WorldWideScience

Sample records for points similar findings

  1. Self-Similar Spin Images for Point Cloud Matching

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pulido, Daniel

    based on the concept of self-similarity to aid in the scale and feature matching steps. An open problem in fusion is how best to extract features from two point clouds and then perform feature-based matching. The proposed approach for this matching step is the use of local self-similarity as an invariant measure to match features. In particular, the proposed approach is to combine the concept of local self-similarity with a well-known feature descriptor, Spin Images, and thereby define "Self-Similar Spin Images". This approach is then extended to the case of matching two points clouds in very different coordinate systems (e.g., a geo-referenced Lidar point cloud and stereo-image derived point cloud without geo-referencing). The use of Self-Similar Spin Images is again applied to address this problem by introducing a "Self-Similar Keyscale" that matches the spatial scales of two point clouds. Another open problem is how best to detect changes in content between two point clouds. A method is proposed to find changes between two point clouds by analyzing the order statistics of the nearest neighbors between the two clouds, and thereby define the "Nearest Neighbor Order Statistic" method. Note that the well-known Hausdorff distance is a special case as being just the maximum order statistic. Therefore, by studying the entire histogram of these nearest neighbors it is expected to yield a more robust method to detect points that are present in one cloud but not the other. This approach is applied at multiple resolutions. Therefore, changes detected at the coarsest level will yield large missing targets and at finer levels will yield smaller targets.

  2. HIV-1 transmitting couples have similar viral load set-points in Rakai, Uganda.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    T Déirdre Hollingsworth

    2010-05-01

    Full Text Available It has been hypothesized that HIV-1 viral load set-point is a surrogate measure of HIV-1 viral virulence, and that it may be subject to natural selection in the human host population. A key test of this hypothesis is whether viral load set-points are correlated between transmitting individuals and those acquiring infection. We retrospectively identified 112 heterosexual HIV-discordant couples enrolled in a cohort in Rakai, Uganda, in which HIV transmission was suspected and viral load set-point was established. In addition, sequence data was available to establish transmission by genetic linkage for 57 of these couples. Sex, age, viral subtype, index partner, and self-reported genital ulcer disease status (GUD were known. Using ANOVA, we estimated the proportion of variance in viral load set-points which was explained by the similarity within couples (the 'couple effect'. Individuals with suspected intra-couple transmission (97 couples had similar viral load set-points (p = 0.054 single factor model, p = 0.0057 adjusted and the couple effect explained 16% of variance in viral loads (23% adjusted. The analysis was repeated for a subset of 29 couples with strong genetic support for transmission. The couple effect was the major determinant of viral load set-point (p = 0.067 single factor, and p = 0.036 adjusted and the size of the effect was 27% (37% adjusted. Individuals within epidemiologically linked couples with genetic support for transmission had similar viral load set-points. The most parsimonious explanation is that this is due to shared characteristics of the transmitted virus, a finding which sheds light on both the role of viral factors in HIV-1 pathogenesis and on the evolution of the virus.

  3. On finding similar items in a stream of transactions

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Campagna, Andrea; Pagh, Rasmus

    2010-01-01

    While there has been a lot of work on finding frequent itemsets in transaction data streams, none of these solve the problem of finding similar pairs according to standard similarity measures. This paper is a first attempt at dealing with this, arguably more important, problem. We start out with ...... in random order, and show that surprisingly, not only is small-space similarity mining possible for the most common similarity measures, but the mining accuracy {\\em improves\\/} with the length of the stream for any fixed support threshold....... with a negative result that also explains the lack of theoretical upper bounds on the space usage of data mining algorithms for finding frequent itemsets: Any algorithm that (even only approximately and with a chance of error) finds the most frequent $k$-itemset must use space $\\Omega...

  4. Contextual Factors for Finding Similar Experts

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hofmann, Katja; Balog, Krisztian; Bogers, Toine

    2010-01-01

    -seeking models, are rarely taken into account. In this article, we extend content-based expert-finding approaches with contextual factors that have been found to influence human expert finding. We focus on a task of science communicators in a knowledge-intensive environment, the task of finding similar experts......, given an example expert. Our approach combines expertise-seeking and retrieval research. First, we conduct a user study to identify contextual factors that may play a role in the studied task and environment. Then, we design expert retrieval models to capture these factors. We combine these with content......-based retrieval models and evaluate them in a retrieval experiment. Our main finding is that while content-based features are the most important, human participants also take contextual factors into account, such as media experience and organizational structure. We develop two principled ways of modeling...

  5. A FAST METHOD FOR MEASURING THE SIMILARITY BETWEEN 3D MODEL AND 3D POINT CLOUD

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Z. Zhang

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available This paper proposes a fast method for measuring the partial Similarity between 3D Model and 3D point Cloud (SimMC. It is crucial to measure SimMC for many point cloud-related applications such as 3D object retrieval and inverse procedural modelling. In our proposed method, the surface area of model and the Distance from Model to point Cloud (DistMC are exploited as measurements to calculate SimMC. Here, DistMC is defined as the weighted distance of the distances between points sampled from model and point cloud. Similarly, Distance from point Cloud to Model (DistCM is defined as the average distance of the distances between points in point cloud and model. In order to reduce huge computational burdens brought by calculation of DistCM in some traditional methods, we define SimMC as the ratio of weighted surface area of model to DistMC. Compared to those traditional SimMC measuring methods that are only able to measure global similarity, our method is capable of measuring partial similarity by employing distance-weighted strategy. Moreover, our method is able to be faster than other partial similarity assessment methods. We demonstrate the superiority of our method both on synthetic data and laser scanning data.

  6. An algorithm for finding a similar subgraph of all Hamiltonian cycles

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wafdan, R.; Ihsan, M.; Suhaimi, D.

    2018-01-01

    This paper discusses an algorithm to find a similar subgraph called findSimSubG algorithm. A similar subgraph is a subgraph with a maximum number of edges, contains no isolated vertex and is contained in every Hamiltonian cycle of a Hamiltonian Graph. The algorithm runs only on Hamiltonian graphs with at least two Hamiltonian cycles. The algorithm works by examining whether the initial subgraph of the first Hamiltonian cycle is a subgraph of comparison graphs. If the initial subgraph is not in comparison graphs, the algorithm will remove edges and vertices of the initial subgraph that are not in comparison graphs. There are two main processes in the algorithm, changing Hamiltonian cycle into a cycle graph and removing edges and vertices of the initial subgraph that are not in comparison graphs. The findSimSubG algorithm can find the similar subgraph without using backtracking method. The similar subgraph cannot be found on certain graphs, such as an n-antiprism graph, complete bipartite graph, complete graph, 2n-crossed prism graph, n-crown graph, n-möbius ladder, prism graph, and wheel graph. The complexity of this algorithm is O(m|V|), where m is the number of Hamiltonian cycles and |V| is the number of vertices of a Hamiltonian graph.

  7. Self-Similarity Based Corresponding-Point Extraction from Weakly Textured Stereo Pairs

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Min Mao

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available For the areas of low textured in image pairs, there is nearly no point that can be detected by traditional methods. The information in these areas will not be extracted by classical interest-point detectors. In this paper, a novel weakly textured point detection method is presented. The points with weakly textured characteristic are detected by the symmetry concept. The proposed approach considers the gray variability of the weakly textured local regions. The detection mechanism can be separated into three steps: region-similarity computation, candidate point searching, and refinement of weakly textured point set. The mechanism of radius scale selection and texture strength conception are used in the second step and the third step, respectively. The matching algorithm based on sparse representation (SRM is used for matching the detected points in different images. The results obtained on image sets with different objects show high robustness of the method to background and intraclass variations as well as to different photometric and geometric transformations; the points detected by this method are also the complement of points detected by classical detectors from the literature. And we also verify the efficacy of SRM by comparing with classical algorithms under the occlusion and corruption situations for matching the weakly textured points. Experiments demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed weakly textured point detection algorithm.

  8. The registration of non-cooperative moving targets laser point cloud in different view point

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Shuai; Sun, Huayan; Guo, Huichao

    2018-01-01

    Non-cooperative moving target multi-view cloud registration is the key technology of 3D reconstruction of laser threedimension imaging. The main problem is that the density changes greatly and noise exists under different acquisition conditions of point cloud. In this paper, firstly, the feature descriptor is used to find the most similar point cloud, and then based on the registration algorithm of region segmentation, the geometric structure of the point is extracted by the geometric similarity between point and point, The point cloud is divided into regions based on spectral clustering, feature descriptors are created for each region, searching to find the most similar regions in the most similar point of view cloud, and then aligning the pair of point clouds by aligning their minimum bounding boxes. Repeat the above steps again until registration of all point clouds is completed. Experiments show that this method is insensitive to the density of point clouds and performs well on the noise of laser three-dimension imaging.

  9. Local-global alignment for finding 3D similarities in protein structures

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zemla, Adam T [Brentwood, CA

    2011-09-20

    A method of finding 3D similarities in protein structures of a first molecule and a second molecule. The method comprises providing preselected information regarding the first molecule and the second molecule. Comparing the first molecule and the second molecule using Longest Continuous Segments (LCS) analysis. Comparing the first molecule and the second molecule using Global Distance Test (GDT) analysis. Comparing the first molecule and the second molecule using Local Global Alignment Scoring function (LGA_S) analysis. Verifying constructed alignment and repeating the steps to find the regions of 3D similarities in protein structures.

  10. A similarity hypothesis for the two-point correlation tensor in a temporally evolving plane wake

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ewing, D. W.; George, W. K.; Moser, R. D.; Rogers, M. M.

    1995-01-01

    The analysis demonstrated that the governing equations for the two-point velocity correlation tensor in the temporally evolving wake admit similarity solutions, which include the similarity solutions for the single-point moment as a special case. The resulting equations for the similarity solutions include two constants, beta and Re(sub sigma), that are ratios of three characteristic time scales of processes in the flow: a viscous time scale, a time scale characteristic of the spread rate of the flow, and a characteristic time scale of the mean strain rate. The values of these ratios depend on the initial conditions of the flow and are most likely measures of the coherent structures in the initial conditions. The occurrences of these constants in the governing equations for the similarity solutions indicates that these solutions, in general, will only be the same for two flows if these two constants are equal (and hence the coherent structures in the flows are related). The comparisons between the predictions of the similarity hypothesis and the data presented here and elsewhere indicate that the similarity solutions for the two-point correlation tensors provide a good approximation of the measures of those motions that are not significantly affected by the boundary conditions caused by the finite extent of real flows. Thus, the two-point similarity hypothesis provides a useful tool for both numerical and physical experimentalist that can be used to examine how the finite extent of real flows affect the evolution of the different scales of motion in the flow.

  11. a Two-Step Classification Approach to Distinguishing Similar Objects in Mobile LIDAR Point Clouds

    Science.gov (United States)

    He, H.; Khoshelham, K.; Fraser, C.

    2017-09-01

    Nowadays, lidar is widely used in cultural heritage documentation, urban modeling, and driverless car technology for its fast and accurate 3D scanning ability. However, full exploitation of the potential of point cloud data for efficient and automatic object recognition remains elusive. Recently, feature-based methods have become very popular in object recognition on account of their good performance in capturing object details. Compared with global features describing the whole shape of the object, local features recording the fractional details are more discriminative and are applicable for object classes with considerable similarity. In this paper, we propose a two-step classification approach based on point feature histograms and the bag-of-features method for automatic recognition of similar objects in mobile lidar point clouds. Lamp post, street light and traffic sign are grouped as one category in the first-step classification for their inter similarity compared with tree and vehicle. A finer classification of the lamp post, street light and traffic sign based on the result of the first-step classification is implemented in the second step. The proposed two-step classification approach is shown to yield a considerable improvement over the conventional one-step classification approach.

  12. A TWO-STEP CLASSIFICATION APPROACH TO DISTINGUISHING SIMILAR OBJECTS IN MOBILE LIDAR POINT CLOUDS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    H. He

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available Nowadays, lidar is widely used in cultural heritage documentation, urban modeling, and driverless car technology for its fast and accurate 3D scanning ability. However, full exploitation of the potential of point cloud data for efficient and automatic object recognition remains elusive. Recently, feature-based methods have become very popular in object recognition on account of their good performance in capturing object details. Compared with global features describing the whole shape of the object, local features recording the fractional details are more discriminative and are applicable for object classes with considerable similarity. In this paper, we propose a two-step classification approach based on point feature histograms and the bag-of-features method for automatic recognition of similar objects in mobile lidar point clouds. Lamp post, street light and traffic sign are grouped as one category in the first-step classification for their inter similarity compared with tree and vehicle. A finer classification of the lamp post, street light and traffic sign based on the result of the first-step classification is implemented in the second step. The proposed two-step classification approach is shown to yield a considerable improvement over the conventional one-step classification approach.

  13. How Do Users Map Points Between Dissimilar Shapes?

    KAUST Repository

    Hecher, Michael

    2017-07-25

    Finding similar points in globally or locally similar shapes has been studied extensively through the use of various point descriptors or shape-matching methods. However, little work exists on finding similar points in dissimilar shapes. In this paper, we present the results of a study where users were given two dissimilar two-dimensional shapes and asked to map a given point in the first shape to the point in the second shape they consider most similar. We find that user mappings in this study correlate strongly with simple geometric relationships between points and shapes. To predict the probability distribution of user mappings between any pair of simple two-dimensional shapes, two distinct statistical models are defined using these relationships. We perform a thorough validation of the accuracy of these predictions and compare our models qualitatively and quantitatively to well-known shape-matching methods. Using our predictive models, we propose an approach to map objects or procedural content between different shapes in different design scenarios.

  14. Children with Congenital Hypothyroidism Have Similar Neuroradiological Abnormal Findings as Healthy Ones

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marianna Rachmiel

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Objective. To assess the neuroradiological findings of children with congenital hypothyroidism (CHT compared to healthy controls (HC. Patients and Methods. Thirty children with CHT, mean age 12.5 ± 1.6 years, 14 (44.8% males, were compared with 38 HC mean age 11.7 ± 1.7 years, 16 (45.7% males. Clinical data were collected from medical charts and questionnaires seeking information on family history, birth and perinatal period events, medications, and overall health history. Neurocognitive function was assessed for global intelligence, visual and verbal memory, and executive functioning using standardized tests. Neuroimaging was performed using 1.5 T magnetic resonance imaging and assessed by two pediatric radiologists. Results. Children with CHT had a similar proportion of incidental findings as did the children in the HC group, at 43.3% and 39.5%, respectively, . Abnormalities of the sellar region were reported in 13.3% of CHT group and 7.9% of HC group, . Other incidental findings included cerebellar ectopia, choroidal fissure and pineal cysts, and multiple increased signal intensity foci. Neuroradiological findings were not associated with clinical and neurocognitive abnormalities. Conclusion. Neuroimaging of children with CHT demonstrated a similar incidence of structural abnormalities as in the healthy population. There is no association between those findings and neurocognitive function.

  15. An algebraic approach to finding the Fermat-Torricelli point

    Science.gov (United States)

    Palacios-Vélez, Óscar Luis; Pedraza-Oropeza, Felipe J. A.; Escobar-Villagran, Bernardo Samuel

    2015-11-01

    Using a calculus and an algebraic approach, the Cartesian coordinates of the Fermat-Torricelli point are deduced for triangles with no internal angle greater than 120°. Although in theory, the deduction of these coordinates could be made 'by hand', in practice it is very laborious to obtain them without the aid of mathematical computer software, but with human guidance, since there are mathematical artifices not yet incorporated into the software. It is also shown that these coordinates can be conveniently expressed in terms of the side lengths and the area of the triangle. These coordinates are contrasted with the coordinates of a similar point: one whose sum of the squares of the distances to the vertices of an arbitrary triangle is a minimum.

  16. Persuasive Effects of Point of View, Protagonist Competence, and Similarity in a Health Narrative About Type 2 Diabetes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Meng; Bell, Robert A; Taylor, Laramie D

    2017-08-01

    We examined the persuasive effects of three narrative features in a message about type 2 diabetes: narrative point of view (first- vs. third-person perspective), protagonist competence (positive role model who prevents diabetes vs. negative role model who develops diabetes), and protagonist-reader similarity (demographically similar vs. dissimilar). We posited that a first-person point of view would elevate people's identification levels more than a third-person point of view, especially when the protagonist was depicted as a positive role model. We also expected a similar protagonist to foster greater levels of identification than a dissimilar one. In addition, the positive effect of a competent role model on identification was expected to be enhanced under the condition of reader-protagonist similarity. Finally, we hypothesized that the effects of identification on persuasion would be mediated by self-referencing. Participants 30 years of age or younger (N = 489) were randomly assigned to read a story about a person with a family history of type 2 diabetes that was altered with regard to the experimental factors. Thereafter they completed a questionnaire incorporating measures of study variables. Greater levels of identification were found to foster self-referencing, leading to persuasion. Identification was strongest with a first-person point of view and when the narrator was a positive role model. The effect of identification on persuasion was mediated by self-referencing. Contrary to expectations, protagonist-reader demographic similarity did not affect identification or self-referencing. There was no support for the two moderation hypotheses.

  17. Finding a single point of truth

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sokolov, S.; Thijssen, H. [Autodesk Inc, Toronto, ON (Canada); Laslo, D.; Martin, J. [Autodesk Inc., San Rafael, CA (United States)

    2010-07-01

    Electric utilities collect large volumes of data at every level of their business, including SCADA, Smart Metering and Smart Grid initiatives, LIDAR and other 3D imagery surveys. Different types of database systems are used to store the information, rendering data flow within the utility business process extremely complicated. The industry trend has been to endure redundancy of data input and maintenance of multiple copies of the same data across different solution data sets. Efforts have been made to improve the situation with point to point interfaces, but with the tools and solutions available today, a single point of truth can be achieved. Consolidated and validated data can be published into a data warehouse at the right point in the process, making the information available to all other enterprise systems and solutions. This paper explained how the single point of truth spatial data warehouse and process automation services can be configured to streamline the flow of data within the utility business process using the initiate-plan-execute-close (IPEC) utility workflow model. The paper first discussed geospatial challenges faced by utilities and then presented the approach and technology aspects. It was concluded that adoption of systems and solutions that can function with and be controlled by the IPEC workflow can provide significant improvement for utility operations, particularly if those systems are coupled with the spatial data warehouse that reflects a single point of truth. 6 refs., 3 figs.

  18. Self-similar motion of three point vortices

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Aref, Hassan

    2010-01-01

    One of the counter-intuitive results in the three-vortex problem is that the vortices can converge on and meet at a point in a finite time for certain sets of vortex circulations and for certain initial conditions. This result was already included in Groumlbli's thesis of 1877 and has since been ...

  19. African elephants can use human pointing cues to find hidden food.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smet, Anna F; Byrne, Richard W

    2013-10-21

    How animals gain information from attending to the behavior of others has been widely studied, driven partly by the importance of referential pointing in human cognitive development [1-4], but species differences in reading human social cues remain unexplained. One explanation is that this capacity evolved during domestication [5, 6], but it may be that only those animals able to interpret human-like social cues were successfully domesticated. Elephants are a critical taxon for this question: despite their longstanding use by humans, they have never been domesticated [7]. Here we show that a group of 11 captive African elephants, seven of them significantly as individuals, could interpret human pointing to find hidden food. We suggest that success was not due to prior training or extensive learning opportunities. Elephants successfully interpreted pointing when the experimenter's proximity to the hiding place was varied and when the ostensive pointing gesture was visually subtle, suggesting that they understood the experimenter's communicative intent. The elephant's native ability in interpreting social cues may have contributed to its long history of effective use by man. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  20. Using the Chandra Source-Finding Algorithm to Automatically Identify Solar X-ray Bright Points

    Science.gov (United States)

    Adams, Mitzi L.; Tennant, A.; Cirtain, J. M.

    2009-01-01

    This poster details a technique of bright point identification that is used to find sources in Chandra X-ray data. The algorithm, part of a program called LEXTRCT, searches for regions of a given size that are above a minimum signal to noise ratio. The algorithm allows selected pixels to be excluded from the source-finding, thus allowing exclusion of saturated pixels (from flares and/or active regions). For Chandra data the noise is determined by photon counting statistics, whereas solar telescopes typically integrate a flux. Thus the calculated signal-to-noise ratio is incorrect, but we find we can scale the number to get reasonable results. For example, Nakakubo and Hara (1998) find 297 bright points in a September 11, 1996 Yohkoh image; with judicious selection of signal-to-noise ratio, our algorithm finds 300 sources. To further assess the efficacy of the algorithm, we analyze a SOHO/EIT image (195 Angstroms) and compare results with those published in the literature (McIntosh and Gurman, 2005). Finally, we analyze three sets of data from Hinode, representing different parts of the decline to minimum of the solar cycle.

  1. Multispectral Image Feature Points

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cristhian Aguilera

    2012-09-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents a novel feature point descriptor for the multispectral image case: Far-Infrared and Visible Spectrum images. It allows matching interest points on images of the same scene but acquired in different spectral bands. Initially, points of interest are detected on both images through a SIFT-like based scale space representation. Then, these points are characterized using an Edge Oriented Histogram (EOH descriptor. Finally, points of interest from multispectral images are matched by finding nearest couples using the information from the descriptor. The provided experimental results and comparisons with similar methods show both the validity of the proposed approach as well as the improvements it offers with respect to the current state-of-the-art.

  2. Grade point average and biographical data in personal resumes: Predictors of finding employment

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Sulastri, A.; Handoko, M.; Janssens, J.M.A.M.

    2015-01-01

    This study aimed to examine relationships between graduates' grade point average (GPA), biographical data and success in finding a job in general and a psychology-based job in particular. Two hundred six psychology graduates participated in a two-wave longitudinal study. Biographical data assessed

  3. Identifying mechanistic similarities in drug responses

    KAUST Repository

    Zhao, C.

    2012-05-15

    Motivation: In early drug development, it would be beneficial to be able to identify those dynamic patterns of gene response that indicate that drugs targeting a particular gene will be likely or not to elicit the desired response. One approach would be to quantitate the degree of similarity between the responses that cells show when exposed to drugs, so that consistencies in the regulation of cellular response processes that produce success or failure can be more readily identified.Results: We track drug response using fluorescent proteins as transcription activity reporters. Our basic assumption is that drugs inducing very similar alteration in transcriptional regulation will produce similar temporal trajectories on many of the reporter proteins and hence be identified as having similarities in their mechanisms of action (MOA). The main body of this work is devoted to characterizing similarity in temporal trajectories/signals. To do so, we must first identify the key points that determine mechanistic similarity between two drug responses. Directly comparing points on the two signals is unrealistic, as it cannot handle delays and speed variations on the time axis. Hence, to capture the similarities between reporter responses, we develop an alignment algorithm that is robust to noise, time delays and is able to find all the contiguous parts of signals centered about a core alignment (reflecting a core mechanism in drug response). Applying the proposed algorithm to a range of real drug experiments shows that the result agrees well with the prior drug MOA knowledge. © The Author 2012. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.

  4. An effective framework for finding similar cases of dengue from audio and text data using domain thesaurus and case base reasoning

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sandhu, Rajinder; Kaur, Jaspreet; Thapar, Vivek

    2018-02-01

    Dengue, also known as break-bone fever, is a tropical disease transmitted by mosquitoes. If the similarity between dengue infected users can be identified, it can help government's health agencies to manage the outbreak more effectively. To find similarity between cases affected by Dengue, user's personal and health information are the two fundamental requirements. Identification of similar symptoms, causes, effects, predictions and treatment procedures, is important. In this paper, an effective framework is proposed which finds similar patients suffering from dengue using keyword aware domain thesaurus and case base reasoning method. This paper focuses on the use of ontology dependent domain thesaurus technique to extract relevant keywords and then build cases with the help of case base reasoning method. Similar cases can be shared with users, nearby hospitals and health organizations to manage the problem more adequately. Two million case bases were generated to test the proposed similarity method. Experimental evaluations of proposed framework resulted in high accuracy and low error rate for finding similar cases of dengue as compared to UPCC and IPCC algorithms. The framework developed in this paper is for dengue but can easily be extended to other domains also.

  5. Pairwise contact energy statistical potentials can help to find probability of point mutations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Saravanan, K M; Suvaithenamudhan, S; Parthasarathy, S; Selvaraj, S

    2017-01-01

    To adopt a particular fold, a protein requires several interactions between its amino acid residues. The energetic contribution of these residue-residue interactions can be approximated by extracting statistical potentials from known high resolution structures. Several methods based on statistical potentials extracted from unrelated proteins are found to make a better prediction of probability of point mutations. We postulate that the statistical potentials extracted from known structures of similar folds with varying sequence identity can be a powerful tool to examine probability of point mutation. By keeping this in mind, we have derived pairwise residue and atomic contact energy potentials for the different functional families that adopt the (α/β) 8 TIM-Barrel fold. We carried out computational point mutations at various conserved residue positions in yeast Triose phosphate isomerase enzyme for which experimental results are already reported. We have also performed molecular dynamics simulations on a subset of point mutants to make a comparative study. The difference in pairwise residue and atomic contact energy of wildtype and various point mutations reveals probability of mutations at a particular position. Interestingly, we found that our computational prediction agrees with the experimental studies of Silverman et al. (Proc Natl Acad Sci 2001;98:3092-3097) and perform better prediction than i Mutant and Cologne University Protein Stability Analysis Tool. The present work thus suggests deriving pairwise contact energy potentials and molecular dynamics simulations of functionally important folds could help us to predict probability of point mutations which may ultimately reduce the time and cost of mutation experiments. Proteins 2016; 85:54-64. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  6. 77 FR 25131 - Turning Point Solar LLC: Notice of Finding of No Significant Impact

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-04-27

    ... monocrystalline photovoltaic panels mounted on fixed solar racking equipment and the construction of access roads... DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE Rural Utilities Service Turning Point Solar LLC: Notice of Finding of No... Environmental Assessment (EA) associated with a solar generation project. The EA was prepared in accordance with...

  7. FINDING CUBOID-BASED BUILDING MODELS IN POINT CLOUDS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    W. Nguatem

    2012-07-01

    Full Text Available In this paper, we present an automatic approach for the derivation of 3D building models of level-of-detail 1 (LOD 1 from point clouds obtained from (dense image matching or, for comparison only, from LIDAR. Our approach makes use of the predominance of vertical structures and orthogonal intersections in architectural scenes. After robustly determining the scene's vertical direction based on the 3D points we use it as constraint for a RANSAC-based search for vertical planes in the point cloud. The planes are further analyzed to segment reliable outlines for rectangular surface within these planes, which are connected to construct cuboid-based building models. We demonstrate that our approach is robust and effective over a range of real-world input data sets with varying point density, amount of noise, and outliers.

  8. Local self-similarity descriptor for point-of-interest reconstruction of real-world scenes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gao, Xianglu; Wan, Weibing; Zhao, Qunfei; Zhang, Xianmin

    2015-01-01

    Scene reconstruction is utilized commonly in close-range photogrammetry, with diverse applications in fields such as industry, biology, and aerospace industries. Presented surfaces or wireframe three-dimensional (3D) model reconstruction applications are either too complex or too inflexible to accommodate various types of real-world scenes, however. This paper proposes an algorithm for acquiring point-of-interest (referred to throughout the study as POI) coordinates in 3D space, based on multi-view geometry and a local self-similarity descriptor. After reconstructing several POIs specified by a user, a concise and flexible target object measurement method, which obtains the distance between POIs, is described in detail. The proposed technique is able to measure targets with high accuracy even in the presence of obstacles and non-Lambertian surfaces. The method is so flexible that target objects can be measured with a handheld digital camera. Experimental results further demonstrate the effectiveness of the algorithm. (paper)

  9. Acute thiamine deficiency and refeeding syndrome: Similar findings but different pathogenesis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maiorana, Arianna; Vergine, Gianluca; Coletti, Valentina; Luciani, Matteo; Rizzo, Cristiano; Emma, Francesco; Dionisi-Vici, Carlo

    2014-01-01

    Refeeding syndrome can occur in several contexts of relative malnutrition in which an overaggressive nutritional support is started. The consequences are life threatening with multiorgan impairment, and severe electrolyte imbalances. During refeeding, glucose-involved insulin secretion causes abrupt reverse of lipolysis and a switch from catabolism to anabolism. This creates a sudden cellular demand for electrolytes (phosphate, potassium, and magnesium) necessary for synthesis of adenosine triphosphate, glucose transport, and other synthesis reactions, resulting in decreased serum levels. Laboratory findings and multiorgan impairment similar to refeeding syndrome also are observed in acute thiamine deficiency. The aim of this study was to determine whether thiamine deficiency was responsible for the electrolyte imbalance caused by tubular electrolyte losses. We describe two patients with leukemia who developed acute thiamine deficiency with an electrolyte pattern suggestive of refeeding syndrome, severe lactic acidosis, and evidence of proximal renal tubular dysfunction. A single thiamine administration led to rapid resolution of the tubular dysfunction and normalization of acidosis and electrolyte imbalance. This demonstrated that thiamine deficiency was responsible for the electrolyte imbalance, caused by tubular electrolyte losses. Our study indicates that, despite sharing many laboratory similarities, refeeding syndrome and acute thiamine deficiency should be viewed as separate entities in which the electrolyte abnormalities reported in cases of refeeding syndrome with thiamine deficiency and refractory lactic acidosis may be due to renal tubular losses instead of a shifting from extracellular to intracellular compartments. In oncologic and malnourished patients, individuals at particular risk for developing refeeding syndrome, in the presence of these biochemical abnormalities, acute thiamine deficiency should be suspected and treated because it promptly

  10. Two-Gyro Pointing Stability of HST measured with ACS

    Science.gov (United States)

    Koekemoer, Anton M.; Kozhurina-Platais, Vera; Riess, Adam; Sirianni, Marco; Biretta, John; Pavlovsky

    2005-06-01

    We present the results of the pointing stability tests for HST, as measured with the ACS/ HRC during the Two-Gyro test program conducted in February 2005. We measure the shifts of 185 exposures of the globular clusters NGC6341 and Omega Centauri, obtained over a total of 13 orbits, and compare the measured pointings to those that were commanded in the observing program. We find in all cases that the measured shifts and rotations have the same level of accuracy as those that were commanded in three-gyro mode. Specifically, the pointing offsets during an orbit relative to the first exposure can be characterized with distributions having a dispersion of 2.3 milliarcseconds for shifts and 0.00097 degrees for rotations, thus less than 0.1 HRC pixels, and agree extremely well with similar values measured for comparable exposures obtained in three-gyro mode. In addition, we successfully processed these two-gyro test data through the MultiDrizzle software which is used in the HST pipeline to perform automated registration, cosmic ray rejection and image combination for multiple exposure sequences, and we find excellent agreement with similar exposures obtained in three-gyro mode. In summary, we find no significant difference between the quality of HST pointing as measured from these two-gyro test data, relative to the nominal behavior of HST in regular three-gyro operations.

  11. Decoding Decoders: Finding Optimal Representation Spaces for Unsupervised Similarity Tasks

    OpenAIRE

    Zhelezniak, Vitalii; Busbridge, Dan; Shen, April; Smith, Samuel L.; Hammerla, Nils Y.

    2018-01-01

    Experimental evidence indicates that simple models outperform complex deep networks on many unsupervised similarity tasks. We provide a simple yet rigorous explanation for this behaviour by introducing the concept of an optimal representation space, in which semantically close symbols are mapped to representations that are close under a similarity measure induced by the model's objective function. In addition, we present a straightforward procedure that, without any retraining or architectura...

  12. Universal self-similar dynamics of relativistic and nonrelativistic field theories near nonthermal fixed points

    Science.gov (United States)

    Piñeiro Orioli, Asier; Boguslavski, Kirill; Berges, Jürgen

    2015-07-01

    We investigate universal behavior of isolated many-body systems far from equilibrium, which is relevant for a wide range of applications from ultracold quantum gases to high-energy particle physics. The universality is based on the existence of nonthermal fixed points, which represent nonequilibrium attractor solutions with self-similar scaling behavior. The corresponding dynamic universality classes turn out to be remarkably large, encompassing both relativistic as well as nonrelativistic quantum and classical systems. For the examples of nonrelativistic (Gross-Pitaevskii) and relativistic scalar field theory with quartic self-interactions, we demonstrate that infrared scaling exponents as well as scaling functions agree. We perform two independent nonperturbative calculations, first by using classical-statistical lattice simulation techniques and second by applying a vertex-resummed kinetic theory. The latter extends kinetic descriptions to the nonperturbative regime of overoccupied modes. Our results open new perspectives to learn from experiments with cold atoms aspects about the dynamics during the early stages of our universe.

  13. A similarity measure method combining location feature for mammogram retrieval.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Zhiqiong; Xin, Junchang; Huang, Yukun; Li, Chen; Xu, Ling; Li, Yang; Zhang, Hao; Gu, Huizi; Qian, Wei

    2018-05-28

    Breast cancer, the most common malignancy among women, has a high mortality rate in clinical practice. Early detection, diagnosis and treatment can reduce the mortalities of breast cancer greatly. The method of mammogram retrieval can help doctors to find the early breast lesions effectively and determine a reasonable feature set for image similarity measure. This will improve the accuracy effectively for mammogram retrieval. This paper proposes a similarity measure method combining location feature for mammogram retrieval. Firstly, the images are pre-processed, the regions of interest are detected and the lesions are segmented in order to get the center point and radius of the lesions. Then, the method, namely Coherent Point Drift, is used for image registration with the pre-defined standard image. The center point and radius of the lesions after registration are obtained and the standard location feature of the image is constructed. This standard location feature can help figure out the location similarity between the image pair from the query image to each dataset image in the database. Next, the content feature of the image is extracted, including the Histogram of Oriented Gradients, the Edge Direction Histogram, the Local Binary Pattern and the Gray Level Histogram, and the image pair content similarity can be calculated using the Earth Mover's Distance. Finally, the location similarity and content similarity are fused to form the image fusion similarity, and the specified number of the most similar images can be returned according to it. In the experiment, 440 mammograms, which are from Chinese women in Northeast China, are used as the database. When fusing 40% lesion location feature similarity and 60% content feature similarity, the results have obvious advantages. At this time, precision is 0.83, recall is 0.76, comprehensive indicator is 0.79, satisfaction is 96.0%, mean is 4.2 and variance is 17.7. The results show that the precision and recall of this

  14. Characterizing the Motion of Solar Magnetic Bright Points at High Resolution

    Science.gov (United States)

    Van Kooten, Samuel J.; Cranmer, Steven R.

