in the range accessible to the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) when combined with a future linear collider (LC) facility. The technique presented here can be applied to more general classes of models or observables. (author)

  8. A step-up test procedure to find the minimum effective dose.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Weizhen; Peng, Jianan

    2015-01-01

    It is of great interest to find the minimum effective dose (MED) in dose-response studies. A sequence of decreasing null hypotheses to find the MED is formulated under the assumption of nondecreasing dose response means. A step-up multiple test procedure that controls the familywise error rate (FWER) is constructed based on the maximum likelihood estimators for the monotone normal means. When the MED is equal to one, the proposed test is uniformly more powerful than Hsu and Berger's test (1999). Also, a simulation study shows a substantial power improvement for the proposed test over four competitors. Three R-codes are provided in Supplemental Materials for this article. Go to the publishers online edition of Journal of Biopharmaceutical Statistics to view the files.

  9. LOOP- SIMULATION OF THE AUTOMATIC FREQUENCY CONTROL SUBSYSTEM OF A DIFFERENTIAL MINIMUM SHIFT KEYING RECEIVER

    Science.gov (United States)

    Davarian, F.

    1994-01-01

    The LOOP computer program was written to simulate the Automatic Frequency Control (AFC) subsystem of a Differential Minimum Shift Keying (DMSK) receiver with a bit rate of 2400 baud. The AFC simulated by LOOP is a first order loop configuration with a first order R-C filter. NASA has been investigating the concept of mobile communications based on low-cost, low-power terminals linked via geostationary satellites. Studies have indicated that low bit rate transmission is suitable for this application, particularly from the frequency and power conservation point of view. A bit rate of 2400 BPS is attractive due to its applicability to the linear predictive coding of speech. Input to LOOP includes the following: 1) the initial frequency error; 2) the double-sided loop noise bandwidth; 3) the filter time constants; 4) the amount of intersymbol interference; and 5) the bit energy to noise spectral density. LOOP output includes: 1) the bit number and the frequency error of that bit; 2) the computed mean of the frequency error; and 3) the standard deviation of the frequency error. LOOP is written in MS SuperSoft FORTRAN 77 for interactive execution and has been implemented on an IBM PC operating under PC DOS with a memory requirement of approximately 40K of 8 bit bytes. This program was developed in 1986.

  10. SU-G-BRB-11: On the Sensitivity of An EPID-Based 3D Dose Verification System to Detect Delivery Errors in VMAT Treatments

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Gonzalez, P; Olaciregui-Ruiz, I; Mijnheer, B; Mans, A; Rozendaal, R [Netherlands Cancer Institute - Antoni van Leeuwenhoek, Amsterdam, Noord-Holland (Netherlands)

    2016-06-15

    Purpose: To investigate the sensitivity of an EPID-based 3D dose verification system to detect delivery errors in VMAT treatments. Methods: For this study 41 EPID-reconstructed 3D in vivo dose distributions of 15 different VMAT plans (H&N, lung, prostate and rectum) were selected. To simulate the effect of delivery errors, their TPS plans were modified by: 1) scaling of the monitor units by ±3% and ±6% and 2) systematic shifting of leaf bank positions by ±1mm, ±2mm and ±5mm. The 3D in vivo dose distributions where then compared to the unmodified and modified treatment plans. To determine the detectability of the various delivery errors, we made use of a receiver operator characteristic (ROC) methodology. True positive and false positive rates were calculated as a function of the γ-parameters γmean, γ1% (near-maximum γ) and the PTV dose parameter ΔD{sub 50} (i.e. D{sub 50}(EPID)-D{sub 50}(TPS)). The ROC curve is constructed by plotting the true positive rate vs. the false positive rate. The area under the ROC curve (AUC) then serves as a measure of the performance of the EPID dosimetry system in detecting a particular error; an ideal system has AUC=1. Results: The AUC ranges for the machine output errors and systematic leaf position errors were [0.64 – 0.93] and [0.48 – 0.92] respectively using γmean, [0.57 – 0.79] and [0.46 – 0.85] using γ1% and [0.61 – 0.77] and [ 0.48 – 0.62] using ΔD{sub 50}. Conclusion: For the verification of VMAT deliveries, the parameter γmean is the best discriminator for the detection of systematic leaf position errors and monitor unit scaling errors. Compared to γmean and γ1%, the parameter ΔD{sub 50} performs worse as a discriminator in all cases.

  11. Statistical errors in Monte Carlo estimates of systematic errors

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Roe, Byron P. [Department of Physics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109 (United States)]. E-mail: byronroe@umich.edu

    2007-01-01

    For estimating the effects of a number of systematic errors on a data sample, one can generate Monte Carlo (MC) runs with systematic parameters varied and examine the change in the desired observed result. Two methods are often used. In the unisim method, the systematic parameters are varied one at a time by one standard deviation, each parameter corresponding to a MC run. In the multisim method (see ), each MC run has all of the parameters varied; the amount of variation is chosen from the expected distribution of each systematic parameter, usually assumed to be a normal distribution. The variance of the overall systematic error determination is derived for each of the two methods and comparisons are made between them. If one focuses not on the error in the prediction of an individual systematic error, but on the overall error due to all systematic errors in the error matrix element in data bin m, the number of events needed is strongly reduced because of the averaging effect over all of the errors. For simple models presented here the multisim model was far better if the statistical error in the MC samples was larger than an individual systematic error, while for the reverse case, the unisim model was better. Exact formulas and formulas for the simple toy models are presented so that realistic calculations can be made. The calculations in the present note are valid if the errors are in a linear region. If that region extends sufficiently far, one can have the unisims or multisims correspond to k standard deviations instead of one. This reduces the number of events required by a factor of k{sup 2}.

  12. Statistical errors in Monte Carlo estimates of systematic errors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Roe, Byron P.

    2007-01-01

    For estimating the effects of a number of systematic errors on a data sample, one can generate Monte Carlo (MC) runs with systematic parameters varied and examine the change in the desired observed result. Two methods are often used. In the unisim method, the systematic parameters are varied one at a time by one standard deviation, each parameter corresponding to a MC run. In the multisim method (see ), each MC run has all of the parameters varied; the amount of variation is chosen from the expected distribution of each systematic parameter, usually assumed to be a normal distribution. The variance of the overall systematic error determination is derived for each of the two methods and comparisons are made between them. If one focuses not on the error in the prediction of an individual systematic error, but on the overall error due to all systematic errors in the error matrix element in data bin m, the number of events needed is strongly reduced because of the averaging effect over all of the errors. For simple models presented here the multisim model was far better if the statistical error in the MC samples was larger than an individual systematic error, while for the reverse case, the unisim model was better. Exact formulas and formulas for the simple toy models are presented so that realistic calculations can be made. The calculations in the present note are valid if the errors are in a linear region. If that region extends sufficiently far, one can have the unisims or multisims correspond to k standard deviations instead of one. This reduces the number of events required by a factor of k 2

  13. Associations of racial discrimination and parental discrimination coping messages with African American adolescent racial identity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Richardson, Bridget L; Macon, Tamarie A; Mustafaa, Faheemah N; Bogan, Erin D; Cole-Lewis, Yasmin; Chavous, Tabbye M

    2015-06-01

    Research links racial identity to important developmental outcomes among African American adolescents, but less is known about the contextual experiences that shape youths' racial identity. In a sample of 491 African American adolescents (48% female), associations of youth-reported experiences of racial discrimination and parental messages about preparation for racial bias with adolescents' later racial identity were examined. Cluster analysis resulted in four profiles of adolescents varying in reported frequency of racial discrimination from teachers and peers at school and frequency of parental racial discrimination coping messages during adolescents' 8th grade year. Boys were disproportionately over-represented in the cluster of youth experiencing more frequent discrimination but receiving fewer parental discrimination coping messages, relative to the overall sample. Also examined were clusters of adolescents' 11th grade racial identity attitudes about the importance of race (centrality), personal group affect (private regard), and perceptions of societal beliefs about African Americans (public regard). Girls and boys did not differ in their representation in racial identity clusters, but 8th grade discrimination/parent messages clusters were associated with 11th grade racial identity cluster membership, and these associations varied across gender groups. Boys experiencing more frequent discrimination but fewer parental coping messages were over-represented in the racial identity cluster characterized by low centrality, low private regard, and average public regard. The findings suggest that adolescents who experience racial discrimination but receive fewer parental supports for negotiating and coping with discrimination may be at heightened risk for internalizing stigmatizing experiences. Also, the findings suggest the need to consider the context of gender in adolescents' racial discrimination and parental racial socialization.

  14. Responsiveness and minimum important change of the Oswestry Disability Index in Italian subjects with symptomatic lumbar spondylolisthesis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vanti, Carla; Ferrari, Silvano; Villafañe, Jorge Hugo; Berjano, Pedro; Monticone, Marco

    2017-06-01

    This study aims to investigate the responsiveness and the minimum important change of the Italian version of the Oswestry Disability Index (ODI-I) in subjects with symptomatic specific low back pain associated with lumbar spondylolisthesis (SPL). One hundred and fifty-one patients with symptomatic SPL completed the ODI-I, a 0-100 numerical rating scale (NRS), and performed the prone and supine bridge tests. The global perception of effectiveness was measured with a 7-point Likert scale. Responsiveness was assessed by distribution methods (minimum detectable change [MDC], effect size [ES], standardized response mean [SRM]) and anchor-based methods (ROC curves). The MDC was 4.23, the ES was 0.95 and the SRM was 1.25. ROC analysis revealed an area under the curve of 0.76 indicating moderate discriminating capacity. The best cut-off point for the dichotomous outcome was 7.5 (sensitivity 90.3%, specificity 56.7%). . The ODI-I proved to be responsive in detecting changes after conservative treatment in subjects with lumbar SPL. II.

  15. 20 CFR 405.30 - Discrimination complaints.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... 20 Employees' Benefits 2 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Discrimination complaints. 405.30 Section 405... INITIAL DISABILITY CLAIMS Introduction, General Description, and Definitions § 405.30 Discrimination... that an adjudicator has improperly discriminated against you, you may file a discrimination complaint...

  16. International Trade and Labor Market Discrimination

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    R. Chisik (Richard); J.E. Namini (Julian Emami)

    2016-01-01

    textabstractWe embed a competitive search model with labor market discrimination, or nepotism, into a two-sector, two-country framework in order to analyze how labor market discrimination impacts the pattern of international trade and also how trade trade affects discrimination. Discrimination, or

  17. Minimum relative entropy, Bayes and Kapur

    Science.gov (United States)

    Woodbury, Allan D.

    2011-04-01

    The focus of this paper is to illustrate important philosophies on inversion and the similarly and differences between Bayesian and minimum relative entropy (MRE) methods. The development of each approach is illustrated through the general-discrete linear inverse. MRE differs from both Bayes and classical statistical methods in that knowledge of moments are used as ‘data’ rather than sample values. MRE like Bayes, presumes knowledge of a prior probability distribution and produces the posterior pdf itself. MRE attempts to produce this pdf based on the information provided by new moments. It will use moments of the prior distribution only if new data on these moments is not available. It is important to note that MRE makes a strong statement that the imposed constraints are exact and complete. In this way, MRE is maximally uncommitted with respect to unknown information. In general, since input data are known only to within a certain accuracy, it is important that any inversion method should allow for errors in the measured data. The MRE approach can accommodate such uncertainty and in new work described here, previous results are modified to include a Gaussian prior. A variety of MRE solutions are reproduced under a number of assumed moments and these include second-order central moments. Various solutions of Jacobs & van der Geest were repeated and clarified. Menke's weighted minimum length solution was shown to have a basis in information theory, and the classic least-squares estimate is shown as a solution to MRE under the conditions of more data than unknowns and where we utilize the observed data and their associated noise. An example inverse problem involving a gravity survey over a layered and faulted zone is shown. In all cases the inverse results match quite closely the actual density profile, at least in the upper portions of the profile. The similar results to Bayes presented in are a reflection of the fact that the MRE posterior pdf, and its mean

  18. Field error lottery

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Elliott, C.J.; McVey, B. (Los Alamos National Lab., NM (USA)); Quimby, D.C. (Spectra Technology, Inc., Bellevue, WA (USA))

    1990-01-01

    The level of field errors in an FEL is an important determinant of its performance. We have computed 3D performance of a large laser subsystem subjected to field errors of various types. These calculations have been guided by simple models such as SWOOP. The technique of choice is utilization of the FELEX free electron laser code that now possesses extensive engineering capabilities. Modeling includes the ability to establish tolerances of various types: fast and slow scale field bowing, field error level, beam position monitor error level, gap errors, defocusing errors, energy slew, displacement and pointing errors. Many effects of these errors on relative gain and relative power extraction are displayed and are the essential elements of determining an error budget. The random errors also depend on the particular random number seed used in the calculation. The simultaneous display of the performance versus error level of cases with multiple seeds illustrates the variations attributable to stochasticity of this model. All these errors are evaluated numerically for comprehensive engineering of the system. In particular, gap errors are found to place requirements beyond mechanical tolerances of {plus minus}25{mu}m, and amelioration of these may occur by a procedure utilizing direct measurement of the magnetic fields at assembly time. 4 refs., 12 figs.

  19. Understanding the Minimum Wage: Issues and Answers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Employment Policies Inst. Foundation, Washington, DC.

    This booklet, which is designed to clarify facts regarding the minimum wage's impact on marketplace economics, contains a total of 31 questions and answers pertaining to the following topics: relationship between minimum wages and poverty; impacts of changes in the minimum wage on welfare reform; and possible effects of changes in the minimum wage…

  20. Youth minimum wages and youth employment

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Marimpi, Maria; Koning, Pierre

    2018-01-01

    This paper performs a cross-country level analysis on the impact of the level of specific youth minimum wages on the labor market performance of young individuals. We use information on the use and level of youth minimum wages, as compared to the level of adult minimum wages as well as to the median

  1. Discriminating nicotine and non-nicotine containing e-liquids using infrared spectroscopy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Deconinck, E; Bothy, J L; Barhdadi, S; Courselle, P

    2016-02-20

    In a few countries, including Belgium, nicotine-containing e-cigarettes and e-liquids are considered medicines, and therefore cannot freely be sold, but should be distributed in a pharmacy. The fact that in the neighbouring countries these products are freely available, poses a problem for custom personnel, the more the nicotine content of the products is not always labelled, especially when they are bought through internet. Therefore there is a need for easy-to-use equipment and methods to perform a first on site screening of intercepted samples, both for border control as to check label compliance of the sample. The use of attenuated total reflectance-infrared spectroscopy (ATR-IR) and near infrared spectroscopy (NIR), combined with chemometrics was evaluated for the discrimination between nicotine containing and non-nicotine containing samples. It could be concluded that both ATR-IR and NIR could be used for the discrimination when combined with the appropriate chemometric techniques. The presented techniques do not need sample preparation and result in models with a minimum of false negative samples. If a large enough training set can be established the interpretation can be fully automated, making the presented approach suitable for on-site screening of e-liquid samples. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  2. Perceived age discrimination in older adults.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rippon, Isla; Kneale, Dylan; de Oliveira, Cesar; Demakakos, Panayotes; Steptoe, Andrew

    2014-05-01

    to examine perceived age discrimination in a large representative sample of older adults in England. this cross-sectional study of over 7,500 individuals used data from the fifth wave of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA), a longitudinal cohort study of men and women aged 52 years and older in England. Wave 5 asked respondents about the frequency of five everyday discriminatory situations. Participants who attributed any experiences of discrimination to their age were treated as cases of perceived age discrimination. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was used to estimate the odds ratios of experiencing perceived age discrimination in relation to selected sociodemographic factors. approximately a third (33.3%) of all respondents experienced age discrimination, rising to 36.8% in those aged 65 and over. Perceived age discrimination was associated with older age, higher education, lower levels of household wealth and being retired or not in employment. The correlates of age discrimination across the five discriminatory situations were similar. understanding age discrimination is vital if we are to develop appropriate policies and to target future interventions effectively. These findings highlight the scale of the challenge of age discrimination for older adults in England and illustrate that those groups are particularly vulnerable to this form of discrimination.

  3. 14 CFR 372.22 - Discrimination.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 14 Aeronautics and Space 4 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Discrimination. 372.22 Section 372.22... REGULATIONS OVERSEAS MILITARY PERSONNEL CHARTERS Conditions and Limitations § 372.22 Discrimination. No... any unjust discrimination or any undue or unreasonable prejudice or disadvantage in any respect...

  4. Symbol Error Rate of MPSK over EGK Channels Perturbed by a Dominant Additive Laplacian Noise

    KAUST Repository

    Souri, Hamza; Alouini, Mohamed-Slim

    2015-01-01

    The Laplacian noise has received much attention during the recent years since it affects many communication systems. We consider in this paper the probability of error of an M-ary phase shift keying (PSK) constellation operating over a generalized fading channel in presence of a dominant additive Laplacian noise. In this context, the decision regions of the receiver are determined using the maximum likelihood and the minimum distance detectors. Once the decision regions are extracted, the resulting symbol error rate expressions are computed and averaged over an Extended Generalized-K fading distribution. Generic closed form expressions of the conditional and the average probability of error are obtained in terms of the Fox’s H function. Simplifications for some special cases of fading are presented and the resulting formulas end up being often expressed in terms of well known elementary functions. Finally, the mathematical formalism is validated using some selected analytical-based numerical results as well as Monte- Carlo simulation-based results.

  5. Symbol Error Rate of MPSK over EGK Channels Perturbed by a Dominant Additive Laplacian Noise

    KAUST Repository

    Souri, Hamza

    2015-06-01

    The Laplacian noise has received much attention during the recent years since it affects many communication systems. We consider in this paper the probability of error of an M-ary phase shift keying (PSK) constellation operating over a generalized fading channel in presence of a dominant additive Laplacian noise. In this context, the decision regions of the receiver are determined using the maximum likelihood and the minimum distance detectors. Once the decision regions are extracted, the resulting symbol error rate expressions are computed and averaged over an Extended Generalized-K fading distribution. Generic closed form expressions of the conditional and the average probability of error are obtained in terms of the Fox’s H function. Simplifications for some special cases of fading are presented and the resulting formulas end up being often expressed in terms of well known elementary functions. Finally, the mathematical formalism is validated using some selected analytical-based numerical results as well as Monte- Carlo simulation-based results.

  6. Measurement of radionuclides using ion chromatography and flow-cell scintillation counting with pulse shape discrimination

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    DeVol, T.A.; Fjeld, R.A.

    1995-01-01

    A project has been initiated at Clemson Univ. to develop a HPLC/flow- cell system for analysis of non-gamma emitting radionuclides in environmental samples; an important component is development of a low background flow-cell detector that counts alpha and beta particles separately through pulse shape discrimination. Objective of the work presented here is to provide preliminary results of an evaluation of the following scintillators: CaF 2 :Eu, scintillating glass, and BaF 2 . Slightly acidic aqueous solutions of the alpha emitter 233 U and the beta emitter 45 Ca were used. Detection efficiencies and minimum detectable activities were determined

  7. Discretization of space and time: determining the values of minimum length and minimum time

    OpenAIRE

    Roatta , Luca

    2017-01-01

    Assuming that space and time can only have discrete values, we obtain the expression of the minimum length and the minimum time interval. These values are found to be exactly coincident with the Planck's length and the Planck's time but for the presence of h instead of ħ .

  8. Minimum wage development in the Russian Federation

    OpenAIRE

    Bolsheva, Anna

    2012-01-01

    The aim of this paper is to analyze the effectiveness of the minimum wage policy at the national level in Russia and its impact on living standards in the country. The analysis showed that the national minimum wage in Russia does not serve its original purpose of protecting the lowest wage earners and has no substantial effect on poverty reduction. The national subsistence minimum is too low and cannot be considered an adequate criterion for the setting of the minimum wage. The minimum wage d...

  9. Errors in clinical laboratories or errors in laboratory medicine?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Plebani, Mario

    2006-01-01

    Laboratory testing is a highly complex process and, although laboratory services are relatively safe, they are not as safe as they could or should be. Clinical laboratories have long focused their attention on quality control methods and quality assessment programs dealing with analytical aspects of testing. However, a growing body of evidence accumulated in recent decades demonstrates that quality in clinical laboratories cannot be assured by merely focusing on purely analytical aspects. The more recent surveys on errors in laboratory medicine conclude that in the delivery of laboratory testing, mistakes occur more frequently before (pre-analytical) and after (post-analytical) the test has been performed. Most errors are due to pre-analytical factors (46-68.2% of total errors), while a high error rate (18.5-47% of total errors) has also been found in the post-analytical phase. Errors due to analytical problems have been significantly reduced over time, but there is evidence that, particularly for immunoassays, interference may have a serious impact on patients. A description of the most frequent and risky pre-, intra- and post-analytical errors and advice on practical steps for measuring and reducing the risk of errors is therefore given in the present paper. Many mistakes in the Total Testing Process are called "laboratory errors", although these may be due to poor communication, action taken by others involved in the testing process (e.g., physicians, nurses and phlebotomists), or poorly designed processes, all of which are beyond the laboratory's control. Likewise, there is evidence that laboratory information is only partially utilized. A recent document from the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) recommends a new, broader definition of the term "laboratory error" and a classification of errors according to different criteria. In a modern approach to total quality, centered on patients' needs and satisfaction, the risk of errors and mistakes

  10. 14 CFR 399.36 - Unreasonable discrimination.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 14 Aeronautics and Space 4 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Unreasonable discrimination. 399.36 Section... Unreasonable discrimination. (a) As used in this section: (1) Unreasonable discrimination means unjust discrimination or unreasonable preference or prejudice; and (2) Rate means rate, fare, or charge. (b) Except in...

  11. 14 CFR 380.26 - Discrimination.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 14 Aeronautics and Space 4 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Discrimination. 380.26 Section 380.26... REGULATIONS PUBLIC CHARTERS Requirements Applicable to Charter Operators § 380.26 Discrimination. No charter... unjust discrimination or any undue or unreasonable prejudice or disadvantage in any respect whatsoever. ...

  12. Photoacoustic discrimination of viable and thermally coagulated blood using a two-wavelength method for burn injury monitoring

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Talbert, Robert J; Holan, Scott H; Viator, John A

    2007-01-01

    Discriminating viable from thermally coagulated blood in a burn wound can be used to profile burn depth, thus aiding the removal of necrotic tissue. In this study, we used a two-wavelength photoacoustic imaging method to discriminate coagulated and non-coagulated blood in a dermal burn phantom. Differences in the optical absorption spectra of coagulated and non-coagulated blood produce different values of the ratio of peak photoacoustic amplitude at 543 and 633 nm. The absorption values obtained from spectroscopic measurements indicate that the ratio of photoacoustic pressure for 543 and 633 nm for non-coagulated blood was 15.7:1 and 1.6:1 for coagulated blood. Using planar blood layers, we found the photoacoustic ratios to be 13.5:1 and 1.6:1, respectively. Using the differences in the ratios of coagulated and non-coagulated blood, we propose a scheme using statistical classification analysis to identify the different blood samples. Based upon these distinctly different ratios, we identified the planar blood samples with an error rate of 0%. Using a burn phantom with cylindrical vessels containing coagulated and non-coagulated blood, we achieved an error rate of 11.4%. These results have shown that photoacoustic imaging could prove to be a valuable tool in the diagnosis of burns

  13. An information-guided channel-hopping scheme for block-fading channels with estimation errors

    KAUST Repository

    Yang, Yuli

    2010-12-01

    Information-guided channel-hopping technique employing multiple transmit antennas was previously proposed for supporting high data rate transmission over fading channels. This scheme achieves higher data rates than some mature schemes, such as the well-known cyclic transmit antenna selection and space-time block coding, by exploiting the independence character of multiple channels, which effectively results in having an additional information transmitting channel. Moreover, maximum likelihood decoding may be performed by simply decoupling the signals conveyed by the different mapping methods. In this paper, we investigate the achievable spectral efficiency of this scheme in the case of having channel estimation errors, with optimum pilot overhead for minimum meansquare error channel estimation, when transmitting over blockfading channels. Our numerical results further substantiate the robustness of the presented scheme, even with imperfect channel state information. ©2010 IEEE.

  14. Minimum emittance of three-bend achromats

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Li Xiaoyu; Xu Gang

    2012-01-01

    The calculation of the minimum emittance of three-bend achromats (TBAs) made by Mathematical software can ignore the actual magnets lattice in the matching condition of dispersion function in phase space. The minimum scaling factors of two kinds of widely used TBA lattices are obtained. Then the relationship between the lengths and the radii of the three dipoles in TBA is obtained and so is the minimum scaling factor, when the TBA lattice achieves its minimum emittance. The procedure of analysis and the results can be widely used in achromats lattices, because the calculation is not restricted by the actual lattice. (authors)

  15. 45 CFR 1624.4 - Discrimination prohibited.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... 45 Public Welfare 4 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Discrimination prohibited. 1624.4 Section 1624.4... AGAINST DISCRIMINATION ON THE BASIS OF DISABILITY § 1624.4 Discrimination prohibited. (a) No qualified... the benefits of, or otherwise be subjected to discrimination by any legal services program, directly...

  16. ERF/ERFC, Calculation of Error Function, Complementary Error Function, Probability Integrals

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vogel, J.E.

    1983-01-01

    1 - Description of problem or function: ERF and ERFC are used to compute values of the error function and complementary error function for any real number. They may be used to compute other related functions such as the normal probability integrals. 4. Method of solution: The error function and complementary error function are approximated by rational functions. Three such rational approximations are used depending on whether - x .GE.4.0. In the first region the error function is computed directly and the complementary error function is computed via the identity erfc(x)=1.0-erf(x). In the other two regions the complementary error function is computed directly and the error function is computed from the identity erf(x)=1.0-erfc(x). The error function and complementary error function are real-valued functions of any real argument. The range of the error function is (-1,1). The range of the complementary error function is (0,2). 5. Restrictions on the complexity of the problem: The user is cautioned against using ERF to compute the complementary error function by using the identity erfc(x)=1.0-erf(x). This subtraction may cause partial or total loss of significance for certain values of x

  17. Price Discrimination: A Classroom Experiment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aguiló, Paula; Sard, Maria; Tugores, Maria

    2016-01-01

    In this article, the authors describe a classroom experiment aimed at familiarizing students with different types of price discrimination (first-, second-, and third-degree price discrimination). During the experiment, the students were asked to decide what tariffs to set as monopolists for each of the price discrimination scenarios under…

  18. The role of critical ethnic awareness and social support in the discrimination-depression relationship among Asian Americans: path analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Isok

    2014-01-01

    This study used a path analytic technique to examine associations among critical ethnic awareness, racial discrimination, social support, and depressive symptoms. Using a convenience sample from online survey of Asian American adults (N = 405), the study tested 2 main hypotheses: First, based on the empowerment theory, critical ethnic awareness would be positively associated with racial discrimination experience; and second, based on the social support deterioration model, social support would partially mediate the relationship between racial discrimination and depressive symptoms. The result of the path analysis model showed that the proposed path model was a good fit based on global fit indices, χ²(2) = 4.70, p = .10; root mean square error of approximation = 0.06; comparative fit index = 0.97; Tucker-Lewis index = 0.92; and standardized root mean square residual = 0.03. The examinations of study hypotheses demonstrated that critical ethnic awareness was directly associated (b = .11, p Asian Americans. This study highlights the usefulness of the critical ethnic awareness concept as a way to better understand how Asian Americans might perceive and recognize racial discrimination experiences in relation to its mental health consequences.

  19. Children's perceptions of gender discrimination.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Spears Brown, Christia; Bigler, Rebecca S

    2004-09-01

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

  20. A methodology for translating positional error into measures of attribute error, and combining the two error sources

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yohay Carmel; Curtis Flather; Denis Dean

    2006-01-01

    This paper summarizes our efforts to investigate the nature, behavior, and implications of positional error and attribute error in spatiotemporal datasets. Estimating the combined influence of these errors on map analysis has been hindered by the fact that these two error types are traditionally expressed in different units (distance units, and categorical units,...