    2017-11-01

    Magnetic bright points in the solar photosphere, visible in both continuum and G-band images, indicate footpoints of kilogauss magnetic flux tubes extending to the corona. The power spectrum of bright-point motion is thus also the power spectrum of Alfvén wave excitation, transporting energy up flux tubes into the corona. This spectrum is a key input in coronal and heliospheric models. We produce a power spectrum of bright-point motion using radiative magnetohydrodynamic simulations, exploiting spatial resolution higher than can be obtained in present-day observations, while using automated tracking to produce large data quantities. We find slightly higher amounts of power at all frequencies compared to observation-based spectra, while confirming the spectrum shape of recent observations. This also provides a prediction for observations of bright points with DKIST, which will achieve similar resolution and high sensitivity. We also find a granule size distribution in support of an observed two-population distribution, and we present results from tracking passive tracers, which show a similar power spectrum to that of bright points. Finally, we introduce a simplified, laminar model of granulation, with which we explore the roles of turbulence and of the properties of the granulation pattern in determining bright-point motion.

  15. Making SharePoint® Chemically Aware™.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tallapragada, Kartik; Chewning, Joseph; Kombo, David; Ludwick, Beverly

    2012-01-12

    The use of SharePoint® collaboration software for content management has become a critical part of today's drug discovery process. SharePoint 2010 software has laid a foundation which enables researchers to collaborate and search on various contents. The amount of data generated during a transition of a single compound from preclinical discovery to commercialization can easily range in terabytes, thus there is a greater demand of a chemically aware search algorithm that supplements SharePoint which enables researchers to query for information in a more intuitive and effective way. Thus by supplementing SharePoint with Chemically Aware™ features provides a great value to the pharmaceutical and biotech companies and makes drug discovery more efficient. Using several tools we have integrated SharePoint with chemical, compound, and reaction databases, thereby improving the traditional search engine capability and enhancing the user experience. This paper describes the implementation of a Chemically Aware™ system to supplement SharePoint. A Chemically Aware SharePoint (CASP) allows users to tag documents by drawing a structure and associating it with the related content. It also allows the user to search SharePoint software content and internal/external databases by carrying out substructure, similarity, SMILES, and IUPAC name searches. Building on traditional search, CASP takes SharePoint one step further by providing a intuitive GUI to the researchers to base their search on their knowledge of chemistry than textual search. CASP also provides a way to integrate with other systems, for example a researcher can perform a sub-structure search on pdf documents with embedded molecular entities. A Chemically Aware™ system supplementing SharePoint is a step towards making drug discovery process more efficient and also helps researchers to search for information in a more intuitive way. It also helps the researchers to find information which was once difficult to find

  16. Making SharePoint® Chemically Aware™

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tallapragada Kartik

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The use of SharePoint® collaboration software for content management has become a critical part of today's drug discovery process. SharePoint 2010 software has laid a foundation which enables researchers to collaborate and search on various contents. The amount of data generated during a transition of a single compound from preclinical discovery to commercialization can easily range in terabytes, thus there is a greater demand of a chemically aware search algorithm that supplements SharePoint which enables researchers to query for information in a more intuitive and effective way. Thus by supplementing SharePoint with Chemically Aware™ features provides a great value to the pharmaceutical and biotech companies and makes drug discovery more efficient. Using several tools we have integrated SharePoint with chemical, compound, and reaction databases, thereby improving the traditional search engine capability and enhancing the user experience. Results This paper describes the implementation of a Chemically Aware™ system to supplement SharePoint. A Chemically Aware SharePoint (CASP allows users to tag documents by drawing a structure and associating it with the related content. It also allows the user to search SharePoint software content and internal/external databases by carrying out substructure, similarity, SMILES, and IUPAC name searches. Building on traditional search, CASP takes SharePoint one step further by providing a intuitive GUI to the researchers to base their search on their knowledge of chemistry than textual search. CASP also provides a way to integrate with other systems, for example a researcher can perform a sub-structure search on pdf documents with embedded molecular entities. Conclusion A Chemically Aware™ system supplementing SharePoint is a step towards making drug discovery process more efficient and also helps researchers to search for information in a more intuitive way. It also helps the

  17. Annealing-free P3HT:PCBM-based organic solar cells via two halohydrocarbons additives with similar boiling points

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bao, Xichang; Wang, Ting; Yang, Ailing; Yang, Chunpeng; Dou, Xiaowei; Chen, Weichao; Wang, Ning; Yang, Renqiang

    2014-01-01

    Highlights: • Two halohydrocarbons were selected as additives for polymer solar cells. • The additives can improve the photocurrent of photovoltaic devices. • Extensive characterization of the blends was done to explore the mechanism. -- Abstract: Efficient annealing-free inverted bulk heterojunction (BHJ) organic solar cells based on poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) and [6,6]-phenyl C 61 -butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) (1:1, w/w) have been obtained using two easily accessible halohydrocarbons (1,6-dibromohexane (DBH) and 1-bromodecane (BD)) with the same boiling points as solvent additives. The devices treated with 2.5 wt% additives removed the grain boundary of the large PCBM-rich phase, resulting in more-uniform film morphology on the nanoscale. The more-uniform film morphology greatly improved the short circuit current density of the devices. Finally, PCEs of the devices processed with DBH and BD reached 3.81% and 3.68%, respectively. Both additives with almost the same boiling points had a similar impact on device performance, despite of different chemical structures with different polarities and other physical properties

  18. Narrator Point of View and Persuasion in Health Narratives: The Role of Protagonist-Reader Similarity, Identification, and Self-Referencing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Meng; Bell, Robert A; Taylor, Laramie D

    2016-08-01

    Narratives are often used in messages about health threats. We posited that a 1st-person point of view (POV) narrative would have a greater effect than a 3rd-person POV on the mediators identification and self-referencing-an effect moderated by protagonist-reader similarity. Higher levels of identification and self-referencing were expected to elevate susceptibility and severity perceptions, leading to persuasion. Participants ages ≤30 years were recruited from a crowdsource website and randomly assigned to read one version of a faux magazine article about caffeine overdose. Article versions were defined by a 2 (1st- or 3rd-person POV) × 2 (similar or dissimilar protagonist) design. To manipulate similarity, we had respondents read an article in which the protagonist was also young (24 years of age) and of the same sex or much older (54 years of age) and of the opposite sex. Participants then completed a questionnaire measuring study variables. Contrary to expectations, POV did not affect identification or self-referencing. However, similarity directly impacted identification, which in turn influenced severity perceptions. Self-referencing was not affected by the experimental manipulations but had a direct effect on susceptibility and also mediated the identification → susceptibility relationship. Susceptibility and severity perceptions were associated with greater levels of persuasion. Implications for message design are discussed.

  19. Local similar solution of MHD stagnation point flow in Carreau fluid over a non-linear stretched surface with double stratified medium

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M. Farooq

    Full Text Available This article studies MHD double stratified stagnation point flow of Carreau fluid towards a non linear stretchable surface with radiation. Features of heat and mass transfer are evaluated by using convective boundary conditions. Resulting nonlinear problems are solved and studied for the velocity, temperature and concentration fields. Heat and mass transfer rates in addition to skin friction are discussed. Besides this for the verification of the present findings, the results of presented analysis have been compared with the available works in particular situations and reasonable agreement is noted. Keywords: Convective boundary condition, Thermal radiation, Double stratification, Stagnation point flow

  20. On self-similarity of crack layer

    Science.gov (United States)

    Botsis, J.; Kunin, B.

    1987-01-01

    The crack layer (CL) theory of Chudnovsky (1986), based on principles of thermodynamics of irreversible processes, employs a crucial hypothesis of self-similarity. The self-similarity hypothesis states that the value of the damage density at a point x of the active zone at a time t coincides with that at the corresponding point in the initial (t = 0) configuration of the active zone, the correspondence being given by a time-dependent affine transformation of the space variables. In this paper, the implications of the self-similarity hypothesis for qusi-static CL propagation is investigated using polystyrene as a model material and examining the evolution of damage distribution along the trailing edge which is approximated by a straight segment perpendicular to the crack path. The results support the self-similarity hypothesis adopted by the CL theory.

  1. Soldier motivation – different or similar?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Brænder, Morten; Andersen, Lotte Bøgh

    Recent research in military sociology has shown that in addition to their strong peer motivation modern soldiers are oriented toward contributing to society. It has not, however, been tested how soldier motivation differs from the motivation of other citizens in this respect. In this paper......, by means of public service motivation, a concept developed within the public administration literature, we compare soldier and civilian motivation. The contribution of this paper is an analysis of whether and how Danish combat soldiers differs from other Danes in regard to public service motivation? Using...... surveys with similar questions, we find that soldiers are more normatively motivated to contribute to society than other citizens (higher commitment to the public interest), while their affectively based motivation is lower (lower compassion). This points towards a potential problem in regard...

  2. State and Mafia, Differences and Similarities

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alfano Vincenzo

    2015-02-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of this article is to investigate about the differences and, if any, the similarities among the modern State and the mafia criminal organizations. In particular, starting from their definitions, I will try to find the differences between State and mafia, to then focus on the operational aspects of the functioning of these two organizations, with specific reference to the effect/impact that both these human constructs have on citizens’ existences, and especially on citizen’s economic lives. All this in order to understand whether it is possible to identify an objective difference – beside morals – between taxation by the modern State and extortion by criminal organizations. With this of course I do not want to argue that the mafia is in any way justifiable or absolvable, nor that it is better than the State. However, I want to investigate whether there is a real, logical reason why the State should be considered by the citizens more desirable than the criminal organizations oppressing Southern Italy, from a strictly logical point of view and not from the point of view of ethics and morality.

  3. A COMPARISON OF SEMANTIC SIMILARITY MODELS IN EVALUATING CONCEPT SIMILARITY

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Q. X. Xu

    2012-08-01

    Full Text Available The semantic similarities are important in concept definition, recognition, categorization, interpretation, and integration. Many semantic similarity models have been established to evaluate semantic similarities of objects or/and concepts. To find out the suitability and performance of different models in evaluating concept similarities, we make a comparison of four main types of models in this paper: the geometric model, the feature model, the network model, and the transformational model. Fundamental principles and main characteristics of these models are introduced and compared firstly. Land use and land cover concepts of NLCD92 are employed as examples in the case study. The results demonstrate that correlations between these models are very high for a possible reason that all these models are designed to simulate the similarity judgement of human mind.

  4. Numerical methods for finding periodic points in discrete maps. High order islands chains and noble barriers in a toroidal magnetic configuration

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Steinbrecher, G. [Association Euratom-Nasti Romania, Dept. of Theoretical Physics, Physics Faculty, University of Craiova (Romania); Reuss, J.D.; Misguich, J.H. [Association Euratom-CEA Cadarache, 13 - Saint-Paul-lez-Durance (France). Dept. de Recherches sur la Fusion Controlee

    2001-11-01

    We first remind usual physical and mathematical concepts involved in the dynamics of Hamiltonian systems, and namely in chaotic systems described by discrete 2D maps (representing the intersection points of toroidal magnetic lines in a poloidal plane in situations of incomplete magnetic chaos in Tokamaks). Finding the periodic points characterizing chains of magnetic islands is an essential step not only to determine the skeleton of the phase space picture, but also to determine the flux of magnetic lines across semi-permeable barriers like Cantori. We discuss here several computational methods used to determine periodic points in N dimensions, which amounts to solve a set of N nonlinear coupled equations: Newton method, minimization techniques, Laplace or steepest descend method, conjugated direction method and Fletcher-Reeves method. We have succeeded to improve this last method in an important way, without modifying its useful double-exponential convergence. This improved method has been tested and applied to finding periodic points of high order m in the 2D 'Tokamap' mapping, for values of m along rational chains of winding number n/m converging towards a noble value where a Cantorus exists. Such precise positions of periodic points have been used in the calculation of the flux across this Cantorus. (authors)

  5. Music Retrieval based on Melodic Similarity

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Typke, R.

    2007-01-01

    This thesis introduces a method for measuring melodic similarity for notated music such as MIDI files. This music search algorithm views music as sets of notes that are represented as weighted points in the two-dimensional space of time and pitch. Two point sets can be compared by calculating how

  6. Seeing your error alters my pointing: observing systematic pointing errors induces sensori-motor after-effects.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Roberta Ronchi

    Full Text Available During the procedure of prism adaptation, subjects execute pointing movements to visual targets under a lateral optical displacement: as consequence of the discrepancy between visual and proprioceptive inputs, their visuo-motor activity is characterized by pointing errors. The perception of such final errors triggers error-correction processes that eventually result into sensori-motor compensation, opposite to the prismatic displacement (i.e., after-effects. Here we tested whether the mere observation of erroneous pointing movements, similar to those executed during prism adaptation, is sufficient to produce adaptation-like after-effects. Neurotypical participants observed, from a first-person perspective, the examiner's arm making incorrect pointing movements that systematically overshot visual targets location to the right, thus simulating a rightward optical deviation. Three classical after-effect measures (proprioceptive, visual and visual-proprioceptive shift were recorded before and after first-person's perspective observation of pointing errors. Results showed that mere visual exposure to an arm that systematically points on the right-side of a target (i.e., without error correction produces a leftward after-effect, which mostly affects the observer's proprioceptive estimation of her body midline. In addition, being exposed to such a constant visual error induced in the observer the illusion "to feel" the seen movement. These findings indicate that it is possible to elicit sensori-motor after-effects by mere observation of movement errors.

  7. A Measure of Similarity Between Trajectories of Vessels

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Le QI

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available The measurement of similarity between trajectories of vessels is one of the kernel problems that must be addressed to promote the development of maritime intelligent traffic system (ITS. In this study, a new model of trajectory similarity measurement was established to improve the data processing efficiency in dynamic application and to reflect actual sailing behaviors of vessels. In this model, a feature point detection algorithm was proposed to extract feature points, reduce data storage space and save computational resources. A new synthesized distance algorithm was also created to measure the similarity between trajectories by using the extracted feature points. An experiment was conducted to measure the similarity between the real trajectories of vessels. The growth of these trajectories required measurements to be conducted under different voyages. The results show that the similarity measurement between the vessel trajectories is efficient and correct. Comparison of the synthesized distance with the sailing behaviors of vessels proves that results are consistent with actual situations. The experiment results demonstrate the promising application of the proposed model in studying vessel traffic and in supplying reliable data for the development of maritime ITS.

  8. Finding patients using similarity measures in a rare diseases-oriented clinical data warehouse: Dr. Warehouse and the needle in the needle stack.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Garcelon, Nicolas; Neuraz, Antoine; Benoit, Vincent; Salomon, Rémi; Kracker, Sven; Suarez, Felipe; Bahi-Buisson, Nadia; Hadj-Rabia, Smail; Fischer, Alain; Munnich, Arnold; Burgun, Anita

    2017-09-01

    In the context of rare diseases, it may be helpful to detect patients with similar medical histories, diagnoses and outcomes from a large number of cases with automated methods. To reduce the time to find new cases, we developed a method to find similar patients given an index case leveraging data from the electronic health records. We used the clinical data warehouse of a children academic hospital in Paris, France (Necker-Enfants Malades), containing about 400,000 patients. Our model was based on a vector space model (VSM) to compute the similarity distance between an index patient and all the patients of the data warehouse. The dimensions of the VSM were built upon Unified Medical Language System concepts extracted from clinical narratives stored in the clinical data warehouse. The VSM was enhanced using three parameters: a pertinence score (TF-IDF of the concepts), the polarity of the concept (negated/not negated) and the minimum number of concepts in common. We evaluated this model by displaying the most similar patients for five different rare diseases: Lowe Syndrome (LOWE), Dystrophic Epidermolysis Bullosa (DEB), Activated PI3K delta Syndrome (APDS), Rett Syndrome (RETT) and Dowling Meara (EBS-DM), from the clinical data warehouse representing 18, 103, 21, 84 and 7 patients respectively. The percentages of index patients returning at least one true positive similar patient in the Top30 similar patients were 94% for LOWE, 97% for DEB, 86% for APDS, 71% for EBS-DM and 99% for RETT. The mean number of patients with the exact same genetic diseases among the 30 returned patients was 51%. This tool offers new perspectives in a translational context to identify patients for genetic research. Moreover, when new molecular bases are discovered, our strategy will help to identify additional eligible patients for genetic screening. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Inc.

  9. Similarity increases altruistic punishment in humans.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mussweiler, Thomas; Ockenfels, Axel

    2013-11-26

    Humans are attracted to similar others. As a consequence, social networks are homogeneous in sociodemographic, intrapersonal, and other characteristics--a principle called homophily. Despite abundant evidence showing the importance of interpersonal similarity and homophily for human relationships, their behavioral correlates and cognitive foundations are poorly understood. Here, we show that perceived similarity substantially increases altruistic punishment, a key mechanism underlying human cooperation. We induced (dis)similarity perception by manipulating basic cognitive mechanisms in an economic cooperation game that included a punishment phase. We found that similarity-focused participants were more willing to punish others' uncooperative behavior. This influence of similarity is not explained by group identity, which has the opposite effect on altruistic punishment. Our findings demonstrate that pure similarity promotes reciprocity in ways known to encourage cooperation. At the same time, the increased willingness to punish norm violations among similarity-focused participants provides a rationale for why similar people are more likely to build stable social relationships. Finally, our findings show that altruistic punishment is differentially involved in encouraging cooperation under pure similarity vs. in-group conditions.

  10. Octopuses use a human-like strategy to control precise point-to-point arm movements.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sumbre, Germán; Fiorito, Graziano; Flash, Tamar; Hochner, Binyamin

    2006-04-18

    One of the key problems in motor control is mastering or reducing the number of degrees of freedom (DOFs) through coordination. This problem is especially prominent with hyper-redundant limbs such as the extremely flexible arm of the octopus. Several strategies for simplifying these control problems have been suggested for human point-to-point arm movements. Despite the evolutionary gap and morphological differences, humans and octopuses evolved similar strategies when fetching food to the mouth. To achieve this precise point-to-point-task, octopus arms generate a quasi-articulated structure based on three dynamic joints. A rotational movement around these joints brings the object to the mouth . Here, we describe a peripheral neural mechanism-two waves of muscle activation propagate toward each other, and their collision point sets the medial-joint location. This is a remarkably simple mechanism for adjusting the length of the segments according to where the object is grasped. Furthermore, similar to certain human arm movements, kinematic invariants were observed at the joint level rather than at the end-effector level, suggesting intrinsic control coordination. The evolutionary convergence to similar geometrical and kinematic features suggests that a kinematically constrained articulated limb controlled at the level of joint space is the optimal solution for precise point-to-point movements.

  11. Improved Power Decoding of One-Point Hermitian Codes

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Puchinger, Sven; Bouw, Irene; Rosenkilde, Johan Sebastian Heesemann

    2017-01-01

    We propose a new partial decoding algorithm for one-point Hermitian codes that can decode up to the same number of errors as the Guruswami–Sudan decoder. Simulations suggest that it has a similar failure probability as the latter one. The algorithm is based on a recent generalization of the power...... decoding algorithm for Reed–Solomon codes and does not require an expensive root-finding step. In addition, it promises improvements for decoding interleaved Hermitian codes....

  12. Investigating Correlation between Protein Sequence Similarity and Semantic Similarity Using Gene Ontology Annotations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ikram, Najmul; Qadir, Muhammad Abdul; Afzal, Muhammad Tanvir

    2018-01-01

    Sequence similarity is a commonly used measure to compare proteins. With the increasing use of ontologies, semantic (function) similarity is getting importance. The correlation between these measures has been applied in the evaluation of new semantic similarity methods, and in protein function prediction. In this research, we investigate the relationship between the two similarity methods. The results suggest absence of a strong correlation between sequence and semantic similarities. There is a large number of proteins with low sequence similarity and high semantic similarity. We observe that Pearson's correlation coefficient is not sufficient to explain the nature of this relationship. Interestingly, the term semantic similarity values above 0 and below 1 do not seem to play a role in improving the correlation. That is, the correlation coefficient depends only on the number of common GO terms in proteins under comparison, and the semantic similarity measurement method does not influence it. Semantic similarity and sequence similarity have a distinct behavior. These findings are of significant effect for future works on protein comparison, and will help understand the semantic similarity between proteins in a better way.

  13. Similar Symmetries: The Role of Wallpaper Groups in Perceptual Texture Similarity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fraser Halley

    2011-05-01

    Full Text Available Periodic patterns and symmetries are striking visual properties that have been used decoratively around the world throughout human history. Periodic patterns can be mathematically classified into one of 17 different Wallpaper groups, and while computational models have been developed which can extract an image's symmetry group, very little work has been done on how humans perceive these patterns. This study presents the results from a grouping experiment using stimuli from the different wallpaper groups. We find that while different images from the same wallpaper group are perceived as similar to one another, not all groups have the same degree of self-similarity. The similarity relationships between wallpaper groups appear to be dominated by rotations.

  14. Similarity score computation for minutiae-based fingerprint recognition

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Khanyile, NP

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available This paper identifies and analyses the factors that contribute to the similarity between two sets of minutiae points as well as the probability that two sets of minutiae points were extracted from fingerprints of the same finger. Minutiae...

  15. Defining tipping points for social-ecological systems scholarship—an interdisciplinary literature review

    Science.gov (United States)

    Milkoreit, Manjana; Hodbod, Jennifer; Baggio, Jacopo; Benessaiah, Karina; Calderón-Contreras, Rafael; Donges, Jonathan F.; Mathias, Jean-Denis; Rocha, Juan Carlos; Schoon, Michael; Werners, Saskia E.

    2018-03-01

    The term tipping point has experienced explosive popularity across multiple disciplines over the last decade. Research on social-ecological systems (SES) has contributed to the growth and diversity of the term’s use. The diverse uses of the term obscure potential differences between tipping behavior in natural and social systems, and issues of causality across natural and social system components in SES. This paper aims to create the foundation for a discussion within the SES research community about the appropriate use of the term tipping point, especially the relatively novel term ‘social tipping point.’ We review existing literature on tipping points and similar concepts (e.g. regime shifts, critical transitions) across all spheres of science published between 1960 and 2016 with a special focus on a recent and still small body of work on social tipping points. We combine quantitative and qualitative analyses in a bibliometric approach, rooted in an expert elicitation process. We find that the term tipping point became popular after the year 2000—long after the terms regime shift and critical transition—across all spheres of science. We identify 23 distinct features of tipping point definitions and their prevalence across disciplines, but find no clear taxonomy of discipline-specific definitions. Building on the most frequently used features, we propose definitions for tipping points in general and social tipping points in SES in particular.

  16. Judging the similarity of soundscapes does not require categorization: evidence from spliced stimuli.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aucouturier, Jean-Julien; Defreville, Boris

    2009-04-01

    This study uses an audio signal transformation, splicing, to create an experimental situation where human listeners judge the similarity of audio signals, which they cannot easily categorize. Splicing works by segmenting audio signals into 50-ms frames, then shuffling and concatenating these frames back in random order. Splicing a signal masks the identification of the categories that it normally elicits: For instance, human participants cannot easily identify the sound of cars in a spliced recording of a city street. This study compares human performance on both normal and spliced recordings of soundscapes and music. Splicing is found to degrade human similarity performance significantly less for soundscapes than for music: When two spliced soundscapes are judged similar to one another, the original recordings also tend to sound similar. This establishes that humans are capable of reconstructing consistent similarity relations between soundscapes without relying much on the identification of the natural categories associated with such signals, such as their constituent sound sources. This finding contradicts previous literature and points to new ways to conceptualize the different ways in which humans perceive soundscapes and music.

  17. Self-similar cosmological solutions with dark energy. I. Formulation and asymptotic analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Harada, Tomohiro; Maeda, Hideki; Carr, B. J.

    2008-01-01

    Based on the asymptotic analysis of ordinary differential equations, we classify all spherically symmetric self-similar solutions to the Einstein equations which are asymptotically Friedmann at large distances and contain a perfect fluid with equation of state p=(γ-1)μ with 0 1). However, in the latter case there is an additional parameter associated with the weak discontinuity at the sonic point and the solutions are only asymptotically 'quasi-Friedmann', in the sense that they exhibit an angle deficit at large distances. In the 0<γ<2/3 case, there is no sonic point and there exists a one-parameter family of solutions which are genuinely asymptotically Friedmann at large distances. We find eight classes of asymptotic behavior: Friedmann or quasi-Friedmann or quasistatic or constant-velocity at large distances, quasi-Friedmann or positive-mass singular or negative-mass singular at small distances, and quasi-Kantowski-Sachs at intermediate distances. The self-similar asymptotically quasistatic and quasi-Kantowski-Sachs solutions are analytically extendible and of great cosmological interest. We also investigate their conformal diagrams. The results of the present analysis are utilized in an accompanying paper to obtain and physically interpret numerical solutions

  18. Spectral analysis of multi-dimensional self-similar Markov processes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Modarresi, N; Rezakhah, S

    2010-01-01

    In this paper we consider a discrete scale invariant (DSI) process {X(t), t in R + } with scale l > 1. We consider a fixed number of observations in every scale, say T, and acquire our samples at discrete points α k , k in W, where α is obtained by the equality l = α T and W = {0, 1, ...}. We thus provide a discrete time scale invariant (DT-SI) process X(.) with the parameter space {α k , k in W}. We find the spectral representation of the covariance function of such a DT-SI process. By providing the harmonic-like representation of multi-dimensional self-similar processes, spectral density functions of them are presented. We assume that the process {X(t), t in R + } is also Markov in the wide sense and provide a discrete time scale invariant Markov (DT-SIM) process with the above scheme of sampling. We present an example of the DT-SIM process, simple Brownian motion, by the above sampling scheme and verify our results. Finally, we find the spectral density matrix of such a DT-SIM process and show that its associated T-dimensional self-similar Markov process is fully specified by {R H j (1), R j H (0), j = 0, 1, ..., T - 1}, where R H j (τ) is the covariance function of jth and (j + τ)th observations of the process.

  19. Similarity in Depressive Symptoms in Adolescents’ Friendship Dyads: Selection or Socialization?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Giletta, Matteo; Scholte, Ron H. J.; Burk, William J.; Engels, Rutger C. M. E.; Larsen, Junilla K.; Prinstein, Mitchell J.; Ciairano, Silvia

    2012-01-01

    This study examined friendship selection and socialization as mechanisms explaining similarity in depressive symptoms in adolescent same-gender best friend dyads. The sample consisted of 1,752 adolescents (51% male) ages 12–16 years (M = 13.77, SD = 0.73) forming 487 friend dyads and 389 nonfriend dyads (the nonfriend dyads served as a comparison group). To test our hypothesis, we applied a multigroup actor–partner interdependence model to 3 friendship types that started and ended at different time points during the 2 waves of data collection. Results showed that adolescents reported levels of depressive symptoms at follow-up that were similar to those of their best friends. Socialization processes explained the increase in similarity exclusively in female dyads, whereas no evidence for friendship selection emerged for either male or female dyads. Additional analyses revealed that similarity between friends was particularly evident in the actual best friend dyads (i.e., true best friends), in which evidence for socialization processes emerged for both female and male friend dyads. Findings highlight the importance of examining friendship relations as a potential context for the development of depressive symptoms. PMID:21639621

  20. The role of self-similarity in singularities of partial differential equations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Eggers, Jens; Fontelos, Marco A

    2009-01-01

    We survey rigorous, formal and numerical results on the formation of point-like singularities (or blow-up) for a wide range of evolution equations. We use a similarity transformation of the original equation with respect to the blow-up point, such that self-similar behaviour is mapped to the fixed point of a dynamical system. We point out that analysing the dynamics close to the fixed point is a useful way of characterizing the singularity, in that the dynamics frequently reduces to very few dimensions. As far as we are aware, examples from the literature either correspond to stable fixed points, low-dimensional centre-manifold dynamics, limit cycles or travelling waves. For each 'class' of singularity, we give detailed examples. (invited article)

  1. A few ways of calculating the similarity parameter kappa* for real gases. [increase Reynolds number in cryogenic wind tunnels

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lorenz-Meyer, W.

    1977-01-01

    In connection with the question on the applicability of test results obtained from cryogenic wind tunnels to the large-scale model the similarity parameter is referred to. A simple method is given for calculating the similarity parameter. From the numerical values obtained it can be deduced that nitrogen behaves practically like an ideal gas when it is close to the saturation point and in a pressure range up to 4 bar. The influence of this parameter on the pressure distribution of a supercritical profile confirms this finding.

  2. Finding occurrences of melodic segments in folk songs employing symbolic similarity measures

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Janssen, Berit; van Kranenburg, P.; Volk, A.

    2017-01-01

    Much research has been devoted to the classification of folk songs, revealing that variants are recognised based on salient melodic segments, such as phrases and motifs, while other musical material in a melody might vary considerably. In order to judge similarity of melodies on the level of melodic

  3. FIND: Douglas Point Nuclear Generating Station, Units 1 and 2

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Moore, M.M.

    1975-12-01

    This index is presented as a guide to microfiche items 1 through 136 in Docket 50448, which was assigned to Potomac Electric Power Company's Application for Licenses to construct and operate Douglas Point Nuclear Generating Station, Units 1 and 2. Information received from August, 1973 through July, 1975 is included

  4. Dynamic Time Warping Distance Method for Similarity Test of Multipoint Ground Motion Field

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yingmin Li

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available The reasonability of artificial multi-point ground motions and the identification of abnormal records in seismic array observations, are two important issues in application and analysis of multi-point ground motion fields. Based on the dynamic time warping (DTW distance method, this paper discusses the application of similarity measurement in the similarity analysis of simulated multi-point ground motions and the actual seismic array records. Analysis results show that the DTW distance method not only can quantitatively reflect the similarity of simulated ground motion field, but also offers advantages in clustering analysis and singularity recognition of actual multi-point ground motion field.

  5. Finding Similarities in Ancient Ceramics by EDXRF and Multivariate Methods

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Civici, N.; Stamati, F.

    1999-01-01

    We have studied 39 samples of fragments from ceramic roof tiles with different stamps(Diamalas and Heraion), dated between 330 to 170 BC and found at the archaeological site of Dimales, some 30 km from the Adriatic coast. The data from these samples were compared with those obtained from 7 samples of similar objects and period with the stamp H eraion , found at the archaeological site of APOLLONIA. The samples were analyzed by energy-dispersive X -ray fluorescence(EDXRF), using of the x-ray lines of the elements to the intensity of the Compton peak. The results have been treated with diverse multivariate methods. The application of hierarchical cluster analysis and factor analysis permitted the identification of two main clusters. The first cluster is composed from the ''Heraion'' samples discovered in Apollonia, while the second comprises all the samples discovered in Dimale independent of their stamp. (authors)

  6. Similarity is not enough: Tipping points of Ebola Zaire mortalities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Phillips, J. C.

    2015-06-01

    In early 2014 an outbreak of a slightly mutated Zaire Ebola subtype appeared in West Africa which is less virulent than 1976 and 1994 strains. The numbers of cases per year appear to be ∼1000 times larger than the earlier strains, suggesting a greatly enhanced transmissibility. Although the fraction of the 2014 spike glycoprotein mutations is very small (∼3%), the mortality is significantly reduced, while the transmission appears to have increased strongly. Bioinformatic scaling had previously shown similar inversely correlated trends in virulence and transmission in N1 (H1N1) and N2 (H3N2) influenza spike glycoprotein mutations. These trends appear to be related to various external factors (migration, availability of pure water, and vaccination programs). The molecular mechanisms for Ebola's mutational response involve mainly changes in the disordered mucin-like domain (MLD) of its spike glycoprotein amino acids. The MLD has been observed to form the tip of an oligomeric amphiphilic wedge that selectively pries apart cell-cell interfaces via an oxidative mechanism.

  7. Robustness of critical points in a complex adaptive system: Effects of hedge behavior

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liang, Yuan; Huang, Ji-Ping

    2013-08-01

    In our recent papers, we have identified a class of phase transitions in the market-directed resource-allocation game, and found that there exists a critical point at which the phase transitions occur. The critical point is given by a certain resource ratio. Here, by performing computer simulations and theoretical analysis, we report that the critical point is robust against various kinds of human hedge behavior where the numbers of herds and contrarians can be varied widely. This means that the critical point can be independent of the total number of participants composed of normal agents, herds and contrarians, under some conditions. This finding means that the critical points we identified in this complex adaptive system (with adaptive agents) may also be an intensive quantity, similar to those revealed in traditional physical systems (with non-adaptive units).

  8. 3D Facial Similarity Measure Based on Geodesic Network and Curvatures

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Junli Zhao

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Automated 3D facial similarity measure is a challenging and valuable research topic in anthropology and computer graphics. It is widely used in various fields, such as criminal investigation, kinship confirmation, and face recognition. This paper proposes a 3D facial similarity measure method based on a combination of geodesic and curvature features. Firstly, a geodesic network is generated for each face with geodesics and iso-geodesics determined and these network points are adopted as the correspondence across face models. Then, four metrics associated with curvatures, that is, the mean curvature, Gaussian curvature, shape index, and curvedness, are computed for each network point by using a weighted average of its neighborhood points. Finally, correlation coefficients according to these metrics are computed, respectively, as the similarity measures between two 3D face models. Experiments of different persons’ 3D facial models and different 3D facial models of the same person are implemented and compared with a subjective face similarity study. The results show that the geodesic network plays an important role in 3D facial similarity measure. The similarity measure defined by shape index is consistent with human’s subjective evaluation basically, and it can measure the 3D face similarity more objectively than the other indices.

  9. Point specificity in acupuncture

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Choi Emma M

    2012-02-01

    Full Text Available Abstract The existence of point specificity in acupuncture is controversial, because many acupuncture studies using this principle to select control points have found that sham acupoints have similar effects to those of verum acupoints. Furthermore, the results of pain-related studies based on visual analogue scales have not supported the concept of point specificity. In contrast, hemodynamic, functional magnetic resonance imaging and neurophysiological studies evaluating the responses to stimulation of multiple points on the body surface have shown that point-specific actions are present. This review article focuses on clinical and laboratory studies supporting the existence of point specificity in acupuncture and also addresses studies that do not support this concept. Further research is needed to elucidate the point-specific actions of acupuncture.

  10. Interpersonal Similarity and Knowledge Sharing within Multinational Organizations

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Mäkelä, Kristiina; Andersson, Ulf; Seppälä, Tomi

    2012-01-01

    Previous research has established that interpersonal similarity can influence knowledge sharing in such a way that similar people are more likely to share knowledge than those who are dissimilar. We contribute to the literature by showing that in the MNC context, cultural and functional similarit....... These microfoundations of inter-unit knowledge exchange point to important theoretical and practical implications for international management....

  11. Self-similar potential in the near wake

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Diebold, D.; Hershkowitz, N.; Intrator, T.; Bailey, A.

    1987-01-01

    The plasma potential is measured near the edge of an electrically floating obstacle placed in a steady-state, supersonic, unmagnetized, neutral plasma flow. Equipotential contours show the sheath of the upstream side of the obstacle wrapping around the edge of the obstacle and fanning out into the near wake. Both fluid theory and the data find the near-wake plasma potential to be self-similar when ionization, charge exchange, and magnetic field can be neglected. The theory also finds that fluid velocity is self-similar, the near wake is nonneutral, and plasma density is not self-similar. Strong electric fields are found near the obstacle and equipotential contours are found to conform to all boundaries

  12. Family and personal characteristics of aggressive Nigerian boys: differences from and similarities with Western findings.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ani, C C; Grantham-McGregor, S

    1998-11-01

    To identify the family and child determinants of aggressive behaviour in Nigerian elementary school boys and to compare the findings with previous ones from Western studies. Forty-seven aggressive boys from four elementary schools in Lagos, Nigeria were compared with 47 matched pro-social boys. Teacher rating and peer nomination were combined to select subjects. The subjects and their parents were given structured questionnaires to obtain information on possible risk factors for aggression. Compared with pro-social boys, it was found that significantly more aggressive boys came from polygamous families and crowded homes, had more siblings, received less parental affection, were more physically punished, less supervised at home, witnessed more domestic conflicts, did poorly at school, had poorer verbal intelligence and attributed malice more readily than pro-social boys. Logistic regression indicated that the independent family predictors of aggression were crowding, little paternal affection, and corporal punishment. The independent child predictors were biased attribution and poor school achievement. Corporal punishment at school was also an independent predictor of aggression. The family and child determinants of aggressive behaviour in Nigeria are similar to those found in Western studies except for the small contribution of family instability and overwhelming influence of corporal punishment in our sample. Models of intervention developed in the West may therefore be cautiously applied to Nigerian children.

  13. Do acupuncture points exist?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yan Xiaohui; Zhang Xinyi; Liu Chenglin; Dang, Ruishan; Huang Yuying; He Wei; Ding Guanghong

    2009-01-01

    We used synchrotron x-ray fluorescence analysis to probe the distribution of four chemical elements in and around acupuncture points, two located in the forearm and two in the lower leg. Three of the four acupuncture points showed significantly elevated concentrations of elements Ca, Fe, Cu and Zn in relation to levels in the surrounding tissue, with similar elevation ratios for Cu and Fe. The mapped distribution of these elements implies that each acupuncture point seems to be elliptical with the long axis along the meridian. (note)

  14. Do acupuncture points exist?

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Yan Xiaohui; Zhang Xinyi [Department of Physics, Surface Physics Laboratory (State Key Laboratory), and Synchrotron Radiation Research Center of Fudan University, Shanghai 200433 (China); Liu Chenglin [Physics Department of Yancheng Teachers' College, Yancheng 224002 (China); Dang, Ruishan [Second Military Medical University, Shanghai 200433 (China); Huang Yuying; He Wei [Beijing Synchrotron Radiation Facility, Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100039 (China); Ding Guanghong [Shanghai Research Center of Acupuncture and Meridian, Pudong, Shanghai 201203 (China)

    2009-05-07

    We used synchrotron x-ray fluorescence analysis to probe the distribution of four chemical elements in and around acupuncture points, two located in the forearm and two in the lower leg. Three of the four acupuncture points showed significantly elevated concentrations of elements Ca, Fe, Cu and Zn in relation to levels in the surrounding tissue, with similar elevation ratios for Cu and Fe. The mapped distribution of these elements implies that each acupuncture point seems to be elliptical with the long axis along the meridian. (note)

  15. Wärtsilä turbocharger wash and dew point controller integration

    OpenAIRE

    Perälä, Antti

    2013-01-01

    There are two separate control cabinets used in Wärtsilä marine solutions, Turbocharger Wash Control and the Dew Point Control. The cabinets contain similar PLCs with I/O-cards needed in the system and touch screen for monitoring and controlling purposes. The purpose of the thesis was to find and implement a solution for integration of the control cabinets. The advantages of the integration are savings in material, space in the engine room and amount of work. The aim of the project was to cre...

  16. Determination of subjective similarity for pairs of masses and pairs of clustered microcalcifications on mammograms: Comparison of similarity ranking scores and absolute similarity ratings

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Muramatsu, Chisako; Li Qiang; Schmidt, Robert A.; Shiraishi, Junji; Suzuki, Kenji; Newstead, Gillian M.; Doi, Kunio

    2007-01-01

    The presentation of images that are similar to that of an unknown lesion seen on a mammogram may be helpful for radiologists to correctly diagnose that lesion. For similar images to be useful, they must be quite similar from the radiologists' point of view. We have been trying to quantify the radiologists' impression of similarity for pairs of lesions and to establish a ''gold standard'' for development and evaluation of a computerized scheme for selecting such similar images. However, it is considered difficult to reliably and accurately determine similarity ratings, because they are subjective. In this study, we compared the subjective similarities obtained by two different methods, an absolute rating method and a 2-alternative forced-choice (2AFC) method, to demonstrate that reliable similarity ratings can be determined by the responses of a group of radiologists. The absolute similarity ratings were previously obtained for pairs of masses and pairs of microcalcifications from five and nine radiologists, respectively. In this study, similarity ranking scores for eight pairs of masses and eight pairs of microcalcifications were determined by use of the 2AFC method. In the first session, the eight pairs of masses and eight pairs of microcalcifications were grouped and compared separately for determining the similarity ranking scores. In the second session, another similarity ranking score was determined by use of mixed pairs, i.e., by comparison of the similarity of a mass pair with that of a calcification pair. Four pairs of masses and four pairs of microcalcifications were grouped together to create two sets of eight pairs. The average absolute similarity ratings and the average similarity ranking scores showed very good correlations in the first study (Pearson's correlation coefficients: 0.94 and 0.98 for masses and microcalcifications, respectively). Moreover, in the second study, the correlations between the absolute ratings and the ranking scores were also

  17. Similarity Measure of Graphs

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Amine Labriji

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available The topic of identifying the similarity of graphs was considered as highly recommended research field in the Web semantic, artificial intelligence, the shape recognition and information research. One of the fundamental problems of graph databases is finding similar graphs to a graph query. Existing approaches dealing with this problem are usually based on the nodes and arcs of the two graphs, regardless of parental semantic links. For instance, a common connection is not identified as being part of the similarity of two graphs in cases like two graphs without common concepts, the measure of similarity based on the union of two graphs, or the one based on the notion of maximum common sub-graph (SCM, or the distance of edition of graphs. This leads to an inadequate situation in the context of information research. To overcome this problem, we suggest a new measure of similarity between graphs, based on the similarity measure of Wu and Palmer. We have shown that this new measure satisfies the properties of a measure of similarities and we applied this new measure on examples. The results show that our measure provides a run time with a gain of time compared to existing approaches. In addition, we compared the relevance of the similarity values obtained, it appears that this new graphs measure is advantageous and  offers a contribution to solving the problem mentioned above.

  18. Characterizing fixed points

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sanjo Zlobec

    2017-04-01

    Full Text Available A set of sufficient conditions which guarantee the existence of a point x⋆ such that f(x⋆ = x⋆ is called a "fixed point theorem". Many such theorems are named after well-known mathematicians and economists. Fixed point theorems are among most useful ones in applied mathematics, especially in economics and game theory. Particularly important theorem in these areas is Kakutani's fixed point theorem which ensures existence of fixed point for point-to-set mappings, e.g., [2, 3, 4]. John Nash developed and applied Kakutani's ideas to prove the existence of (what became known as "Nash equilibrium" for finite games with mixed strategies for any number of players. This work earned him a Nobel Prize in Economics that he shared with two mathematicians. Nash's life was dramatized in the movie "Beautiful Mind" in 2001. In this paper, we approach the system f(x = x differently. Instead of studying existence of its solutions our objective is to determine conditions which are both necessary and sufficient that an arbitrary point x⋆ is a fixed point, i.e., that it satisfies f(x⋆ = x⋆. The existence of solutions for continuous function f of the single variable is easy to establish using the Intermediate Value Theorem of Calculus. However, characterizing fixed points x⋆, i.e., providing answers to the question of finding both necessary and sufficient conditions for an arbitrary given x⋆ to satisfy f(x⋆ = x⋆, is not simple even for functions of the single variable. It is possible that constructive answers do not exist. Our objective is to find them. Our work may require some less familiar tools. One of these might be the "quadratic envelope characterization of zero-derivative point" recalled in the next section. The results are taken from the author's current research project "Studying the Essence of Fixed Points". They are believed to be original. The author has received several feedbacks on the preliminary report and on parts of the project

  19. The Ultrasonographic Findings of Trigger Points of Myofascial Pain Syndrome in a Rabbit Model

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Moon, Kyung Mi; Park, Seog Hee; Lee, Sang Heon; Kim, Joo Hyun; Kim, Han Kyum

    2005-01-01

    Myofascial pain syndrome (MPS) is a common cause of musculoskeletal pain. Myofascial trigger points (MTrPs) have been repeatedly described by numerous authors. However, there have been few studies in which their existence and behavior was supported and their location confirmed. The purpose of this study was to determine whether diagnostic ultrasonography is an objective diagnostic tool which is able to significantly identify or detect the soft tissue changes in the region of clinically identified active MTrPs by using a rabbit experimental model. Ten MPS model rabbits were used in this study. We made an MPS animal model by causing the rabbits to overuse one leg for 3 weeks by cutting the contralateral L4 spinal nerve root. We compared the ultrasonographic findings of the taut band at pre-OP with those at post-OP during the consecutive three week period. To find the taut bands of the muscle, after skin exposure, the muscles were gently rubbed or pinched with the thumb and index finger on the two opposing surfaces of the muscle across the direction of the fibers. Then, the muscle was held in the same way, but with a 5-8 MHz stick probe being used in place of the thumb. After the palpation of various muscles, we selected the hardest and largest myofascial trigger nodule, in order to observe the ultrasonographic and power Doppler findings of the MPS. The size, shape, echogenecity and vascularity of the MTrPs were observed. The analysis of the results of the ultrasonography revealed that all MTrPs have a hyperechoic area. The mean thickness of the hyperechoic lesion in the biceps was 0.96±0.14 cm in the MPS site (at pre-OP?), and 0.49±0.12 cm at post-OP 3weeks (p < 0.01). The hyperechoic lesions in all of the studied biceps femoris of the rabbits were observed by high resolution ultrasonography. No definitively decreased vascularity was observed within the hyperechoic area by power Doppler imaging. Until now, there has been no objective method for the diagnosis of MPS

  20. Information filtering based on transferring similarity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sun, Duo; Zhou, Tao; Liu, Jian-Guo; Liu, Run-Ran; Jia, Chun-Xiao; Wang, Bing-Hong

    2009-07-01

    In this Brief Report, we propose an index of user similarity, namely, the transferring similarity, which involves all high-order similarities between users. Accordingly, we design a modified collaborative filtering algorithm, which provides remarkably higher accurate predictions than the standard collaborative filtering. More interestingly, we find that the algorithmic performance will approach its optimal value when the parameter, contained in the definition of transferring similarity, gets close to its critical value, before which the series expansion of transferring similarity is convergent and after which it is divergent. Our study is complementary to the one reported in [E. A. Leicht, P. Holme, and M. E. J. Newman, Phys. Rev. E 73, 026120 (2006)], and is relevant to the missing link prediction problem.

  1. Self-similarity in incompressible Navier-Stokes equations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ercan, Ali; Kavvas, M Levent

    2015-12-01

    The self-similarity conditions of the 3-dimensional (3D) incompressible Navier-Stokes equations are obtained by utilizing one-parameter Lie group of point scaling transformations. It is found that the scaling exponents of length dimensions in i = 1, 2, 3 coordinates in 3-dimensions are not arbitrary but equal for the self-similarity of 3D incompressible Navier-Stokes equations. It is also shown that the self-similarity in this particular flow process can be achieved in different time and space scales when the viscosity of the fluid is also scaled in addition to other flow variables. In other words, the self-similarity of Navier-Stokes equations is achievable under different fluid environments in the same or different gravity conditions. Self-similarity criteria due to initial and boundary conditions are also presented. Utilizing the proposed self-similarity conditions of the 3D hydrodynamic flow process, the value of a flow variable at a specified time and space can be scaled to a corresponding value in a self-similar domain at the corresponding time and space.

  2. Graphene-based superconducting quantum point contacts

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Moghaddam, A.G.; Zareyan, M.

    2007-01-01

    We investigate the Josephson effect in the graphene nanoribbons of length L smaller than the superconducting coherence length and an arbitrary width W. We find that in contrast to an ordinary superconducting quantum point contact (SQPC), the critical supercurrent I c is not quantized for the nanoribbons with smooth and armchair edges. For a low concentration of the carriers, I c decreases monotonically with lowering W/L and tends to a constant minimum for a narrow nanoribbon with W c is zero for the smooth edges but eΔ 0 /ℎ for the armchair edges. At higher concentrations of the carriers this monotonic variation acquires a series of peaks. Further analysis of the current-phase relation and the Josephson coupling strength I c R N in terms of W/L and the concentration of carriers revels significant differences with those of an ordinary SQPC. On the other hand for a zigzag nanoribbon, we find that, similar to an ordinary SQPC, I c is quantized but to the half-integer values (n+1/2)4eΔ 0 /ℎ. (orig.)

  3. Parametric Human Body Reconstruction Based on Sparse Key Points.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cheng, Ke-Li; Tong, Ruo-Feng; Tang, Min; Qian, Jing-Ye; Sarkis, Michel

    2016-11-01

    We propose an automatic parametric human body reconstruction algorithm which can efficiently construct a model using a single Kinect sensor. A user needs to stand still in front of the sensor for a couple of seconds to measure the range data. The user's body shape and pose will then be automatically constructed in several seconds. Traditional methods optimize dense correspondences between range data and meshes. In contrast, our proposed scheme relies on sparse key points for the reconstruction. It employs regression to find the corresponding key points between the scanned range data and some annotated training data. We design two kinds of feature descriptors as well as corresponding regression stages to make the regression robust and accurate. Our scheme follows with dense refinement where a pre-factorization method is applied to improve the computational efficiency. Compared with other methods, our scheme achieves similar reconstruction accuracy but significantly reduces runtime.

  4. Supersymmetric quantum mechanics under point singularities

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Uchino, Takashi; Tsutsui, Izumi

    2003-01-01

    We provide a systematic study on the possibility of supersymmetry (SUSY) for one-dimensional quantum mechanical systems consisting of a pair of lines R or intervals [-l, l] each having a point singularity. We consider the most general singularities and walls (boundaries) at x = ±l admitted quantum mechanically, using a U(2) family of parameters to specify one singularity and similarly a U(1) family of parameters to specify one wall. With these parameter freedoms, we find that for a certain subfamily the line systems acquire an N = 1 SUSY which can be enhanced to N = 4 if the parameters are further tuned, and that these SUSY are generically broken except for a special case. The interval systems, on the other hand, can accommodate N = 2 or N = 4 SUSY, broken or unbroken, and exhibit a rich variety of (degenerate) spectra. Our SUSY systems include the familiar SUSY systems with the Dirac δ(x)-potential, and hence are extensions of the known SUSY quantum mechanics to those with general point singularities and walls. The self-adjointness of the supercharge in relation to the self-adjointness of the Hamiltonian is also discussed

  5. Perceptions of Ideal and Former Partners’ Personality and Similarity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pieternel Dijkstra

    2010-12-01

    Full Text Available The present study aimed to test predictions based on both the ‗similarity-attraction‘ hypothesis and the ‗attraction-similarity‘ hypothesis, by studying perceptions of ideal and former partners. Based on the ‗similarity-attraction‘ hypothesis, we expected individuals to desire ideal partners who are similar to the self in personality. In addition, based on the ‗attraction-similarity hypothesis‘, we expected individuals to perceive former partners as dissimilar to them in terms of personality. Findings showed that, whereas the ideal partner was seen as similar to and more positive than the self, the former partner was seen as dissimilar to and more negative than the self. In addition, our study showed that individuals did not rate similarity in personality as very important when seeking a mate. Our findings may help understand why so many relationships end in divorce due to mismatches in personality.

  6. Early visual language exposure and emergent literacy in preschool deaf children: findings from a national longitudinal study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Allen, Thomas E; Letteri, Amy; Choi, Song Hoa; Dang, Daqian

    2014-01-01

    Brief review is provided of recent research on the impact of early visual language exposure on a variety of developmental outcomes, including literacy, cognition, and social adjustment. This body of work points to the great importance of giving young deaf children early exposure to a visual language as a critical precursor to the acquisition of literacy. Four analyses of data from the Visual Language and Visual Learning (VL2) Early Education Longitudinal Study are summarized. Each confirms findings from previously published laboratory findings and points to the positive effects of early sign language on, respectively, letter knowledge, social adaptability, sustained visual attention, and cognitive-behavioral milestones necessary for academic success. The article concludes with a consideration of the qualitative similarity hypothesis and a finding that the hypothesis is valid, but only if it can be presented as being modality independent.

  7. NOTE: Do acupuncture points exist?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yan, Xiaohui; Zhang, Xinyi; Liu, Chenglin; Dang, Ruishan; Huang, Yuying; He, Wei; Ding, Guanghong

    2009-05-01

    We used synchrotron x-ray fluorescence analysis to probe the distribution of four chemical elements in and around acupuncture points, two located in the forearm and two in the lower leg. Three of the four acupuncture points showed significantly elevated concentrations of elements Ca, Fe, Cu and Zn in relation to levels in the surrounding tissue, with similar elevation ratios for Cu and Fe. The mapped distribution of these elements implies that each acupuncture point seems to be elliptical with the long axis along the meridian.

  8. C-point and V-point singularity lattice formation and index sign conversion methods

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kumar Pal, Sushanta; Ruchi; Senthilkumaran, P.

    2017-06-01

    The generic singularities in an ellipse field are C-points namely stars, lemons and monstars in a polarization distribution with C-point indices (-1/2), (+1/2) and (+1/2) respectively. Similar to C-point singularities, there are V-point singularities that occur in a vector field and are characterized by Poincare-Hopf index of integer values. In this paper we show that the superposition of three homogenously polarized beams in different linear states leads to the formation of polarization singularity lattice. Three point sources at the focal plane of the lens are used to create three interfering plane waves. A radial/azimuthal polarization converter (S-wave plate) placed near the focal plane modulates the polarization states of the three beams. The interference pattern is found to host C-points and V-points in a hexagonal lattice. The C-points occur at intensity maxima and V-points occur at intensity minima. Modulating the state of polarization (SOP) of three plane waves from radial to azimuthal does not essentially change the nature of polarization singularity lattice as the Poincare-Hopf index for both radial and azimuthal polarization distributions is (+1). Hence a transformation from a star to a lemon is not trivial, as such a transformation requires not a single SOP change, but a change in whole spatial SOP distribution. Further there is no change in the lattice structure and the C- and V-points appear at locations where they were present earlier. Hence to convert an interlacing star and V-point lattice into an interlacing lemon and V-point lattice, the interferometer requires modification. We show for the first time a method to change the polarity of C-point and V-point indices. This means that lemons can be converted into stars and stars can be converted into lemons. Similarly the positive V-point can be converted to negative V-point and vice versa. The intensity distribution in all these lattices is invariant as the SOPs of the three beams are changed in an

  9. A little similarity goes a long way: the effects of peripheral but self-revealing similarities on improving and sustaining interracial relationships.

    Science.gov (United States)

    West, Tessa V; Magee, Joe C; Gordon, Sarah H; Gullett, Lindy

    2014-07-01

    Integrating theory on close relationships and intergroup relations, we construct a manipulation of similarity that we demonstrate can improve interracial interactions across different settings. We find that manipulating perceptions of similarity on self-revealing attributes that are peripheral to the interaction improves interactions in cross-race dyads and racially diverse task groups. In a getting-acquainted context, we demonstrate that the belief that one's different-race partner is similar to oneself on self-revealing, peripheral attributes leads to less anticipatory anxiety than the belief that one's partner is similar on peripheral, nonself-revealing attributes. In another dyadic context, we explore the range of benefits that perceptions of peripheral, self-revealing similarity can bring to different-race interaction partners and find (a) less anxiety during interaction, (b) greater interest in sustained contact with one's partner, and (c) stronger accuracy in perceptions of one's partners' relationship intentions. By contrast, participants in same-race interactions were largely unaffected by these manipulations of perceived similarity. Our final experiment shows that among small task groups composed of racially diverse individuals, those whose members perceive peripheral, self-revealing similarity perform superior to those who perceive dissimilarity. Implications for using this approach to improve interracial interactions across different goal-driven contexts are discussed.

  10. Inverse correlation of population similarity and introduction date for invasive ascidians.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nathan Silva

    2008-06-01

    Full Text Available The genomes of many marine invertebrates, including the purple sea urchin and the solitary ascidians Ciona intestinalis and Ciona savignyi, show exceptionally high levels of heterozygosity, implying that these populations are highly polymorphic. Analysis of the C. savignyi genome found little evidence to support an elevated mutation rate, but rather points to a large population size contributing to the polymorphism level. In the present study, the relative genetic polymorphism levels in sampled populations of ten different ascidian species were determined using a similarity index generated by AFLP analysis. The goal was to determine the range of polymorphism within the populations of different species, and to uncover factors that may contribute to the high level of polymorphism. We observe that, surprisingly, the levels of polymorphism within these species show a negative correlation with the reported age of invasive populations, and that closely related species show substantially different levels of genetic polymorphism. These findings show exceptions to the assumptions that invasive species start with a low level of genetic polymorphism that increases over time and that closely related species have similar levels of genetic polymorphism.

  11. On Finding the Shortest Distance of a Point From a Line: Which ...

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    One more application is in disaster management in the vicinity of high ... A proper safety dis- .... of a point in the n-dimensional Euclidean space Rn from a hyper- plane. Let the ... Let the coordinates in the new system be represented by. (x ,y ).

  12. Anomalous transparency in photonic crystals and its application to point-by-point grating inscription in photonic crystal fibers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baghdasaryan, Tigran; Geernaert, Thomas; Chah, Karima; Caucheteur, Christophe; Schuster, Kay; Kobelke, Jens; Thienpont, Hugo; Berghmans, Francis

    2018-04-03

    It is common belief that photonic crystals behave similarly to isotropic and transparent media only when their feature sizes are much smaller than the wavelength of light. Here, we counter that belief and we report on photonic crystals that are transparent for anomalously high normalized frequencies up to 0.9, where the crystal's feature sizes are comparable with the free space wavelength. Using traditional photonic band theory, we demonstrate that the isofrequency curves can be circular in the region above the first stop band for triangular lattice photonic crystals. In addition, by simulating how efficiently a tightly focused Gaussian beam propagates through the photonic crystal slab, we judge on the photonic crystal's transparency rather than on isotropy only. Using this approach, we identified a wide range of photonic crystal parameters that provide anomalous transparency. Our findings indicate the possibility to scale up the features of photonic crystals and to extend their operational wavelength range for applications including optical cloaking and graded index guiding. We applied our result in the domain of femtosecond laser micromachining, by demonstrating what we believe to be the first point-by-point grating inscribed in a multi-ring photonic crystal fiber.

  13. Creativity as Action: Findings from Five Creative Domains

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vlad eGlaveanu

    2013-04-01

    Full Text Available The present paper outlines an action theory of creativity and substantiates this approach by investigating creative expression in five different domains. We propose an action framework for the analysis of creative acts built on the assumption that creativity is a relational, inter-subjective phenomenon. This framework, drawing extensively from the work of Dewey (1934 on art as experience, is used to derive a coding frame for the analysis of interview material. The article reports findings from the analysis of 60 interviews with recognised French creators in five creative domains: art, design, science, scriptwriting, and music. Results point to complex models of action and inter-action specific for each domain and also to interesting patterns of similarity and differences between domains. These findings highlight the fact that creative action takes place not ‘inside’ individual creators but ‘in between’ actors and their environment. Implications for the field of educational psychology are discussed.

  14. Engaging narratives evoke similar neural activity and lead to similar time perception.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cohen, Samantha S; Henin, Simon; Parra, Lucas C

    2017-07-04

    It is said that we lose track of time - that "time flies" - when we are engrossed in a story. How does engagement with the story cause this distorted perception of time, and what are its neural correlates? People commit both time and attentional resources to an engaging stimulus. For narrative videos, attentional engagement can be represented as the level of similarity between the electroencephalographic responses of different viewers. Here we show that this measure of neural engagement predicted the duration of time that viewers were willing to commit to narrative videos. Contrary to popular wisdom, engagement did not distort the average perception of time duration. Rather, more similar brain responses resulted in a more uniform perception of time across viewers. These findings suggest that by capturing the attention of an audience, narrative videos bring both neural processing and the subjective perception of time into synchrony.

  15. On dermatomes, meridians and points: results of a quasiexperimental study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sánchez-Araujo, Max; Luckert-Barela, Ana J; Sánchez, Nathalia; Torres, Juan; Conde, Jesus Eloy

    2014-02-01

    Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) meridians and points run vertically, reflecting their function in the Zhang-Fu system (meridian pattern). However, the trunk's spinal nerves show a traverse orientation, or a 'horizontal pattern'. The aim of the present work was to evaluate, via a cognitive quasiexperiment, whether the clinical indications of the points on the trunk are associated with their meridian function or with their innervation and visceral-somatic connection. The points in each dermatome of the trunk were considered crosswise, regardless of their meridians. The clinical indications for each point were differentiated into two mutually exclusive categories: (a) vertical distribution effect (VDE) or 'meridian pattern', when indications were quite different regarding the indications for the other points on the dermatome; and (b) transverse distribution effects (TDE) or 'horizontal pattern', represented by mainly local or segmental indications except for Shu-Mu points. After observing that the proportions between both categories often exceeded 60% in pilot samples, 60% was adopted as the reference value. A total of 22 dermatomes accommodated 148 points with 809 indications, of which 189 indications (23.4%) exhibited VDE features, whereas 620 (76.6%) exhibited TDE features. A TDE/VDE ratio of 3 : 1 implies that the clinical indications for the points of any dermatome on the torso are similar, regardless of their meridians, and suggests that most of the indications for trunk points involve a 'horizontal pattern' due to their neurobiological nature. These findings may help in understanding acupuncture's neurobiology and clarify some confusing results of clinical research, for example, excluding sham acupuncture as an inert intervention for future clinical trials.

  16. Phonological Similarity in American Sign Language.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hildebrandt, Ursula; Corina, David

    2002-01-01

    Investigates deaf and hearing subjects' ratings of American Sign Language (ASL) signs to assess whether linguistic experience shapes judgments of sign similarity. Findings are consistent with linguistic theories that posit movement and location as core structural elements of syllable structure in ASL. (Author/VWL)

  17. Spherical shock due to point explosion with varying energy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Singh, J. B.; Srivastava, S. K.

    1983-05-01

    The motion of a perfect gas behind a weak or strong spherical point-explosion shock wave in a nonuniform rest atmosphere is investigated analytically for the case of variable flow energy. The self-similar solutions derived are also adaptable to a uniform expanding piston. The solution is applied to the isothermal case, and the results of numerical integration are presented in graphs showing the density, velocity, and pressure distributions for different values of delta. The findings are considered significant for investigations of sonic booms, laser production of plasmas, high-altitude nuclear detonations, supernova explosions, and the sudden expansion of the solar corona, and for the laboratory production of high temperatures using shock waves.

  18. Finding Non-Zero Stable Fixed Points of the Weighted Kuramoto model is NP-hard

    OpenAIRE

    Taylor, Richard

    2015-01-01

    The Kuramoto model when considered over the full space of phase angles [$0,2\\pi$) can have multiple stable fixed points which form basins of attraction in the solution space. In this paper we illustrate the fundamentally complex relationship between the network topology and the solution space by showing that determining the possibility of multiple stable fixed points from the network topology is NP-hard for the weighted Kuramoto Model. In the case of the unweighted model this problem is shown...

  19. MEASURING THE PERFORMANCE OF SIMILARITY PROPAGATION IN AN SEMANTIC SEARCH ENGINE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    S. K. Jayanthi

    2013-10-01

    Full Text Available In the current scenario, web page result personalization is playing a vital role. Nearly 80 % of the users expect the best results in the first page itself without having any persistence to browse longer in URL mode. This research work focuses on two main themes: Semantic web search through online and Domain based search through offline. The first part is to find an effective method which allows grouping similar results together using BookShelf Data Structure and organizing the various clusters. The second one is focused on the academic domain based search through offline. This paper focuses on finding documents which are similar and how Vector space can be used to solve it. So more weightage is given for the principles and working methodology of similarity propagation. Cosine similarity measure is used for finding the relevancy among the documents.

  20. The Fermat point for a taxicab triangle

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hanson, J. R.

    2015-04-01

    The Fermat point P for a triangle ABC is the point P the sum of whose distances from the vertices A, B and C is a minimum. This note will show how to find the Fermat point for any triangle using the taxicab metric.

  1. Optimal platform design using non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm II and technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution; application to automotive suspension system

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shojaeefard, Mohammad Hassan; Khalkhali, Abolfazl; Faghihian, Hamed; Dahmardeh, Masoud

    2018-03-01

    Unlike conventional approaches where optimization is performed on a unique component of a specific product, optimum design of a set of components for employing in a product family can cause significant reduction in costs. Increasing commonality and performance of the product platform simultaneously is a multi-objective optimization problem (MOP). Several optimization methods are reported to solve these MOPs. However, what is less discussed is how to find the trade-off points among the obtained non-dominated optimum points. This article investigates the optimal design of a product family using non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm II (NSGA-II) and proposes the employment of technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) method to find the trade-off points among the obtained non-dominated results while compromising all objective functions together. A case study for a family of suspension systems is presented, considering performance and commonality. The results indicate the effectiveness of the proposed method to obtain the trade-off points with the best possible performance while maximizing the common parts.

  2. A Comparison Study on Similarity and Dissimilarity Measures in Clustering Continuous Data.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ali Seyed Shirkhorshidi

    Full Text Available Similarity or distance measures are core components used by distance-based clustering algorithms to cluster similar data points into the same clusters, while dissimilar or distant data points are placed into different clusters. The performance of similarity measures is mostly addressed in two or three-dimensional spaces, beyond which, to the best of our knowledge, there is no empirical study that has revealed the behavior of similarity measures when dealing with high-dimensional datasets. To fill this gap, a technical framework is proposed in this study to analyze, compare and benchmark the influence of different similarity measures on the results of distance-based clustering algorithms. For reproducibility purposes, fifteen publicly available datasets were used for this study, and consequently, future distance measures can be evaluated and compared with the results of the measures discussed in this work. These datasets were classified as low and high-dimensional categories to study the performance of each measure against each category. This research should help the research community to identify suitable distance measures for datasets and also to facilitate a comparison and evaluation of the newly proposed similarity or distance measures with traditional ones.

  3. SharePoint User's Guide

    CERN Document Server

    Corporation, Infusion Development

    2009-01-01

    This straightforward guide shows SharePoint users how to create and use web sites for sharing and collaboration. Learn to use the document and picture libraries for adding and editing content, add discussion boards and surveys, receive alerts when documents and information have been added or changed, and enhance security. Designed to help you find answers quickly, the book shows how to make the most of SharePoint for productivity and collaboration.

  4. CT findings of peritoneal carcinomatosis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kim, Eun Sook; Park, Mi Sook; Cho, On Koo; Koh, Byung Hee; Kim, Soon Yong

    1989-01-01

    CT findings in 137 patients with peritoneal cacinomatosis were reviewed to determine the CT signs of peritoneal malignancy. CT of the 20 liver cirrhosis and 17 tuberculous peritonitis were also reviewed to define the differential point between benign and malignant peritoneal change. The results were as follows. 1. The most common primary malignancy encountered in peritoneal carcinomatosis was stomach Ca.(50.4%), followed by pancreas Ca, hepatoma, colon Ca. and ovarian Ca. 2. Ascites was the most common CT feature of peritoneal malignancy, present in 99 cases (72.3%). The amount of ascites was voluminous, grade III in 70% of cases and showed high density ascites with average 23 Hounsfield units. 3. Greater omentum involvement was noted in 88 patients, peritoneum in 71 patients and mesentery in 65% patients. There was no correlation of the primary malignancy type with the incidence or pattern of the above mentioned site. 4. Bowel wall thickenings were observed in 51 patients, among which transverse colon was most frequently involved. 5. Mean attenuation value of ascites in liver cirrhosis was 10.7 HU, which was much lower than that of peritoneal carcinomatosis. 6. Even though intraperitoneal findings in Tbc. Peritonitis showed tendency of relatively small amount of ascites with more predominant mesenteric change, but, the findings of high density ascites, change of peritoneum and omentum etc. were very similar to those of peritoneal carcinomatosis. Therefore, based on only intraperitoneal change, differential diagnosis between them was difficult. 7. False negatives in CT diagnosis of peritoneal carcinomatosis occurred in 7 cases. There were tiny nodular changes in intraperitoneal cavity without ascites on operative findings

  5. A MARKED POINT PROCESS MODEL FOR VEHICLE DETECTION IN AERIAL LIDAR POINT CLOUDS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A. Börcs

    2012-07-01

    Full Text Available In this paper we present an automated method for vehicle detection in LiDAR point clouds of crowded urban areas collected from an aerial platform. We assume that the input cloud is unordered, but it contains additional intensity and return number information which are jointly exploited by the proposed solution. Firstly, the 3-D point set is segmented into ground, vehicle, building roof, vegetation and clutter classes. Then the points with the corresponding class labels and intensity values are projected to the ground plane, where the optimal vehicle configuration is described by a Marked Point Process (MPP model of 2-D rectangles. Finally, the Multiple Birth and Death algorithm is utilized to find the configuration with the highest confidence.

  6. Finding weak points automatically

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Archinger, P.; Wassenberg, M.

    1999-01-01

    Operators of nuclear power stations have to carry out material tests at selected components by regular intervalls. Therefore a full automaticated test, which achieves a clearly higher reproducibility, compared to part automaticated variations, would provide a solution. In addition the full automaticated test reduces the dose of radiation for the test person. (orig.) [de

  7. Precision of Points Computed from Intersections of Lines or Planes

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Cederholm, Jens Peter

    2004-01-01

    estimates the precision of the points. When using laser scanning a similar problem appears. A laser scanner captures a 3-D point cloud, not the points of real interest. The suggested method can be used to compute three-dimensional coordinates of the intersection of three planes estimated from the point...