  1. Transgender Discrimination and the Law

    Science.gov (United States)

    Trotter, Richard

    2010-01-01

    An emerging area of law is developing regarding sex/gender identity discrimination, also referred to as transgender discrimination, as distinguished from discrimination based on sexual orientation. A transgendered individual is defined as "a person who has a gender-identity disorder which is a persistent discomfort about one?s assigned sex or…

  2. Accurate palm vein recognition based on wavelet scattering and spectral regression kernel discriminant analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Elnasir, Selma; Shamsuddin, Siti Mariyam; Farokhi, Sajad

    2015-01-01

    Palm vein recognition (PVR) is a promising new biometric that has been applied successfully as a method of access control by many organizations, which has even further potential in the field of forensics. The palm vein pattern has highly discriminative features that are difficult to forge because of its subcutaneous position in the palm. Despite considerable progress and a few practical issues, providing accurate palm vein readings has remained an unsolved issue in biometrics. We propose a robust and more accurate PVR method based on the combination of wavelet scattering (WS) with spectral regression kernel discriminant analysis (SRKDA). As the dimension of WS generated features is quite large, SRKDA is required to reduce the extracted features to enhance the discrimination. The results based on two public databases-PolyU Hyper Spectral Palmprint public database and PolyU Multi Spectral Palmprint-show the high performance of the proposed scheme in comparison with state-of-the-art methods. The proposed approach scored a 99.44% identification rate and a 99.90% verification rate [equal error rate (EER)=0.1%] for the hyperspectral database and a 99.97% identification rate and a 99.98% verification rate (EER=0.019%) for the multispectral database.

  3. 30 CFR 57.19021 - Minimum rope strength.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... feet: Minimum Value=Static Load×(7.0−0.001L) For rope lengths 3,000 feet or greater: Minimum Value=Static Load×4.0. (b) Friction drum ropes. For rope lengths less than 4,000 feet: Minimum Value=Static Load×(7.0−0.0005L) For rope lengths 4,000 feet or greater: Minimum Value=Static Load×5.0. (c) Tail...

  4. 30 CFR 56.19021 - Minimum rope strength.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... feet: Minimum Value=Static Load×(7.0-0.001L) For rope lengths 3,000 feet or greater: Minimum Value=Static Load×4.0 (b) Friction drum ropes. For rope lengths less than 4,000 feet: Minimum Value=Static Load×(7.0-0.0005L) For rope lengths 4,000 feet or greater: Minimum Value=Static Load×5.0 (c) Tail ropes...

  5. Optimum allocation of imaging time and minimum detectable activity in dual isotope blood pool subtraction indium-111 platelet imaging

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Machac, J.; Horowitz, S.F.; Goldsmith, S.J.; Fuster, V.

    1984-01-01

    Indium-111 labeled platelet imaging is a tool for detection of thrombus formation in vascular spaces. Dual isotope blood pool subtraction may help differentiate focal platelet accumulation from blood pool activity. This study used a computer model to calculate the minimum excess-to-blood pool platelet ratio (EX/BP) and the optimum dual isotope imaging times under varied conditions of lesion size. The model simulated usual human imaging doses of 500 μCi of In-111 platelets and 5mCi of Tc-99m labeled RBCs giving a reference cardiac blood pool region (100cc) of 10000 cpm for Tc-99m and 500 cpm for In-111. The total imaging time was fixed at 20 minutes, while the two isotope imaging times (TIn/TTc) were varied, as were the simulated lesion size (cc) and EX/BP. The relative error of the excess counts was calculated using propagation of error theory. At the critical level of detection, where the excess lesion counts equal 3 times the standard deviation, the optimum TIn/TTc and minimum Ex/BP were determined for each lesion size. For the smallest lesion size (0.1cc), the minimum detectable EX/BP ratio was 1.6, with the best TIn/TTC ratio of 18/2 minutes, and for large lesions, an EX/BP of 0.1, with a TIn/TTc of 16/4. This model provides an estimate of the sensitivity and optimizes imaging times in dual isotope subtraction platelet imaging. The model is adaptable to varying isotope doses, total imaging times and lesion size. This information will be helpful in future in- vivo imaging studies of intravascular thrombi in humans

  6. The Role of Discrimination in Care Postponement Among Trans-Feminine Individuals in the U.S. National Transgender Discrimination Survey.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Glick, Jennifer L; Theall, Katherine P; Andrinopoulos, Katherine M; Kendall, Carl

    2018-04-01

    This study examines the associations between discrimination experiences (types and locations) and care postponement among trans-feminine individuals in the United States. This secondary, cross-sectional study utilized a subset of the data from the National Transgender Discrimination Survey (n = 2248), specifically for trans-feminine individuals. In this analysis, we examined the relationship between discrimination and primary care postponement. Twenty-six percent (26.25%) of the study sample reported delaying preventive care due to fear of discrimination; 23.98%-46.66% of respondents reported past experiences of discrimination (setting dependent). Discrimination in health and non-health settings and different types of discrimination-being denied services, verbally harassed, or physically assaulted-were all significantly associated with delaying care; respondents reporting discrimination were up to 20 times more likely to postpone care. While discrimination at a health location had the strongest association with care postponement (adjusted odds ratio = 9.65, confidence interval = 7.60-12.24), discrimination in all non-health-related locations was also important. Individuals reporting discrimination in greater numbers of locations and multiple types of discrimination were more likely to postpone care. To promote preventive care-seeking, these results affirm the importance of interventions that promote discrimination-free environments for gender minorities.

  7. Statistical errors in Monte Carlo estimates of systematic errors

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roe, Byron P.

    2007-01-01

    For estimating the effects of a number of systematic errors on a data sample, one can generate Monte Carlo (MC) runs with systematic parameters varied and examine the change in the desired observed result. Two methods are often used. In the unisim method, the systematic parameters are varied one at a time by one standard deviation, each parameter corresponding to a MC run. In the multisim method (see ), each MC run has all of the parameters varied; the amount of variation is chosen from the expected distribution of each systematic parameter, usually assumed to be a normal distribution. The variance of the overall systematic error determination is derived for each of the two methods and comparisons are made between them. If one focuses not on the error in the prediction of an individual systematic error, but on the overall error due to all systematic errors in the error matrix element in data bin m, the number of events needed is strongly reduced because of the averaging effect over all of the errors. For simple models presented here the multisim model was far better if the statistical error in the MC samples was larger than an individual systematic error, while for the reverse case, the unisim model was better. Exact formulas and formulas for the simple toy models are presented so that realistic calculations can be made. The calculations in the present note are valid if the errors are in a linear region. If that region extends sufficiently far, one can have the unisims or multisims correspond to k standard deviations instead of one. This reduces the number of events required by a factor of k2. The specific terms unisim and multisim were coined by Peter Meyers and Steve Brice, respectively, for the MiniBooNE experiment. However, the concepts have been developed over time and have been in general use for some time.

  8. THE JURIDICAL PROTECTION ON GLOBAL DISCRIMINATION

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    CRISTINA OTOVESCU FRĂSIE

    2012-05-01

    Full Text Available In this study I wished to evidence the main juridical documents referring to discrimination, adopted world wide by the United Nations Organization. Thus, can be identified several types of definitions concerning the discrimination against women, the race discrimination, the torture etc. within the analyzed documents. The democratic countries have laws that punish the discrimination, but, unfortunately, there are discrimination phenomena for example regarding the ethnicity, the gender, the language, the convictions, the age, at the working place, inside the family etc.

  9. Unambiguous discrimination of mixed quantum states

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhang Chi; Feng Yuan; Ying Mingsheng

    2006-01-01

    The problem of unambiguous discrimination between mixed quantum states is addressed by isolating the part of each mixed state which has no contribution to discrimination and by employing the strategy of set discrimination of pure states. A necessary and sufficient condition of unambiguous mixed state discrimination is presented. An upper bound of the efficiency is also derived

  10. Drug use Discrimination Predicts Formation of High-Risk Social Networks: Examining Social Pathways of Discrimination.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Crawford, Natalie D; Ford, Chandra; Rudolph, Abby; Kim, BoRin; Lewis, Crystal M

    2017-09-01

    Experiences of discrimination, or social marginalization and ostracism, may lead to the formation of social networks characterized by inequality. For example, those who experience discrimination may be more likely to develop drug use and sexual partnerships with others who are at increased risk for HIV compared to those without experiences of discrimination. This is critical as engaging in risk behaviors with others who are more likely to be HIV positive can increase one's risk of HIV. We used log-binomial regression models to examine the relationship between drug use, racial and incarceration discrimination with changes in the composition of one's risk network among 502 persons who use drugs. We examined both absolute and proportional changes with respect to sex partners, drug use partners, and injecting partners, after accounting for individual risk behaviors. At baseline, participants were predominately male (70%), black or Latino (91%), un-married (85%), and used crack (64%). Among those followed-up (67%), having experienced discrimination due to drug use was significantly related to increases in the absolute number of sex networks and drug networks over time. No types of discrimination were related to changes in the proportion of high-risk network members. Discrimination may increase one's risk of HIV acquisition by leading them to preferentially form risk relationships with higher-risk individuals, thereby perpetuating racial and ethnic inequities in HIV. Future social network studies and behavioral interventions should consider whether social discrimination plays a role in HIV transmission.

  11. Local and regional minimum 1D models for earthquake location and data quality assessment in complex tectonic regions: application to Switzerland

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Husen, S.; Clinton, J. F.; Kissling, E.

    2011-01-01

    One-dimensional (1D) velocity models are still widely used for computing earthquake locations at seismological centers or in regions where three-dimensional (3D) velocity models are not available due to the lack of data of sufficiently high quality. The concept of the minimum 1D model with appropriate station corrections provides a framework to compute initial hypocenter locations and seismic velocities for local earthquake tomography. Since a minimum 1D model represents a solution to the coupled hypocenter-velocity problem it also represents a suitable velocity model for earthquake location and data quality assessment, such as evaluating the consistency in assigning pre-defined weighting classes and average picking error. Nevertheless, the use of a simple 1D velocity structure in combination with station delays raises the question of how appropriate the minimum 1D model concept is when applied to complex tectonic regions with significant three-dimensional (3D) variations in seismic velocities. In this study we compute one regional minimum 1D model and three local minimum 1D models for selected subregions of the Swiss Alpine region, which exhibits a strongly varying Moho topography. We compare the regional and local minimum 1D models in terms of earthquake locations and data quality assessment to measure their performance. Our results show that the local minimum 1D models provide more realistic hypocenter locations and better data fits than a single model for the Alpine region. We attribute this to the fact that in a local minimum 1D model local and regional effects of the velocity structure can be better separated. Consequently, in tectonically complex regions, minimum 1D models should be computed in sub-regions defined by similar structure, if they are used for earthquake location and data quality assessment. (authors)

  12. Local and regional minimum 1D models for earthquake location and data quality assessment in complex tectonic regions: application to Switzerland

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Husen, S.; Clinton, J. F. [Swiss Seismological Service, ETH Zuerich, Zuerich (Switzerland); Kissling, E. [Institute of Geophysics, ETH Zuerich, Zuerich (Switzerland)

    2011-10-15

    One-dimensional (1D) velocity models are still widely used for computing earthquake locations at seismological centers or in regions where three-dimensional (3D) velocity models are not available due to the lack of data of sufficiently high quality. The concept of the minimum 1D model with appropriate station corrections provides a framework to compute initial hypocenter locations and seismic velocities for local earthquake tomography. Since a minimum 1D model represents a solution to the coupled hypocenter-velocity problem it also represents a suitable velocity model for earthquake location and data quality assessment, such as evaluating the consistency in assigning pre-defined weighting classes and average picking error. Nevertheless, the use of a simple 1D velocity structure in combination with station delays raises the question of how appropriate the minimum 1D model concept is when applied to complex tectonic regions with significant three-dimensional (3D) variations in seismic velocities. In this study we compute one regional minimum 1D model and three local minimum 1D models for selected subregions of the Swiss Alpine region, which exhibits a strongly varying Moho topography. We compare the regional and local minimum 1D models in terms of earthquake locations and data quality assessment to measure their performance. Our results show that the local minimum 1D models provide more realistic hypocenter locations and better data fits than a single model for the Alpine region. We attribute this to the fact that in a local minimum 1D model local and regional effects of the velocity structure can be better separated. Consequently, in tectonically complex regions, minimum 1D models should be computed in sub-regions defined by similar structure, if they are used for earthquake location and data quality assessment. (authors)

  13. Large number discrimination by mosquitofish.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Christian Agrillo

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

  14. Multipurpose discriminator with accurate time coupling

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Baldin, B.Yu.; Krumshtejn, Z.V.; Ronzhin, A.I.

    1977-01-01

    The principle diagram of a multipurpose discriminator is described, designed on the basis of a wide-band differential amplifier. The discriminator has three independent channels: the timing channel, the lower level discriminator and the control channel. The timing channel and the lower level discriminator are connected to a coincidence circuit. Three methods of timing are used: a single threshold, a double threshold with timing on the pulse front, and a constant fraction timing. The lower level discriminator is a wide-band amplifier with an adjustable threshold. The investigation of compensation characteristics of the discriminator has shown that the time shift of the discriminator output in the constant fraction timing regime does not exceed +-75 ns for the input signal range of 1:85. The time resolution was found to be 20 ns in the 20% energy range near the photo-peak maximum of 60 Co γ source

  15. 30 CFR 77.1431 - Minimum rope strength.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... feet: Minimum Value=Static Load×(7.0−0.001L) For rope lengths 3,000 feet or greater: Minimum Value=Static Load×4.0 (b) Friction drum ropes. For rope lengths less than 4,000 feet: Minimum Value=Static Load×(7.0−0.0005L) For rope lengths 4,000 feet or greater: Minimum Value=Static Load×5.0 (c) Tail ropes...

  16. Medication Errors - A Review

    OpenAIRE

    Vinay BC; Nikhitha MK; Patel Sunil B

    2015-01-01

    In this present review article, regarding medication errors its definition, medication error problem, types of medication errors, common causes of medication errors, monitoring medication errors, consequences of medication errors, prevention of medication error and managing medication errors have been explained neatly and legibly with proper tables which is easy to understand.

  17. SAR Target Recognition via Supervised Discriminative Dictionary Learning and Sparse Representation of the SAR-HOG Feature

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shengli Song

    2016-08-01

    Full Text Available Automatic target recognition (ATR in synthetic aperture radar (SAR images plays an important role in both national defense and civil applications. Although many methods have been proposed, SAR ATR is still very challenging due to the complex application environment. Feature extraction and classification are key points in SAR ATR. In this paper, we first design a novel feature, which is a histogram of oriented gradients (HOG-like feature for SAR ATR (called SAR-HOG. Then, we propose a supervised discriminative dictionary learning (SDDL method to learn a discriminative dictionary for SAR ATR and propose a strategy to simplify the optimization problem. Finally, we propose a SAR ATR classifier based on SDDL and sparse representation (called SDDLSR, in which both the reconstruction error and the classification error are considered. Extensive experiments are performed on the MSTAR database under standard operating conditions and extended operating conditions. The experimental results show that SAR-HOG can reliably capture the structures of targets in SAR images, and SDDL can further capture subtle differences among the different classes. By virtue of the SAR-HOG feature and SDDLSR, the proposed method achieves the state-of-the-art performance on MSTAR database. Especially for the extended operating conditions (EOC scenario “Training 17 ∘ —Testing 45 ∘ ”, the proposed method improves remarkably with respect to the previous works.

  18. A Phosphate Minimum in the Oxygen Minimum Zone (OMZ) off Peru

    Science.gov (United States)

    Paulmier, A.; Giraud, M.; Sudre, J.; Jonca, J.; Leon, V.; Moron, O.; Dewitte, B.; Lavik, G.; Grasse, P.; Frank, M.; Stramma, L.; Garcon, V.

    2016-02-01

    The Oxygen Minimum Zone (OMZ) off Peru is known to be associated with the advection of Equatorial SubSurface Waters (ESSW), rich in nutrients and poor in oxygen, through the Peru-Chile UnderCurrent (PCUC), but this circulation remains to be refined within the OMZ. During the Pelágico cruise in November-December 2010, measurements of phosphate revealed the presence of a phosphate minimum (Pmin) in various hydrographic stations, which could not be explained so far and could be associated with a specific water mass. This Pmin, localized at a relatively constant layer ( 20minimum with a mean vertical phosphate decrease of 0.6 µM but highly variable between 0.1 and 2.2 µM. In average, these Pmin are associated with a predominant mixing of SubTropical Under- and Surface Waters (STUW and STSW: 20 and 40%, respectively) within ESSW ( 25%), complemented evenly by overlying (ESW, TSW: 8%) and underlying waters (AAIW, SPDW: 7%). The hypotheses and mechanisms leading to the Pmin formation in the OMZ are further explored and discussed, considering the physical regional contribution associated with various circulation pathways ventilating the OMZ and the local biogeochemical contribution including the potential diazotrophic activity.

  19. Error Patterns

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Hoede, C.; Li, Z.

    2001-01-01

    In coding theory the problem of decoding focuses on error vectors. In the simplest situation code words are $(0,1)$-vectors, as are the received messages and the error vectors. Comparison of a received word with the code words yields a set of error vectors. In deciding on the original code word,

  20. The context of discrimination: workplace conditions, institutional environments, and sex and race discrimination charges.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hirsh, C Elizabeth; Kornrich, Sabino

    2008-03-01

    This article explores the organizational conditions under which discrimination charges occur. Drawing on structural and organizational theories of the workplace, the authors demonstrate how organizational conditions affect workers' and regulatory agents' understandings of unlawful discrimination. Using a national sample of work establishments, matched to discrimination-charge data obtained from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the authors examine how characteristics of the workplace and institutional environment affect variation in the incidence of workers' charges of sex and race discrimination and in the subset of discrimination claims that are verified by EEOC investigators. The findings indicate that workplace conditions, including size, composition, and minority management, affect workers' charges as well as verified claims; the latter are also affected by institutional factors, such as affirmative action requirements, subsidiary status, and industrial sector. These results suggest that internal workplace conditions affect both workers' and regulatory agents' interpretations of potentially discriminatory experiences, while institutional conditions matter only for regulatory agents' interpretations of those events.

  1. Multiscale Region-Level VHR Image Change Detection via Sparse Change Descriptor and Robust Discriminative Dictionary Learning

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yuan Xu

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Very high resolution (VHR image change detection is challenging due to the low discriminative ability of change feature and the difficulty of change decision in utilizing the multilevel contextual information. Most change feature extraction techniques put emphasis on the change degree description (i.e., in what degree the changes have happened, while they ignore the change pattern description (i.e., how the changes changed, which is of equal importance in characterizing the change signatures. Moreover, the simultaneous consideration of the classification robust to the registration noise and the multiscale region-consistent fusion is often neglected in change decision. To overcome such drawbacks, in this paper, a novel VHR image change detection method is proposed based on sparse change descriptor and robust discriminative dictionary learning. Sparse change descriptor combines the change degree component and the change pattern component, which are encoded by the sparse representation error and the morphological profile feature, respectively. Robust change decision is conducted by multiscale region-consistent fusion, which is implemented by the superpixel-level cosparse representation with robust discriminative dictionary and the conditional random field model. Experimental results confirm the effectiveness of the proposed change detection technique.

  2. A database of linear codes over F_13 with minimum distance bounds and new quasi-twisted codes from a heuristic search algorithm

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eric Z. Chen

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Error control codes have been widely used in data communications and storage systems. One central problem in coding theory is to optimize the parameters of a linear code and construct codes with best possible parameters. There are tables of best-known linear codes over finite fields of sizes up to 9. Recently, there has been a growing interest in codes over $\\mathbb{F}_{13}$ and other fields of size greater than 9. The main purpose of this work is to present a database of best-known linear codes over the field $\\mathbb{F}_{13}$ together with upper bounds on the minimum distances. To find good linear codes to establish lower bounds on minimum distances, an iterative heuristic computer search algorithm is employed to construct quasi-twisted (QT codes over the field $\\mathbb{F}_{13}$ with high minimum distances. A large number of new linear codes have been found, improving previously best-known results. Tables of $[pm, m]$ QT codes over $\\mathbb{F}_{13}$ with best-known minimum distances as well as a table of lower and upper bounds on the minimum distances for linear codes of length up to 150 and dimension up to 6 are presented.

  3. Price discrimination in two-sided markets

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kai Zhang

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available The use of a price discrimination strategy is an important tool in competition. It can hurt firms and benefit consumers in a one-sided market. However, in two-sided markets, its primary goal is to attract more agents or increase profits. Here, the performance of a second-degree price discrimination strategy in the context of duopoly two-sided platforms is analysed. Two exogenous variables, which include the discount rate and the price discrimination threshold, are used in order to examine whether the price discrimination strategy could help two-sided platforms achieve their objective, which is to maximise their market value. Three cases are considered, and we demonstrate that the price discrimination strategy cannot attract more agents and at the same time increase the profits; a lower price discrimination threshold cannot ensure larger markets shares; a higher discount rate is detrimental to the profit of a platform. However, this is good for its market shares. Moreover, discriminative pricing increases the competition.

  4. CAMAC differential pulse discriminator-counter

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tselikov, N.V.

    1987-01-01

    Differential pulse discriminator-counter for Moessbauer spectrometer is described. Input pulse setting into the channel is performed according to the following algorithm: the pulse is transmitted to the channel depending on the fact whether the preceding pulse has got to the discrimination window or not. The circuit does not contain delay lines, taking into account the delay of a signal from the upper level discriminator in relation to the lower level discriminator signal, which is connected with input pulse rise finite time, which in turn allows one to reduce the discriminator dead time up to the operation time of threshold circuits. The pulse counting rate is 150 MHz, input signal amplitude is ±3 V, dead time is 6 ns, delay time from input to output is 14 ns. The unit is made in CAMAC system

  5. Validation of the ICU-DaMa tool for automatically extracting variables for minimum dataset and quality indicators: The importance of data quality assessment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sirgo, Gonzalo; Esteban, Federico; Gómez, Josep; Moreno, Gerard; Rodríguez, Alejandro; Blanch, Lluis; Guardiola, Juan José; Gracia, Rafael; De Haro, Lluis; Bodí, María

    2018-04-01

    Big data analytics promise insights into healthcare processes and management, improving outcomes while reducing costs. However, data quality is a major challenge for reliable results. Business process discovery techniques and an associated data model were used to develop data management tool, ICU-DaMa, for extracting variables essential for overseeing the quality of care in the intensive care unit (ICU). To determine the feasibility of using ICU-DaMa to automatically extract variables for the minimum dataset and ICU quality indicators from the clinical information system (CIS). The Wilcoxon signed-rank test and Fisher's exact test were used to compare the values extracted from the CIS with ICU-DaMa for 25 variables from all patients attended in a polyvalent ICU during a two-month period against the gold standard of values manually extracted by two trained physicians. Discrepancies with the gold standard were classified into plausibility, conformance, and completeness errors. Data from 149 patients were included. Although there were no significant differences between the automatic method and the manual method, we detected differences in values for five variables, including one plausibility error and two conformance and completeness errors. Plausibility: 1) Sex, ICU-DaMa incorrectly classified one male patient as female (error generated by the Hospital's Admissions Department). Conformance: 2) Reason for isolation, ICU-DaMa failed to detect a human error in which a professional misclassified a patient's isolation. 3) Brain death, ICU-DaMa failed to detect another human error in which a professional likely entered two mutually exclusive values related to the death of the patient (brain death and controlled donation after circulatory death). Completeness: 4) Destination at ICU discharge, ICU-DaMa incorrectly classified two patients due to a professional failing to fill out the patient discharge form when thepatients died. 5) Length of continuous renal replacement

  6. Individual differences in attention strategies during detection, fine discrimination, and coarse discrimination

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hecker, Elizabeth A.; Serences, John T.; Srinivasan, Ramesh

    2013-01-01

    Interacting with the environment requires the ability to flexibly direct attention to relevant features. We examined the degree to which individuals attend to visual features within and across Detection, Fine Discrimination, and Coarse Discrimination tasks. Electroencephalographic (EEG) responses were measured to an unattended peripheral flickering (4 or 6 Hz) grating while individuals (n = 33) attended to orientations that were offset by 0°, 10°, 20°, 30°, 40°, and 90° from the orientation of the unattended flicker. These unattended responses may be sensitive to attentional gain at the attended spatial location, since attention to features enhances early visual responses throughout the visual field. We found no significant differences in tuning curves across the three tasks in part due to individual differences in strategies. We sought to characterize individual attention strategies using hierarchical Bayesian modeling, which grouped individuals into families of curves that reflect attention to the physical target orientation (“on-channel”) or away from the target orientation (“off-channel”) or a uniform distribution of attention. The different curves were related to behavioral performance; individuals with “on-channel” curves had lower thresholds than individuals with uniform curves. Individuals with “off-channel” curves during Fine Discrimination additionally had lower thresholds than those assigned to uniform curves, highlighting the perceptual benefits of attending away from the physical target orientation during fine discriminations. Finally, we showed that a subset of individuals with optimal curves (“on-channel”) during Detection also demonstrated optimal curves (“off-channel”) during Fine Discrimination, indicating that a subset of individuals can modulate tuning optimally for detection and discrimination. PMID:23678013

  7. Hue discrimination in Iberoamerican Observers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carranza, Jazmín; Medina, Juana

    2008-04-01

    In this work we analyze the Farnsworth Munsell 100 Hue Test results, this test offers a simple method for testing color discrimination and was applied to a sample of 129 observers, with natural daylight in the same conditions (the observers were men and women), all of these were participants in colorimetric training courses, and aged 20 to 76, with two to twenty five years experience in the color control manufacturer laboratories (of plastics, rugs, dyes, textiles, and paints). Their job titles included mixers, inspectors, shaders, matchers, passers, and dyers. The test was applied twice and the results here presented are the comparison between both tests, taking into account errors by mistakes incidence in each hue position, as well as the redeeming of each participant in both test. The comparison shows us that most of the mistakes are in the green hue in both tests, but in the second test, approximately 20 percent of the observers reduced those. Also we can to separate persons with normal color vision of those which have zones of color confusion. In this work it is show some ones results of the comparison between men and women.

  8. Studies in genetic discrimination. Final progress report

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    1994-06-01

    We have screened 1006 respondents in a study of genetic discrimination. Analysis of these responses has produced evidence of the range of institutions engaged in genetic discrimination and demonstrates the impact of this discrimination on the respondents to the study. We have found that both ignorance and policy underlie genetic discrimination and that anti-discrimination laws are being violated.