  8. Trajectory similarity join in spatial networks

    KAUST Repository

    Shang, Shuo

    2017-09-07

    The matching of similar pairs of objects, called similarity join, is fundamental functionality in data management. We consider the case of trajectory similarity join (TS-Join), where the objects are trajectories of vehicles moving in road networks. Thus, given two sets of trajectories and a threshold θ, the TS-Join returns all pairs of trajectories from the two sets with similarity above θ. This join targets applications such as trajectory near-duplicate detection, data cleaning, ridesharing recommendation, and traffic congestion prediction. With these applications in mind, we provide a purposeful definition of similarity. To enable efficient TS-Join processing on large sets of trajectories, we develop search space pruning techniques and take into account the parallel processing capabilities of modern processors. Specifically, we present a two-phase divide-and-conquer algorithm. For each trajectory, the algorithm first finds similar trajectories. Then it merges the results to achieve a final result. The algorithm exploits an upper bound on the spatiotemporal similarity and a heuristic scheduling strategy for search space pruning. The algorithm\\'s per-trajectory searches are independent of each other and can be performed in parallel, and the merging has constant cost. An empirical study with real data offers insight in the performance of the algorithm and demonstrates that is capable of outperforming a well-designed baseline algorithm by an order of magnitude.

  9. The study on the cephalometric similarity between parents and offspring

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kang, Woo Ghon; Ahn, Hyung Kyu [Department of Radiology, College of Dentistry, Seoul National University, Seoul (Korea, Republic of)

    1975-11-15

    The study was performed to investigate cephalometric similarity between parents and offspring of the Korean family by lateral cephalometric analysis. The lateral cephalograms consist of the 8 families comprising 16 parents, 5 sons and 7 daughters. In order to make an investigation of the similarity, 12 measuring points were set up, and 22 linear measurements on each depth, height and 5 angular measurements were made. The author drew up the profilograms to compare parents with offspring in each family group. The obtained results were as follows: 1. There was no common similarity on specific region between parents and offspring in each family group. 2. There was partial similarity between single parent and offspring. 3. The partial similarity between single parent and offspring was noted on the upper face in general.

  10. The study on the cephalometric similarity between parents and offspring

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kang, Woo Ghon; Ahn, Hyung Kyu

    1975-01-01

    The study was performed to investigate cephalometric similarity between parents and offspring of the Korean family by lateral cephalometric analysis. The lateral cephalograms consist of the 8 families comprising 16 parents, 5 sons and 7 daughters. In order to make an investigation of the similarity, 12 measuring points were set up, and 22 linear measurements on each depth, height and 5 angular measurements were made. The author drew up the profilograms to compare parents with offspring in each family group. The obtained results were as follows: 1. There was no common similarity on specific region between parents and offspring in each family group. 2. There was partial similarity between single parent and offspring. 3. The partial similarity between single parent and offspring was noted on the upper face in general.

  11. Stagnation point flow and heat transfer over a nonlinear shrinking sheet with slip effects

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    N.F. Fauzi

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available In this paper, an investigation is performed to analyze the effects of the slip parameters A and B on the steady stagnation-point flow and heat transfer due to a shrinking sheet in a viscous and incompressible fluid. Using similarity transformations, the governing boundary layer equations are transformed into the nonlinear ordinary (similar differential equations. The transformed equations are solved numerically using the shooting method. The dual solutions for velocity and temperature distribution exist for certain values of the positive constant velocity and temperature slip parameters. Likewise, a stability analysis has been performed to find the nature of the dual solutions. The velocity slip will delay the boundary layer separation whereas the temperature slip does not affect the boundary layer separation.

  12. Correlation between social proximity and mobility similarity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fan, Chao; Liu, Yiding; Huang, Junming; Rong, Zhihai; Zhou, Tao

    2017-09-20

    Human behaviors exhibit ubiquitous correlations in many aspects, such as individual and collective levels, temporal and spatial dimensions, content, social and geographical layers. With rich Internet data of online behaviors becoming available, it attracts academic interests to explore human mobility similarity from the perspective of social network proximity. Existent analysis shows a strong correlation between online social proximity and offline mobility similarity, namely, mobile records between friends are significantly more similar than between strangers, and those between friends with common neighbors are even more similar. We argue the importance of the number and diversity of common friends, with a counter intuitive finding that the number of common friends has no positive impact on mobility similarity while the diversity plays a key role, disagreeing with previous studies. Our analysis provides a novel view for better understanding the coupling between human online and offline behaviors, and will help model and predict human behaviors based on social proximity.

  13. Trajectory similarity join in spatial networks

    KAUST Repository

    Shang, Shuo; Chen, Lisi; Wei, Zhewei; Jensen, Christian S.; Zheng, Kai; Kalnis, Panos

    2017-01-01

    With these applications in mind, we provide a purposeful definition of similarity. To enable efficient TS-Join processing on large sets of trajectories, we develop search space pruning techniques and take into account the parallel processing capabilities of modern processors. Specifically, we present a two-phase divide-and-conquer algorithm. For each trajectory, the algorithm first finds similar trajectories. Then it merges the results to achieve a final result. The algorithm exploits an upper bound on the spatiotemporal similarity and a heuristic scheduling strategy for search space pruning. The algorithm's per-trajectory searches are independent of each other and can be performed in parallel, and the merging has constant cost. An empirical study with real data offers insight in the performance of the algorithm and demonstrates that is capable of outperforming a well-designed baseline algorithm by an order of magnitude.

  14. Equal Work, Unequal Pay: Gender Discrimination within Work-Similar Occupations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kemp, Alice Abel; Beck, E. M.

    1986-01-01

    Describes an empirical method to identify work-similar occupations using selected measures from the Dictionary of Occupational Titles. Examines male-female earnings differences within a group of work-similar occupations and finds that discrimination against females is extensive. (Author/CH)

  15. A new similarity index for nonlinear signal analysis based on local extrema patterns

    Science.gov (United States)

    Niknazar, Hamid; Motie Nasrabadi, Ali; Shamsollahi, Mohammad Bagher

    2018-02-01

    Common similarity measures of time domain signals such as cross-correlation and Symbolic Aggregate approximation (SAX) are not appropriate for nonlinear signal analysis. This is because of the high sensitivity of nonlinear systems to initial points. Therefore, a similarity measure for nonlinear signal analysis must be invariant to initial points and quantify the similarity by considering the main dynamics of signals. The statistical behavior of local extrema (SBLE) method was previously proposed to address this problem. The SBLE similarity index uses quantized amplitudes of local extrema to quantify the dynamical similarity of signals by considering patterns of sequential local extrema. By adding time information of local extrema as well as fuzzifying quantized values, this work proposes a new similarity index for nonlinear and long-term signal analysis, which extends the SBLE method. These new features provide more information about signals and reduce noise sensitivity by fuzzifying them. A number of practical tests were performed to demonstrate the ability of the method in nonlinear signal clustering and classification on synthetic data. In addition, epileptic seizure detection based on electroencephalography (EEG) signal processing was done by the proposed similarity to feature the potentials of the method as a real-world application tool.

  16. Origin of chaos near critical points of quantum flow.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Efthymiopoulos, C; Kalapotharakos, C; Contopoulos, G

    2009-03-01

    The general theory of motion in the vicinity of a moving quantum nodal point (vortex) is studied in the framework of the de Broglie-Bohm trajectory method of quantum mechanics. Using an adiabatic approximation, we find that near any nodal point of an arbitrary wave function psi there is an unstable point (called the X point) in a frame of reference moving with the nodal point. The local phase portrait forms always a characteristic pattern called the "nodal-point- X -point complex." We find general formulas for this complex as well as necessary and sufficient conditions of validity of the adiabatic approximation. We demonstrate that chaos emerges from the consecutive scattering events of the orbits with nodal-point- X -point complexes. The scattering events are of two types (called type I and type II). A theoretical model is constructed yielding the local value of the Lyapunov characteristic numbers in scattering events of both types. The local Lyapunov characteristic number scales as an inverse power of the speed of the nodal point in the rest frame, implying that it scales proportionally to the size of the nodal-point- X -point complex. It is also an inverse power of the distance of a trajectory from the X point's stable manifold far from the complex. This distance plays the role of an effective "impact parameter." The results of detailed numerical experiments with different wave functions, possessing one, two, or three moving nodal points, are reported. Examples are given of regular and chaotic trajectories, and the statistics of the Lyapunov characteristic numbers of the orbits are found and compared to the number of encounter events of each orbit with the nodal-point- X -point complexes. The numerical results are in agreement with the theory, and various phenomena appearing at first as counterintuitive find a straightforward explanation.

  17. Similarities and differences in dream content at the cross-cultural, gender, and individual levels.

    Science.gov (United States)

    William Domhoff, G; Schneider, Adam

    2008-12-01

    The similarities and differences in dream content at the cross-cultural, gender, and individual levels provide one starting point for carrying out studies that attempt to discover correspondences between dream content and various types of waking cognition. Hobson and Kahn's (Hobson, J. A., & Kahn, D. (2007). Dream content: Individual and generic aspects. Consciousness and Cognition, 16, 850-858.) conclusion that dream content may be more generic than most researchers realize, and that individual differences are less salient than usually thought, provides the occasion for a review of findings based on the Hall and Van de Castle (Hall, C., & Van de Castle, R. (1966). The content analysis of dreams. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.) coding system for the study of dream content. Then new findings based on a computationally intensive randomization strategy are presented to show the minimum sample sizes needed to detect gender and individual differences in dream content. Generally speaking, sample sizes of 100-125 dream reports are needed because most dream elements appear in less than 50% of dream reports and the magnitude of the differences usually is not large.

  18. Investigation of psychophysical similarity measures for selection of similar images in the diagnosis of clustered microcalcifications on mammograms

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Muramatsu, Chisako; Li Qiang; Schmidt, Robert; Shiraishi, Junji; Doi, Kunio

    2008-01-01

    The presentation of images with lesions of known pathology that are similar to an unknown lesion may be helpful to radiologists in the diagnosis of challenging cases for improving the diagnostic accuracy and also for reducing variation among different radiologists. The authors have been developing a computerized scheme for automatically selecting similar images with clustered microcalcifications on mammograms from a large database. For similar images to be useful, they must be similar from the point of view of the diagnosing radiologists. In order to select such images, subjective similarity ratings were obtained for a number of pairs of clustered microcalcifications by breast radiologists for establishment of a ''gold standard'' of image similarity, and the gold standard was employed for determination and evaluation of the selection of similar images. The images used in this study were obtained from the Digital Database for Screening Mammography developed by the University of South Florida. The subjective similarity ratings for 300 pairs of images with clustered microcalcifications were determined by ten breast radiologists. The authors determined a number of image features which represent the characteristics of clustered microcalcifications that radiologists would use in their diagnosis. For determination of objective similarity measures, an artificial neural network (ANN) was employed. The ANN was trained with the average subjective similarity ratings as teacher and selected image features as input data. The ANN was trained to learn the relationship between the image features and the radiologists' similarity ratings; therefore, once the training was completed, the ANN was able to determine the similarity, called a psychophysical similarity measure, which was expected to be close to radiologists' impressions, for an unknown pair of clustered microcalcifications. By use of a leave-one-out test method, the best combination of features was selected. The correlation

  19. Investigation of psychophysical similarity measures for selection of similar images in the diagnosis of clustered microcalcifications on mammograms

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Muramatsu, Chisako; Li Qiang; Schmidt, Robert; Shiraishi, Junji; Doi, Kunio [Department of Radiology, University of Chicago, 5841 South Maryland Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60637 (United States) and Department of Intelligent Image Information, Gifu University, 1-1 Yanagido, Gifu (Japan); Department of Radiology, Duke Advanced Imaging Labs, Duke University, 2424 Erwin Road, Suite 302, Durham, North Carolina 27705 (United States); Department of Radiology, University of Chicago, 5841 South Maryland Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60637 (United States)

    2008-12-15

    The presentation of images with lesions of known pathology that are similar to an unknown lesion may be helpful to radiologists in the diagnosis of challenging cases for improving the diagnostic accuracy and also for reducing variation among different radiologists. The authors have been developing a computerized scheme for automatically selecting similar images with clustered microcalcifications on mammograms from a large database. For similar images to be useful, they must be similar from the point of view of the diagnosing radiologists. In order to select such images, subjective similarity ratings were obtained for a number of pairs of clustered microcalcifications by breast radiologists for establishment of a ''gold standard'' of image similarity, and the gold standard was employed for determination and evaluation of the selection of similar images. The images used in this study were obtained from the Digital Database for Screening Mammography developed by the University of South Florida. The subjective similarity ratings for 300 pairs of images with clustered microcalcifications were determined by ten breast radiologists. The authors determined a number of image features which represent the characteristics of clustered microcalcifications that radiologists would use in their diagnosis. For determination of objective similarity measures, an artificial neural network (ANN) was employed. The ANN was trained with the average subjective similarity ratings as teacher and selected image features as input data. The ANN was trained to learn the relationship between the image features and the radiologists' similarity ratings; therefore, once the training was completed, the ANN was able to determine the similarity, called a psychophysical similarity measure, which was expected to be close to radiologists' impressions, for an unknown pair of clustered microcalcifications. By use of a leave-one-out test method, the best combination of features

  20. Personalized Mortality Prediction Driven by Electronic Medical Data and a Patient Similarity Metric

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Joon; Maslove, David M.; Dubin, Joel A.

    2015-01-01

    Background Clinical outcome prediction normally employs static, one-size-fits-all models that perform well for the average patient but are sub-optimal for individual patients with unique characteristics. In the era of digital healthcare, it is feasible to dynamically personalize decision support by identifying and analyzing similar past patients, in a way that is analogous to personalized product recommendation in e-commerce. Our objectives were: 1) to prove that analyzing only similar patients leads to better outcome prediction performance than analyzing all available patients, and 2) to characterize the trade-off between training data size and the degree of similarity between the training data and the index patient for whom prediction is to be made. Methods and Findings We deployed a cosine-similarity-based patient similarity metric (PSM) to an intensive care unit (ICU) database to identify patients that are most similar to each patient and subsequently to custom-build 30-day mortality prediction models. Rich clinical and administrative data from the first day in the ICU from 17,152 adult ICU admissions were analyzed. The results confirmed that using data from only a small subset of most similar patients for training improves predictive performance in comparison with using data from all available patients. The results also showed that when too few similar patients are used for training, predictive performance degrades due to the effects of small sample sizes. Our PSM-based approach outperformed well-known ICU severity of illness scores. Although the improved prediction performance is achieved at the cost of increased computational burden, Big Data technologies can help realize personalized data-driven decision support at the point of care. Conclusions The present study provides crucial empirical evidence for the promising potential of personalized data-driven decision support systems. With the increasing adoption of electronic medical record (EMR) systems, our

  1. Inverse consistent non-rigid image registration based on robust point set matching

    Science.gov (United States)

    2014-01-01

    Background Robust point matching (RPM) has been extensively used in non-rigid registration of images to robustly register two sets of image points. However, except for the location at control points, RPM cannot estimate the consistent correspondence between two images because RPM is a unidirectional image matching approach. Therefore, it is an important issue to make an improvement in image registration based on RPM. Methods In our work, a consistent image registration approach based on the point sets matching is proposed to incorporate the property of inverse consistency and improve registration accuracy. Instead of only estimating the forward transformation between the source point sets and the target point sets in state-of-the-art RPM algorithms, the forward and backward transformations between two point sets are estimated concurrently in our algorithm. The inverse consistency constraints are introduced to the cost function of RPM and the fuzzy correspondences between two point sets are estimated based on both the forward and backward transformations simultaneously. A modified consistent landmark thin-plate spline registration is discussed in detail to find the forward and backward transformations during the optimization of RPM. The similarity of image content is also incorporated into point matching in order to improve image matching. Results Synthetic data sets, medical images are employed to demonstrate and validate the performance of our approach. The inverse consistent errors of our algorithm are smaller than RPM. Especially, the topology of transformations is preserved well for our algorithm for the large deformation between point sets. Moreover, the distance errors of our algorithm are similar to that of RPM, and they maintain a downward trend as whole, which demonstrates the convergence of our algorithm. The registration errors for image registrations are evaluated also. Again, our algorithm achieves the lower registration errors in same iteration number

  2. Cultural similarity and adjustment of expatriate academics

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Selmer, Jan; Lauring, Jakob

    2009-01-01

    The findings of a number of recent empirical studies of business expatriates, using different samples and methodologies, seem to support the counter-intuitive proposition that cultural similarity may be as difficult to adjust to as cultural dissimilarity. However, it is not obvious...... and non-EU countries. Results showed that although the perceived cultural similarity between host and home country for the two groups of investigated respondents was different, there was neither any difference in their adjustment nor in the time it took for them to become proficient. Implications...

  3. Using point-set compression to classify folk songs

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Meredith, David

    2014-01-01

    -neighbour algorithm and leave-one-out cross-validation to classify the 360 melodies into tune families. The classifications produced by the algorithms were compared with a ground-truth classification prepared by expert musicologists. Twelve of the thirteen compressors used in the experiment were based...... compared. The highest classification success rate of 77–84% was achieved by COSIATEC, followed by 60–64% for Forth’s algorithm and then 52–58% for SIATECCompress. When the NCDs were calculated using bzip2, the success rate was only 12.5%. The results demonstrate that the effectiveness of NCD for measuring...... similarity between folk-songs for classification purposes is highly dependent upon the actual compressor chosen. Furthermore, it seems that compressors based on finding maximal repeated patterns in point-set representations of music show more promise for NCD-based music classification than general...

  4. Phonological similarity in working memory span tasks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chow, Michael; Macnamara, Brooke N; Conway, Andrew R A

    2016-08-01

    In a series of four experiments, we explored what conditions are sufficient to produce a phonological similarity facilitation effect in working memory span tasks. By using the same set of memoranda, but differing the secondary-task requirements across experiments, we showed that a phonological similarity facilitation effect is dependent upon the semantic relationship between the memoranda and the secondary-task stimuli, and is robust to changes in the representation, ordering, and pool size of the secondary-task stimuli. These findings are consistent with interference accounts of memory (Brown, Neath, & Chater, Psychological Review, 114, 539-576, 2007; Oberauer, Lewandowsky, Farrell, Jarrold, & Greaves, Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 19, 779-819, 2012), whereby rhyming stimuli provide a form of categorical similarity that allows distractors to be excluded from retrieval at recall.

  5. Bilateral Trade Flows and Income Distribution Similarity

    Science.gov (United States)

    2016-01-01

    Current models of bilateral trade neglect the effects of income distribution. This paper addresses the issue by accounting for non-homothetic consumer preferences and hence investigating the role of income distribution in the context of the gravity model of trade. A theoretically justified gravity model is estimated for disaggregated trade data (Dollar volume is used as dependent variable) using a sample of 104 exporters and 108 importers for 1980–2003 to achieve two main goals. We define and calculate new measures of income distribution similarity and empirically confirm that greater similarity of income distribution between countries implies more trade. Using distribution-based measures as a proxy for demand similarities in gravity models, we find consistent and robust support for the hypothesis that countries with more similar income-distributions trade more with each other. The hypothesis is also confirmed at disaggregated level for differentiated product categories. PMID:27137462

  6. Fundamental statistical features and self-similar properties of tagged networks

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Palla, Gergely; Farkas, Illes J; Pollner, Peter; Vicsek, Tamas; Derenyi, Imre

    2008-01-01

    We investigate the fundamental statistical features of tagged (or annotated) networks having a rich variety of attributes associated with their nodes. Tags (attributes, annotations, properties, features, etc) provide essential information about the entity represented by a given node, thus, taking them into account represents a significant step towards a more complete description of the structure of large complex systems. Our main goal here is to uncover the relations between the statistical properties of the node tags and those of the graph topology. In order to better characterize the networks with tagged nodes, we introduce a number of new notions, including tag-assortativity (relating link probability to node similarity), and new quantities, such as node uniqueness (measuring how rarely the tags of a node occur in the network) and tag-assortativity exponent. We apply our approach to three large networks representing very different domains of complex systems. A number of the tag related quantities display analogous behaviour (e.g. the networks we studied are tag-assortative, indicating possible universal aspects of tags versus topology), while some other features, such as the distribution of the node uniqueness, show variability from network to network allowing for pin-pointing large scale specific features of real-world complex networks. We also find that for each network the topology and the tag distribution are scale invariant, and this self-similar property of the networks can be well characterized by the tag-assortativity exponent, which is specific to each system.

  7. Self-similar solutions of the modified nonlinear schrodinger equation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kitaev, A.V.

    1986-01-01

    This paper considers a 2 x 2 matrix linear ordinary differential equation with large parameter t and irregular singular point of fourth order at infinity. The leading order of the monodromy data of this equation is calculated in terms of its coefficients. Isomonodromic deformations of the equation are self-similar solutions of the modified nonlinear Schrodinger equation, and therefore inversion of the expressions obtained for the monodromy data gives the leading term in the time-asymptotic behavior of the self-similar solution. The application of these results to the type IV Painleve equation is considered in detail

  8. Measure of Node Similarity in Multilayer Networks.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anders Mollgaard

    Full Text Available The weight of links in a network is often related to the similarity of the nodes. Here, we introduce a simple tunable measure for analysing the similarity of nodes across different link weights. In particular, we use the measure to analyze homophily in a group of 659 freshman students at a large university. Our analysis is based on data obtained using smartphones equipped with custom data collection software, complemented by questionnaire-based data. The network of social contacts is represented as a weighted multilayer network constructed from different channels of telecommunication as well as data on face-to-face contacts. We find that even strongly connected individuals are not more similar with respect to basic personality traits than randomly chosen pairs of individuals. In contrast, several socio-demographics variables have a significant degree of similarity. We further observe that similarity might be present in one layer of the multilayer network and simultaneously be absent in the other layers. For a variable such as gender, our measure reveals a transition from similarity between nodes connected with links of relatively low weight to dis-similarity for the nodes connected by the strongest links. We finally analyze the overlap between layers in the network for different levels of acquaintanceships.

  9. 75 FR 14206 - FPL Energy Point Beach, LLC; Point Beach Nuclear Plant, Units 1 and 2; Environmental Assessment...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-03-24

    ... NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION [Docket Nos. 50-266 And 50-301; NRC-2010-0123 FPL Energy Point Beach, LLC; Point Beach Nuclear Plant, Units 1 and 2; Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is considering issuance of an Exemption, pursuant to...

  10. Finding Exoplanets Using Point Spread Function Photometry on Kepler Data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Amaro, Rachael Christina; Scolnic, Daniel; Montet, Ben

    2018-01-01

    The Kepler Mission has been able to identify over 5,000 exoplanet candidates using mostly aperture photometry. Despite the impressive number of discoveries, a large portion of Kepler’s data set is neglected due to limitations using aperture photometry on faint sources in crowded fields. We present an alternate method that overcomes those restrictions — Point Spread Function (PSF) photometry. This powerful tool, which is already used in supernova astronomy, was used for the first time on Kepler Full Frame Images, rather than just looking at the standard light curves. We present light curves for stars in our data set and demonstrate that PSF photometry can at least get down to the same photometric precision as aperture photometry. As a check for the robustness of this method, we change small variables (stamp size, interpolation amount, and noise correction) and show that the PSF light curves maintain the same repeatability across all combinations for one of our models. We also present our progress in the next steps of this project, including the creation of a PSF model from the data itself and applying the model across the entire data set at once.

  11. IMAGE TO POINT CLOUD METHOD OF 3D-MODELING

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A. G. Chibunichev

    2012-07-01

    Full Text Available This article describes the method of constructing 3D models of objects (buildings, monuments based on digital images and a point cloud obtained by terrestrial laser scanner. The first step is the automated determination of exterior orientation parameters of digital image. We have to find the corresponding points of the image and point cloud to provide this operation. Before the corresponding points searching quasi image of point cloud is generated. After that SIFT algorithm is applied to quasi image and real image. SIFT algorithm allows to find corresponding points. Exterior orientation parameters of image are calculated from corresponding points. The second step is construction of the vector object model. Vectorization is performed by operator of PC in an interactive mode using single image. Spatial coordinates of the model are calculated automatically by cloud points. In addition, there is automatic edge detection with interactive editing available. Edge detection is performed on point cloud and on image with subsequent identification of correct edges. Experimental studies of the method have demonstrated its efficiency in case of building facade modeling.

  12. A class of backward free-convective boundary-layer similarity solutions

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kuiken, H.K.

    1983-01-01

    This paper presents a class of backward free-convective boundary-layer similarity solutions. It is shown that these boundary layers can be produced along slender downward-projecting slabs of prescribed thickness variation, which are infinitely long. It is pointed out that these solutions can be used

  13. MIN-CUT BASED SEGMENTATION OF AIRBORNE LIDAR POINT CLOUDS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    S. Ural

    2012-07-01

    Full Text Available Introducing an organization to the unstructured point cloud before extracting information from airborne lidar data is common in many applications. Aggregating the points with similar features into segments in 3-D which comply with the nature of actual objects is affected by the neighborhood, scale, features and noise among other aspects. In this study, we present a min-cut based method for segmenting the point cloud. We first assess the neighborhood of each point in 3-D by investigating the local geometric and statistical properties of the candidates. Neighborhood selection is essential since point features are calculated within their local neighborhood. Following neighborhood determination, we calculate point features and determine the clusters in the feature space. We adapt a graph representation from image processing which is especially used in pixel labeling problems and establish it for the unstructured 3-D point clouds. The edges of the graph that are connecting the points with each other and nodes representing feature clusters hold the smoothness costs in the spatial domain and data costs in the feature domain. Smoothness costs ensure spatial coherence, while data costs control the consistency with the representative feature clusters. This graph representation formalizes the segmentation task as an energy minimization problem. It allows the implementation of an approximate solution by min-cuts for a global minimum of this NP hard minimization problem in low order polynomial time. We test our method with airborne lidar point cloud acquired with maximum planned post spacing of 1.4 m and a vertical accuracy 10.5 cm as RMSE. We present the effects of neighborhood and feature determination in the segmentation results and assess the accuracy and efficiency of the implemented min-cut algorithm as well as its sensitivity to the parameters of the smoothness and data cost functions. We find that smoothness cost that only considers simple distance

  14. Inhibition effect of calcium hydroxide point and chlorhexidine point on root canal bacteria of necrosis teeth

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andry Leonard Je

    2006-03-01

    Full Text Available Calcium Hydroxide point and Chlorhexidine point are new drugs for eliminating bacteria in the root canal. The points slowly and controly realease Calcium Hydroxide and Chlorhexidine into root canal. The purpose of the study was to determined the effectivity of Calcium hydroxide point (Calcium hydroxide plus point and Chlorhexidine point in eleminating the root canal bacteria of nescrosis teeth. In this study 14 subjects were divided into 2 groups. The first group was treated with Calcium hydroxide point and the second was treated with Chlorhexidine poin. The bacteriological sampling were measured with spectrofotometry. The Paired T Test analysis (before and after showed significant difference between the first and second group. The Independent T Test which analysed the effectivity of both groups had not showed significant difference. Although there was no significant difference in statistical test, the result of second group eliminate more bacteria than the first group. The present finding indicated that the use of Chlorhexidine point was better than Calcium hydroxide point in seven days period. The conclusion is Chlorhexidine point and Calcium hydroxide point as root canal medicament effectively eliminate root canal bacteria of necrosis teeth.

  15. Impact of point-of-sale tobacco display bans: findings from the International Tobacco Control Four Country Survey

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Lin; Borland, Ron; Fong, Geoffrey T.; Thrasher, James F.; Hammond, David; Cummings, Kenneth M.

    2013-01-01

    This study examined the impact of point-of-sale (POS) tobacco marketing restrictions in Australia and Canada, in relation to the United Kingdom and the United States where there were no such restrictions during the study period (2006–10). The data came from the International Tobacco Control Four Country Survey, a prospective multi-country cohort survey of adult smokers. In jurisdictions where POS display bans were implemented, smokers’ reported exposure to tobacco marketing declined markedly. From 2006 to 2010, in Canada, the percentages noticing POS tobacco displays declined from 74.1 to 6.1% [adjusted odds ratio (OR) = 0.26, P advertising decreased from 40.3 to 14.1% (adjusted OR = 0.61, P marketing in the United States and United Kingdom remained high during this period. In parallel, there were declines in reported exposures to other forms of advertising/promotion in Canada and Australia, but again, not in the United States or United Kingdom. Impulse purchasing of cigarettes was lower in places that enacted POS display bans. These findings indicate that implementing POS tobacco display bans does result in lower exposure to tobacco marketing and less frequent impulse purchasing of cigarettes. PMID:23640986

  16. Systematic characterizations of text similarity in full text biomedical publications.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sun, Zhaohui; Errami, Mounir; Long, Tara; Renard, Chris; Choradia, Nishant; Garner, Harold

    2010-09-15

    Computational methods have been used to find duplicate biomedical publications in MEDLINE. Full text articles are becoming increasingly available, yet the similarities among them have not been systematically studied. Here, we quantitatively investigated the full text similarity of biomedical publications in PubMed Central. 72,011 full text articles from PubMed Central (PMC) were parsed to generate three different datasets: full texts, sections, and paragraphs. Text similarity comparisons were performed on these datasets using the text similarity algorithm eTBLAST. We measured the frequency of similar text pairs and compared it among different datasets. We found that high abstract similarity can be used to predict high full text similarity with a specificity of 20.1% (95% CI [17.3%, 23.1%]) and sensitivity of 99.999%. Abstract similarity and full text similarity have a moderate correlation (Pearson correlation coefficient: -0.423) when the similarity ratio is above 0.4. Among pairs of articles in PMC, method sections are found to be the most repetitive (frequency of similar pairs, methods: 0.029, introduction: 0.0076, results: 0.0043). In contrast, among a set of manually verified duplicate articles, results are the most repetitive sections (frequency of similar pairs, results: 0.94, methods: 0.89, introduction: 0.82). Repetition of introduction and methods sections is more likely to be committed by the same authors (odds of a highly similar pair having at least one shared author, introduction: 2.31, methods: 1.83, results: 1.03). There is also significantly more similarity in pairs of review articles than in pairs containing one review and one nonreview paper (frequency of similar pairs: 0.0167 and 0.0023, respectively). While quantifying abstract similarity is an effective approach for finding duplicate citations, a comprehensive full text analysis is necessary to uncover all potential duplicate citations in the scientific literature and is helpful when

  17. Inter Genre Similarity Modelling For Automatic Music Genre Classification

    OpenAIRE

    Bagci, Ulas; Erzin, Engin

    2009-01-01

    Music genre classification is an essential tool for music information retrieval systems and it has been finding critical applications in various media platforms. Two important problems of the automatic music genre classification are feature extraction and classifier design. This paper investigates inter-genre similarity modelling (IGS) to improve the performance of automatic music genre classification. Inter-genre similarity information is extracted over the mis-classified feature population....

  18. Compound nucleus decay: Comparison between saddle point and scission point barriers

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Santos, T. J.; Carlson, B. V. [Depto. de Física, Instituto Tecnológico de Aeronáutica, São José dos Campos, SP (Brazil)

    2014-11-11

    One of the principal characteristics of nuclear multifragmentation is the emission of complex fragments of intermediate mass. An extension of the statistical multifragmentation model has been developed, in which the process can be interpreted as the near simultaneous limit of a series of sequential binary decays. In this extension, intermediate mass fragment emissions are described by expressions almost identical to those of light particle emission. At lower temperatures, similar expressions have been shown to furnish a good description of very light intermediate mass fragment emission but not of the emission of heavier fragments, which seems to be determined by the transition density at the saddle-point rather than at the scission point. Here, we wish to compare these different formulations of intermediate fragmment emission and analyze the extent to which they remain distinguishable at high excitation energy.

  19. Personality similarity in negotiations: Testing the dyadic effects of similarity in interpersonal traits and the use of emotional displays on negotiation outcomes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wilson, Kelly Schwind; DeRue, D Scott; Matta, Fadel K; Howe, Michael; Conlon, Donald E

    2016-10-01

    We build on the small but growing literature documenting personality influences on negotiation by examining how the joint disposition of both negotiators with respect to the interpersonal traits of agreeableness and extraversion influences important negotiation processes and outcomes. Building on similarity-attraction theory, we articulate and demonstrate how being similarly high or similarly low on agreeableness and extraversion leads dyad members to express more positive emotional displays during negotiation. Moreover, because of increased positive emotional displays, we show that dyads with such compositions also tend to reach agreements faster, perceive less relationship conflict, and have more positive impressions of their negotiation partner. Interestingly, these results hold regardless of whether negotiating dyads are similar in normatively positive (i.e., similarly agreeable and similarly extraverted) or normatively negative (i.e., similarly disagreeable and similarly introverted) ways. Overall, these findings demonstrate the importance of considering the dyad's personality configuration when attempting to understand the affective experience as well as the downstream outcomes of a negotiation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

  20. Improved collaborative filtering recommendation algorithm of similarity measure

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Baofu; Yuan, Baoping

    2017-05-01

    The Collaborative filtering recommendation algorithm is one of the most widely used recommendation algorithm in personalized recommender systems. The key is to find the nearest neighbor set of the active user by using similarity measure. However, the methods of traditional similarity measure mainly focus on the similarity of user common rating items, but ignore the relationship between the user common rating items and all items the user rates. And because rating matrix is very sparse, traditional collaborative filtering recommendation algorithm is not high efficiency. In order to obtain better accuracy, based on the consideration of common preference between users, the difference of rating scale and score of common items, this paper presents an improved similarity measure method, and based on this method, a collaborative filtering recommendation algorithm based on similarity improvement is proposed. Experimental results show that the algorithm can effectively improve the quality of recommendation, thus alleviate the impact of data sparseness.

  1. Shot noise in systems with semi-Dirac points

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhai, Feng; Wang, Juan

    2014-01-01

    We calculate the ballistic conductance and shot noise of electrons through a two-dimensional stripe system (width W ≫ length L) with semi-Dirac band-touching points. We find that the ratio between zero-temperature noise power and mean current (the Fano factor) is highly anisotropic. When the transport is along the linear-dispersion direction and the Fermi energy is fixed at the semi-Dirac point, the Fano factor has a universal value F = 0.179 while a minimum conductivity exists and scales with L 1∕2 . Along the parabolic dispersion direction, the Fano factor at the semi-Dirac point has a contact-independent limit exceeding 0.9, which varies weakly with L due to the common-path interference of evanescent waves. Our findings suggest a way to discern the type of band-touching points

  2. Comprehensive Interpretation of a Three-Point Gauss Quadrature with Variable Sampling Points and Its Application to Integration for Discrete Data

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Young-Doo Kwon

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available This study examined the characteristics of a variable three-point Gauss quadrature using a variable set of weighting factors and corresponding optimal sampling points. The major findings were as follows. The one-point, two-point, and three-point Gauss quadratures that adopt the Legendre sampling points and the well-known Simpson’s 1/3 rule were found to be special cases of the variable three-point Gauss quadrature. In addition, the three-point Gauss quadrature may have out-of-domain sampling points beyond the domain end points. By applying the quadratically extrapolated integrals and nonlinearity index, the accuracy of the integration could be increased significantly for evenly acquired data, which is popular with modern sophisticated digital data acquisition systems, without using higher-order extrapolation polynomials.

  3. Similarity-dissimilarity plot for visualization of high dimensional data in biomedical pattern classification.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arif, Muhammad

    2012-06-01

    In pattern classification problems, feature extraction is an important step. Quality of features in discriminating different classes plays an important role in pattern classification problems. In real life, pattern classification may require high dimensional feature space and it is impossible to visualize the feature space if the dimension of feature space is greater than four. In this paper, we have proposed a Similarity-Dissimilarity plot which can project high dimensional space to a two dimensional space while retaining important characteristics required to assess the discrimination quality of the features. Similarity-dissimilarity plot can reveal information about the amount of overlap of features of different classes. Separable data points of different classes will also be visible on the plot which can be classified correctly using appropriate classifier. Hence, approximate classification accuracy can be predicted. Moreover, it is possible to know about whom class the misclassified data points will be confused by the classifier. Outlier data points can also be located on the similarity-dissimilarity plot. Various examples of synthetic data are used to highlight important characteristics of the proposed plot. Some real life examples from biomedical data are also used for the analysis. The proposed plot is independent of number of dimensions of the feature space.

  4. Fixed points for weak contractions in metric type spaces

    OpenAIRE

    Gaba, Yaé Ulrich

    2014-01-01

    In this article, we prove some fixed point theorems in metric type spaces. This article is just a generalization some results previously proved in \\cite{niyi-gaba}. In particular, we give some coupled common fixed points theorems under weak contractions. These results extend well known similar results existing in the literature.

  5. A space-efficient algorithm for local similarities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huang, X Q; Hardison, R C; Miller, W

    1990-10-01

    Existing dynamic-programming algorithms for identifying similar regions of two sequences require time and space proportional to the product of the sequence lengths. Often this space requirement is more limiting than the time requirement. We describe a dynamic-programming local-similarity algorithm that needs only space proportional to the sum of the sequence lengths. The method can also find repeats within a single long sequence. To illustrate the algorithm's potential, we discuss comparison of a 73,360 nucleotide sequence containing the human beta-like globin gene cluster and a corresponding 44,594 nucleotide sequence for rabbit, a problem well beyond the capabilities of other dynamic-programming software.

  6. Implementation of Steiner point of fuzzy set.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liang, Jiuzhen; Wang, Dejiang

    2014-01-01

    This paper deals with the implementation of Steiner point of fuzzy set. Some definitions and properties of Steiner point are investigated and extended to fuzzy set. This paper focuses on establishing efficient methods to compute Steiner point of fuzzy set. Two strategies of computing Steiner point of fuzzy set are proposed. One is called linear combination of Steiner points computed by a series of crisp α-cut sets of the fuzzy set. The other is an approximate method, which is trying to find the optimal α-cut set approaching the fuzzy set. Stability analysis of Steiner point of fuzzy set is also studied. Some experiments on image processing are given, in which the two methods are applied for implementing Steiner point of fuzzy image, and both strategies show their own advantages in computing Steiner point of fuzzy set.

  7. Feature Extraction from 3D Point Cloud Data Based on Discrete Curves

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yi An

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Reliable feature extraction from 3D point cloud data is an important problem in many application domains, such as reverse engineering, object recognition, industrial inspection, and autonomous navigation. In this paper, a novel method is proposed for extracting the geometric features from 3D point cloud data based on discrete curves. We extract the discrete curves from 3D point cloud data and research the behaviors of chord lengths, angle variations, and principal curvatures at the geometric features in the discrete curves. Then, the corresponding similarity indicators are defined. Based on the similarity indicators, the geometric features can be extracted from the discrete curves, which are also the geometric features of 3D point cloud data. The threshold values of the similarity indicators are taken from [0,1], which characterize the relative relationship and make the threshold setting easier and more reasonable. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method is efficient and reliable.

  8. Laws of attraction: from perceptual forces to conceptual similarity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ziemkiewicz, Caroline; Kosara, Robert

    2010-01-01

    Many of the pressing questions in information visualization deal with how exactly a user reads a collection of visual marks as information about relationships between entities. Previous research has suggested that people see parts of a visualization as objects, and may metaphorically interpret apparent physical relationships between these objects as suggestive of data relationships. We explored this hypothesis in detail in a series of user experiments. Inspired by the concept of implied dynamics in psychology, we first studied whether perceived gravity acting on a mark in a scatterplot can lead to errors in a participant's recall of the mark's position. The results of this study suggested that such position errors exist, but may be more strongly influenced by attraction between marks. We hypothesized that such apparent attraction may be influenced by elements used to suggest relationship between objects, such as connecting lines, grouping elements, and visual similarity. We further studied what visual elements are most likely to cause this attraction effect, and whether the elements that best predicted attraction errors were also those which suggested conceptual relationships most strongly. Our findings show a correlation between attraction errors and intuitions about relatedness, pointing towards a possible mechanism by which the perception of visual marks becomes an interpretation of data relationships.

  9. Idealness and similarity in goal-derived categories: a computational examination.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Voorspoels, Wouter; Storms, Gert; Vanpaemel, Wolf

    2013-02-01

    The finding that the typicality gradient in goal-derived categories is mainly driven by ideals rather than by exemplar similarity has stood uncontested for nearly three decades. Due to the rather rigid earlier implementations of similarity, a key question has remained--that is, whether a more flexible approach to similarity would alter the conclusions. In the present study, we evaluated whether a similarity-based approach that allows for dimensional weighting could account for findings in goal-derived categories. To this end, we compared a computational model of exemplar similarity (the generalized context model; Nosofsky, Journal of Experimental Psychology. General 115:39-57, 1986) and a computational model of ideal representation (the ideal-dimension model; Voorspoels, Vanpaemel, & Storms, Psychonomic Bulletin & Review 18:1006-114, 2011) in their accounts of exemplar typicality in ten goal-derived categories. In terms of both goodness-of-fit and generalizability, we found strong evidence for an ideal approach in nearly all categories. We conclude that focusing on a limited set of features is necessary but not sufficient to account for the observed typicality gradient. A second aspect of ideal representations--that is, that extreme rather than common, central-tendency values drive typicality--seems to be crucial.

  10. Similarity-based gene detection: using COGs to find evolutionarily-conserved ORFs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Powell, Bradford C; Hutchison, Clyde A

    2006-01-19

    Experimental verification of gene products has not kept pace with the rapid growth of microbial sequence information. However, existing annotations of gene locations contain sufficient information to screen for probable errors. Furthermore, comparisons among genomes become more informative as more genomes are examined. We studied all open reading frames (ORFs) of at least 30 codons from the genomes of 27 sequenced bacterial strains. We grouped the potential peptide sequences encoded from the ORFs by forming Clusters of Orthologous Groups (COGs). We used this grouping in order to find homologous relationships that would not be distinguishable from noise when using simple BLAST searches. Although COG analysis was initially developed to group annotated genes, we applied it to the task of grouping anonymous DNA sequences that may encode proteins. "Mixed COGs" of ORFs (clusters in which some sequences correspond to annotated genes and some do not) are attractive targets when seeking errors of gene prediction. Examination of mixed COGs reveals some situations in which genes appear to have been missed in current annotations and a smaller number of regions that appear to have been annotated as gene loci erroneously. This technique can also be used to detect potential pseudogenes or sequencing errors. Our method uses an adjustable parameter for degree of conservation among the studied genomes (stringency). We detail results for one level of stringency at which we found 83 potential genes which had not previously been identified, 60 potential pseudogenes, and 7 sequences with existing gene annotations that are probably incorrect. Systematic study of sequence conservation offers a way to improve existing annotations by identifying potentially homologous regions where the annotation of the presence or absence of a gene is inconsistent among genomes.

  11. Similarity-based gene detection: using COGs to find evolutionarily-conserved ORFs

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hutchison Clyde A

    2006-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Experimental verification of gene products has not kept pace with the rapid growth of microbial sequence information. However, existing annotations of gene locations contain sufficient information to screen for probable errors. Furthermore, comparisons among genomes become more informative as more genomes are examined. We studied all open reading frames (ORFs of at least 30 codons from the genomes of 27 sequenced bacterial strains. We grouped the potential peptide sequences encoded from the ORFs by forming Clusters of Orthologous Groups (COGs. We used this grouping in order to find homologous relationships that would not be distinguishable from noise when using simple BLAST searches. Although COG analysis was initially developed to group annotated genes, we applied it to the task of grouping anonymous DNA sequences that may encode proteins. Results "Mixed COGs" of ORFs (clusters in which some sequences correspond to annotated genes and some do not are attractive targets when seeking errors of gene predicion. Examination of mixed COGs reveals some situations in which genes appear to have been missed in current annotations and a smaller number of regions that appear to have been annotated as gene loci erroneously. This technique can also be used to detect potential pseudogenes or sequencing errors. Our method uses an adjustable parameter for degree of conservation among the studied genomes (stringency. We detail results for one level of stringency at which we found 83 potential genes which had not previously been identified, 60 potential pseudogenes, and 7 sequences with existing gene annotations that are probably incorrect. Conclusion Systematic study of sequence conservation offers a way to improve existing annotations by identifying potentially homologous regions where the annotation of the presence or absence of a gene is inconsistent among genomes.

  12. Variational Principles, Lie Point Symmetries, and Similarity Solutions of the Vector Maxwell Equations in Non-linear Optics

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Webb, Garry; Sørensen, Mads Peter; Brio, Moysey

    2004-01-01

    the electromagnetic momentum and energy conservation laws, corresponding to the space and time translation invariance symmetries. The symmetries are used to obtain classical similarity solutions of the equations. The traveling wave similarity solutions for the case of a cubic Kerr nonlinearity, are shown to reduce...... the properties of Maxwell's equations in nonlinear optics, without resorting to the commonly used nonlinear Schr\\"odinger (NLS) equation approximation in which a high frequency carrier wave is modulated on long length and time scales due to nonlinear sideband wave interactions. This is important in femto......-second pulse propagation in which the NLS approximation is expected to break down. The canonical Hamiltonian description of the equations involves the solution of a polynomial equation for the electric field $E$, in terms of the the canonical variables, with possible multiple real roots for $E$. In order...

  13. An algorithm for finding a common solution for a system of mixed equilibrium problem, quasi-variational inclusion problem and fixed point problem of nonexpansive semigroup

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Liu Min

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available In this paper, we introduce a hybrid iterative scheme for finding a common element of the set of solutions for a system of mixed equilibrium problems, the set of common fixed points for a nonexpansive semigroup and the set of solutions of the quasi-variational inclusion problem with multi-valued maximal monotone mappings and inverse-strongly monotone mappings in a Hilbert space. Under suitable conditions, some strong convergence theorems are proved. Our results extend some recent results in the literature.

  14. Similarity and Modeling in Science and Engineering

    CERN Document Server

    Kuneš, Josef

    2012-01-01

    The present text sets itself in relief to other titles on the subject in that it addresses the means and methodologies versus a narrow specific-task oriented approach. Concepts and their developments which evolved to meet the changing needs of applications are addressed. This approach provides the reader with a general tool-box to apply to their specific needs. Two important tools are presented: dimensional analysis and the similarity analysis methods. The fundamental point of view, enabling one to sort all models, is that of information flux between a model and an original expressed by the similarity and abstraction. Each chapter includes original examples and ap-plications. In this respect, the models can be divided into several groups. The following models are dealt with separately by chapter; mathematical and physical models, physical analogues, deterministic, stochastic, and cybernetic computer models. The mathematical models are divided into asymptotic and phenomenological models. The phenomenological m...

  15. Metallic and antiferromagnetic fixed points from gravity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Paul, Chandrima

    2018-06-01

    We consider SU(2) × U(1) gauge theory coupled to matter field in adjoints and study RG group flow. We constructed Callan-Symanzik equation and subsequent β functions and study the fixed points. We find there are two fixed points, showing metallic and antiferromagnetic behavior. We have shown that metallic phase develops an instability if certain parametric conditions are satisfied.

  16. Gender Similarities in Math Performance from Middle School through High School

    Science.gov (United States)

    Scafidi, Tony; Bui, Khanh

    2010-01-01

    Using data from 10 states, Hyde, Lindberg, Linn, Ellis, and Williams (2008) found gender similarities in performance on standardized math tests. The present study attempted to replicate this finding with national data and to extend it by examining whether gender similarities in math performance are moderated by race, socioeconomic status, or math…

  17. Evaluating gender similarities and differences using metasynthesis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zell, Ethan; Krizan, Zlatan; Teeter, Sabrina R

    2015-01-01

    Despite the common lay assumption that males and females are profoundly different, Hyde (2005) used data from 46 meta-analyses to demonstrate that males and females are highly similar. Nonetheless, the gender similarities hypothesis has remained controversial. Since Hyde's provocative report, there has been an explosion of meta-analytic interest in psychological gender differences. We utilized this enormous collection of 106 meta-analyses and 386 individual meta-analytic effects to reevaluate the gender similarities hypothesis. Furthermore, we employed a novel data-analytic approach called metasynthesis (Zell & Krizan, 2014) to estimate the average difference between males and females and to explore moderators of gender differences. The average, absolute difference between males and females across domains was relatively small (d = 0.21, SD = 0.14), with the majority of effects being either small (46%) or very small (39%). Magnitude of differences fluctuated somewhat as a function of the psychological domain (e.g., cognitive variables, social and personality variables, well-being), but remained largely constant across age, culture, and generations. These findings provide compelling support for the gender similarities hypothesis, but also underscore conditions under which gender differences are most pronounced. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved.

  18. Problems in the theory of point explosions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Korobeinikov, V. P.

    The book is concerned with the development of the theory of point explosions, which is relevant to the study of such phenomena as the initiation of detonation, high-power explosions, electric discharges, cosmic explosions, laser blasts, and hypersonic aerodynamics. The discussion covers the principal equations and the statement of problems; linearized non-self-similar one-dimensional problems; spherical, cylindrical, and plane explosions with allowance for counterpressure under conditions of constant initial density; explosions in a combustible mixture of gases; and point explosions in inhomogeneous media with nonsymmetric energy release. Attention is also given to point explosions in an electrically conducting gas with allowance for the effect of the magnetic field and to the propagation of perturbations from solar flares.

  19. Equilibrium points of the tilted perfect fluid Bianchi VIh state space

    Science.gov (United States)

    Apostolopoulos, Pantelis S.

    2005-05-01

    We present the full set of evolution equations for the spatially homogeneous cosmologies of type VIh filled with a tilted perfect fluid and we provide the corresponding equilibrium points of the resulting dynamical state space. It is found that only when the group parameter satisfies h > -1 a self-similar solution exists. In particular we show that for h > -{1/9} there exists a self-similar equilibrium point provided that γ ∈ ({2(3+sqrt{-h})/5+3sqrt{-h}},{3/2}) whereas for h VIh.

  20. Fixed points of quantum gravity in extra dimensions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fischer, Peter; Litim, Daniel F.

    2006-01-01

    We study quantum gravity in more than four dimensions with renormalisation group methods. We find a non-trivial ultraviolet fixed point in the Einstein-Hilbert action. The fixed point connects with the perturbative infrared domain through finite renormalisation group trajectories. We show that our results for fixed points and related scaling exponents are stable. If this picture persists at higher order, quantum gravity in the metric field is asymptotically safe. We discuss signatures of the gravitational fixed point in models with low scale quantum gravity and compact extra dimensions

  1. Common neighbour structure and similarity intensity in complex networks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hou, Lei; Liu, Kecheng

    2017-10-01

    Complex systems as networks always exhibit strong regularities, implying underlying mechanisms governing their evolution. In addition to the degree preference, the similarity has been argued to be another driver for networks. Assuming a network is randomly organised without similarity preference, the present paper studies the expected number of common neighbours between vertices. A symmetrical similarity index is accordingly developed by removing such expected number from the observed common neighbours. The developed index can not only describe the similarities between vertices, but also the dissimilarities. We further apply the proposed index to measure of the influence of similarity on the wring patterns of networks. Fifteen empirical networks as well as artificial networks are examined in terms of similarity intensity and degree heterogeneity. Results on real networks indicate that, social networks are strongly governed by the similarity as well as the degree preference, while the biological networks and infrastructure networks show no apparent similarity governance. Particularly, classical network models, such as the Barabási-Albert model, the Erdös-Rényi model and the Ring Lattice, cannot well describe the social networks in terms of the degree heterogeneity and similarity intensity. The findings may shed some light on the modelling and link prediction of different classes of networks.

  2. A point implicit time integration technique for slow transient flow problems

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kadioglu, Samet Y., E-mail: kadioglu@yildiz.edu.tr [Department of Mathematical Engineering, Yildiz Technical University, 34210 Davutpasa-Esenler, Istanbul (Turkey); Berry, Ray A., E-mail: ray.berry@inl.gov [Idaho National Laboratory, P.O. Box 1625, MS 3840, Idaho Falls, ID 83415 (United States); Martineau, Richard C. [Idaho National Laboratory, P.O. Box 1625, MS 3840, Idaho Falls, ID 83415 (United States)

    2015-05-15

    Highlights: • This new method does not require implicit iteration; instead it time advances the solutions in a similar spirit to explicit methods. • It is unconditionally stable, as a fully implicit method would be. • It exhibits the simplicity of implementation of an explicit method. • It is specifically designed for slow transient flow problems of long duration such as can occur inside nuclear reactor coolant systems. • Our findings indicate the new method can integrate slow transient problems very efficiently; and its implementation is very robust. - Abstract: We introduce a point implicit time integration technique for slow transient flow problems. The method treats the solution variables of interest (that can be located at cell centers, cell edges, or cell nodes) implicitly and the rest of the information related to same or other variables are handled explicitly. The method does not require implicit iteration; instead it time advances the solutions in a similar spirit to explicit methods, except it involves a few additional function(s) evaluation steps. Moreover, the method is unconditionally stable, as a fully implicit method would be. This new approach exhibits the simplicity of implementation of explicit methods and the stability of implicit methods. It is specifically designed for slow transient flow problems of long duration wherein one would like to perform time integrations with very large time steps. Because the method can be time inaccurate for fast transient problems, particularly with larger time steps, an appropriate solution strategy for a problem that evolves from a fast to a slow transient would be to integrate the fast transient with an explicit or semi-implicit technique and then switch to this point implicit method as soon as the time variation slows sufficiently. We have solved several test problems that result from scalar or systems of flow equations. Our findings indicate the new method can integrate slow transient problems very

  3. A point implicit time integration technique for slow transient flow problems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kadioglu, Samet Y.; Berry, Ray A.; Martineau, Richard C.

    2015-01-01

    Highlights: • This new method does not require implicit iteration; instead it time advances the solutions in a similar spirit to explicit methods. • It is unconditionally stable, as a fully implicit method would be. • It exhibits the simplicity of implementation of an explicit method. • It is specifically designed for slow transient flow problems of long duration such as can occur inside nuclear reactor coolant systems. • Our findings indicate the new method can integrate slow transient problems very efficiently; and its implementation is very robust. - Abstract: We introduce a point implicit time integration technique for slow transient flow problems. The method treats the solution variables of interest (that can be located at cell centers, cell edges, or cell nodes) implicitly and the rest of the information related to same or other variables are handled explicitly. The method does not require implicit iteration; instead it time advances the solutions in a similar spirit to explicit methods, except it involves a few additional function(s) evaluation steps. Moreover, the method is unconditionally stable, as a fully implicit method would be. This new approach exhibits the simplicity of implementation of explicit methods and the stability of implicit methods. It is specifically designed for slow transient flow problems of long duration wherein one would like to perform time integrations with very large time steps. Because the method can be time inaccurate for fast transient problems, particularly with larger time steps, an appropriate solution strategy for a problem that evolves from a fast to a slow transient would be to integrate the fast transient with an explicit or semi-implicit technique and then switch to this point implicit method as soon as the time variation slows sufficiently. We have solved several test problems that result from scalar or systems of flow equations. Our findings indicate the new method can integrate slow transient problems very

  4. Prioritization of candidate disease genes by combining topological similarity and semantic similarity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Bin; Jin, Min; Zeng, Pan

    2015-10-01

    The identification of gene-phenotype relationships is very important for the treatment of human diseases. Studies have shown that genes causing the same or similar phenotypes tend to interact with each other in a protein-protein interaction (PPI) network. Thus, many identification methods based on the PPI network model have achieved good results. However, in the PPI network, some interactions between the proteins encoded by candidate gene and the proteins encoded by known disease genes are very weak. Therefore, some studies have combined the PPI network with other genomic information and reported good predictive performances. However, we believe that the results could be further improved. In this paper, we propose a new method that uses the semantic similarity between the candidate gene and known disease genes to set the initial probability vector of a random walk with a restart algorithm in a human PPI network. The effectiveness of our method was demonstrated by leave-one-out cross-validation, and the experimental results indicated that our method outperformed other methods. Additionally, our method can predict new causative genes of multifactor diseases, including Parkinson's disease, breast cancer and obesity. The top predictions were good and consistent with the findings in the literature, which further illustrates the effectiveness of our method. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  5. Determination of optimal samples for robot calibration based on error similarity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tian Wei

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available Industrial robots are used for automatic drilling and riveting. The absolute position accuracy of an industrial robot is one of the key performance indexes in aircraft assembly, and can be improved through error compensation to meet aircraft assembly requirements. The achievable accuracy and the difficulty of accuracy compensation implementation are closely related to the choice of sampling points. Therefore, based on the error similarity error compensation method, a method for choosing sampling points on a uniform grid is proposed. A simulation is conducted to analyze the influence of the sample point locations on error compensation. In addition, the grid steps of the sampling points are optimized using a statistical analysis method. The method is used to generate grids and optimize the grid steps of a Kuka KR-210 robot. The experimental results show that the method for planning sampling data can be used to effectively optimize the sampling grid. After error compensation, the position accuracy of the robot meets the position accuracy requirements.

  6. Cerebral computerized tomography findings in AIDS patients

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hol, P.K.; Dunlop, O.

    1997-01-01

    A cerebral CT was performed in 82 of 525 AIDS patients, with positive findings in 46 cases. These findings included cerebral atrophy in 28 cases, pathological demyelinisation in two, progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy in one, toxoplasmoses in 11, lymphomas in seven, infarction in one and one subdural haematoma. The radiological findings are correlated to pathology and clinical symptoms. The authors point out the importance of these findings for correct interpretation of the CT scans. 11 refs., 7 figs., 2 tabs

  7. Approximate solutions of common fixed-point problems

    CERN Document Server

    Zaslavski, Alexander J

    2016-01-01

    This book presents results on the convergence behavior of algorithms which are known as vital tools for solving convex feasibility problems and common fixed point problems. The main goal for us in dealing with a known computational error is to find what approximate solution can be obtained and how many iterates one needs to find it. According to know results, these algorithms should converge to a solution. In this exposition, these algorithms are studied, taking into account computational errors which remain consistent in practice. In this case the convergence to a solution does not take place. We show that our algorithms generate a good approximate solution if computational errors are bounded from above by a small positive constant. Beginning with an introduction, this monograph moves on to study: · dynamic string-averaging methods for common fixed point problems in a Hilbert space · dynamic string methods for common fixed point problems in a metric space · dynamic string-averaging version of the proximal...

  8. A fixed-point farrago

    CERN Document Server

    Shapiro, Joel H

    2016-01-01

    This text provides an introduction to some of the best-known fixed-point theorems, with an emphasis on their interactions with topics in analysis. The level of exposition increases gradually throughout the book, building from a basic requirement of undergraduate proficiency to graduate-level sophistication. Appendices provide an introduction to (or refresher on) some of the prerequisite material and exercises are integrated into the text, contributing to the volume’s ability to be used as a self-contained text. Readers will find the presentation especially useful for independent study or as a supplement to a graduate course in fixed-point theory. The material is split into four parts: the first introduces the Banach Contraction-Mapping Principle and the Brouwer Fixed-Point Theorem, along with a selection of interesting applications; the second focuses on Brouwer’s theorem and its application to John Nash’s work; the third applies Brouwer’s theorem to spaces of infinite dimension; and the fourth rests ...

  9. Similarity queries for temporal toxicogenomic expression profiles.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Adam A Smith

    2008-07-01

    Full Text Available We present an approach for answering similarity queries about gene expression time series that is motivated by the task of characterizing the potential toxicity of various chemicals. Our approach involves two key aspects. First, our method employs a novel alignment algorithm based on time warping. Our time warping algorithm has several advantages over previous approaches. It allows the user to impose fairly strong biases on the form that the alignments can take, and it permits a type of local alignment in which the entirety of only one series has to be aligned. Second, our method employs a relaxed spline interpolation to predict expression responses for unmeasured time points, such that the spline does not necessarily exactly fit every observed point. We evaluate our approach using expression time series from the Edge toxicology database. Our experiments show the value of using spline representations for sparse time series. More significantly, they show that our time warping method provides more accurate alignments and classifications than previous standard alignment methods for time series.

  10. Point Genetics: A New Concept to Assess Neutron Kinetics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Klein Meulekamp, R.; Kuijper, J.C.; Schikorr, M.

    2005-01-01

    Point genetic equations are introduced. These equations are similar to the well-known point kinetic equations but characterize and couple individual fission generations in subcritical systems. Point genetic equations are able to describe dynamic behavior of source-driven subcritical systems on shorter timescales than is possible with point kinetic equations. Point genetic parameters can be used as a first-order characterization of the system and can be calculated using standard Monte Carlo techniques; the implementation in other calculational schemes seems straightforward. A Godiva sphere is considered to show the applicability of the point genetic equations in describing a detector response on short timescales. For this system the point genetic parameters are calculated and compared with reference calculations. Typical dynamic source behavior is considered by studying a transient in which the neutron source energy decreases from 20 to 1 MeV. For all cases studied, the point genetic equations are compared to full space-time kinetic solutions, and it is shown that point genetics performs well

  11. Parallel algorithm for dominant points correspondences in robot binocular stereo vision

    Science.gov (United States)

    Al-Tammami, A.; Singh, B.

    1993-01-01

    This paper presents an algorithm to find the correspondences of points representing dominant feature in robot stereo vision. The algorithm consists of two main steps: dominant point extraction and dominant point matching. In the feature extraction phase, the algorithm utilizes the widely used Moravec Interest Operator and two other operators: the Prewitt Operator and a new operator called Gradient Angle Variance Operator. The Interest Operator in the Moravec algorithm was used to exclude featureless areas and simple edges which are oriented in the vertical, horizontal, and two diagonals. It was incorrectly detecting points on edges which are not on the four main directions (vertical, horizontal, and two diagonals). The new algorithm uses the Prewitt operator to exclude featureless areas, so that the Interest Operator is applied only on the edges to exclude simple edges and to leave interesting points. This modification speeds-up the extraction process by approximately 5 times. The Gradient Angle Variance (GAV), an operator which calculates the variance of the gradient angle in a window around the point under concern, is then applied on the interesting points to exclude the redundant ones and leave the actual dominant ones. The matching phase is performed after the extraction of the dominant points in both stereo images. The matching starts with dominant points in the left image and does a local search, looking for corresponding dominant points in the right image. The search is geometrically constrained the epipolar line of the parallel-axes stereo geometry and the maximum disparity of the application environment. If one dominant point in the right image lies in the search areas, then it is the corresponding point of the reference dominant point in the left image. A parameter provided by the GAV is thresholded and used as a rough similarity measure to select the corresponding dominant point if there is more than one point the search area. The correlation is used as

  12. Dual-time-point FDG-PET/CT Imaging of Temporal Bone Chondroblastoma: A Report of Two Cases

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Akira Toriihara

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available Temporal bone chondroblastoma is an extremely rare benign bone tumor. We encountered two cases showing similar imaging findings on computed tomography (CT, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI, and dual-time-point 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (18F-FDG positron emission tomography (PET/CT. In both cases, CT images revealed temporal bone defects and sclerotic changes around the tumor. Most parts of the tumor showed low signal intensity on T2- weighted MRI images and non-uniform enhancement on gadolinium contrast-enhanced T1-weighted images. No increase in signal intensity was noted in diffusion-weighted images. Dual-time-point PET/CT showed markedly elevated 18F-FDG uptake, which increased from the early to delayed phase. Nevertheless, immunohistochemical analysis of the resected tumor tissue revealed weak expression of glucose transporter-1 and hexokinase II in both tumors. Temporal bone tumors, showing markedly elevated 18F-FDG uptake, which increases from the early to delayed phase on PET/CT images, may be diagnosed as malignant bone tumors. Therefore, the differential diagnosis should include chondroblastoma in combination with its characteristic findings on CT and MRI.

  13. Parallel trajectory similarity joins in spatial networks

    KAUST Repository

    Shang, Shuo

    2018-04-04

    The matching of similar pairs of objects, called similarity join, is fundamental functionality in data management. We consider two cases of trajectory similarity joins (TS-Joins), including a threshold-based join (Tb-TS-Join) and a top-k TS-Join (k-TS-Join), where the objects are trajectories of vehicles moving in road networks. Given two sets of trajectories and a threshold θ, the Tb-TS-Join returns all pairs of trajectories from the two sets with similarity above θ. In contrast, the k-TS-Join does not take a threshold as a parameter, and it returns the top-k most similar trajectory pairs from the two sets. The TS-Joins target diverse applications such as trajectory near-duplicate detection, data cleaning, ridesharing recommendation, and traffic congestion prediction. With these applications in mind, we provide purposeful definitions of similarity. To enable efficient processing of the TS-Joins on large sets of trajectories, we develop search space pruning techniques and enable use of the parallel processing capabilities of modern processors. Specifically, we present a two-phase divide-and-conquer search framework that lays the foundation for the algorithms for the Tb-TS-Join and the k-TS-Join that rely on different pruning techniques to achieve efficiency. For each trajectory, the algorithms first find similar trajectories. Then they merge the results to obtain the final result. The algorithms for the two joins exploit different upper and lower bounds on the spatiotemporal trajectory similarity and different heuristic scheduling strategies for search space pruning. Their per-trajectory searches are independent of each other and can be performed in parallel, and the mergings have constant cost. An empirical study with real data offers insight in the performance of the algorithms and demonstrates that they are capable of outperforming well-designed baseline algorithms by an order of magnitude.

  14. Parallel trajectory similarity joins in spatial networks

    KAUST Repository

    Shang, Shuo; Chen, Lisi; Wei, Zhewei; Jensen, Christian S.; Zheng, Kai; Kalnis, Panos

    2018-01-01

    The matching of similar pairs of objects, called similarity join, is fundamental functionality in data management. We consider two cases of trajectory similarity joins (TS-Joins), including a threshold-based join (Tb-TS-Join) and a top-k TS-Join (k-TS-Join), where the objects are trajectories of vehicles moving in road networks. Given two sets of trajectories and a threshold θ, the Tb-TS-Join returns all pairs of trajectories from the two sets with similarity above θ. In contrast, the k-TS-Join does not take a threshold as a parameter, and it returns the top-k most similar trajectory pairs from the two sets. The TS-Joins target diverse applications such as trajectory near-duplicate detection, data cleaning, ridesharing recommendation, and traffic congestion prediction. With these applications in mind, we provide purposeful definitions of similarity. To enable efficient processing of the TS-Joins on large sets of trajectories, we develop search space pruning techniques and enable use of the parallel processing capabilities of modern processors. Specifically, we present a two-phase divide-and-conquer search framework that lays the foundation for the algorithms for the Tb-TS-Join and the k-TS-Join that rely on different pruning techniques to achieve efficiency. For each trajectory, the algorithms first find similar trajectories. Then they merge the results to obtain the final result. The algorithms for the two joins exploit different upper and lower bounds on the spatiotemporal trajectory similarity and different heuristic scheduling strategies for search space pruning. Their per-trajectory searches are independent of each other and can be performed in parallel, and the mergings have constant cost. An empirical study with real data offers insight in the performance of the algorithms and demonstrates that they are capable of outperforming well-designed baseline algorithms by an order of magnitude.

  15. How similar are recognition memory and inductive reasoning?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hayes, Brett K; Heit, Evan

    2013-07-01

    Conventionally, memory and reasoning are seen as different types of cognitive activities driven by different processes. In two experiments, we challenged this view by examining the relationship between recognition memory and inductive reasoning involving multiple forms of similarity. A common study set (members of a conjunctive category) was followed by a test set containing old and new category members, as well as items that matched the study set on only one dimension. The study and test sets were presented under recognition or induction instructions. In Experiments 1 and 2, the inductive property being generalized was varied in order to direct attention to different dimensions of similarity. When there was no time pressure on decisions, patterns of positive responding were strongly affected by property type, indicating that different types of similarity were driving recognition and induction. By comparison, speeded judgments showed weaker property effects and could be explained by generalization based on overall similarity. An exemplar model, GEN-EX (GENeralization from EXamples), could account for both the induction and recognition data. These findings show that induction and recognition share core component processes, even when the tasks involve flexible forms of similarity.

  16. Detecting Change-Point via Saddlepoint Approximations

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    Zhaoyuan LI; Maozai TIAN

    2017-01-01

    It's well-known that change-point problem is an important part of model statistical analysis.Most of the existing methods are not robust to criteria of the evaluation of change-point problem.In this article,we consider "mean-shift" problem in change-point studies.A quantile test of single quantile is proposed based on saddlepoint approximation method.In order to utilize the information at different quantile of the sequence,we further construct a "composite quantile test" to calculate the probability of every location of the sequence to be a change-point.The location of change-point can be pinpointed rather than estimated within a interval.The proposed tests make no assumptions about the functional forms of the sequence distribution and work sensitively on both large and small size samples,the case of change-point in the tails,and multiple change-points situation.The good performances of the tests are confirmed by simulations and real data analysis.The saddlepoint approximation based distribution of the test statistic that is developed in the paper is of independent interest and appealing.This finding may be of independent interest to the readers in this research area.