  9. The influence of short-term memory on standard discrimination and cued identification olfactory tasks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zucco, Gesualdo M; Hummel, Thomas; Tomaiuolo, Francesco; Stevenson, Richard J

    2014-01-30

    Amongst the techniques to assess olfactory functions, discrimination and cued identification are those most prone to the influence of odour short-term memory (STM). Discrimination task requires participants to detect the odd one out of three presented odourants. As re-smelling is not permitted, an un-intended STM load may generate, even though the task purports to assess discrimination ability. Analogously, cued identification task requires participants to smell an odour, and then select a label from three or four alternatives. As the interval between smelling and reading each label increases this too imposes a STM load, even though the task aims to measure identification ability. We tested whether modifying task design to reduce STM load improve performance on these tests. We examined five age-groups of participants (Adolescents, Young adults, Middle-aged, Elderly, very Elderly), some of whom should be more prone to the effects of STM load than others, on standard and modified tests of discrimination and identification. We found that using a technique to reduce STM load improved performance, especially for the very Elderly and Adolescent groups. Sources of error are now prevented. Findings indicate that STM load can adversely affect performance in groups vulnerable from memory impairment (i.e., very Elderly) and in those who may still be acquiring memory-based representations of familiar odours (i.e., Adolescents). It may be that adults in general would be even more sensitive to the effects of olfactory STM load reduction, if the odour-related task was more difficult. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  10. The error in total error reduction.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Witnauer, James E; Urcelay, Gonzalo P; Miller, Ralph R

    2014-02-01

    Most models of human and animal learning assume that learning is proportional to the discrepancy between a delivered outcome and the outcome predicted by all cues present during that trial (i.e., total error across a stimulus compound). This total error reduction (TER) view has been implemented in connectionist and artificial neural network models to describe the conditions under which weights between units change. Electrophysiological work has revealed that the activity of dopamine neurons is correlated with the total error signal in models of reward learning. Similar neural mechanisms presumably support fear conditioning, human contingency learning, and other types of learning. Using a computational modeling approach, we compared several TER models of associative learning to an alternative model that rejects the TER assumption in favor of local error reduction (LER), which assumes that learning about each cue is proportional to the discrepancy between the delivered outcome and the outcome predicted by that specific cue on that trial. The LER model provided a better fit to the reviewed data than the TER models. Given the superiority of the LER model with the present data sets, acceptance of TER should be tempered. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  11. A simple neutron-gamma discriminating system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Liu Zhongming; Xing Shilin; Wang Zhongmin

    1986-01-01

    A simple neutron-gamma discriminating system is described. A detector and a pulse shape discriminator are suitable for the neutron-gamma discriminating system. The influence of the constant fraction discriminator threshold energy on the neutron-gamma resolution properties is shown. The neutron-gamma timing distributions from an 241 Am-Be source, 2.5 MeV neutron beam and 14 MeV neutron beam are presented

  12. Error Free Quantum Reading by Quasi Bell State of Entangled Coherent States

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hirota, Osamu

    2017-12-01

    Nonclassical states of light field have been exploited to provide marvellous results in quantum information science. Usefulness of nonclassical states in quantum information science depends on whether a physical parameter as a signal is continuous or discrete. Here we present an investigation of the potential of quasi Bell states of entangled coherent states in quantum reading of the classical digital memory which was pioneered by Pirandola (Phys.Rev.Lett.,106,090504,2011). This is a typical example of discrimination for discrete quantum parameters. We show that the quasi Bell state gives the error free performance in the quantum reading that cannot be obtained by any classical state.

  13. A Method and Support Tool for the Analysis of Human Error Hazards in Digital Devices

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lee, Yong Hee; Kim, Seon Soo; Lee, Yong Hee

    2012-01-01

    In recent years, many nuclear power plants have adopted modern digital I and C technologies since they are expected to significantly improve their performance and safety. Modern digital technologies were expected to significantly improve both the economical efficiency and safety of nuclear power plants. However, the introduction of an advanced main control room (MCR) is accompanied with lots of changes in forms and features and differences through virtue of new digital devices. Many user-friendly displays and new features in digital devices are not enough to prevent human errors in nuclear power plants (NPPs). It may be an urgent to matter find the human errors potentials due to digital devices, and their detailed mechanisms. We can then consider them during the design of digital devices and their interfaces. The characteristics of digital technologies and devices may give many opportunities to the interface management, and can be integrated into a compact single workstation in an advanced MCR, such that workers can operate the plant with minimum burden under any operating condition. However, these devices may introduce new types of human errors, and thus we need a means to evaluate and prevent such errors, especially within digital devices for NPPs. This research suggests a new method named HEA-BIS (Human Error Analysis based on Interaction Segment) to confirm and detect human errors associated with digital devices. This method can be facilitated by support tools when used to ensure the safety when applying digital devices in NPPs

  14. Functional discriminant method and neuronal net

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Minh-Quan Tran.

    1993-02-01

    The ZEUS detector at the ep storage ring HERA at DESY is equipped with a 3 level trigger system. This enormous effort is necessary to fight against the high proton beamgas background that was estimated to be at the level of 100 kHz. In this thesis two methods were investigated to calculate a trigger decision from a set of various trigger parameters. The Functional Discriminant Analysis evalutes a decision parameter that is optimized by means of a linear algebra technic. A method is shown how to determine the most important trigger parameters. A 'feed forward' neuralnetwork was analyzed in order to allow none lineare cuts in the n dimensinal configuration space spanned by the trigger parameters. The error back propagation method was used to teach the neural network. It is shown that both decision methods are able to abstract the important characteristics of event samples. As soon as they are tought they will seperate events from these classes even though they were not part of the training sample. (orig.) [de

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

    Science.gov (United States)

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

    2013-01-01

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

  16. The monolithic double-threshold discriminator

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Baturitsky, M.A.; Dvornikov, O.V.

    1999-01-01

    A double-threshold discriminator capable of processing input signals of different duration is described. Simplicity of the discriminator circuitry makes it possible to embody the discriminator in multichannel ICs using microwave bipolar-JFET technology. Time walk is calculated to be less than 0.35 ns for the input ramp signals with rise times 25-100 ns and amplitudes 50 mV-1 V

  17. Characteristics of pediatric chemotherapy medication errors in a national error reporting database.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rinke, Michael L; Shore, Andrew D; Morlock, Laura; Hicks, Rodney W; Miller, Marlene R

    2007-07-01

    Little is known regarding chemotherapy medication errors in pediatrics despite studies suggesting high rates of overall pediatric medication errors. In this study, the authors examined patterns in pediatric chemotherapy errors. The authors queried the United States Pharmacopeia MEDMARX database, a national, voluntary, Internet-accessible error reporting system, for all error reports from 1999 through 2004 that involved chemotherapy medications and patients aged error reports, 85% reached the patient, and 15.6% required additional patient monitoring or therapeutic intervention. Forty-eight percent of errors originated in the administering phase of medication delivery, and 30% originated in the drug-dispensing phase. Of the 387 medications cited, 39.5% were antimetabolites, 14.0% were alkylating agents, 9.3% were anthracyclines, and 9.3% were topoisomerase inhibitors. The most commonly involved chemotherapeutic agents were methotrexate (15.3%), cytarabine (12.1%), and etoposide (8.3%). The most common error types were improper dose/quantity (22.9% of 327 cited error types), wrong time (22.6%), omission error (14.1%), and wrong administration technique/wrong route (12.2%). The most common error causes were performance deficit (41.3% of 547 cited error causes), equipment and medication delivery devices (12.4%), communication (8.8%), knowledge deficit (6.8%), and written order errors (5.5%). Four of the 5 most serious errors occurred at community hospitals. Pediatric chemotherapy errors often reached the patient, potentially were harmful, and differed in quality between outpatient and inpatient areas. This study indicated which chemotherapeutic agents most often were involved in errors and that administering errors were common. Investigation is needed regarding targeted medication administration safeguards for these high-risk medications. Copyright (c) 2007 American Cancer Society.

  18. Discrimination between underground explosions and earthquakes using discriminant functions: Examples for Eurasia and North America

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nowroozi, A.A.

    1986-01-01

    Discriminant functions are extensively used as a technical tool in educational and psychological research as well as in some branches of geological sciences. The application of this technique to the problem of discrimination between underground nuclear explosions and earthquakes has been reported. Here we apply this technique to a known population of underground nuclear explosions and earthquakes for the determination of various statistical parameters needed for setting up the discriminant function equations for discrimination between unknown population of earthquakes, anomalous events, and underground explosions, then we classify earthquakes, explosions and anomalous events in Eurasia and North America

  19. Age discrimination in the workplace: validation of the Nordic Age Discrimination Scale (NADS).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Furunes, Trude; Mykletun, Reidar J

    2010-02-01

    Due to population ageing, older workers will make up a larger proportion of the workforce. However, recent reports show an increase in perceived age discrimination among older employees. Previous research found that age discrimination may result in negative feelings, such as uselessness, powerlessness and lower self-esteem. This study develops and validates a scale for monitoring age discrimination in the workplace. The validation study draws on three datasets, from Norway, Sweden and Finland respectively. The study provides a psychometric contribution to the study of the behavioral component of ageism.

  20. Source memory errors in schizophrenia, hallucinations and negative symptoms: a synthesis of research findings.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brébion, G; Ohlsen, R I; Bressan, R A; David, A S

    2012-12-01

    Previous research has shown associations between source memory errors and hallucinations in patients with schizophrenia. We bring together here findings from a broad memory investigation to specify better the type of source memory failure that is associated with auditory and visual hallucinations. Forty-one patients with schizophrenia and 43 healthy participants underwent a memory task involving recall and recognition of lists of words, recognition of pictures, memory for temporal and spatial context of presentation of the stimuli, and remembering whether target items were presented as words or pictures. False recognition of words and pictures was associated with hallucination scores. The extra-list intrusions in free recall were associated with verbal hallucinations whereas the intra-list intrusions were associated with a global hallucination score. Errors in discriminating the temporal context of word presentation and the spatial context of picture presentation were associated with auditory hallucinations. The tendency to remember verbal labels of items as pictures of these items was associated with visual hallucinations. Several memory errors were also inversely associated with affective flattening and anhedonia. Verbal and visual hallucinations are associated with confusion between internal verbal thoughts or internal visual images and perception. In addition, auditory hallucinations are associated with failure to process or remember the context of presentation of the events. Certain negative symptoms have an opposite effect on memory errors.

  1. LLNL's Regional Seismic Discrimination Research

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hanley, W; Mayeda, K; Myers, S; Pasyanos, M; Rodgers, A; Sicherman, A; Walter, W

    1999-01-01

    As part of the Department of Energy's research and development effort to improve the monitoring capability of the planned Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty international monitoring system, Lawrence Livermore Laboratory (LLNL) is testing and calibrating regional seismic discrimination algorithms in the Middle East, North Africa and Western Former Soviet Union. The calibration process consists of a number of steps: (1) populating the database with independently identified regional events; (2) developing regional boundaries and pre-identifying severe regional phase blockage zones; (3) measuring and calibrating coda based magnitude scales; (4a) measuring regional amplitudes and making magnitude and distance amplitude corrections (MDAC); (4b) applying the DOE modified kriging methodology to MDAC results using the regionalized background model; (5) determining the thresholds of detectability of regional phases as a function of phase type and frequency; (6) evaluating regional phase discriminant performance both singly and in combination; (7) combining steps 1-6 to create a calibrated discrimination surface for each stations; (8) assessing progress and iterating. We have now developed this calibration procedure to the point where it is fairly straightforward to apply earthquake-explosion discrimination in regions with ample empirical data. Several of the steps outlined above are discussed in greater detail in other DOE papers in this volume or in recent publications. Here we emphasize the results of the above process: station correction surfaces and their improvement to discrimination results compared with simpler calibration methods. Some of the outstanding discrimination research issues involve cases in which there is little or no empirical data. For example in many cases there is no regional nuclear explosion data at IMS stations or nearby surrogates. We have taken two approaches to this problem, first finding and using mining explosion data when available, and

  2. The Human Bathtub: Safety and Risk Predictions Including the Dynamic Probability of Operator Errors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Duffey, Romney B.; Saull, John W.

    2006-01-01

    Reactor safety and risk are dominated by the potential and major contribution for human error in the design, operation, control, management, regulation and maintenance of the plant, and hence to all accidents. Given the possibility of accidents and errors, now we need to determine the outcome (error) probability, or the chance of failure. Conventionally, reliability engineering is associated with the failure rate of components, or systems, or mechanisms, not of human beings in and interacting with a technological system. The probability of failure requires a prior knowledge of the total number of outcomes, which for any predictive purposes we do not know or have. Analysis of failure rates due to human error and the rate of learning allow a new determination of the dynamic human error rate in technological systems, consistent with and derived from the available world data. The basis for the analysis is the 'learning hypothesis' that humans learn from experience, and consequently the accumulated experience defines the failure rate. A new 'best' equation has been derived for the human error, outcome or failure rate, which allows for calculation and prediction of the probability of human error. We also provide comparisons to the empirical Weibull parameter fitting used in and by conventional reliability engineering and probabilistic safety analysis methods. These new analyses show that arbitrary Weibull fitting parameters and typical empirical hazard function techniques cannot be used to predict the dynamics of human errors and outcomes in the presence of learning. Comparisons of these new insights show agreement with human error data from the world's commercial airlines, the two shuttle failures, and from nuclear plant operator actions and transient control behavior observed in transients in both plants and simulators. The results demonstrate that the human error probability (HEP) is dynamic, and that it may be predicted using the learning hypothesis and the minimum

  3. Discrimination Against Migrant Workers in Malaysia

    OpenAIRE

    Badarulzaman, Muhammad Hafiz; Ayub, Zainal A; Yusoff, Zuryati M; Wahab, Harlida A

    2016-01-01

    AbstractMigrant workers are often discriminated against in almost every aspect of life. Discrimination against them is due to irrational dislike of them and also negative perception towards them. It is alleged that migrant workers contribute to the crimes hike in Malaysia. Using doctrinal research methodology, this article discusses direct and perceptive discrimination against them. This article concludes that physical discriminations are mostly happened because ineffective enforcement of the...

  4. 28 CFR 35.149 - Discrimination prohibited.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... 28 Judicial Administration 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Discrimination prohibited. 35.149 Section... STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT SERVICES Program Accessibility § 35.149 Discrimination prohibited. Except as... subjected to discrimination by any public entity. ...

  5. 29 CFR 500.9 - Discrimination prohibited.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... 29 Labor 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Discrimination prohibited. 500.9 Section 500.9 Labor... SEASONAL AGRICULTURAL WORKER PROTECTION General Provisions § 500.9 Discrimination prohibited. (a) It is a... Secretary alleging such discrimination. ...

  6. Discrimination and delusional ideation

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Janssen, I.C.M.; Hanssen, M.S.S.; Bak, M.L.F.J.; Bijl, R.V.; Graaf, R. de; Vollebergh, W.A.M.; McKenzie, K.; Os, J. van

    2003-01-01

    Background In the UK and The Netherlands, people with high rates of psychosis are chronically exposed to discrimination. Aims To test whether perceived discrimination is associated longitudinally with onset of psychosis. Method A 3-year prospective study of cohorts with no history of psychosis and

  7. Experienced and anticipated discrimination against people with schizophrenia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Milačić-Vidojević Ivona

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available Aim of this research was to describe the nature, direction and severity of anticipated and experienced discrimination reported by people with schizophrenia. We applied interview to 50 patients with diagnosis of schizophrenia in two psychiatric hospitals in Belgrade. Discrimination was measured with discrimination and stigma scale (DISC which produce 3 subscores, positive experienced discrimination, negative experienced discrimination and anticipated discrimination. The same scale was used in cross-cultural research in 27 european countries. Results have shown that participants from Serbia do not recognize discrimination in all areas of life equally. The discrimination recognized is more frequentlly negative then positive and is associated with existentially important realms of life. Due to anticipated discrimination participants in our study prevent themselves from looking for a close relationship. Anticipated discrimination could not be predicted on the grounds of experienced, positive or negative discrimination.

  8. An example of multidimensional analysis: Discriminant analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lutz, P.

    1990-01-01

    Among the approaches on the data multi-dimensional analysis, lectures on the discriminant analysis including theoretical and practical aspects are presented. The discrimination problem, the analysis steps and the discrimination categories are stressed. Examples on the descriptive historical analysis, the discrimination for decision making, the demonstration and separation of the top quark are given. In the linear discriminant analysis the following subjects are discussed: Huyghens theorem, projection, discriminant variable, geometrical interpretation, case for g=2, classification method, separation of the top events. Criteria allowing the obtention of relevant results are included [fr

  9. Discrimination among adults with craniofacial conditions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roberts, Rachel M

    2014-01-01

    The primary goal of this study was to establish the level of perceived discrimination experienced by adults with congenital craniofacial conditions in Australia and to examine predictors of discrimination. Specifically, this study tested whether social support mediates the relationship between discrimination and health. Adults (n = 93) who had been treated at the Australian Craniofacial Unit, Women's and Children's Hospital, Adelaide for congenital craniofacial conditions (not including cleft lip and/or palate) completed questionnaires examining satisfaction with life, quality of life, anxiety and depression, self-esteem, satisfaction with social support, and satisfaction with appearance. A substantial minority of adults with congenital craniofacial conditions reported that they experience discrimination almost every day in a range of areas. Higher reports of discrimination were related to older age, being male, and less education. Other factors related to higher discrimination included lower levels of satisfaction with life, self-esteem, satisfaction with appearance and mental quality of life, as well as higher levels of anxiety and depression. Social support partially mediated the relationship between discrimination and mental health outcomes. The current study shows that discrimination experiences continue into adulthood confirming the importance of ensuring patients are well supported both by psychosocial services as well as within their own social support networks.

  10. Decision theory for discrimination-aware classification

    KAUST Repository

    Kamiran, Faisal

    2012-12-01

    Social discrimination (e.g., against females) arising from data mining techniques is a growing concern worldwide. In recent years, several methods have been proposed for making classifiers learned over discriminatory data discriminationaware. However, these methods suffer from two major shortcomings: (1) They require either modifying the discriminatory data or tweaking a specific classification algorithm and (2) They are not flexible w.r.t. discrimination control and multiple sensitive attribute handling. In this paper, we present two solutions for discrimination-aware classification that neither require data modification nor classifier tweaking. Our first and second solutions exploit, respectively, the reject option of probabilistic classifier(s) and the disagreement region of general classifier ensembles to reduce discrimination. We relate both solutions with decision theory for better understanding of the process. Our experiments using real-world datasets demonstrate that our solutions outperform existing state-ofthe-art methods, especially at low discrimination which is a significant advantage. The superior performance coupled with flexible control over discrimination and easy applicability to multiple sensitive attributes makes our solutions an important step forward in practical discrimination-aware classification. © 2012 IEEE.

  11. Discriminant analysis of plasma fusion data

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kardaun, O.J.W.F.; Kardaun, J.W.P.F.; Itoh, S.; Itoh, K.

    1992-06-01

    Several discriminant analysis methods has been applied and compared to predict the type of ELM's in H-mode discharges: (a) quadratic discriminant analysis (linear discriminant analysis being a special case), (b) discrimination by non-parametric (kernel-) density estimates, and (c) discrimination by a product multinomial model on a discretised scale. Practical evaluation was performed using SAS in the first two cases, and INDEP, a standard FORTRAN program, initially developed for medical applications, in the last case. We give here a flavour of the approach and its results. In summary, discriminant analysis can be used as a useful descriptive method of specifying regions where particular types of plasma discharges can be produced. Parametric methods have the advantage of a rather compact mathematical formulation . Pertinent graphical representations are useful to make the theory and the results more palatable to the experimental physicists. (J.P.N.)

  12. Universal programmable devices for unambiguous discrimination

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhang Chi; Ying Mingsheng; Qiao, Bo

    2006-01-01

    We discuss the problem of designing unambiguous programmable discriminators for any n unknown quantum states in an m-dimensional Hilbert space. The discriminator is a fixed measurement that has two kinds of input registers: the program registers and the data register. The quantum state in the data register is what users want to identify, which is confirmed to be among the n states in program registers. The task of the discriminator is to tell the users which state stored in the program registers is equivalent to that in the data register. First, we give a necessary and sufficient condition for judging an unambiguous programmable discriminator. Then, if m=n, we present an optimal unambiguous programmable discriminator for them, in the sense of maximizing the worst-case probability of success. Finally, we propose a universal unambiguous programmable discriminator for arbitrary n quantum states

  13. Within centre evaluation of hypercalcaemia discriminant

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nielsen, Bo Friis; Conradsen, Knut

    1996-01-01

    Diagnostic hypercalcaemia discriminant functions, discriminating between clinically significant and non-significant hypercalcaemia, were tested 5 years after their development in order to evaluate the impact of time on their diagnostic capacity. Two populations, consisting of 257 and 129 patients......). The discriminant functions correctly classified 81 and 80% of the women, respectively (NS) and respectively 75% and 64% of the men (NS) in the first and second recorded populations.......Diagnostic hypercalcaemia discriminant functions, discriminating between clinically significant and non-significant hypercalcaemia, were tested 5 years after their development in order to evaluate the impact of time on their diagnostic capacity. Two populations, consisting of 257 and 129 patients...

  14. 12 CFR 564.4 - Minimum appraisal standards.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 12 Banks and Banking 5 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Minimum appraisal standards. 564.4 Section 564.4 Banks and Banking OFFICE OF THRIFT SUPERVISION, DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY APPRAISALS § 564.4 Minimum appraisal standards. For federally related transactions, all appraisals shall, at a minimum: (a...

  15. 5 CFR 950.110 - Prohibited discrimination.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 5 Administrative Personnel 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Prohibited discrimination. 950.110 Section 950.110 Administrative Personnel OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT (CONTINUED) CIVIL SERVICE... PRIVATE VOLUNTARY ORGANIZATIONS General Provisions § 950.110 Prohibited discrimination. Discrimination for...

  16. The minimum wage in the Czech enterprises

    OpenAIRE

    Eva Lajtkepová

    2010-01-01

    Although the statutory minimum wage is not a new category, in the Czech Republic we encounter the definition and regulation of a minimum wage for the first time in the 1990 amendment to Act No. 65/1965 Coll., the Labour Code. The specific amount of the minimum wage and the conditions of its operation were then subsequently determined by government regulation in February 1991. Since that time, the value of minimum wage has been adjusted fifteenth times (the last increase was in January 2007). ...

  17. Error studies for SNS Linac. Part 1: Transverse errors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Crandall, K.R.

    1998-01-01

    The SNS linac consist of a radio-frequency quadrupole (RFQ), a drift-tube linac (DTL), a coupled-cavity drift-tube linac (CCDTL) and a coupled-cavity linac (CCL). The RFQ and DTL are operated at 402.5 MHz; the CCDTL and CCL are operated at 805 MHz. Between the RFQ and DTL is a medium-energy beam-transport system (MEBT). This error study is concerned with the DTL, CCDTL and CCL, and each will be analyzed separately. In fact, the CCL is divided into two sections, and each of these will be analyzed separately. The types of errors considered here are those that affect the transverse characteristics of the beam. The errors that cause the beam center to be displaced from the linac axis are quad displacements and quad tilts. The errors that cause mismatches are quad gradient errors and quad rotations (roll)

  18. Evaluation of sensory panels of consumers of specialty coffee beverages using the boosting method in discriminant analysis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gilberto Rodrigues Liska

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available Automatic classification methods have been widely used in numerous situations and the boosting method has become known for use of a classification algorithm, which considers a set of training data and, from that set, constructs a classifier with reweighted versions of the training set. Given this characteristic, the aim of this study is to assess a sensory experiment related to acceptance tests with specialty coffees, with reference to both trained and untrained consumer groups. For the consumer group, four sensory characteristics were evaluated, such as aroma, body, sweetness, and final score, attributed to four types of specialty coffees. In order to obtain a classification rule that discriminates trained and untrained tasters, we used the conventional Fisher’s Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA and discriminant analysis via boosting algorithm (AdaBoost. The criteria used in the comparison of the two approaches were sensitivity, specificity, false positive rate, false negative rate, and accuracy of classification methods. Additionally, to evaluate the performance of the classifiers, the success rates and error rates were obtained by Monte Carlo simulation, considering 100 replicas of a random partition of 70% for the training set, and the remaining for the test set. It was concluded that the boosting method applied to discriminant analysis yielded a higher sensitivity rate in regard to the trained panel, at a value of 80.63% and, hence, reduction in the rate of false negatives, at 19.37%. Thus, the boosting method may be used as a means of improving the LDA classifier for discrimination of trained tasters.

  19. Minimum Wages and Regional Disparity: An analysis on the evolution of price-adjusted minimum wages and their effects on firm profitability (Japanese)

    OpenAIRE

    MORIKAWA Masayuki

    2013-01-01

    This paper, using prefecture level panel data, empirically analyzes 1) the recent evolution of price-adjusted regional minimum wages and 2) the effects of minimum wages on firm profitability. As a result of rapid increases in minimum wages in the metropolitan areas since 2007, the regional disparity of nominal minimum wages has been widening. However, the disparity of price-adjusted minimum wages has been shrinking. According to the analysis of the effects of minimum wages on profitability us...

  20. Two-dimensional errors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anon.

    1991-01-01

    This chapter addresses the extension of previous work in one-dimensional (linear) error theory to two-dimensional error analysis. The topics of the chapter include the definition of two-dimensional error, the probability ellipse, the probability circle, elliptical (circular) error evaluation, the application to position accuracy, and the use of control systems (points) in measurements

  1. 41 CFR 50-201.1101 - Minimum wages.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... 41 Public Contracts and Property Management 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 true Minimum wages. 50-201... Contracts PUBLIC CONTRACTS, DEPARTMENT OF LABOR 201-GENERAL REGULATIONS § 50-201.1101 Minimum wages. Determinations of prevailing minimum wages or changes therein will be published in the Federal Register by the...

  2. Preamplifier-discriminator for a photomultiplier

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Groshev, V.Ya.; Zabrodskij, V.A.

    1986-01-01

    A simple preamplifier-discriminator intended for processing fluxes of low-energy X-radiation in combination with a scintillation detector is suggested. Utilization of the 564LE5 microcircuit in the preamplifier-discriminator permits to use general supply, with digital logical microcircuits. Operation of the preamplifier-discriminator during some years as a part of the RPP-1 X-ray densitometer displayed good repeatibility of parameters of the device and its reliability

  3. 29 CFR 32.26 - Discrimination prohibited.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... 29 Labor 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 true Discrimination prohibited. 32.26 Section 32.26 Labor Office... RECEIVING FEDERAL FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE Accessibility § 32.26 Discrimination prohibited. No qualified... discrimination under any program or activity to which this part applies. ...

  4. 22 CFR 142.15 - Discrimination prohibited.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... 22 Foreign Relations 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Discrimination prohibited. 142.15 Section 142... PROGRAMS OR ACTIVITIES RECEIVING FEDERAL FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE Accessibility § 142.15 Discrimination... be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity to which the part applies. ...

  5. Social identity change in response to discrimination.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Perozzo, Cristina; de la Sablonnière, Roxane; Auger, Emilie; Caron-Diotte, Mathieu

    2016-09-01

    This study investigated the conditions under which discrimination can lead to social identity changes among members of a minority group. Both positive and negative relations between perceptions of discrimination and social identity have previously been reported. To explain the conflicting results and understand the complex reality of members of stigmatized groups, we argue that group-based emotions (e.g., group-based dissatisfaction) and ambiguity of discrimination cues (i.e., overt vs. ambiguous) need to be considered. We hypothesized that perceptions of discrimination would play a moderating role between group-based dissatisfaction and social identity change in a context of ambiguous, but not of overt, discrimination. The sample was comprised of 151 Arab Muslims living in the province of Quebec. Participants read fictitious newspaper articles portraying either overt (n = 76) or ambiguous (n = 75) discrimination towards in-group members. Results revealed that for participants in the overt discrimination condition, only group-based dissatisfaction was positively associated with social identity change. In contrast, for the participants in the ambiguous discrimination condition, those who perceived little discrimination and felt low group-based dissatisfaction reported a decrease in social identity. However, those who perceived low group discrimination and felt high group-based dissatisfaction reported a positive social identity change. © 2016 The British Psychological Society.

  6. Sexual Discrimination in the Use of Letters of Recommendation: A Case of Reverse Discrimination

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kryger, Barbara Rosenblum; Shikiar, Richard

    1978-01-01

    Possible sexual discrimination was examined in the use of letters of recommendation. Female applicants were preferred over male applicants in terms of proceeding with an interview, thus demonstrating a case of reverse discrimination. (Author)

  7. Digital pulse shape discrimination between fast neutrons and gamma rays with para-terphenyl scintillator

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chepurnov, A. S.; Kirsanov, M. A.; Klenin, A. A.; Klimanov, S. G.; Kubankin, A. S.