  17. PHOG analysis of self-similarity in aesthetic images

    Science.gov (United States)

    Amirshahi, Seyed Ali; Koch, Michael; Denzler, Joachim; Redies, Christoph

    2012-03-01

    In recent years, there have been efforts in defining the statistical properties of aesthetic photographs and artworks using computer vision techniques. However, it is still an open question how to distinguish aesthetic from non-aesthetic images with a high recognition rate. This is possibly because aesthetic perception is influenced also by a large number of cultural variables. Nevertheless, the search for statistical properties of aesthetic images has not been futile. For example, we have shown that the radially averaged power spectrum of monochrome artworks of Western and Eastern provenance falls off according to a power law with increasing spatial frequency (1/f2 characteristics). This finding implies that this particular subset of artworks possesses a Fourier power spectrum that is self-similar across different scales of spatial resolution. Other types of aesthetic images, such as cartoons, comics and mangas also display this type of self-similarity, as do photographs of complex natural scenes. Since the human visual system is adapted to encode images of natural scenes in a particular efficient way, we have argued that artists imitate these statistics in their artworks. In support of this notion, we presented results that artists portrait human faces with the self-similar Fourier statistics of complex natural scenes although real-world photographs of faces are not self-similar. In view of these previous findings, we investigated other statistical measures of self-similarity to characterize aesthetic and non-aesthetic images. In the present work, we propose a novel measure of self-similarity that is based on the Pyramid Histogram of Oriented Gradients (PHOG). For every image, we first calculate PHOG up to pyramid level 3. The similarity between the histograms of each section at a particular level is then calculated to the parent section at the previous level (or to the histogram at the ground level). The proposed approach is tested on datasets of aesthetic and

  18. Csf Based Non-Ground Points Extraction from LIDAR Data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shen, A.; Zhang, W.; Shi, H.

    2017-09-01

    Region growing is a classical method of point cloud segmentation. Based on the idea of collecting the pixels with similar properties to form regions, region growing is widely used in many fields such as medicine, forestry and remote sensing. In this algorithm, there are two core problems. One is the selection of seed points, the other is the setting of the growth constraints, in which the selection of the seed points is the foundation. In this paper, we propose a CSF (Cloth Simulation Filtering) based method to extract the non-ground seed points effectively. The experiments have shown that this method can obtain a group of seed spots compared with the traditional methods. It is a new attempt to extract seed points

  19. Faithful representation of similarities among three-dimensional shapes in human vision.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cutzu, F; Edelman, S

    1996-01-01

    Efficient and reliable classification of visual stimuli requires that their representations reside a low-dimensional and, therefore, computationally manageable feature space. We investigated the ability of the human visual system to derive such representations from the sensory input-a highly nontrivial task, given the million or so dimensions of the visual signal at its entry point to the cortex. In a series of experiments, subjects were presented with sets of parametrically defined shapes; the points in the common high-dimensional parameter space corresponding to the individual shapes formed regular planar (two-dimensional) patterns such as a triangle, a square, etc. We then used multidimensional scaling to arrange the shapes in planar configurations, dictated by their experimentally determined perceived similarities. The resulting configurations closely resembled the original arrangements of the stimuli in the parameter space. This achievement of the human visual system was replicated by a computational model derived from a theory of object representation in the brain, according to which similarities between objects, and not the geometry of each object, need to be faithfully represented. Images Fig. 3 PMID:8876260

  20. Self-similar perturbations of a Friedmann universe

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Carr, B.J.; Yahil, A.

    1990-01-01

    The present analysis of spherically symmetric self-similar solutions to the Einstein equations gives attention to those solutions that are asymptotically k = 0 Friedmann at large z values, and possess finite but perturbed density at the origin. Such solutions represent nonlinear density fluctuations which grow at the same rate as the universe's particle horizon. The overdense solutions span only a narrow range of parameters, and resemble static isothermal gas spheres just within the sonic point; the underdense solutions may have arbitrarily low density at the origin while exhibiting a unique relationship between amplitude and scale. Their relevance to large-scale void formation is considered. 36 refs

  1. SharePoint Server 2010 Administration 24 Hour Trainer

    CERN Document Server

    Crider, Bill; Richardson, Clint

    2012-01-01

    Get quickly up to speed on SharePoint Server 2010! Covering all aspects of the SharePoint technology, this unique book-and-DVD combination provides expert guidance within each lesson in the book, which is then supplemented on the instructional DVD. The authors expose you to a variety of SharePoint Server 2010 topics, from organization concerns to training plans to programmer best practices, all aimed at helping you effortlessly find your way around SharePoint without a deep knowledge of the technology. You’ll quickly learn to configure and administer a site or site collection using this

  2. Computed tomography findings of acute gastric volvulus

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Millet, Ingrid; Orliac, Celine; Alili, Chakib; Taourel, Patrice [Hopital Lapeyronie, Department of Radiology, Montpellier (France); Guillon, Francoise [University Hospital of Montpellier, Department of Surgery, Montpellier (France)

    2014-12-15

    To assess the diagnostic performance of CT signs of gastric volvulus in both confirmed cases and control subjects. We retrospectively reviewed CT findings in 10 patients with surgically confirmed acute gastric volvulus and 20 control subjects with gastric distension. Two radiologists independently evaluated CT images for risk factors of gastric volvulus, direct findings of gastric volvulus by assessing gastric dilatation, the presence of an antropyloric transition point, the respective position of the different stomach segments and of the greater and lesser curvatures, stenosis of the gastric segments through the oesophageal hiatus and for findings of gastric ischemia. The sensitivity and specificity of each finding were calculated. The most sensitive direct signs of gastric volvulus were an antropyloric transition point without any abnormality at the transition zone and the antrum at the same level or higher than the fundus. The presence of both these two findings as diagnostic criteria of gastric volvulus had 100 % sensitivity and specificity for the diagnosis of gastric volvulus. There was no association between CT signs of ischemia and final bowel ischemia at pathology. CT is both highly sensitive and specific for diagnosing acute gastric volvulus. (orig.)

  3. Computed tomography findings of acute gastric volvulus

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Millet, Ingrid; Orliac, Celine; Alili, Chakib; Taourel, Patrice; Guillon, Francoise

    2014-01-01

    To assess the diagnostic performance of CT signs of gastric volvulus in both confirmed cases and control subjects. We retrospectively reviewed CT findings in 10 patients with surgically confirmed acute gastric volvulus and 20 control subjects with gastric distension. Two radiologists independently evaluated CT images for risk factors of gastric volvulus, direct findings of gastric volvulus by assessing gastric dilatation, the presence of an antropyloric transition point, the respective position of the different stomach segments and of the greater and lesser curvatures, stenosis of the gastric segments through the oesophageal hiatus and for findings of gastric ischemia. The sensitivity and specificity of each finding were calculated. The most sensitive direct signs of gastric volvulus were an antropyloric transition point without any abnormality at the transition zone and the antrum at the same level or higher than the fundus. The presence of both these two findings as diagnostic criteria of gastric volvulus had 100 % sensitivity and specificity for the diagnosis of gastric volvulus. There was no association between CT signs of ischemia and final bowel ischemia at pathology. CT is both highly sensitive and specific for diagnosing acute gastric volvulus. (orig.)

  4. Investigation on the pinch point position in heat exchangers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pan, Lisheng; Shi, Weixiu

    2016-06-01

    The pinch point is important for analyzing heat transfer in thermodynamic cycles. With the aim to reveal the importance of determining the accurate pinch point, the research on the pinch point position is carried out by theoretical method. The results show that the pinch point position depends on the parameters of the heat transfer fluids and the major fluid properties. In most cases, the pinch point locates at the bubble point for the evaporator and the dew point for the condenser. However, the pinch point shifts to the supercooled liquid state in the near critical conditions for the evaporator. Similarly, it shifts to the superheated vapor state with the condensing temperature approaching the critical temperature for the condenser. It even can shift to the working fluid entrance of the evaporator or the supercritical heater when the heat source fluid temperature is very high compared with the absorbing heat temperature. A wrong position for the pinch point may generate serious mistake. In brief, the pinch point should be founded by the iterative method in all conditions rather than taking for granted.

  5. Decline in word-finding: The objective cognitive finding most relevant to patients after mesial temporal lobe epilepsy surgery.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pauli, Carla; de Oliveira Thais, Maria Emilia Rodrigues; Guarnieri, Ricardo; Schwarzbold, Marcelo Liborio; Diaz, Alexandre Paim; Ben, Juliana; Linhares, Marcelo Neves; Markowitsch, Hans Joachim; Wolf, Peter; Wiebe, Samuel; Lin, Katia; Walz, Roger

    2017-10-01

    The purpose of this study was to investigate the following: i) the objective impairment in neuropsychological tests that were associated with the subjective perception of cognitive function decline in Brazilian patients who underwent mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE) surgery and ii) the predictive variables for those impaired objective neuropsychological tests. Forty-eight adults with MTLE (27 right HS and 23 male) were divided according to their perception of changes (Decline or No-decline) of cognitive function domain of the QOLIE-31 questionnaire applied before and 1year after the ATL. The mean (SD) of changes in the raw score difference of the neuropsychological tests before and after the ATL was compared between Decline and No-decline groups. Receiver Operating Characteristic curves, sensitivity, specificity, and predictive values were used to assess the optimum cutoff points of neuropsychological test score changes to predict patient-reported subjective cognitive decline. Six (12.5%) patients reported a perception of cognitive function decline after ATL. Among the 25 cognitive tests analyzed, only changes in the Boston Naming Test (BNT) were associated with subjective cognitive decline reported by patients. A reduction of ≥8 points in the raw score of BNT after surgery had 91% of sensitivity and 45% specificity for predicting subjective perception of cognitive function decline by the patient. Left side surgery and age older than 40years were more associated with an important BNT reduction with overall accuracy of 91.7%, 95% predictive ability for no impairment, and 75% for impairment of cognitive function. Impairment in word-finding seems to be the objective cognitive finding most relevant to Brazilian patients after mesial temporal lobe epilepsy surgery. Similar to American patients, the side of surgery and age are good predictors for no decline in the BNT, but shows a lower accuracy to predict its decline. If replicated in other populations, the

  6. Gait Recognition Using Image Self-Similarity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chiraz BenAbdelkader

    2004-04-01

    Full Text Available Gait is one of the few biometrics that can be measured at a distance, and is hence useful for passive surveillance as well as biometric applications. Gait recognition research is still at its infancy, however, and we have yet to solve the fundamental issue of finding gait features which at once have sufficient discrimination power and can be extracted robustly and accurately from low-resolution video. This paper describes a novel gait recognition technique based on the image self-similarity of a walking person. We contend that the similarity plot encodes a projection of gait dynamics. It is also correspondence-free, robust to segmentation noise, and works well with low-resolution video. The method is tested on multiple data sets of varying sizes and degrees of difficulty. Performance is best for fronto-parallel viewpoints, whereby a recognition rate of 98% is achieved for a data set of 6 people, and 70% for a data set of 54 people.

  7. Retrieval evaluation and distance learning from perceived similarity between endomicroscopy videos.

    Science.gov (United States)

    André, Barbara; Vercauteren, Tom; Buchner, Anna M; Wallace, Michael B; Ayache, Nicholas

    2011-01-01

    Evaluating content-based retrieval (CBR) is challenging because it requires an adequate ground-truth. When the available groundtruth is limited to textual metadata such as pathological classes, retrieval results can only be evaluated indirectly, for example in terms of classification performance. In this study we first present a tool to generate perceived similarity ground-truth that enables direct evaluation of endomicroscopic video retrieval. This tool uses a four-points Likert scale and collects subjective pairwise similarities perceived by multiple expert observers. We then evaluate against the generated ground-truth a previously developed dense bag-of-visual-words method for endomicroscopic video retrieval. Confirming the results of previous indirect evaluation based on classification, our direct evaluation shows that this method significantly outperforms several other state-of-the-art CBR methods. In a second step, we propose to improve the CBR method by learning an adjusted similarity metric from the perceived similarity ground-truth. By minimizing a margin-based cost function that differentiates similar and dissimilar video pairs, we learn a weight vector applied to the visual word signatures of videos. Using cross-validation, we demonstrate that the learned similarity distance is significantly better correlated with the perceived similarity than the original visual-word-based distance.

  8. Describing chaotic attractors: Regular and perpetual points

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dudkowski, Dawid; Prasad, Awadhesh; Kapitaniak, Tomasz

    2018-03-01

    We study the concepts of regular and perpetual points for describing the behavior of chaotic attractors in dynamical systems. The idea of these points, which have been recently introduced to theoretical investigations, is thoroughly discussed and extended into new types of models. We analyze the correlation between regular and perpetual points, as well as their relation with phase space, showing the potential usefulness of both types of points in the qualitative description of co-existing states. The ability of perpetual points in finding attractors is indicated, along with its potential cause. The location of chaotic trajectories and sets of considered points is investigated and the study on the stability of systems is shown. The statistical analysis of the observing desired states is performed. We focus on various types of dynamical systems, i.e., chaotic flows with self-excited and hidden attractors, forced mechanical models, and semiconductor superlattices, exhibiting the universality of appearance of the observed patterns and relations.

  9. Birds of a feather sit together: physical similarity predicts seating choice.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mackinnon, Sean P; Jordan, Christian H; Wilson, Anne E

    2011-07-01

    Across four studies, people sat (or reported they would sit) closer to physically similar others. Study 1 revealed significant aggregation in seating patterns on two easily observed characteristics: glasses wearing and sex. Study 2 replicated this finding with a wider variety of physical traits: race, sex, glasses wearing, hair length, and hair color. The overall tendency for people to sit beside physically similar others remained significant when controlling for sex and race, suggesting people aggregate on physical dimensions other than broad social categories. Study 3 conceptually replicated these results in a laboratory setting. The more physically similar participants were to a confederate, the closer they sat before an anticipated interaction when controlling for sex, race, and attractiveness similarity. In Study 4, overall physical similarity and glasses wearing similarity predicted self-reported seating distance. These effects were mediated by perceived attitudinal similarity. Liking and inferred acceptance also received support as mediators for glasses wearing similarity. © 2011 by the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc

  10. Radiologic findings of tubular adenoma of the breast

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Jeong, Mi Gyoung; Oh, Ki Keun [Yonsei Univ. College of Medicine, Seoul (Korea, Republic of)

    1996-10-01

    Tubular adenoma (TA) is known as a rare lesion of the breast which is difficult to diagnosis preoperatively because of its rarity and similarity to fibroadenoma. Hence, our purpose is to suggest the characteristic sonographic features for its correct diagnosis. We retrospectively analyzed the clinical data and mammographic and sonographic findings. of seven patients(mean age, 23) who during the previous five years had presented at our hospital with pathologically-proven tubular adenoma. TA was misdiagnosed as fibroadenoma, since on physical examination of these young females, the lesions presented a palpable, non-tender mass. Mammographically, they showed a well defined mass similar to fibroadenoma. However, sonographic findings were characteristic of TA and compared to fibroadenoma, showed a well demarcated and smooth bordered mass with transverse long axis, posterior enhancement and homogeneous lower internal echogenecity. No case showed lateral wall refractive shadowing. In young females, the clinical and mammographic findings of TA are similar to those of fibroadenoma. However, sonographic findings of TA can, be helpful in the differential diagnosis of this entity and fibroadenoma.

  11. Radiologic findings of tubular adenoma of the breast

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jeong, Mi Gyoung; Oh, Ki Keun

    1996-01-01

    Tubular adenoma (TA) is known as a rare lesion of the breast which is difficult to diagnosis preoperatively because of its rarity and similarity to fibroadenoma. Hence, our purpose is to suggest the characteristic sonographic features for its correct diagnosis. We retrospectively analyzed the clinical data and mammographic and sonographic findings. of seven patients(mean age, 23) who during the previous five years had presented at our hospital with pathologically-proven tubular adenoma. TA was misdiagnosed as fibroadenoma, since on physical examination of these young females, the lesions presented a palpable, non-tender mass. Mammographically, they showed a well defined mass similar to fibroadenoma. However, sonographic findings were characteristic of TA and compared to fibroadenoma, showed a well demarcated and smooth bordered mass with transverse long axis, posterior enhancement and homogeneous lower internal echogenecity. No case showed lateral wall refractive shadowing. In young females, the clinical and mammographic findings of TA are similar to those of fibroadenoma. However, sonographic findings of TA can, be helpful in the differential diagnosis of this entity and fibroadenoma

  12. Evaluation of the point-centred-quarter method of sampling ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    -quarter method.The parameter which was most efficiently sampled was species composition relativedensity) with 90% replicate similarity being achieved with 100 point-centred-quarters. However, this technique cannot be recommended, even ...

  13. Uptake of Community-Based Peer Administered HIV Point-of-Care Testing: Findings from the PROUD Study.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lisa Lazarus

    Full Text Available HIV prevalence among people who inject drugs (PWID in Ottawa is estimated at about 10%. The successful integration of peers into outreach efforts and wider access to HIV point-of-care testing (POCT create opportunities to explore the role of peers in providing HIV testing. The PROUD study, in partnership with Ottawa Public Health (OPH, sought to develop a model for community-based peer-administered HIV POCT.PROUD draws on community-based participatory research methods to better understand the HIV risk environment of people who use drugs in Ottawa. From March-October 2013, 593 people who reported injecting drugs or smoking crack cocaine were enrolled through street-based recruitment. Trained peer or medical student researchers administered a quantitative survey and offered an HIV POCT (bioLytical INSTI test to participants who did not self-report as HIV positive.550 (92.7% of the 593 participants were offered a POCT, of which 458 (83.3% consented to testing. Of those participants, 74 (16.2% had never been tested for HIV. There was no difference in uptake between testing offered by a peer versus a non-peer interviewer (OR = 1.05; 95% CI = 0.67-1.66. Despite testing those at high risk for HIV, only one new reactive test was identified.The findings from PROUD demonstrate high uptake of community-based HIV POCT. Peers were able to successfully provide HIV POCT and reach participants who had not previously been tested for HIV. Community-based and peer testing models provide important insights on ways to scale-up HIV prevention and testing among people who use drugs.

  14. An electrophysiological signature of summed similarity in visual working memory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    van Vugt, Marieke K; Sekuler, Robert; Wilson, Hugh R; Kahana, Michael J

    2013-05-01

    Summed-similarity models of short-term item recognition posit that participants base their judgments of an item's prior occurrence on that item's summed similarity to the ensemble of items on the remembered list. We examined the neural predictions of these models in 3 short-term recognition memory experiments using electrocorticographic/depth electrode recordings and scalp electroencephalography. On each experimental trial, participants judged whether a test face had been among a small set of recently studied faces. Consistent with summed-similarity theory, participants' tendency to endorse a test item increased as a function of its summed similarity to the items on the just-studied list. To characterize this behavioral effect of summed similarity, we successfully fit a summed-similarity model to individual participant data from each experiment. Using the parameters determined from fitting the summed-similarity model to the behavioral data, we examined the relation between summed similarity and brain activity. We found that 4-9 Hz theta activity in the medial temporal lobe and 2-4 Hz delta activity recorded from frontal and parietal cortices increased with summed similarity. These findings demonstrate direct neural correlates of the similarity computations that form the foundation of several major cognitive theories of human recognition memory. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved.

  15. An Exploration of Mate Similarity for Criminal Offending Behaviors: Results from a Multi-Generation Sample of Dutch Spouses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    van de Weijer, Steve G A; Beaver, Kevin M

    2017-09-01

    There has been a growing body of research examining mate and spousal similarity on antisocial behaviors. The results of these studies have shown varying degrees of similarity between mates and spouses, but the precise mechanisms accounting for such similarity have remained somewhat elusive. The current study builds off this line of research and examines spousal similarity on criminal offending behaviors. Moreover, we also examine the potential factors that might account for spousal similarity. This study analyzed data drawn from two generations of Dutch spouses. The analyses revealed statistically significant associations between mates on criminal offending prior to marriage, a finding that is directly in line with an assortative mating explanation of spousal similarity. In addition, the analyses also revealed that criminal offending between spouses becomes even more similar after marriage, a finding that is line with a behavioral contagion explanation of spousal similarity. We conclude by discussing the limitations of the study along with the implications that these findings have for criminological research.

  16. [Definition of ashi point from the view of linguistics].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jiang, Shan; Zhao, Jingsheng

    2017-01-12

    The definition of ashi point has not been unified yet till now. Likewise, the precise explanation on its connotation has always been an elusive question in acupuncture theory. By collecting diverse definitions on ashi point in the textbooks of Acupuncture and Moxibustion , dictionaries and term standards, several rational elements in definitions with consensus were screened. With the assistance of two important theories of cognitive linguistics, such as figure-ground theory and distance iconicity theory, the concept of ashi point was newly defined. Additiona-lly, on the base of the understanding on several similar terms such as "taking the painful site as acupoint", "responding point" and "reactive point", the semanteme analytic method was used to distinguish the difference among them so that the more profound explorations on acupuncture therapy are expounded.

  17. Solutions to second order non-homogeneous multi-point BVPs using a fixed-point theorem

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yuji Liu

    2008-07-01

    Full Text Available In this article, we study five non-homogeneous multi-point boundary-value problems (BVPs of second order differential equations with the one-dimensional p-Laplacian. These problems have a common equation (in different function domains and different boundary conditions. We find conditions that guarantee the existence of at least three positive solutions. The results obtained generalize several known ones and are illustrated by examples. It is also shown that the approach for getting three positive solutions by using multi-fixed-point theorems can be extended to nonhomogeneous BVPs. The emphasis is on the nonhomogeneous boundary conditions and the nonlinear term involving first order derivative of the unknown. Some open problems are also proposed.

  18. Surface Charging and Points of Zero Charge

    CERN Document Server

    Kosmulski, Marek

    2009-01-01

    Presents Points of Zero Charge data on well-defined specimen of materials sorted by trademark, manufacturer, and location. This text emphasizes the comparison between particular results obtained for different portions of the same or very similar material and synthesizes the information published in research reports over the past few decades

  19. Distance of Sample Measurement Points to Prototype Catalog Curve

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hjorth, Poul G.; Karamehmedovic, Mirza; Perram, John

    2006-01-01

    We discuss strategies for comparing discrete data points to a catalog (reference) curve by means of the Euclidean distance from each point to the curve in a pump's head H vs. flow Qdiagram. In particular we find that a method currently in use is inaccurate. We propose several alternatives...

  20. Ultrasound Findings in Tension Pneumothorax: A Case Report.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Inocencio, Maxine; Childs, Jeannine; Chilstrom, Mikaela L; Berona, Kristin

    2017-06-01

    Delayed recognition of tension pneumothorax can lead to a mortality of 31% to 91%. However, the classic physical examination findings of tracheal deviation and distended neck veins are poorly sensitive in the diagnosis of tension pneumothorax. Point-of-care ultrasound is accurate in identifying the presence of pneumothorax, but sonographic findings of tension pneumothorax are less well described. We report the case of a 21-year-old man with sudden-onset left-sided chest pain. He was clinically stable without hypoxia or hypotension, and the initial chest x-ray study showed a large pneumothorax without mediastinal shift. While the patient was awaiting tube thoracostomy, a point-of-care ultrasound demonstrated findings of mediastinal shift and a dilated inferior vena cava (IVC) concerning for tension physiology, even though the patient remained hemodynamically stable. WHY SHOULD AN EMERGENCY PHYSICIAN BE AWARE OF THIS?: This case demonstrates a unique clinical scenario of ultrasound evidence of tension physiology in a clinically stable patient. Although this patient was well appearing without hypotension, respiratory distress, tracheal deviation, or distended neck veins, point-of-care ultrasound revealed mediastinal shift and a plethoric IVC. Given that the classic clinical signs of tension pneumothorax are not uniformly present, this case shows how point-of-care ultrasound may diagnose tension pneumothorax before clinical decompensation. Published by Elsevier Inc.

  1. Iterative closest normal point for 3D face recognition.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mohammadzade, Hoda; Hatzinakos, Dimitrios

    2013-02-01

    The common approach for 3D face recognition is to register a probe face to each of the gallery faces and then calculate the sum of the distances between their points. This approach is computationally expensive and sensitive to facial expression variation. In this paper, we introduce the iterative closest normal point method for finding the corresponding points between a generic reference face and every input face. The proposed correspondence finding method samples a set of points for each face, denoted as the closest normal points. These points are effectively aligned across all faces, enabling effective application of discriminant analysis methods for 3D face recognition. As a result, the expression variation problem is addressed by minimizing the within-class variability of the face samples while maximizing the between-class variability. As an important conclusion, we show that the surface normal vectors of the face at the sampled points contain more discriminatory information than the coordinates of the points. We have performed comprehensive experiments on the Face Recognition Grand Challenge database, which is presently the largest available 3D face database. We have achieved verification rates of 99.6 and 99.2 percent at a false acceptance rate of 0.1 percent for the all versus all and ROC III experiments, respectively, which, to the best of our knowledge, have seven and four times less error rates, respectively, compared to the best existing methods on this database.

  2. SharePoint 2010 Administration Instant Reference

    CERN Document Server

    Williams, Randy

    2011-01-01

    Fast, accurate answers on SharePoint 2010 administration-in an instant If you're a SharePoint administrator and are looking for fast, accurate, easy-to-understand answers and solutions, then this reference is for you. Thumb tabs, secondary and tertiary tables of contents, and special heading treatments ensure quick and easy ways to find practical solutions on the spot. In addition, quick-reference tables, lists, and step-by-step instruction provide even more helpful information on the day-to-day administration of Microsoft's newest collaboration solution.Features invaluable answers and solutio

  3. A comparison of point counts with a new acoustic sampling method ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    We showed that the estimates of species richness, abundance and community composition based on point counts and post-hoc laboratory listening to acoustic samples are very similar, especially for a distance limited up to 50 m. Species that were frequently missed during both point counts and listening to acoustic samples ...

  4. Geography and similarity of regional cuisines in China.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhu, Yu-Xiao; Huang, Junming; Zhang, Zi-Ke; Zhang, Qian-Ming; Zhou, Tao; Ahn, Yong-Yeol

    2013-01-01

    Food occupies a central position in every culture and it is therefore of great interest to understand the evolution of food culture. The advent of the World Wide Web and online recipe repositories have begun to provide unprecedented opportunities for data-driven, quantitative study of food culture. Here we harness an online database documenting recipes from various Chinese regional cuisines and investigate the similarity of regional cuisines in terms of geography and climate. We find that geographical proximity, rather than climate proximity, is a crucial factor that determines the similarity of regional cuisines. We develop a model of regional cuisine evolution that provides helpful clues for understanding the evolution of cuisines and cultures.

  5. Geography and Similarity of Regional Cuisines in China

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhu, Yu-Xiao; Huang, Junming; Zhang, Zi-Ke; Zhang, Qian-Ming; Zhou, Tao; Ahn, Yong-Yeol

    2013-01-01

    Food occupies a central position in every culture and it is therefore of great interest to understand the evolution of food culture. The advent of the World Wide Web and online recipe repositories have begun to provide unprecedented opportunities for data-driven, quantitative study of food culture. Here we harness an online database documenting recipes from various Chinese regional cuisines and investigate the similarity of regional cuisines in terms of geography and climate. We find that geographical proximity, rather than climate proximity, is a crucial factor that determines the similarity of regional cuisines. We develop a model of regional cuisine evolution that provides helpful clues for understanding the evolution of cuisines and cultures. PMID:24260166

  6. Similar or different?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Cornér, Solveig; Pyhältö, Kirsi; Peltonen, Jouni

    2018-01-01

    Previous research has identified researcher community and supervisory support as key determinants of the doctoral journey contributing to students’ persistence and robustness. However, we still know little about cross-cultural variation in the researcher community and supervisory support experien...... counter partners, whereas the Finnish students perceived lower levels of instrumental support than the Danish students. The findings imply that seemingly similar contexts hold valid differences in experienced social support and educational strategies at the PhD level....... experienced by PhD students within the same discipline. This study explores the support experiences of 381 PhD students within the humanities and social sciences from three research-intensive universities in Denmark (n=145) and Finland (n=236). The mixed methods design was utilized. The data were collected...... counter partners. The results also indicated that the only form of support in which the students expressed more matched support than mismatched support was informational support. Further investigation showed that the Danish students reported a high level of mismatch in emotional support than their Finnish...

  7. Program computes single-point failures in critical system designs

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brown, W. R.

    1967-01-01

    Computer program analyzes the designs of critical systems that will either prove the design is free of single-point failures or detect each member of the population of single-point failures inherent in a system design. This program should find application in the checkout of redundant circuits and digital systems.

  8. Computed tomography findings of acute gastric volvulus.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Millet, Ingrid; Orliac, Celine; Alili, Chakib; Guillon, Françoise; Taourel, Patrice

    2014-12-01

    To assess the diagnostic performance of CT signs of gastric volvulus in both confirmed cases and control subjects. We retrospectively reviewed CT findings in 10 patients with surgically confirmed acute gastric volvulus and 20 control subjects with gastric distension. Two radiologists independently evaluated CT images for risk factors of gastric volvulus, direct findings of gastric volvulus by assessing gastric dilatation, the presence of an antropyloric transition point, the respective position of the different stomach segments and of the greater and lesser curvatures, stenosis of the gastric segments through the oesophageal hiatus and for findings of gastric ischemia. The sensitivity and specificity of each finding were calculated. The most sensitive direct signs of gastric volvulus were an antropyloric transition point without any abnormality at the transition zone and the antrum at the same level or higher than the fundus. The presence of both these two findings as diagnostic criteria of gastric volvulus had 100% sensitivity and specificity for the diagnosis of gastric volvulus. There was no association between CT signs of ischemia and final bowel ischemia at pathology. CT is both highly sensitive and specific for diagnosing acute gastric volvulus. CT is highly reliable for diagnosing acute gastric volvulus with two findings. The two signs are gastropyloric transition zone and abnormal location of the antrum. This allows fast surgical management of this emergency.

  9. Similarity, Induction, Naming, and Categorization (SINC): Generalization or Inductive Reasoning? Reply to Heit and Hayes (2005)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sloutsky, Vladimir M.; Fisher, Anna V.

    2006-01-01

    This article is a response to E. Heit and B. K. Hayes's comment on the target article "Induction and Categorization in Young Children: A Similarity-Based Model" (V. M. Sloutsky & A. V. Fisher, 2004a). The response discusses points of agreement and disagreement with Heit and Hayes; phenomena predicted by similarity, induction, naming, and…

  10. Improved personalized recommendation based on a similarity network

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Ximeng; Liu, Yun; Xiong, Fei

    2016-08-01

    A recommender system helps individual users find the preferred items rapidly and has attracted extensive attention in recent years. Many successful recommendation algorithms are designed on bipartite networks, such as network-based inference or heat conduction. However, most of these algorithms define the resource-allocation methods for an average allocation. That is not reasonable because average allocation cannot indicate the user choice preference and the influence between users which leads to a series of non-personalized recommendation results. We propose a personalized recommendation approach that combines the similarity function and bipartite network to generate a similarity network that improves the resource-allocation process. Our model introduces user influence into the recommender system and states that the user influence can make the resource-allocation process more reasonable. We use four different metrics to evaluate our algorithms for three benchmark data sets. Experimental results show that the improved recommendation on a similarity network can obtain better accuracy and diversity than some competing approaches.

  11. Patient Similarity in Prediction Models Based on Health Data: A Scoping Review

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sharafoddini, Anis; Dubin, Joel A

    2017-01-01

    Background Physicians and health policy makers are required to make predictions during their decision making in various medical problems. Many advances have been made in predictive modeling toward outcome prediction, but these innovations target an average patient and are insufficiently adjustable for individual patients. One developing idea in this field is individualized predictive analytics based on patient similarity. The goal of this approach is to identify patients who are similar to an index patient and derive insights from the records of similar patients to provide personalized predictions.. Objective The aim is to summarize and review published studies describing computer-based approaches for predicting patients’ future health status based on health data and patient similarity, identify gaps, and provide a starting point for related future research. Methods The method involved (1) conducting the review by performing automated searches in Scopus, PubMed, and ISI Web of Science, selecting relevant studies by first screening titles and abstracts then analyzing full-texts, and (2) documenting by extracting publication details and information on context, predictors, missing data, modeling algorithm, outcome, and evaluation methods into a matrix table, synthesizing data, and reporting results. Results After duplicate removal, 1339 articles were screened in abstracts and titles and 67 were selected for full-text review. In total, 22 articles met the inclusion criteria. Within included articles, hospitals were the main source of data (n=10). Cardiovascular disease (n=7) and diabetes (n=4) were the dominant patient diseases. Most studies (n=18) used neighborhood-based approaches in devising prediction models. Two studies showed that patient similarity-based modeling outperformed population-based predictive methods. Conclusions Interest in patient similarity-based predictive modeling for diagnosis and prognosis has been growing. In addition to raw/coded health

  12. A Segment-Based Trajectory Similarity Measure in the Urban Transportation Systems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mao, Yingchi; Zhong, Haishi; Xiao, Xianjian; Li, Xiaofang

    2017-03-06

    With the rapid spread of built-in GPS handheld smart devices, the trajectory data from GPS sensors has grown explosively. Trajectory data has spatio-temporal characteristics and rich information. Using trajectory data processing techniques can mine the patterns of human activities and the moving patterns of vehicles in the intelligent transportation systems. A trajectory similarity measure is one of the most important issues in trajectory data mining (clustering, classification, frequent pattern mining, etc.). Unfortunately, the main similarity measure algorithms with the trajectory data have been found to be inaccurate, highly sensitive of sampling methods, and have low robustness for the noise data. To solve the above problems, three distances and their corresponding computation methods are proposed in this paper. The point-segment distance can decrease the sensitivity of the point sampling methods. The prediction distance optimizes the temporal distance with the features of trajectory data. The segment-segment distance introduces the trajectory shape factor into the similarity measurement to improve the accuracy. The three kinds of distance are integrated with the traditional dynamic time warping algorithm (DTW) algorithm to propose a new segment-based dynamic time warping algorithm (SDTW). The experimental results show that the SDTW algorithm can exhibit about 57%, 86%, and 31% better accuracy than the longest common subsequence algorithm (LCSS), and edit distance on real sequence algorithm (EDR) , and DTW, respectively, and that the sensitivity to the noise data is lower than that those algorithms.

  13. Random walk-based similarity measure method for patterns in complex object

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Liu Shihu

    2017-04-01

    Full Text Available This paper discusses the similarity of the patterns in complex objects. The complex object is composed both of the attribute information of patterns and the relational information between patterns. Bearing in mind the specificity of complex object, a random walk-based similarity measurement method for patterns is constructed. In this method, the reachability of any two patterns with respect to the relational information is fully studied, and in the case of similarity of patterns with respect to the relational information can be calculated. On this bases, an integrated similarity measurement method is proposed, and algorithms 1 and 2 show the performed calculation procedure. One can find that this method makes full use of the attribute information and relational information. Finally, a synthetic example shows that our proposed similarity measurement method is validated.