    2017-12-01

    In the presented work, we investigated several digital methods of a discrimination signals from fast neutrons and gamma quanta. The experimental setup consists of a Pu-Be neutron source, a scintillation detector with an organic para-terphenyl monocrystal, and a digitizer (CAEN DT5730, 500 MS/s). Mixed waveform sequences were stored and then separated by pulse shape. Four methods were used for signals separation. Comparison of the traditional and the new methods of Figure of Merit (FOM) calculation is given. FOM = 1.5 was obtained in our setup for the minimum threshold value. A scintillation detector with a para-terphenyl crystal was used to measure neutron yield in the neutron generator with carbon nanotubes.

  8. Minimum Wage Laws and the Distribution of Employment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lang, Kevin

    The desirability of raising the minimum wage long revolved around just one question: the effect of higher minimum wages on the overall level of employment. An even more critical effect of the minimum wage rests on the composition of employment--who gets the minimum wage job. An examination of employment in eating and drinking establishments…

  9. The minimum knowledge base for predicting organ-at-risk dose-volume levels and plan-related complications in IMRT planning

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhang, Hao H; D'Souza, Warren D; Meyer, Robert R; Shi Leyuan

    2010-01-01

    IMRT treatment planning requires consideration of two competing objectives: achieving the required amount of radiation for the planning target volume and minimizing the amount of radiation delivered to all other tissues. It is important for planners to understand the tradeoff between competing factors so that the time-consuming human interaction loop (plan-evaluate-modify) can be eliminated. Treatment-plan-surface models have been proposed as a decision support tool to aid treatment planners and clinicians in choosing between rival treatment plans in a multi-plan environment. In this paper, an empirical approach is introduced to determine the minimum number of treatment plans (minimum knowledge base) required to build accurate representations of the IMRT plan surface in order to predict organ-at-risk (OAR) dose-volume (DV) levels and complications as a function of input DV constraint settings corresponding to all involved OARs in the plan. We have tested our approach on five head and neck patients and five whole pelvis/prostate patients. Our results suggest that approximately 30 plans were sufficient to predict DV levels with less than 3% relative error in both head and neck and whole pelvis/prostate cases. In addition, approximately 30-60 plans were sufficient to predict saliva flow rate with less than 2% relative error and to classify rectal bleeding with an accuracy of 90%.

  10. 29 CFR 505.3 - Prevailing minimum compensation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... 29 Labor 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Prevailing minimum compensation. 505.3 Section 505.3 Labor... HUMANITIES § 505.3 Prevailing minimum compensation. (a)(1) In the absence of an alternative determination...)(2) of this section, the prevailing minimum compensation required to be paid under the Act to the...

  11. Error-related anterior cingulate cortex activity and the prediction of conscious error awareness

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Catherine eOrr

    2012-06-01

    Full Text Available Research examining the neural mechanisms associated with error awareness has consistently identified dorsal anterior cingulate activity (ACC as necessary but not predictive of conscious error detection. Two recent studies (Steinhauser and Yeung, 2010; Wessel et al. 2011 have found a contrary pattern of greater dorsal ACC activity (in the form of the error-related negativity during detected errors, but suggested that the greater activity may instead reflect task influences (e.g., response conflict, error probability and or individual variability (e.g., statistical power. We re-analyzed fMRI BOLD data from 56 healthy participants who had previously been administered the Error Awareness Task, a motor Go/No-go response inhibition task in which subjects make errors of commission of which they are aware (Aware errors, or unaware (Unaware errors. Consistent with previous data, the activity in a number of cortical regions was predictive of error awareness, including bilateral inferior parietal and insula cortices, however in contrast to previous studies, including our own smaller sample studies using the same task, error-related dorsal ACC activity was significantly greater during aware errors when compared to unaware errors. While the significantly faster RT for aware errors (compared to unaware was consistent with the hypothesis of higher response conflict increasing ACC activity, we could find no relationship between dorsal ACC activity and the error RT difference. The data suggests that individual variability in error awareness is associated with error-related dorsal ACC activity, and therefore this region may be important to conscious error detection, but it remains unclear what task and individual factors influence error awareness.

  12. Eye Contact and Fear of Being Laughed at in a Gaze Discrimination Task

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jorge Torres-Marín

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available Current approaches conceptualize gelotophobia as a personality trait characterized by a disproportionate fear of being laughed at by others. Consistently with this perspective, gelotophobes are also described as neurotic and introverted and as having a paranoid tendency to anticipate derision and mockery situations. Although research on gelotophobia has significantly progressed over the past two decades, no evidence exists concerning the potential effects of gelotophobia in reaction to eye contact. Previous research has pointed to difficulties in discriminating gaze direction as the basis of possible misinterpretations of others’ intentions or mental states. The aim of the present research was to examine whether gelotophobia predisposition modulates the effects of eye contact (i.e., gaze discrimination when processing faces portraying several emotional expressions. In two different experiments, participants performed an experimental gaze discrimination task in which they responded, as quickly and accurately as possible, to the eyes’ directions on faces displaying either a happy, angry, fear, neutral, or sad emotional expression. In particular, we expected trait-gelotophobia to modulate the eye contact effect, showing specific group differences in the happiness condition. The results of Study 1 (N = 40 indicated that gelotophobes made more errors than non-gelotophobes did in the gaze discrimination task. In contrast to our initial hypothesis, the happiness expression did not have any special role in the observed differences between individuals with high vs. low trait-gelotophobia. In Study 2 (N = 40, we replicated the pattern of data concerning gaze discrimination ability, even after controlling for individuals’ scores on social anxiety. Furthermore, in our second experiment, we found that gelotophobes did not exhibit any problem with identifying others’ emotions, or a general incorrect attribution of affective features, such as valence

  13. Errors in otology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kartush, J M

    1996-11-01

    Practicing medicine successfully requires that errors in diagnosis and treatment be minimized. Malpractice laws encourage litigators to ascribe all medical errors to incompetence and negligence. There are, however, many other causes of unintended outcomes. This article describes common causes of errors and suggests ways to minimize mistakes in otologic practice. Widespread dissemination of knowledge about common errors and their precursors can reduce the incidence of their occurrence. Consequently, laws should be passed to allow for a system of non-punitive, confidential reporting of errors and "near misses" that can be shared by physicians nationwide.

  14. General description of discriminating quantum operations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhang Ke-Jia; Gao Fei; Qin Su-Juan; Wen Qiao-Yan; Zhu Ping; Guo Fen-Zhuo

    2011-01-01

    The discrimination of quantum operations plays a key role in quantum information and computation. Unlike discriminating quantum states, it has some special properties which can be carried out in practice. In this paper, we provide a general description of discriminating quantum operations. Concretely speaking, we describe the distinguishability between quantum operations using a measure called operator fidelity. It is shown that, employing the theory of operator fidelity, we can not only verify some previous results to discriminate unitary operations, but also exhibit a more general discrimination condition. We further apply our results to analysing the security of some quantum cryptographic protocols and discuss the realization of our method using well-developed quantum algorithms. (general)

  15. A comparison of discriminant logistic regression and Item Response Theory Likelihood-Ratio Tests for Differential Item Functioning (IRTLRDIF) in polytomous short tests.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hidalgo, María D; López-Martínez, María D; Gómez-Benito, Juana; Guilera, Georgina

    2016-01-01

    Short scales are typically used in the social, behavioural and health sciences. This is relevant since test length can influence whether items showing DIF are correctly flagged. This paper compares the relative effectiveness of discriminant logistic regression (DLR) and IRTLRDIF for detecting DIF in polytomous short tests. A simulation study was designed. Test length, sample size, DIF amount and item response categories number were manipulated. Type I error and power were evaluated. IRTLRDIF and DLR yielded Type I error rates close to nominal level in no-DIF conditions. Under DIF conditions, Type I error rates were affected by test length DIF amount, degree of test contamination, sample size and number of item response categories. DLR showed a higher Type I error rate than did IRTLRDIF. Power rates were affected by DIF amount and sample size, but not by test length. DLR achieved higher power rates than did IRTLRDIF in very short tests, although the high Type I error rate involved means that this result cannot be taken into account. Test length had an important impact on the Type I error rate. IRTLRDIF and DLR showed a low power rate in short tests and with small sample sizes.

  16. 45 CFR 1151.21 - Discrimination prohibited.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... 45 Public Welfare 3 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Discrimination prohibited. 1151.21 Section 1151.21... HUMANITIES NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS NONDISCRIMINATION ON THE BASIS OF HANDICAP Discrimination Prohibited Accessibility § 1151.21 Discrimination prohibited. No qualified handicapped person shall, because...

  17. 14 CFR 1251.103 - Discrimination prohibited.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 14 Aeronautics and Space 5 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Discrimination prohibited. 1251.103 Section... OF HANDICAP General Provisions § 1251.103 Discrimination prohibited. (a) General. No qualified... of, or otherwise be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity which receives Federal...

  18. 22 CFR 142.11 - Discrimination prohibited.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... 22 Foreign Relations 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Discrimination prohibited. 142.11 Section 142... PROGRAMS OR ACTIVITIES RECEIVING FEDERAL FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE Employment Practices § 142.11 Discrimination... discrimination in employment under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance. (2) A...

  19. 22 CFR 217.21 - Discrimination prohibited.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... 22 Foreign Relations 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Discrimination prohibited. 217.21 Section 217... Discrimination prohibited. No qualified handicapped person shall, because a recipient's facilities within the... excluded from participation in, or otherwise be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity...

  20. 14 CFR 1251.300 - Discrimination prohibited.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 14 Aeronautics and Space 5 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Discrimination prohibited. 1251.300 Section... OF HANDICAP Accessibility § 1251.300 Discrimination prohibited. No qualified handicapped person shall... benefits of, be excluded from participation in, or otherwise be subjected to discrimination under any...

  1. 38 CFR 18.404 - Discrimination prohibited.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... 38 Pensions, Bonuses, and Veterans' Relief 2 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Discrimination prohibited... Provisions § 18.404 Discrimination prohibited. (a) General. No qualified handicapped person shall, on the... subjected to discrimination under any program or activity which receives Federal financial assistance. (b...

  2. 34 CFR 104.4 - Discrimination prohibited.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... 34 Education 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Discrimination prohibited. 104.4 Section 104.4... ASSISTANCE General Provisions § 104.4 Discrimination prohibited. (a) General. No qualified handicapped person... otherwise be subjected to discrimination under any program or activitiy which receives Federal financial...

  3. 38 CFR 18.421 - Discrimination prohibited.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... 38 Pensions, Bonuses, and Veterans' Relief 2 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Discrimination prohibited... Accessibility § 18.421 Discrimination prohibited. No qualified handicapped person shall, because a recipient's... from participation in, or otherwise be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity to...

  4. Experienced discrimination amongst European old citizens

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van den Heuvel, Wim J. A.; van Santvoort, Marc M.

    2011-01-01

    This study analyses the experienced age discrimination of old European citizens and the factors related to this discrimination. Differences in experienced discrimination between old citizens of different European countries are explored. Data from the 2008 ESS survey are used. Old age is defined as

  5. The Impact of Error-Management Climate, Error Type and Error Originator on Auditors’ Reporting Errors Discovered on Audit Work Papers

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    A.H. Gold-Nöteberg (Anna); U. Gronewold (Ulfert); S. Salterio (Steve)

    2010-01-01

    textabstractWe examine factors affecting the auditor’s willingness to report their own or their peers’ self-discovered errors in working papers subsequent to detailed working paper review. Prior research has shown that errors in working papers are detected in the review process; however, such

  6. Learning from Errors

    OpenAIRE

    Martínez-Legaz, Juan Enrique; Soubeyran, Antoine

    2003-01-01

    We present a model of learning in which agents learn from errors. If an action turns out to be an error, the agent rejects not only that action but also neighboring actions. We find that, keeping memory of his errors, under mild assumptions an acceptable solution is asymptotically reached. Moreover, one can take advantage of big errors for a faster learning.

  7. Anti-discrimination Analysis Using Privacy Attack Strategies

    KAUST Repository

    Ruggieri, Salvatore

    2014-09-15

    Social discrimination discovery from data is an important task to identify illegal and unethical discriminatory patterns towards protected-by-law groups, e.g., ethnic minorities. We deploy privacy attack strategies as tools for discrimination discovery under hard assumptions which have rarely tackled in the literature: indirect discrimination discovery, privacy-aware discrimination discovery, and discrimination data recovery. The intuition comes from the intriguing parallel between the role of the anti-discrimination authority in the three scenarios above and the role of an attacker in private data publishing. We design strategies and algorithms inspired/based on Frèchet bounds attacks, attribute inference attacks, and minimality attacks to the purpose of unveiling hidden discriminatory practices. Experimental results show that they can be effective tools in the hands of anti-discrimination authorities.

  8. Pixel detector readout electronics with two-level discriminator scheme

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pengg, F.

    1998-01-01

    In preparation for a silicon pixel detector with more than 3,000 readout channels per chip for operation at the future large hadron collider (LHC) at CERN the analog front end of the readout electronics has been designed and measured on several test-arrays with 16 by 4 cells. They are implemented in the HP 0.8 microm process but compatible with the design rules of the radiation hard Honeywell 0.8 microm bulk process. Each cell contains bump bonding pad, preamplifier, discriminator and control logic for masking and testing within a layout area of only 50 microm by 140 microm. A new two-level discriminator scheme has been implemented to cope with the problems of time-walk and interpixel cross-coupling. The measured gain of the preamplifier is 900 mV for a minimum ionizing particle (MIP, about 24,000 e - for a 300 microm thick Si-detector) with a return to baseline within 750 ns for a 1 MIP input signal. The full readout chain (without detector) shows an equivalent noise charge to 60e - r.m.s. The time-walk, a function of the separation between the two threshold levels, is measured to be 22 ns at a separation of 1,500 e - , which is adequate for the 40 MHz beam-crossing frequency at the LHC. The interpixel cross-coupling, measured with a 40fF coupling capacitance, is less than 3%. A single cell consumes 35 microW at 3.5 V supply voltage

  9. Discrimination against Black Students

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aloud, Ashwaq; Alsulayyim, Maryam

    2016-01-01

    Discrimination is a structured way of abusing people based on racial differences, hence barring them from accessing wealth, political participation and engagement in many spheres of human life. Racism and discrimination are inherently rooted in institutions in the society, the problem has spread across many social segments of the society including…

  10. Seeing the conflict: an attentional account of reasoning errors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mata, André; Ferreira, Mário B; Voss, Andreas; Kollei, Tanja

    2017-12-01

    In judgment and reasoning, intuition and deliberation can agree on the same responses, or they can be in conflict and suggest different responses. Incorrect responses to conflict problems have traditionally been interpreted as a sign of faulty problem-solving-an inability to solve the conflict. However, such errors might emerge earlier, from insufficient attention to the conflict. To test this attentional hypothesis, we manipulated the conflict in reasoning problems and used eye-tracking to measure attention. Across several measures, correct responders paid more attention than incorrect responders to conflict problems, and they discriminated between conflict and no-conflict problems better than incorrect responders. These results are consistent with a two-stage account of reasoning, whereby sound problem solving in the second stage can only lead to accurate responses when sufficient attention is paid in the first stage.

  11. Generation and discrimination of Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger states using dipole-induced transparency in a cavity-waveguide system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Qian, Jun; Qian, Yong; Yang, Tao; Feng, Xun-Li; Gong, Shang-Qing

    2007-01-01

    We propose an efficient scheme to build an arbitrary multipartite Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger state and discriminate all the universal Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger states using parity measurement based on dipole-induced transparency in a cavity-waveguide system. A prominent advantage is that initial entangled states remain after nondetective identification and they can be used for successive tasks. We analyze the performance and possible errors of the required single-qubit rotations and emphasize that the scheme is reliable and can satisfy the current experimental technology

  12. Error Probability Analysis of Hardware Impaired Systems with Asymmetric Transmission

    KAUST Repository

    Javed, Sidrah; Amin, Osama; Ikki, Salama S.; Alouini, Mohamed-Slim

    2018-01-01

    Error probability study of the hardware impaired (HWI) systems highly depends on the adopted model. Recent models have proved that the aggregate noise is equivalent to improper Gaussian signals. Therefore, considering the distinct noise nature and self-interfering (SI) signals, an optimal maximum likelihood (ML) receiver is derived. This renders the conventional minimum Euclidean distance (MED) receiver as a sub-optimal receiver because it is based on the assumptions of ideal hardware transceivers and proper Gaussian noise in communication systems. Next, the average error probability performance of the proposed optimal ML receiver is analyzed and tight bounds and approximations are derived for various adopted systems including transmitter and receiver I/Q imbalanced systems with or without transmitter distortions as well as transmitter or receiver only impaired systems. Motivated by recent studies that shed the light on the benefit of improper Gaussian signaling in mitigating the HWIs, asymmetric quadrature amplitude modulation or phase shift keying is optimized and adapted for transmission. Finally, different numerical and simulation results are presented to support the superiority of the proposed ML receiver over MED receiver, the tightness of the derived bounds and effectiveness of asymmetric transmission in dampening HWIs and improving overall system performance

  13. Error Probability Analysis of Hardware Impaired Systems with Asymmetric Transmission

    KAUST Repository

    Javed, Sidrah

    2018-04-26

    Error probability study of the hardware impaired (HWI) systems highly depends on the adopted model. Recent models have proved that the aggregate noise is equivalent to improper Gaussian signals. Therefore, considering the distinct noise nature and self-interfering (SI) signals, an optimal maximum likelihood (ML) receiver is derived. This renders the conventional minimum Euclidean distance (MED) receiver as a sub-optimal receiver because it is based on the assumptions of ideal hardware transceivers and proper Gaussian noise in communication systems. Next, the average error probability performance of the proposed optimal ML receiver is analyzed and tight bounds and approximations are derived for various adopted systems including transmitter and receiver I/Q imbalanced systems with or without transmitter distortions as well as transmitter or receiver only impaired systems. Motivated by recent studies that shed the light on the benefit of improper Gaussian signaling in mitigating the HWIs, asymmetric quadrature amplitude modulation or phase shift keying is optimized and adapted for transmission. Finally, different numerical and simulation results are presented to support the superiority of the proposed ML receiver over MED receiver, the tightness of the derived bounds and effectiveness of asymmetric transmission in dampening HWIs and improving overall system performance

  14. 49 CFR 27.7 - Discrimination prohibited.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... 49 Transportation 1 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Discrimination prohibited. 27.7 Section 27.7... OR ACTIVITIES RECEIVING FEDERAL FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE General § 27.7 Discrimination prohibited. (a... participation in, be denied the benefits of, or otherwise be subjected to discrimination under any program or...

  15. 18 CFR 1307.5 - Employment discrimination.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... discrimination. 1307.5 Section 1307.5 Conservation of Power and Water Resources TENNESSEE VALLEY AUTHORITY NONDISCRIMINATION WITH RESPECT TO HANDICAP § 1307.5 Employment discrimination. (a) General. No qualified handicapped person shall, on the basis of handicap, be subjected to discrimination in employment under any program or...

  16. 45 CFR 84.21 - Discrimination prohibited.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... 45 Public Welfare 1 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Discrimination prohibited. 84.21 Section 84.21... Discrimination prohibited. No qualified handicapped person shall, because a recipient's facilities are... in, or otherwise be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity to which this part...

  17. 45 CFR 605.21 - Discrimination prohibited.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... 45 Public Welfare 3 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Discrimination prohibited. 605.21 Section 605.21... Accessibility § 605.21 Discrimination prohibited. No qualified handicapped person shall, because a recipient's... from participation in, or otherwise be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity to...

  18. 28 CFR 42.520 - Discrimination prohibited.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... 28 Judicial Administration 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Discrimination prohibited. 42.520 Section...-Implementation of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 Accessibility § 42.520 Discrimination prohibited... participation in, or otherwise subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal...

  19. 45 CFR 605.4 - Discrimination prohibited.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... 45 Public Welfare 3 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Discrimination prohibited. 605.4 Section 605.4... Provisions § 605.4 Discrimination prohibited. (a) General. No qualified handicapped person shall, on the... subjected to discrimination under any program or activity which receives Federal financial assistance. (b...

  20. 10 CFR 1040.63 - Discrimination prohibited.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 10 Energy 4 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Discrimination prohibited. 1040.63 Section 1040.63 Energy... Provisions § 1040.63 Discrimination prohibited. (a) General. No qualified handicapped person shall, on the... subjected to discrimination under any program or activity that receives Federal financial assistance from...

  1. 5 CFR 900.704 - Discrimination prohibited.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 5 Administrative Personnel 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Discrimination prohibited. 900.704... Federally Assisted Programs of the Office of Personnel Management § 900.704 Discrimination prohibited. (a..., be denied the benefits of, or otherwise be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity...

  2. 45 CFR 1170.21 - Discrimination prohibited.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... 45 Public Welfare 3 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Discrimination prohibited. 1170.21 Section 1170.21... ASSISTED PROGRAMS OR ACTIVITIES Employment Practices § 1170.21 Discrimination prohibited. (a) General. No qualified handicapped person shall, on the basis of handicap, be subjected to discrimination in employment...

  3. 14 CFR 1251.200 - Discrimination prohibited.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 14 Aeronautics and Space 5 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Discrimination prohibited. 1251.200 Section... OF HANDICAP Employment Practices § 1251.200 Discrimination prohibited. (a) General. (1) No qualified handicapped person shall, on the basis of handicap, be subjected to discrimination in employment under any...

  4. 45 CFR 1110.3 - Discrimination prohibited.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... 45 Public Welfare 3 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Discrimination prohibited. 1110.3 Section 1110.3... HUMANITIES GENERAL NONDISCRIMINATION IN FEDERALLY ASSISTED PROGRAMS § 1110.3 Discrimination prohibited. (a... from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be otherwise subjected, to discrimination under...

  5. 18 CFR 1307.4 - Discrimination prohibited.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... 18 Conservation of Power and Water Resources 2 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Discrimination... NONDISCRIMINATION WITH RESPECT TO HANDICAP § 1307.4 Discrimination prohibited. (a) General. No qualified handicapped... otherwise be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity to which this part applies. (b...

  6. 43 CFR 17.203 - Discrimination prohibited.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... 43 Public Lands: Interior 1 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Discrimination prohibited. 17.203 Section... Discrimination prohibited. (a) General. No qualified handicapped person shall, on the basis of handicap, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or otherwise be subjected to discrimination...

  7. 45 CFR 84.4 - Discrimination prohibited.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... 45 Public Welfare 1 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Discrimination prohibited. 84.4 Section 84.4... § 84.4 Discrimination prohibited. (a) General. No qualified handicapped person shall, on the basis of... discrimination under any program or activity which receives Federal financial assistance. (b) Discriminatory...

  8. 22 CFR 142.4 - Discrimination prohibited.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... 22 Foreign Relations 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Discrimination prohibited. 142.4 Section 142.4... OR ACTIVITIES RECEIVING FEDERAL FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE General Provisions § 142.4 Discrimination... participation in, be denied the benefits of, or otherwise be subjected to discrimination under any program or...

  9. 45 CFR 1170.31 - Discrimination prohibited.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... 45 Public Welfare 3 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Discrimination prohibited. 1170.31 Section 1170.31... ASSISTED PROGRAMS OR ACTIVITIES Accessibility § 1170.31 Discrimination prohibited. No qualified handicapped... denied the benefits of, be excluded from participation in, or otherwise be subjected to discrimination...

  10. 34 CFR 104.21 - Discrimination prohibited.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... 34 Education 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Discrimination prohibited. 104.21 Section 104.21... ASSISTANCE Accessibility § 104.21 Discrimination prohibited. No qualified handicapped person shall, because a... excluded from participation in, or otherwise be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity...

  11. 45 CFR 1151.31 - Discrimination prohibited.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... 45 Public Welfare 3 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Discrimination prohibited. 1151.31 Section 1151.31... HUMANITIES NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS NONDISCRIMINATION ON THE BASIS OF HANDICAP Discrimination Prohibited Employment § 1151.31 Discrimination prohibited. (a) No qualified handicapped person shall, on the...

  12. Do Some Workers Have Minimum Wage Careers?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carrington, William J.; Fallick, Bruce C.

    2001-01-01

    Most workers who begin their careers in minimum-wage jobs eventually gain more experience and move on to higher paying jobs. However, more than 8% of workers spend at least half of their first 10 working years in minimum wage jobs. Those more likely to have minimum wage careers are less educated, minorities, women with young children, and those…

  13. Does the Minimum Wage Affect Welfare Caseloads?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Page, Marianne E.; Spetz, Joanne; Millar, Jane

    2005-01-01

    Although minimum wages are advocated as a policy that will help the poor, few studies have examined their effect on poor families. This paper uses variation in minimum wages across states and over time to estimate the impact of minimum wage legislation on welfare caseloads. We find that the elasticity of the welfare caseload with respect to the…

  14. 29 CFR 4.159 - General minimum wage.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... 29 Labor 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 true General minimum wage. 4.159 Section 4.159 Labor Office of... General minimum wage. The Act, in section 2(b)(1), provides generally that no contractor or subcontractor... a contract less than the minimum wage specified under section 6(a)(1) of the Fair Labor Standards...

  15. Performance analysis of relay-assisted all-optical FSO networks over strong atmospheric turbulence channels with pointing errors

    KAUST Repository

    Yang, Liang

    2014-12-01

    In this study, we consider a relay-assisted free-space optical communication scheme over strong atmospheric turbulence channels with misalignment-induced pointing errors. The links from the source to the destination are assumed to be all-optical links. Assuming a variable gain relay with amplify-and-forward protocol, the electrical signal at the source is forwarded to the destination with the help of this relay through all-optical links. More specifically, we first present a cumulative density function (CDF) analysis for the end-to-end signal-to-noise ratio. Based on this CDF, the outage probability, bit-error rate, and average capacity of our proposed system are derived. Results show that the system diversity order is related to the minimum value of the channel parameters.

  16. Automated materials discrimination using 3D dual energy X ray images

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wang, Ta Wee

    2002-01-01

    discrimination of masked target materials. It was found that the system noise produced significant errors in the polynomial equations used for estimating the thickness of the aluminium and plastic basis materials. However, a successful demonstration of an automated technique for discriminating a plastic plate in some realistic scenarios has been demonstrated. Although, the technique will only work correctly if the materials masking the target fall within the window of effective atomic number defined by the chosen basis materials. Thus, for instance a steel mask would produce a false negative result. In order to discriminate it accurately a material would require the determination of its mass density. This could be provided within the reported basis material subtraction theory if the thickness of the target were known. However, the depth resolution (±6.7mm) produced by the experimental stereoscopic system was found to be too coarse for inclusion in the automated material discrimination program. (author)

  17. 50 CFR 3.1 - Discrimination prohibited.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 1 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Discrimination prohibited. 3.1 Section 3.1... PROVISIONS NONDISCRIMINATION-CONTRACTS, PERMITS, AND USE OF FACILITIES § 3.1 Discrimination prohibited. No..., be denied the benefits of, or be otherwise subjected to any form of discrimination or segregation...

  18. 28 CFR 42.203 - Discrimination prohibited.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... 28 Judicial Administration 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Discrimination prohibited. 42.203 Section...) of the Justice System Improvement Act of 1979 § 42.203 Discrimination prohibited. (a) No person in... participation in, be denied the benefits of, be subjected to discrimination under, or denied employment in...

  19. 38 CFR 18.411 - Discrimination prohibited.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... 38 Pensions, Bonuses, and Veterans' Relief 2 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Discrimination prohibited... Practices § 18.411 Discrimination prohibited. (a) General. (1) No qualified handicapped person shall, on the basis of handicap, be subjected to discrimination in employment under any program or activity to which...

  20. 24 CFR 8.4 - Discrimination prohibited.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... 24 Housing and Urban Development 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Discrimination prohibited. 8.4... DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT General Provisions § 8.4 Discrimination prohibited. (a) No... in, be denied the benefits of, or otherwise be subjected to discrimination under any program or...