  14. Ileocaecal Intussusception with a Lead Point: Unusual MDCT Findings of Active Crohn’s Disease Involving the Appendix

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ebru Ozan

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Adult intussusception is a rare entity accounting for 1% of all bowel obstructions. Unlike intussusceptions in children, which are idiopathic in 90% of cases, adult intussusceptions have an identifiable cause (lead point in the majority of cases. Crohn’s disease (CD may affect any part of the gastrointestinal tract, including the appendix. It was shown to be a predisposing factor for intussusception. Here, we report a rare case of adult intussusception with a lead point, emphasizing diagnostic input of multidetector computed tomography (MDCT in a patient with active CD that involves the appendix.

  15. Clustering and visualizing similarity networks of membrane proteins.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hu, Geng-Ming; Mai, Te-Lun; Chen, Chi-Ming

    2015-08-01

    We proposed a fast and unsupervised clustering method, minimum span clustering (MSC), for analyzing the sequence-structure-function relationship of biological networks, and demonstrated its validity in clustering the sequence/structure similarity networks (SSN) of 682 membrane protein (MP) chains. The MSC clustering of MPs based on their sequence information was found to be consistent with their tertiary structures and functions. For the largest seven clusters predicted by MSC, the consistency in chain function within the same cluster is found to be 100%. From analyzing the edge distribution of SSN for MPs, we found a characteristic threshold distance for the boundary between clusters, over which SSN of MPs could be properly clustered by an unsupervised sparsification of the network distance matrix. The clustering results of MPs from both MSC and the unsupervised sparsification methods are consistent with each other, and have high intracluster similarity and low intercluster similarity in sequence, structure, and function. Our study showed a strong sequence-structure-function relationship of MPs. We discussed evidence of convergent evolution of MPs and suggested applications in finding structural similarities and predicting biological functions of MP chains based on their sequence information. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  16. Visual Communication in PowerPoint Presentations in Applied Linguistics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kmalvand, Ayad

    2014-01-01

    PowerPoint knowledge presentation as a digital genre has established itself as the main software by which the findings of theses are disseminated in the academic settings. Although the importance of PowerPoint presentations is typically realized in academic settings like lectures, conferences, and seminars, the study of the visual features of…

  17. Towards Personalized Medicine: Leveraging Patient Similarity and Drug Similarity Analytics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Ping; Wang, Fei; Hu, Jianying; Sorrentino, Robert

    2014-01-01

    The rapid adoption of electronic health records (EHR) provides a comprehensive source for exploratory and predictive analytic to support clinical decision-making. In this paper, we investigate how to utilize EHR to tailor treatments to individual patients based on their likelihood to respond to a therapy. We construct a heterogeneous graph which includes two domains (patients and drugs) and encodes three relationships (patient similarity, drug similarity, and patient-drug prior associations). We describe a novel approach for performing a label propagation procedure to spread the label information representing the effectiveness of different drugs for different patients over this heterogeneous graph. The proposed method has been applied on a real-world EHR dataset to help identify personalized treatments for hypercholesterolemia. The experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the approach and suggest that the combination of appropriate patient similarity and drug similarity analytics could lead to actionable insights for personalized medicine. Particularly, by leveraging drug similarity in combination with patient similarity, our method could perform well even on new or rarely used drugs for which there are few records of known past performance. PMID:25717413

  18. A Numerical Framework for Self-Similar Problems in Plasticity: Indentation in Single Crystals

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Juul, Kristian Jørgensen; Niordson, Christian Frithiof; Nielsen, Kim Lau

    A new numerical framework specialized for analyzing self-similar problems in plasticity is developed. Self-similarity in plasticity is encountered in a number of different problems such as stationary cracks, void growth, indentation etc. To date, such problems are handled by traditional Lagrangian...... procedures that may be associated with severe numerical difficulties relating to sufficient discretization, moving contact points, etc. In the present work, self-similarity is exploited to construct the numerical framework that offers a simple and efficient method to handle self-similar problems in history...... numerical simulations [3] when possible. To mimic the condition for the analytical predictions, the wedge indenter is considered nearly flat and the material is perfectly plastic with a very low yield strain. Under these conditions, [1][2] proved analytically the existence of discontinuities in the slip...

  19. The Point Lepreau Desktop Simulator

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    MacLean, M.; Hogg, J.; Newman, H.

    1997-01-01

    The Point Lepreau Desktop Simulator runs plant process modeling software on a 266 MHz single CPU DEC Alpha computer. This same Alpha also runs the plant control computer software on an SSCI 125 emulator. An adjacent Pentium PC runs the simulator's Instructor Facility software, and communicates with the Alpha through an Ethernet. The Point Lepreau Desktop simulator is constructed to be as similar as possible to the Point Lepreau full scope training simulator. This minimizes total maintenance costs and enhances the benefits of the desktop simulator. Both simulators have the same modeling running on a single CPU in the same schedule of calculations. Both simulators have the same Instructor Facility capable of developing and executing the same lesson plans, doing the same monitoring and control of simulations, inserting all the same malfunctions, performing all the same overrides, capable of making and restoring all the same storepoints. Both simulators run the same plant control computer software - the same assembly language control programs as the power plant uses for reactor control, heat transport control, annunciation, etc. This is a higher degree of similarity between a desktop simulator and a full scope training simulator than previously reported for a computer controlled nuclear plant. The large quantity of control room hardware missing from the desktop simulator is replaced by software. The Instructor Facility panel override software of the training simulator provides the means by which devices (switches, controllers, windows, etc.) on the control room panels can be controlled and monitored in the desktop simulator. The CRT of the Alpha provides a mouse operated DCC keyboard mimic for controlling the plant control computer emulation. Two emulated RAMTEK display channels appear as windows for monitoring anything of interest on plant DCC displays, including one channel for annunciation. (author)

  20. Semantic Similarity between Web Documents Using Ontology

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chahal, Poonam; Singh Tomer, Manjeet; Kumar, Suresh

    2018-06-01

    The World Wide Web is the source of information available in the structure of interlinked web pages. However, the procedure of extracting significant information with the assistance of search engine is incredibly critical. This is for the reason that web information is written mainly by using natural language, and further available to individual human. Several efforts have been made in semantic similarity computation between documents using words, concepts and concepts relationship but still the outcome available are not as per the user requirements. This paper proposes a novel technique for computation of semantic similarity between documents that not only takes concepts available in documents but also relationships that are available between the concepts. In our approach documents are being processed by making ontology of the documents using base ontology and a dictionary containing concepts records. Each such record is made up of the probable words which represents a given concept. Finally, document ontology's are compared to find their semantic similarity by taking the relationships among concepts. Relevant concepts and relations between the concepts have been explored by capturing author and user intention. The proposed semantic analysis technique provides improved results as compared to the existing techniques.

  1. Semantic Similarity between Web Documents Using Ontology

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chahal, Poonam; Singh Tomer, Manjeet; Kumar, Suresh

    2018-03-01

    The World Wide Web is the source of information available in the structure of interlinked web pages. However, the procedure of extracting significant information with the assistance of search engine is incredibly critical. This is for the reason that web information is written mainly by using natural language, and further available to individual human. Several efforts have been made in semantic similarity computation between documents using words, concepts and concepts relationship but still the outcome available are not as per the user requirements. This paper proposes a novel technique for computation of semantic similarity between documents that not only takes concepts available in documents but also relationships that are available between the concepts. In our approach documents are being processed by making ontology of the documents using base ontology and a dictionary containing concepts records. Each such record is made up of the probable words which represents a given concept. Finally, document ontology's are compared to find their semantic similarity by taking the relationships among concepts. Relevant concepts and relations between the concepts have been explored by capturing author and user intention. The proposed semantic analysis technique provides improved results as compared to the existing techniques.

  2. Impact of Point-of-Sale Tobacco Display Bans in Thailand: Findings from the International Tobacco Control (ITC) Southeast Asia Survey.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Lin; Borland, Ron; Yong, Hua-Hie; Sirirassamee, Buppha; Hamann, Stephen; Omar, Maizurah; Quah, Anne C K

    2015-08-13

    In September 2005 Thailand became the first Asian country to implement a complete ban on the display of cigarettes and other tobacco products at point-of-sale (POS). This paper examined the impact of the POS tobacco display ban in Thailand, with Malaysia (which did not impose bans) serving as a comparison. The data came from the International Tobacco Control Southeast Asia Survey (2005-2011), a prospective cohort survey designed to evaluate the psychosocial and behavioral impacts of tobacco control policies. Main measures included smokers' reported awareness of tobacco displays and advertising at POS. At the first post-ban survey wave over 90% of smokers in Thailand were aware of the display ban policy and supported it, and about three quarters thought the ban was effective. Noticing tobacco displays in stores was lowest (16.9%) at the first post-ban survey wave, but increased at later survey waves; however, the levels were consistently lower than those in Malaysia. Similarly, exposure to POS tobacco advertising was lower in Thailand. The display ban has reduced exposure to tobacco marketing at POS. The trend toward increased noticing is likely at least in part due to some increase in violations of the display bans and/or strategies to circumvent them.

  3. Impact of Point-of-Sale Tobacco Display Bans in Thailand: Findings from the International Tobacco Control (ITC Southeast Asia Survey

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lin Li

    2015-08-01

    Full Text Available In September 2005 Thailand became the first Asian country to implement a complete ban on the display of cigarettes and other tobacco products at point-of-sale (POS. This paper examined the impact of the POS tobacco display ban in Thailand, with Malaysia (which did not impose bans serving as a comparison. The data came from the International Tobacco Control Southeast Asia Survey (2005–2011, a prospective cohort survey designed to evaluate the psychosocial and behavioral impacts of tobacco control policies. Main measures included smokers’ reported awareness of tobacco displays and advertising at POS. At the first post-ban survey wave over 90% of smokers in Thailand were aware of the display ban policy and supported it, and about three quarters thought the ban was effective. Noticing tobacco displays in stores was lowest (16.9% at the first post-ban survey wave, but increased at later survey waves; however, the levels were consistently lower than those in Malaysia. Similarly, exposure to POS tobacco advertising was lower in Thailand. The display ban has reduced exposure to tobacco marketing at POS. The trend toward increased noticing is likely at least in part due to some increase in violations of the display bans and/or strategies to circumvent them.

  4. Similar estimates of temperature impacts on global wheat yield by three independent methods

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Liu, Bing; Asseng, Senthold; Müller, Christoph

    2016-01-01

    The potential impact of global temperature change on global crop yield has recently been assessed with different methods. Here we show that grid-based and point-based simulations and statistical regressions (from historic records), without deliberate adaptation or CO2 fertilization effects, produ......-method ensemble, it was possible to quantify ‘method uncertainty’ in addition to model uncertainty. This significantly improves confidence in estimates of climate impacts on global food security.......The potential impact of global temperature change on global crop yield has recently been assessed with different methods. Here we show that grid-based and point-based simulations and statistical regressions (from historic records), without deliberate adaptation or CO2 fertilization effects, produce...... similar estimates of temperature impact on wheat yields at global and national scales. With a 1 °C global temperature increase, global wheat yield is projected to decline between 4.1% and 6.4%. Projected relative temperature impacts from different methods were similar for major wheat-producing countries...

  5. Similar Estimates of Temperature Impacts on Global Wheat Yield by Three Independent Methods

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Bing; Asseng, Senthold; Muller, Christoph; Ewart, Frank; Elliott, Joshua; Lobell, David B.; Martre, Pierre; Ruane, Alex C.; Wallach, Daniel; Jones, James W.; hide

    2016-01-01

    The potential impact of global temperature change on global crop yield has recently been assessed with different methods. Here we show that grid-based and point-based simulations and statistical regressions (from historic records), without deliberate adaptation or CO2 fertilization effects, produce similar estimates of temperature impact on wheat yields at global and national scales. With a 1 C global temperature increase, global wheat yield is projected to decline between 4.1% and 6.4%. Projected relative temperature impacts from different methods were similar for major wheat-producing countries China, India, USA and France, but less so for Russia. Point-based and grid-based simulations, and to some extent the statistical regressions, were consistent in projecting that warmer regions are likely to suffer more yield loss with increasing temperature than cooler regions. By forming a multi-method ensemble, it was possible to quantify 'method uncertainty' in addition to model uncertainty. This significantly improves confidence in estimates of climate impacts on global food security.

  6. Similar estimates of temperature impacts on global wheat yield by three independent methods

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Bing; Asseng, Senthold; Müller, Christoph; Ewert, Frank; Elliott, Joshua; Lobell, David B.; Martre, Pierre; Ruane, Alex C.; Wallach, Daniel; Jones, James W.; Rosenzweig, Cynthia; Aggarwal, Pramod K.; Alderman, Phillip D.; Anothai, Jakarat; Basso, Bruno; Biernath, Christian; Cammarano, Davide; Challinor, Andy; Deryng, Delphine; Sanctis, Giacomo De; Doltra, Jordi; Fereres, Elias; Folberth, Christian; Garcia-Vila, Margarita; Gayler, Sebastian; Hoogenboom, Gerrit; Hunt, Leslie A.; Izaurralde, Roberto C.; Jabloun, Mohamed; Jones, Curtis D.; Kersebaum, Kurt C.; Kimball, Bruce A.; Koehler, Ann-Kristin; Kumar, Soora Naresh; Nendel, Claas; O'Leary, Garry J.; Olesen, Jørgen E.; Ottman, Michael J.; Palosuo, Taru; Prasad, P. V. Vara; Priesack, Eckart; Pugh, Thomas A. M.; Reynolds, Matthew; Rezaei, Ehsan E.; Rötter, Reimund P.; Schmid, Erwin; Semenov, Mikhail A.; Shcherbak, Iurii; Stehfest, Elke; Stöckle, Claudio O.; Stratonovitch, Pierre; Streck, Thilo; Supit, Iwan; Tao, Fulu; Thorburn, Peter; Waha, Katharina; Wall, Gerard W.; Wang, Enli; White, Jeffrey W.; Wolf, Joost; Zhao, Zhigan; Zhu, Yan

    2016-12-01

    The potential impact of global temperature change on global crop yield has recently been assessed with different methods. Here we show that grid-based and point-based simulations and statistical regressions (from historic records), without deliberate adaptation or CO2 fertilization effects, produce similar estimates of temperature impact on wheat yields at global and national scales. With a 1 °C global temperature increase, global wheat yield is projected to decline between 4.1% and 6.4%. Projected relative temperature impacts from different methods were similar for major wheat-producing countries China, India, USA and France, but less so for Russia. Point-based and grid-based simulations, and to some extent the statistical regressions, were consistent in projecting that warmer regions are likely to suffer more yield loss with increasing temperature than cooler regions. By forming a multi-method ensemble, it was possible to quantify `method uncertainty’ in addition to model uncertainty. This significantly improves confidence in estimates of climate impacts on global food security.

  7. Hepatic encephalopathy. Imaging Findings

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Carrillo, Maria Claudia; Bermudez Munoz, Sonia; J Morillo, Anibal

    2007-01-01

    Hepatic encephalopathy occurs in patients with chronic hepatic insufficiency and can produce abnormalities in the central nervous system, which can be observed in MRI studies. Traditionally, these imaging findings include symmetrical hyper intensities in T1-weighted sequences in the basal ganglia (mainly globus pallidus), involving also the substantia nigra, mesencephalic tegmentum, frontal and occipital cortex. These areas appear of normal intensity in T2-weighted imaging sequences. Other entities that can lead to similar findings include manganese intoxication and type-1 neurofibromatosis. Currently, with the advent of MR spectroscopy, abnormalities in patients with clinical and subclinical hepatic encephalopathy have been described. After hepatic transplantation, hyper intensities of the basal ganglia and the MR spectroscopic findings may disappear within 3 months to 1 year, suggesting a functional, more than a structural damage. This article will demonstrate the MR findings of patients with hepatic encephalopathy due to chronic hepatic insufficiency.

  8. Enhancing Media Personalization by Extracting Similarity Knowledge from Metadata

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Butkus, Andrius

    be seen as a cognitive foundation for modeling concepts. Conceptual Spaces is applied in this thesis to analyze media in terms of its dimensions and knowledge domains, which in return defines properties and concepts. One of the most important domains in terms of describing media is the emotional one...... only “more of the same” type of content which does not necessarily lead to the meaningful personalization. Another way to approach similarity is to find a similar underlying meaning in the content. Aspects of meaning in media can be represented using Gardenfors Conceptual Spaces theory, which can......) using Latent Semantic Analysis (one of the unsupervised machine learning techniques). It presents three separate cases to illustrate the similarity knowledge extraction from the metadata, where the emotional components in each case represents different abstraction levels – genres, synopsis and lyrics...

  9. Electroencephalographic findings in panic disorder

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marcele Regine de Carvalho

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available Some studies have reported the importance of electroencephalography (EEG as a method for investigating abnormal parameters in psychiatric disorders. Different findings in time and frequency domain analysis with regard to central nervous system arousal during acute panic states have already been obtained. This study aimed to systematically review the EEG findings in panic disorder (PD, discuss them having a currently accepted neuroanatomical hypothesis for this pathology as a basis, and identify limitations in the selected studies. Literature search was conducted in the databases PubMed and ISI Web of Knowledge, using the keywords electroencephalography and panic disorder; 16 articles were selected. Despite the inconsistency of EEG findings in PD, the major conclusions about the absolute power of alpha and beta bands point to a decreased alpha power, while beta power tends to increase. Different asymmetry patterns were found between studies. Coherence studies pointed to a lower degree of inter-hemispheric functional connectivity at the frontal region and intra-hemispheric at the bilateral temporal region. Studies on possible related events showed changes in memory processing in PD patients when exposed to aversive stimuli. It was noticed that most findings reflect the current neurobiological hypothesis of PD, where inhibitory deficits of the prefrontal cortex related to the modulation of amygdala activity, and the subsequent activation of subcortical regions, may be responsible to trigger anxiety responses. We approached some important issues that need to be considered in further researches, especially the use of different methods for analyzing EEG signals. Keywords: Electroencephalography, panic disorder, neurobiology, brain mapping.

  10. Molecular similarity measures.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maggiora, Gerald M; Shanmugasundaram, Veerabahu

    2011-01-01

    Molecular similarity is a pervasive concept in chemistry. It is essential to many aspects of chemical reasoning and analysis and is perhaps the fundamental assumption underlying medicinal chemistry. Dissimilarity, the complement of similarity, also plays a major role in a growing number of applications of molecular diversity in combinatorial chemistry, high-throughput screening, and related fields. How molecular information is represented, called the representation problem, is important to the type of molecular similarity analysis (MSA) that can be carried out in any given situation. In this work, four types of mathematical structure are used to represent molecular information: sets, graphs, vectors, and functions. Molecular similarity is a pairwise relationship that induces structure into sets of molecules, giving rise to the concept of chemical space. Although all three concepts - molecular similarity, molecular representation, and chemical space - are treated in this chapter, the emphasis is on molecular similarity measures. Similarity measures, also called similarity coefficients or indices, are functions that map pairs of compatible molecular representations that are of the same mathematical form into real numbers usually, but not always, lying on the unit interval. This chapter presents a somewhat pedagogical discussion of many types of molecular similarity measures, their strengths and limitations, and their relationship to one another. An expanded account of the material on chemical spaces presented in the first edition of this book is also provided. It includes a discussion of the topography of activity landscapes and the role that activity cliffs in these landscapes play in structure-activity studies.

  11. Imaging Findings of Complex Fibroadenoma of the Breast: Correlation with Pathologic Findings

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    You, Sun Kyoung; Choi, Bo Bae; Kim, Kyung Hee [Chungnam National University Hospital College of Medicine, Seoul (Korea, Republic of)

    2010-12-15

    The imaging findings of complex fibroadenoma have been rarely reported even though the risk of developing breast carcinoma in a patient with complex fibroadenoma is higher than that for a patient with simple fibroadenoma. We reviewed the imaging features and pathologic findings of complex fibroadenomas. Between April 2003 and April 2010, the mammographic and sonographic findings of five patients with complex fibroadenomas were retrospectively reviewed according to the Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System (BIRADS). The pathologic findings were retrospectively reviewed for all 5 patients. The mammography findings showed masses (3 cases) and asymmetry (1 case). On ultrasonography, complex echo patterns were noted in all the patients, and all the lesions were assigned to BI-RADS category 4, suspicious for abnormality. The complex echoic patterns showed two types: 1) a mixture of a heterogeneous hypoechoic central portion and a fuzzy hyperechoic peripheral area in 2 cases, 2) a mixture of tiny anechoic and hypoehoic lesions in 3 cases. Multiple cystic changes were noted in all the cases on the pathologic analysis. Complex fibroadenomas showed different ultrasonographic findings from simple fibroadenomas such as two types of complex echo patterns, even though the other findings were similar to those of simple fibroadenoma. Cystic changes were noted in all the cases on the pathologic analysis. Awareness of these imaging findings will help us to properly diagnose complex fibroadenoma

  12. Imaging Findings of Complex Fibroadenoma of the Breast: Correlation with Pathologic Findings

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    You, Sun Kyoung; Choi, Bo Bae; Kim, Kyung Hee

    2010-01-01

    The imaging findings of complex fibroadenoma have been rarely reported even though the risk of developing breast carcinoma in a patient with complex fibroadenoma is higher than that for a patient with simple fibroadenoma. We reviewed the imaging features and pathologic findings of complex fibroadenomas. Between April 2003 and April 2010, the mammographic and sonographic findings of five patients with complex fibroadenomas were retrospectively reviewed according to the Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System (BIRADS). The pathologic findings were retrospectively reviewed for all 5 patients. The mammography findings showed masses (3 cases) and asymmetry (1 case). On ultrasonography, complex echo patterns were noted in all the patients, and all the lesions were assigned to BI-RADS category 4, suspicious for abnormality. The complex echoic patterns showed two types: 1) a mixture of a heterogeneous hypoechoic central portion and a fuzzy hyperechoic peripheral area in 2 cases, 2) a mixture of tiny anechoic and hypoehoic lesions in 3 cases. Multiple cystic changes were noted in all the cases on the pathologic analysis. Complex fibroadenomas showed different ultrasonographic findings from simple fibroadenomas such as two types of complex echo patterns, even though the other findings were similar to those of simple fibroadenoma. Cystic changes were noted in all the cases on the pathologic analysis. Awareness of these imaging findings will help us to properly diagnose complex fibroadenoma

  13. Time-dependent Taylor–Aris dispersion of an initial point concentration

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Vedel, Søren; Hovad, Emil; Bruus, Henrik

    2014-01-01

    -specific theoretical results, and furthermore predict new phenomena. In particular, for the transient phase before the well-described steady Taylor–Aris limit is reached, we find anomalous diffusion with a dependence of the temporal scaling exponent on the initial release point, generalizing this finding in specific...... cases. During this transient we furthermore identify maxima in the values of the dispersion coefficient which exceed the Taylor–Aris value by amounts that depend on channel geometry, initial point release position, velocity profile and Péclet number. We show that these effects are caused by a difference...

  14. Scattering and absorption of particles emitted by a point source in a cluster of point scatterers

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Liljequist, D.

    2012-01-01

    A theory for the scattering and absorption of particles isotropically emitted by a point source in a cluster of point scatterers is described and related to the theory for the scattering of an incident particle beam. The quantum mechanical probability of escape from the cluster in different directions is calculated, as well as the spatial distribution of absorption events within the cluster. A source strength renormalization procedure is required. The average quantum scattering in clusters with randomly shifting scatterer positions is compared to trajectory simulation with the aim of studying the validity of the trajectory method. Differences between the results of the quantum and trajectory methods are found primarily for wavelengths larger than the average distance between nearest neighbour scatterers. The average quantum results include, for example, a local minimum in the number of absorption events at the location of the point source and interference patterns in the angle-dependent escape probability as well as in the distribution of absorption events. The relative error of the trajectory method is in general, though not generally, of similar magnitude as that obtained for beam scattering.

  15. Asymmetric similarity-weighted ensembles for image segmentation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Cheplygina, V.; Van Opbroek, A.; Ikram, M. A.

    2016-01-01

    Supervised classification is widely used for image segmentation. To work effectively, these techniques need large amounts of labeled training data, that is representative of the test data. Different patient groups, different scanners or different scanning protocols can lead to differences between...... the images, thus representative data might not be available. Transfer learning techniques can be used to account for these differences, thus taking advantage of all the available data acquired with different protocols. We investigate the use of classifier ensembles, where each classifier is weighted...... and the direction of measurement needs to be chosen carefully. We also show that a point set similarity measure is robust across different studies, and outperforms state-of-the-art results on a multi-center brain tissue segmentation task....

  16. Scaling Relations and Self-Similarity of 3-Dimensional Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes Equations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ercan, Ali; Kavvas, M Levent

    2017-07-25

    Scaling conditions to achieve self-similar solutions of 3-Dimensional (3D) Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes Equations, as an initial and boundary value problem, are obtained by utilizing Lie Group of Point Scaling Transformations. By means of an open-source Navier-Stokes solver and the derived self-similarity conditions, we demonstrated self-similarity within the time variation of flow dynamics for a rigid-lid cavity problem under both up-scaled and down-scaled domains. The strength of the proposed approach lies in its ability to consider the underlying flow dynamics through not only from the governing equations under consideration but also from the initial and boundary conditions, hence allowing to obtain perfect self-similarity in different time and space scales. The proposed methodology can be a valuable tool in obtaining self-similar flow dynamics under preferred level of detail, which can be represented by initial and boundary value problems under specific assumptions.

  17. More Similar than Different? Exploring Cultural Models of Depression among Latino Immigrants in Florida

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dinorah (Dina Martinez Tyson

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available The Surgeon General's report, “Culture, Race, and Ethnicity: A Supplement to Mental Health,” points to the need for subgroup specific mental health research that explores the cultural variation and heterogeneity of the Latino population. Guided by cognitive anthropological theories of culture, we utilized ethnographic interviewing techniques to explore cultural models of depression among foreign-born Mexican (n=30, Cuban (n=30, Columbian (n=30, and island-born Puerto Ricans (n=30, who represent the largest Latino groups in Florida. Results indicate that Colombian, Cuban, Mexican, and Puerto Rican immigrants showed strong intragroup consensus in their models of depression causality, symptoms, and treatment. We found more agreement than disagreement among all four groups regarding core descriptions of depression, which was largely unexpected but can potentially be explained by their common immigrant experiences. Findings expand our understanding about Latino subgroup similarities and differences in their conceptualization of depression and can be used to inform the adaptation of culturally relevant interventions in order to better serve Latino immigrant communities.

  18. Consistency of Trend Break Point Estimator with Underspecified Break Number

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jingjing Yang

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper discusses the consistency of trend break point estimators when the number of breaks is underspecified. The consistency of break point estimators in a simple location model with level shifts has been well documented by researchers under various settings, including extensions such as allowing a time trend in the model. Despite the consistency of break point estimators of level shifts, there are few papers on the consistency of trend shift break point estimators in the presence of an underspecified break number. The simulation study and asymptotic analysis in this paper show that the trend shift break point estimator does not converge to the true break points when the break number is underspecified. In the case of two trend shifts, the inconsistency problem worsens if the magnitudes of the breaks are similar and the breaks are either both positive or both negative. The limiting distribution for the trend break point estimator is developed and closely approximates the finite sample performance.

  19. The resilience of an operating point for a fusion power plant

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ward, David, E-mail: david.ward@ccfe.ac.uk; Kemp, Richard

    2015-10-15

    Highlights: • The need to control a power plant changes our view of the optimum design. • The need for control can be reduced by finding resilient design points. • It is important to include resilience and control in selecting design points. • Including these additional constraints reduces flexibility in choice of operating points. - Abstract: The operating point for fusion power plant design concepts is often determined by simultaneously satisfying the requirements of all of the main plant systems and finding an optimum solution, for instance the one with the lowest capital cost or cost of electricity. This static assessment takes no account of the sensitivity of that operating point to variations in key parameters and therefore includes no information about how difficult to adjust and control the chosen operating point may be. Control of the operation point is a large subject with much work still to be done, and is expected to play an increasing role in the future in choosing the optimum design point. Here we present results of two analyses: one relates to the ability to load follow, that is, to vary the power production in the light of varying demands for power from the electricity network; the other investigates in simple terms what choices we can make to improve the resilience of static operating points.

  20. Solution of the weighted symmetric similarity transformations based on quaternions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mercan, H.; Akyilmaz, O.; Aydin, C.

    2017-12-01

    A new method through Gauss-Helmert model of adjustment is presented for the solution of the similarity transformations, either 3D or 2D, in the frame of errors-in-variables (EIV) model. EIV model assumes that all the variables in the mathematical model are contaminated by random errors. Total least squares estimation technique may be used to solve the EIV model. Accounting for the heteroscedastic uncertainty both in the target and the source coordinates, that is the more common and general case in practice, leads to a more realistic estimation of the transformation parameters. The presented algorithm can handle the heteroscedastic transformation problems, i.e., positions of the both target and the source points may have full covariance matrices. Therefore, there is no limitation such as the isotropic or the homogenous accuracy for the reference point coordinates. The developed algorithm takes the advantage of the quaternion definition which uniquely represents a 3D rotation matrix. The transformation parameters: scale, translations, and the quaternion (so that the rotation matrix) along with their covariances, are iteratively estimated with rapid convergence. Moreover, prior least squares (LS) estimation of the unknown transformation parameters is not required to start the iterations. We also show that the developed method can also be used to estimate the 2D similarity transformation parameters by simply treating the problem as a 3D transformation problem with zero (0) values assigned for the z-components of both target and source points. The efficiency of the new algorithm is presented with the numerical examples and comparisons with the results of the previous studies which use the same data set. Simulation experiments for the evaluation and comparison of the proposed and the conventional weighted LS (WLS) method is also presented.

  1. Two-craft Coulomb formation study about circular orbits and libration points

    Science.gov (United States)

    Inampudi, Ravi Kishore

    This dissertation investigates the dynamics and control of a two-craft Coulomb formation in circular orbits and at libration points; it addresses relative equilibria, stability and optimal reconfigurations of such formations. The relative equilibria of a two-craft tether formation connected by line-of-sight elastic forces moving in circular orbits and at libration points are investigated. In circular Earth orbits and Earth-Moon libration points, the radial, along-track, and orbit normal great circle equilibria conditions are found. An example of modeling the tether force using Coulomb force is discussed. Furthermore, the non-great-circle equilibria conditions for a two-spacecraft tether structure in circular Earth orbit and at collinear libration points are developed. Then the linearized dynamics and stability analysis of a 2-craft Coulomb formation at Earth-Moon libration points are studied. For orbit-radial equilibrium, Coulomb forces control the relative distance between the two satellites. The gravity gradient torques on the formation due to the two planets help stabilize the formation. Similar analysis is performed for along-track and orbit-normal relative equilibrium configurations. Where necessary, the craft use a hybrid thrusting-electrostatic actuation system. The two-craft dynamics at the libration points provide a general framework with circular Earth orbit dynamics forming a special case. In the presence of differential solar drag perturbations, a Lyapunov feedback controller is designed to stabilize a radial equilibrium, two-craft Coulomb formation at collinear libration points. The second part of the thesis investigates optimal reconfigurations of two-craft Coulomb formations in circular Earth orbits by applying nonlinear optimal control techniques. The objective of these reconfigurations is to maneuver the two-craft formation between two charged equilibria configurations. The reconfiguration of spacecraft is posed as an optimization problem using the

  2. Estimating the similarity of alternative Affymetrix probe sets using transcriptional networks

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-01-01

    Background The usefulness of the data from Affymetrix microarray analysis depends largely on the reliability of the files describing the correspondence between probe sets, genes and transcripts. Particularly, when a gene is targeted by several probe sets, these files should give information about the similarity of each alternative probe set pair. Transcriptional networks integrate the multiple correlations that exist between all probe sets and supply much more information than a simple correlation coefficient calculated for two series of signals. In this study, we used the PSAWN (Probe Set Assignment With Networks) programme we developed to investigate whether similarity of alternative probe sets resulted in some specific properties. Findings PSAWNpy delivered a full textual description of each probe set and information on the number and properties of secondary targets. PSAWNml calculated the similarity of each alternative probe set pair and allowed finding relationships between similarity and localisation of probes in common transcripts or exons. Similar alternative probe sets had very low negative correlation, high positive correlation and similar neighbourhood overlap. Using these properties, we devised a test that allowed grouping similar probe sets in a given network. By considering several networks, additional information concerning the similarity reproducibility was obtained, which allowed defining the actual similarity of alternative probe set pairs. In particular, we calculated the common localisation of probes in exons and in known transcripts and we showed that similarity was correctly correlated with them. The information collected on all pairs of alternative probe sets in the most popular 3’ IVT Affymetrix chips is available in tabular form at http://bns.crbm.cnrs.fr/download.html. Conclusions These processed data can be used to obtain a finer interpretation when comparing microarray data between biological conditions. They are particularly well

  3. Establishing meaningful cut points for online user ratings.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hirschfeld, Gerrit; Thielsch, Meinald T

    2015-01-01

    Subjective perceptions of websites can be reliably measured with questionnaires. But it is unclear how such scores should be interpreted in practice, e.g. is an aesthetics score of 4 points on a seven-point-scale satisfactory? The current paper introduces a receiver-operating characteristic (ROC)-based methodology to establish meaningful cut points for the VisAWI (visual aesthetics of websites inventory) and its short form the VisAWI-S. In two studies we use users' global ratings (UGRs) and website rankings as anchors. A total of 972 participants took part in the studies which yielded similar results. First, one-item UGRs correlate highly with the VisAWI. Second, cut points on the VisAWI reliably differentiate between sites that are perceived as attractive versus unattractive. Third, these cut points are variable, but only within a certain range. Together the research presented here establishes a score of 4.5 on the VisAWI which is a reasonable goal for website designers and highlights the utility of the ROC methodology to derive relevant scores for rating scales.

  4. Comparison of Various Similarity Measures for Average Image Hash in Mobile Phone Application

    Science.gov (United States)

    Farisa Chaerul Haviana, Sam; Taufik, Muhammad

    2017-04-01

    One of the main issue in Content Based Image Retrieval (CIBR) is similarity measures for resulting image hashes. The main key challenge is to find the most benefits distance or similarity measures for calculating the similarity in term of speed and computing costs, specially under limited computing capabilities device like mobile phone. This study we utilize twelve most common and popular distance or similarity measures technique implemented in mobile phone application, to be compared and studied. The results show that all similarity measures implemented in this study was perform equally under mobile phone application. This gives more possibilities for method combinations to be implemented for image retrieval.

  5. One Point Isometric Matching with the Heat Kernel

    KAUST Repository

    Ovsjanikov, Maks

    2010-09-21

    A common operation in many geometry processing algorithms consists of finding correspondences between pairs of shapes by finding structure-preserving maps between them. A particularly useful case of such maps is isometries, which preserve geodesic distances between points on each shape. Although several algorithms have been proposed to find approximately isometric maps between a pair of shapes, the structure of the space of isometries is not well understood. In this paper, we show that under mild genericity conditions, a single correspondence can be used to recover an isometry defined on entire shapes, and thus the space of all isometries can be parameterized by one correspondence between a pair of points. Perhaps surprisingly, this result is general, and does not depend on the dimensionality or the genus, and is valid for compact manifolds in any dimension. Moreover, we show that both the initial correspondence and the isometry can be recovered efficiently in practice. This allows us to devise an algorithm to find intrinsic symmetries of shapes, match shapes undergoing isometric deformations, as well as match partial and incomplete models efficiently. Journal compilation © 2010 The Eurographics Association and Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

  6. Sequential and Parallel Algorithms for Finding a Maximum Convex Polygon

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Fischer, Paul

    1997-01-01

    This paper investigates the problem where one is given a finite set of n points in the plane each of which is labeled either ?positive? or ?negative?. We consider bounded convex polygons, the vertices of which are positive points and which do not contain any negative point. It is shown how...... such a polygon which is maximal with respect to area can be found in time O(n³ log n). With the same running time one can also find such a polygon which contains a maximum number of positive points. If, in addition, the number of vertices of the polygon is restricted to be at most M, then the running time...... becomes O(M n³ log n). It is also shown how to find a maximum convex polygon which contains a given point in time O(n³ log n). Two parallel algorithms for the basic problem are also presented. The first one runs in time O(n log n) using O(n²) processors, the second one has polylogarithmic time but needs O...

  7. Nanotexturing of surfaces to reduce melting point.

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Garcia, Ernest J.; Zubia, David (University of Texas at El Paso El Paso, TX); Mireles, Jose (Universidad Aut%C3%94onoma de Ciudad Ju%C3%94arez Ciudad Ju%C3%94arez, Mexico); Marquez, Noel (University of Texas at El Paso El Paso, TX); Quinones, Stella (University of Texas at El Paso El Paso, TX)

    2011-11-01

    This investigation examined the use of nano-patterned structures on Silicon-on-Insulator (SOI) material to reduce the bulk material melting point (1414 C). It has been found that sharp-tipped and other similar structures have a propensity to move to the lower energy states of spherical structures and as a result exhibit lower melting points than the bulk material. Such a reduction of the melting point would offer a number of interesting opportunities for bonding in microsystems packaging applications. Nano patterning process capabilities were developed to create the required structures for the investigation. One of the technical challenges of the project was understanding and creating the specialized conditions required to observe the melting and reshaping phenomena. Through systematic experimentation and review of the literature these conditions were determined and used to conduct phase change experiments. Melting temperatures as low as 1030 C were observed.

  8. Similarly shaped letters evoke similar colors in grapheme-color synesthesia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brang, David; Rouw, Romke; Ramachandran, V S; Coulson, Seana

    2011-04-01

    Grapheme-color synesthesia is a neurological condition in which viewing numbers or letters (graphemes) results in the concurrent sensation of color. While the anatomical substrates underlying this experience are well understood, little research to date has investigated factors influencing the particular colors associated with particular graphemes or how synesthesia occurs developmentally. A recent suggestion of such an interaction has been proposed in the cascaded cross-tuning (CCT) model of synesthesia, which posits that in synesthetes connections between grapheme regions and color area V4 participate in a competitive activation process, with synesthetic colors arising during the component-stage of grapheme processing. This model more directly suggests that graphemes sharing similar component features (lines, curves, etc.) should accordingly activate more similar synesthetic colors. To test this proposal, we created and regressed synesthetic color-similarity matrices for each of 52 synesthetes against a letter-confusability matrix, an unbiased measure of visual similarity among graphemes. Results of synesthetes' grapheme-color correspondences indeed revealed that more similarly shaped graphemes corresponded with more similar synesthetic colors, with stronger effects observed in individuals with more intense synesthetic experiences (projector synesthetes). These results support the CCT model of synesthesia, implicate early perceptual mechanisms as driving factors in the elicitation of synesthetic hues, and further highlight the relationship between conceptual and perceptual factors in this phenomenon. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  9. Point Topography and Within-Session Learning Are Important Predictors of Pet Dogs’ (Canis lupus familiaris Performance on Human Guided Tasks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dorey, Nicole R.

    2013-07-01

    Full Text Available Pet domestic dogs (Canis lupus familiaris are generally considered successful on object choice tasks, reliably following human points to a target. However, defining the specific topography of the point types utilized and assessing the potential for dogs to generalize their responses across similar point types has received little attention. In Experiment 1, we assessed pet dogs’ performance on an object choice task utilizing nine different point types that varied across the dimensions of movement, duration, and distance. These dimensions reliably predicted the performance of pet dogs on this task. In Experiment 2, pet dogs presented with nine different point types in the order of increasing difficulty performed better on more difficult point types than both naive dogs and dogs experiencing the nine points in the order of decreasing difficulty. In Experiment 3, we manipulated the attentional state of the experimenter (as in perspective taking studies and found that human orientation was not a strong predictor of performance on pointing tasks. The results of this study indicate that dogs do not reliably follow all point types without additional training or experience. Furthermore, dogs appear to continuously learn about the dimensions of human points, adjusting their behavior accordingly, even over the course of experimental testing. These findings bring claims of pet dogs’ spontaneous success on pointing tasks into question. The ability to learn about, and respond flexibly to, human gestures may benefit pet dogs living in human homes more than a spontaneous responsiveness to specific gesture types.

  10. Robust tie points selection for InSAR image coregistration

    Science.gov (United States)

    Skanderi, Takieddine; Chabira, Boulerbah; Afifa, Belkacem; Belhadj Aissa, Aichouche

    2013-10-01

    Image coregistration is an important step in SAR interferometry which is a well known method for DEM generation and surface displacement monitoring. A practical and widely used automatic coregistration algorithm is based on selecting a number of tie points in the master image and looking for the correspondence of each point in the slave image using correlation technique. The characteristics of these points, their number and their distribution have a great impact on the reliability of the estimated transformation. In this work, we present a method for automatic selection of suitable tie points that are well distributed over the common area without decreasing the desired tie points' number. First we select candidate points using Harris operator. Then from these points we select tie points depending on their cornerness measure (the highest first). Once a tie point is selected, its correspondence is searched for in the slave image, if the similarity measure maximum is less than a given threshold or it is at the border of the search window, this point is discarded and we proceed to the next Harris point, else, the cornerness of the remaining candidates Harris points are multiplied by a spatially radially increasing function centered at the selected point to disadvantage the points in a neighborhood of a radius determined from the size of the common area and the desired number of points. This is repeated until the desired number of points is selected. Results of an ERS1/2 tandem pair are presented and discussed.

  11. Perceptual-motor regulation in locomotor pointing while approaching a curb.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Andel, Steven van; Cole, Michael H; Pepping, Gert-Jan

    2018-02-01

    Locomotor pointing is a task that has been the focus of research in the context of sport (e.g. long jumping and cricket) as well as normal walking. Collectively, these studies have produced a broad understanding of locomotor pointing, but generalizability has been limited to laboratory type tasks and/or tasks with high spatial demands. The current study aimed to generalize previous findings in locomotor pointing to the common daily task of approaching and stepping on to a curb. Sixteen people completed 33 repetitions of a task that required them to walk up to and step onto a curb. Information about their foot placement was collected using a combination of measures derived from a pressure-sensitive walkway and video data. Variables related to perceptual-motor regulation were analyzed on an inter-trial, intra-step and inter-step level. Similar to previous studies, analysis of the foot placements showed that, variability in foot placement decreased as the participants drew closer to the curb. Regulation seemed to be initiated earlier in this study compared to previous studies, as shown by a decreasing variability in foot placement as early as eight steps before reaching the curb. Furthermore, it was shown that when walking up to the curb, most people regulated their walk in a way so as to achieve minimal variability in the foot placement on top of the curb, rather than a placement in front of the curb. Combined, these results showed a strong perceptual-motor coupling in the task of approaching and stepping up a curb, rendering this task a suitable test for perceptual-motor regulation in walking. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  12. New Genome Similarity Measures based on Conserved Gene Adjacencies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Doerr, Daniel; Kowada, Luis Antonio B; Araujo, Eloi; Deshpande, Shachi; Dantas, Simone; Moret, Bernard M E; Stoye, Jens

    2017-06-01

    Many important questions in molecular biology, evolution, and biomedicine can be addressed by comparative genomic approaches. One of the basic tasks when comparing genomes is the definition of measures of similarity (or dissimilarity) between two genomes, for example, to elucidate the phylogenetic relationships between species. The power of different genome comparison methods varies with the underlying formal model of a genome. The simplest models impose the strong restriction that each genome under study must contain the same genes, each in exactly one copy. More realistic models allow several copies of a gene in a genome. One speaks of gene families, and comparative genomic methods that allow this kind of input are called gene family-based. The most powerful-but also most complex-models avoid this preprocessing of the input data and instead integrate the family assignment within the comparative analysis. Such methods are called gene family-free. In this article, we study an intermediate approach between family-based and family-free genomic similarity measures. Introducing this simpler model, called gene connections, we focus on the combinatorial aspects of gene family-free genome comparison. While in most cases, the computational costs to the general family-free case are the same, we also find an instance where the gene connections model has lower complexity. Within the gene connections model, we define three variants of genomic similarity measures that have different expression powers. We give polynomial-time algorithms for two of them, while we show NP-hardness for the third, most powerful one. We also generalize the measures and algorithms to make them more robust against recent local disruptions in gene order. Our theoretical findings are supported by experimental results, proving the applicability and performance of our newly defined similarity measures.

  13. Fold points and singularity induced bifurcation in inviscid transonic flow

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Marszalek, Wieslaw

    2012-01-01

    Transonic inviscid flow equation of elliptic–hyperbolic type when written in terms of the velocity components and similarity variable results in a second order nonlinear ODE having several features typical of differential–algebraic equations rather than ODEs. These features include the fold singularities (e.g. folded nodes and saddles, forward and backward impasse points), singularity induced bifurcation behavior and singularity crossing phenomenon. We investigate the above properties and conclude that the quasilinear DAEs of transonic flow have interesting properties that do not occur in other known quasilinear DAEs, for example, in MHD. Several numerical examples are included. -- Highlights: ► A novel analysis of inviscid transonic flow and its similarity solutions. ► Singularity induced bifurcation, singular points of transonic flow. ► Projection method, index of transonic flow DAEs, linearization via matrix pencil.

  14. New Similarity Functions

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Yazdani, Hossein; Ortiz-Arroyo, Daniel; Kwasnicka, Halina

    2016-01-01

    spaces, in addition to their similarity in the vector space. Prioritized Weighted Feature Distance (PWFD) works similarly as WFD, but provides the ability to give priorities to desirable features. The accuracy of the proposed functions are compared with other similarity functions on several data sets....... Our results show that the proposed functions work better than other methods proposed in the literature....

  15. Renormalization group fixed points of foliated gravity-matter systems

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Biemans, Jorn [Institute for Mathematics, Astrophysics and Particle Physics (IMAPP),Radboud University Nijmegen,Heyendaalseweg 135, 6525 AJ Nijmegen (Netherlands); Platania, Alessia [Institute for Mathematics, Astrophysics and Particle Physics (IMAPP),Radboud University Nijmegen,Heyendaalseweg 135, 6525 AJ Nijmegen (Netherlands); Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Catania,Via S. Sofia 63, 95123 Catania (Italy); INFN, Catania section,Via S. Sofia 64, 95123, Catania (Italy); INAF, Catania Astrophysical Observatory,Via S. Sofia 78, 95123, Catania (Italy); Saueressig, Frank [Institute for Mathematics, Astrophysics and Particle Physics (IMAPP),Radboud University Nijmegen,Heyendaalseweg 135, 6525 AJ Nijmegen (Netherlands)

    2017-05-17

    We employ the Arnowitt-Deser-Misner formalism to study the renormalization group flow of gravity minimally coupled to an arbitrary number of scalar, vector, and Dirac fields. The decomposition of the gravitational degrees of freedom into a lapse function, shift vector, and spatial metric equips spacetime with a preferred (Euclidean) “time”-direction. In this work, we provide a detailed derivation of the renormalization group flow of Newton’s constant and the cosmological constant on a flat Friedmann-Robertson-Walker background. Adding matter fields, it is shown that their contribution to the flow is the same as in the covariant formulation and can be captured by two parameters d{sub g}, d{sub λ}. We classify the resulting fixed point structure as a function of these parameters finding that the existence of non-Gaussian renormalization group fixed points is rather generic. In particular the matter content of the standard model and its most common extensions gives rise to one non-Gaussian fixed point with real critical exponents suitable for Asymptotic Safety. Moreover, we find non-Gaussian fixed points for any number of scalar matter fields, making the scenario attractive for cosmological model building.

  16. Automatic Content Creation for Games to Train Students Distinguishing Similar Chinese Characters

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lai, Kwong-Hung; Leung, Howard; Tang, Jeff K. T.

    In learning Chinese, many students often have the problem of mixing up similar characters. This can cause misunderstanding and miscommunication in daily life. It is thus important for students learning the Chinese language to be able to distinguish similar characters and understand their proper usage. In this paper, we propose a game style framework in which the game content in identifying similar Chinese characters in idioms and words is created automatically. Our prior work on analyzing students’ Chinese handwriting can be applied in the similarity measure of Chinese characters. We extend this work by adding the component of radical extraction to speed up the search process. Experimental results show that the proposed method is more accurate and faster in finding more similar Chinese characters compared with the baseline method without considering the radical information.

  17. Numerical methods for polyline-to-point-cloud registration with applications to patient-specific stent reconstruction.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lin, Claire Yilin; Veneziani, Alessandro; Ruthotto, Lars

    2018-03-01

    We present novel numerical methods for polyline-to-point-cloud registration and their application to patient-specific modeling of deployed coronary artery stents from image data. Patient-specific coronary stent reconstruction is an important challenge in computational hemodynamics and relevant to the design and improvement of the prostheses. It is an invaluable tool in large-scale clinical trials that computationally investigate the effect of new generations of stents on hemodynamics and eventually tissue remodeling. Given a point cloud of strut positions, which can be extracted from images, our stent reconstruction method aims at finding a geometrical transformation that aligns a model of the undeployed stent to the point cloud. Mathematically, we describe the undeployed stent as a polyline, which is a piecewise linear object defined by its vertices and edges. We formulate the nonlinear registration as an optimization problem whose objective function consists of a similarity measure, quantifying the distance between the polyline and the point cloud, and a regularization functional, penalizing undesired transformations. Using projections of points onto the polyline structure, we derive novel distance measures. Our formulation supports most commonly used transformation models including very flexible nonlinear deformations. We also propose 2 regularization approaches ensuring the smoothness of the estimated nonlinear transformation. We demonstrate the potential of our methods using an academic 2D example and a real-life 3D bioabsorbable stent reconstruction problem. Our results show that the registration problem can be solved to sufficient accuracy within seconds using only a few number of Gauss-Newton iterations. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  18. Similarity of fluctuations in correlated systems: The case of seismicity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Varotsos, P.A.; Sarlis, N.V.; Tanaka, H.K.; Skordas, E.S.

    2005-01-01

    We report a similarity of fluctuations in equilibrium critical phenomena and nonequilibrium systems, which is based on the concept of natural time. The worldwide seismicity as well as that of the San Andreas fault system and Japan are analyzed. An order parameter is chosen and its fluctuations relative to the standard deviation of the distribution are studied. We find that the scaled distributions fall on the same curve, which interestingly exhibits, over four orders of magnitude, features similar to those in several equilibrium critical phenomena (e.g., two-dimensional Ising model) as well as in nonequilibrium systems (e.g., three-dimensional turbulent flow)

  19. Similarity Analysis of Cable Insulations by Chemical Test

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kim, Jong Seog [Central Research Institute of Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power Co., Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

    2013-10-15

    As result of this experiment, it was found that FT-IR test for material composition, TGA test for aging trend are applicable for similarity analysis of cable materials. OIT is recommended as option if TGA doesn't show good trend. Qualification of new insulation by EQ report of old insulation should be based on higher activation energy of new insulation than that of old one in the consideration of conservatism. In old nuclear power plant, it is easy to find black cable which has no marking of cable information such as manufacturer, material name and voltage. If a type test is required for qualification of these cables, how could I select representative cable? How could I determine the similarity of these cables? If manufacturer has qualified a cable for nuclear power plant more than a decade ago and composition of cable material is changed with similar one, is it acceptable to use the old EQ report for recently manufactured cable? It is well known to use FT-IR method to determine the similarity of cable materials. Infrared ray is easy tool to compare compositions of each material. But, it is not proper to compare aging trend of these materials. Study for similarity analysis of cable insulation by chemical test is described herein. To study a similarity evaluation method for polymer materials, FT-IR, TGA and OIT tests were performed for two cable insulation(old and new) which were supplied from same manufacturer. FT-IR shows good result to compare material compositions while TGA and OIT show good result to compare aging character of materials.

  20. Similarity Analysis of Cable Insulations by Chemical Test

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kim, Jong Seog

    2013-01-01

    As result of this experiment, it was found that FT-IR test for material composition, TGA test for aging trend are applicable for similarity analysis of cable materials. OIT is recommended as option if TGA doesn't show good trend. Qualification of new insulation by EQ report of old insulation should be based on higher activation energy of new insulation than that of old one in the consideration of conservatism. In old nuclear power plant, it is easy to find black cable which has no marking of cable information such as manufacturer, material name and voltage. If a type test is required for qualification of these cables, how could I select representative cable? How could I determine the similarity of these cables? If manufacturer has qualified a cable for nuclear power plant more than a decade ago and composition of cable material is changed with similar one, is it acceptable to use the old EQ report for recently manufactured cable? It is well known to use FT-IR method to determine the similarity of cable materials. Infrared ray is easy tool to compare compositions of each material. But, it is not proper to compare aging trend of these materials. Study for similarity analysis of cable insulation by chemical test is described herein. To study a similarity evaluation method for polymer materials, FT-IR, TGA and OIT tests were performed for two cable insulation(old and new) which were supplied from same manufacturer. FT-IR shows good result to compare material compositions while TGA and OIT show good result to compare aging character of materials

  1. Spatial dispersion modeling of 90Sr by point cumulative semivariogram at Keban Dam Lake, Turkey

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kuelahci, Fatih; Sen, Zekai

    2007-01-01

    Spatial analysis of 90 Sr artificial radionuclide in consequence of global fallout and Chernobyl nuclear accident has been carried out by using the point cumulative semivariogram (PCSV) technique based on 40 surface water station measurements in Keban Dam Lake during March, April, and May 2006. This technique is a convenient tool in obtaining the regional variability features around each sampling point, which yields the structural effects also in the vicinity of the same point. It presents the regional effect of all the other sites within the study area on the site concerned. In order to see to change of 90 Sr, the five models are constituted. Additionally, it provides a measure of cumulative similarity of the regional variable, 90 Sr, around any measurement site and hence it is possible to draw regional similarity maps at any desired distance around each station. In this paper, such similarity maps are also drawn for a set of distances. 90 Sr activities in lake that distance approximately 4.5 km from stations show the maximum similarity

  2. Renal Involvement in Preeclampsia: Similarities to VEGF Ablation Therapy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Janina Müller-Deile

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available Glomerular VEGF expression is critical for the maintenance and function of an intact filtration barrier. Alterations in glomerular VEGF bioavailability result in endothelial as well as in podocyte damage. Renal involvement in preeclampsia includes proteinuria, podocyturia, elevated blood pressure, edema, glomerular capillary endotheliosis, and thrombotic microangiopathy. At least the renal signs, symptoms, and other evidence can sufficiently be explained by reduced VEGF levels. The aim of this paper was to summarize our pathophysiological understanding of the renal involvement of preeclampsia and point out similarities to the renal side effects of VEGF-ablation therapy.

  3. An inversion-relaxation approach for sampling stationary points of spin model Hamiltonians

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hughes, Ciaran; Mehta, Dhagash; Wales, David J.

    2014-01-01

    Sampling the stationary points of a complicated potential energy landscape is a challenging problem. Here, we introduce a sampling method based on relaxation from stationary points of the highest index of the Hessian matrix. We illustrate how this approach can find all the stationary points for potentials or Hamiltonians bounded from above, which includes a large class of important spin models, and we show that it is far more efficient than previous methods. For potentials unbounded from above, the relaxation part of the method is still efficient in finding minima and transition states, which are usually the primary focus of attention for atomistic systems

  4. Amorphous topological insulators constructed from random point sets

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mitchell, Noah P.; Nash, Lisa M.; Hexner, Daniel; Turner, Ari M.; Irvine, William T. M.

    2018-04-01

    The discovery that the band structure of electronic insulators may be topologically non-trivial has revealed distinct phases of electronic matter with novel properties1,2. Recently, mechanical lattices have been found to have similarly rich structure in their phononic excitations3,4, giving rise to protected unidirectional edge modes5-7. In all of these cases, however, as well as in other topological metamaterials3,8, the underlying structure was finely tuned, be it through periodicity, quasi-periodicity or isostaticity. Here we show that amorphous Chern insulators can be readily constructed from arbitrary underlying structures, including hyperuniform, jammed, quasi-crystalline and uniformly random point sets. While our findings apply to mechanical and electronic systems alike, we focus on networks of interacting gyroscopes as a model system. Local decorations control the topology of the vibrational spectrum, endowing amorphous structures with protected edge modes—with a chirality of choice. Using a real-space generalization of the Chern number, we investigate the topology of our structures numerically, analytically and experimentally. The robustness of our approach enables the topological design and self-assembly of non-crystalline topological metamaterials on the micro and macro scale.

  5. Similarity renormalization group evolution of N N interactions within a subtractive renormalization scheme

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Durães F.O.

    2010-04-01

    Full Text Available We apply the similarity renormalization group (SRG approach to evolve a nucleon-nucleon (N N interaction in leading-order (LO chiral effective field theory (ChEFT, renormalized within the framework of the subtracted kernel method (SKM. We derive a fixed-point interaction and show the renormalization group (RG invariance in the SKM approach. We also compare the evolution of N N potentials with the subtraction scale through a SKM RG equation in the form of a non-relativistic Callan-Symanzik (NRCS equation and the evolution with the similarity cutoff through the SRG transformation.

  6. Bayesian inference as a tool for analysis of first-principles calculations of complex materials: an application to the melting point of Ti2GaN

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Davis, Sergio; Gutiérrez, Gonzalo

    2013-01-01

    We present a systematic implementation of the recently developed Z-method for computing melting points of solids, augmented by a Bayesian analysis of the data obtained from molecular dynamics simulations. The use of Bayesian inference allows us to extract valuable information from limited data, reducing the computational cost of drawing the isochoric curve. From this Bayesian Z-method we obtain posterior distributions for the melting temperature T m , the critical superheating temperature T LS and the slopes dT/dE of the liquid and solid phases. The method therefore gives full quantification of the errors in the prediction of the melting point. This procedure is applied to the estimation of the melting point of Ti 2 GaN (one of the so-called MAX phases), a complex, laminar material, by density functional theory molecular dynamics, finding an estimate T m of 2591.61 ± 89.61 K, which is in good agreement with melting points of similar ceramics. (paper)

  7. A branch point consensus from Arabidopsis found by non-circular analysis allows for better prediction of acceptor sites

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Tolstrup, Niels; Rouzé, Pierre; Brunak, Søren

    1997-01-01

    Little knowledge exists about branch points in plants; it has even been claimed that plant introns lack conserved branch point sequences similar to those found in vertebrate introns. A putative branch point consensus sequence for Arabidopsis thaliana resembling the well known metazoan consensus s...... in the recognition of true acceptor sites; the false positive rate being reduced by a factor of 2. We take this as an indication that the consensus found here is the genuine one and that the branch point does play a role in the proper recognition of the acceptor site in plants.......Little knowledge exists about branch points in plants; it has even been claimed that plant introns lack conserved branch point sequences similar to those found in vertebrate introns. A putative branch point consensus sequence for Arabidopsis thaliana resembling the well known metazoan consensus...... sequence has been proposed, but this is based on search of sequences similar to those in yeast and metazoa. Here we present a novel consensus sequence found by a non-circular approach. A hidden Markov model with a fixed A nucleotide was trained on sequences upstream of the acceptor site. The consensus...

  8. Interference between Maintenance and Processing in Working Memory: The Effect of Item-Distractor Similarity in Complex Span

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oberauer, Klaus; Farrell, Simon; Jarrold, Christopher; Pasiecznik, Kazimir; Greaves, Martin

    2012-01-01

    Four experiments examined the effect of phonological similarity between items and distractors on complex span performance. Item-distractor similarity benefited serial recall when distractors followed the items they were similar to, but not when distractors preceded the items they were similar to. These findings are predicted by C-SOB (contextual…

  9. The point on.

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1996-01-01

    In this last article, we find the point of view about the world petroleum activity, the reserves and the recent discoveries, the deep offshore, the technological developments in petroleum upstream. The petroleum situation in China is treated. The trends of world refining are described. The recent technological developments in the petroleum downstream are detailed. The prices of crude oil and the refining margins are the subject of a chapter. The investments of hydrocarbons area are given, the world trade and the lng projects, the gas availability in Western Europe have their place. The trends of European automobile industry and the fuels distribution are also discussed. (N.C.)

  10. Studies of a general flat space/boson star transition model in a box through a language similar to holographic superconductors

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peng, Yan

    2017-07-01

    We study a general flat space/boson star transition model in quasi-local ensemble through approaches familiar from holographic superconductor theories. We manage to find a parameter ψ 2, which is proved to be useful in disclosing properties of phase transitions. In this work, we explore effects of the scalar mass, scalar charge and Stückelberg mechanism on the critical phase transition points and the order of transitions mainly from behaviors of the parameter ψ 2. We mention that properties of transitions in quasi-local gravity are strikingly similar to those in holographic superconductor models. We also obtain an analytical relation ψ 2 ∝ ( μ - μ c )1/2, which also holds for the condensed scalar operator in the holographic insulator/superconductor system in accordance with mean field theories.

  11. Two-year-olds use adults' but not peers' points.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kachel, Gregor; Moore, Richard; Tomasello, Michael

    2018-03-12

    In the current study, 24- to 27-month-old children (N = 37) used pointing gestures in a cooperative object choice task with either peer or adult partners. When indicating the location of a hidden toy, children pointed equally accurately for adult and peer partners but more often for adult partners. When choosing from one of three hiding places, children used adults' pointing to find a hidden toy significantly more often than they used peers'. In interaction with peers, children's choice behavior was at chance level. These results suggest that toddlers ascribe informative value to adults' but not peers' pointing gestures, and highlight the role of children's social expectations in their communicative development. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  12. Dynamic trapping near a quantum critical point

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kolodrubetz, Michael; Katz, Emanuel; Polkovnikov, Anatoli

    2015-02-01

    The study of dynamics in closed quantum systems has been revitalized by the emergence of experimental systems that are well-isolated from their environment. In this paper, we consider the closed-system dynamics of an archetypal model: spins driven across a second-order quantum critical point, which are traditionally described by the Kibble-Zurek mechanism. Imbuing the driving field with Newtonian dynamics, we find that the full closed system exhibits a robust new phenomenon—dynamic critical trapping—in which the system is self-trapped near the critical point due to efficient absorption of field kinetic energy by heating the quantum spins. We quantify limits in which this phenomenon can be observed and generalize these results by developing a Kibble-Zurek scaling theory that incorporates the dynamic field. Our findings can potentially be interesting in the context of early universe physics, where the role of the driving field is played by the inflaton or a modulus field.

  13. A comparison of antibiotic point prevalence survey data from four Irish regional/general hospitals.

    LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

    Naughton, C

    2011-06-01

    Point prevalence surveys (PPS) are increasingly used to examining and compare hospital antibiotic consumption. The aim of this study was to identify the (1) point prevalence of antibiotic use in one regional hospital and (2) compare PPS data from similar regional\\/general hospitals.

  14. [Similarity system theory to evaluate similarity of chromatographic fingerprints of traditional Chinese medicine].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Yongsuo; Meng, Qinghua; Jiang, Shumin; Hu, Yuzhu

    2005-03-01

    The similarity evaluation of the fingerprints is one of the most important problems in the quality control of the traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). Similarity measures used to evaluate the similarity of the common peaks in the chromatogram of TCM have been discussed. Comparative studies were carried out among correlation coefficient, cosine of the angle and an improved extent similarity method using simulated data and experimental data. Correlation coefficient and cosine of the angle are not sensitive to the differences of the data set. They are still not sensitive to the differences of the data even after normalization. According to the similarity system theory, an improved extent similarity method was proposed. The improved extent similarity is more sensitive to the differences of the data sets than correlation coefficient and cosine of the angle. And the character of the data sets needs not to be changed compared with log-transformation. The improved extent similarity can be used to evaluate the similarity of the chromatographic fingerprints of TCM.

  15. On Out of Plane Equilibrium Points in Photo-Gravitational Restricted ...

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    Abstract. We have investigated the out of plane equilibrium points of a passive micron size particle and their stability in the field of radiating binary stellar systems Krüger-60, RW-Monocerotis within the framework of photo-gravitational circular restricted three-body problem. We find that the out of plane equilibrium points (Li,i ...

  16. Self-similar slip distributions on irregular shaped faults

    Science.gov (United States)

    Herrero, A.; Murphy, S.

    2018-06-01

    We propose a strategy to place a self-similar slip distribution on a complex fault surface that is represented by an unstructured mesh. This is possible by applying a strategy based on the composite source model where a hierarchical set of asperities, each with its own slip function which is dependent on the distance from the asperity centre. Central to this technique is the efficient, accurate computation of distance between two points on the fault surface. This is known as the geodetic distance problem. We propose a method to compute the distance across complex non-planar surfaces based on a corollary of the Huygens' principle. The difference between this method compared to others sample-based algorithms which precede it is the use of a curved front at a local level to calculate the distance. This technique produces a highly accurate computation of the distance as the curvature of the front is linked to the distance from the source. Our local scheme is based on a sequence of two trilaterations, producing a robust algorithm which is highly precise. We test the strategy on a planar surface in order to assess its ability to keep the self-similarity properties of a slip distribution. We also present a synthetic self-similar slip distribution on a real slab topography for a M8.5 event. This method for computing distance may be extended to the estimation of first arrival times in both complex 3D surfaces or 3D volumes.

  17. Presumed cultural similarity paradox : Expatriate adjustment and performance across the border or over the globe

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Vromans, P.; van Engen, M.L.; Mol, S.

    2013-01-01

    Purpose To introduce the presumed cultural similarity paradox as a possible explanation for the findings that adjusting to a culturally similar country is just as difficult as adjusting to a culturally dissimilar country. We provide a conceptual framework, enabling further understanding and research

  18. Presumed cultural similarity paradox: expatriate adjustment and performance across the border or over the globe

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Vromans, P.; van Engen, M.; Mol, S.

    2013-01-01

    Purpose - To introduce the presumed cultural similarity paradox as a possible explanation for the findings that adjusting to a culturally similar country is just as difficult as adjusting to a culturally dissimilar country. We provide a conceptual framework, enabling further understanding and

  19. Social values as arguments: similar is convincing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maio, Gregory R.; Hahn, Ulrike; Frost, John-Mark; Kuppens, Toon; Rehman, Nadia; Kamble, Shanmukh

    2014-01-01

    Politicians, philosophers, and rhetors engage in co-value argumentation: appealing to one value in order to support another value (e.g., “equality leads to freedom”). Across four experiments in the United Kingdom and India, we found that the psychological relatedness of values affects the persuasiveness of the arguments that bind them. Experiment 1 found that participants were more persuaded by arguments citing values that fulfilled similar motives than by arguments citing opposing values. Experiments 2 and 3 replicated this result using a wider variety of values, while finding that the effect is stronger among people higher in need for cognition and that the effect is mediated by the greater plausibility of co-value arguments that link motivationally compatible values. Experiment 4 extended the effect to real-world arguments taken from political propaganda and replicated the mediating effect of argument plausibility. The findings highlight the importance of value relatedness in argument persuasiveness. PMID:25147529

  20. Social Values as Arguments: Similar is Convincing

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gregory R Maio

    2014-08-01

    Full Text Available Politicians, philosophers, and rhetors engage in co-value argumentation: appealing to one value in order to support another value (e.g., equality leads to freedom. Across four experiments in the United Kingdom and India, we found that the psychological relatedness of values affects the persuasiveness of the arguments that bind them. Experiment 1 found that participants were more persuaded by arguments citing values that fulfilled similar motives than by arguments citing opposing values. Experiments 2 and 3 replicated this result using a wider variety of values, while finding that the effect is stronger among people higher in need for cognition and that the effect is mediated by the greater plausibility of co-value arguments that link motivationally compatible values. Experiment 4 extended the effect to real-world arguments taken from political propaganda and replicated the mediating effect of argument plausibility. The findings highlight the importance of value relatedness in argument persuasiveness.

  1. Neural processing of race during imitation: self-similarity versus social status

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reynolds Losin, Elizabeth A.; Cross, Katy A.; Iacoboni, Marco; Dapretto, Mirella

    2017-01-01

    People preferentially imitate others who are similar to them or have high social status. Such imitative biases are thought to have evolved because they increase the efficiency of cultural acquisition. Here we focused on distinguishing between self-similarity and social status as two candidate mechanisms underlying neural responses to a person’s race during imitation. We used fMRI to measure neural responses when 20 African American (AA) and 20 European American (EA) young adults imitated AA, EA and Chinese American (CA) models and also passively observed their gestures and faces. We found that both AA and EA participants exhibited more activity in lateral fronto-parietal and visual regions when imitating AAs compared to EAs or CAs. These results suggest that racial self-similarity is not likely to modulate neural responses to race during imitation, in contrast with findings from previous neuroimaging studies of face perception and action observation. Furthermore, AA and EA participants associated AAs with lower social status than EAs or CAs, suggesting that the social status associated with different racial groups may instead modulate neural activity during imitation of individuals from those groups. Taken together, these findings suggest that neural responses to race during imitation are driven by socially-learned associations rather than self-similarity. This may reflect the adaptive role of imitation in social learning, where learning from higher-status models can be more beneficial. This study provides neural evidence consistent with evolutionary theories of cultural acquisition. PMID:23813738

  2. Computed tomographic findings in acute superior mesenteric arterial occlusion

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kuwabara, Yoshiyuki; Kataoka, Makoto; Kureyama, Yasuyuki; Iwata, Hiroshi; Kashima, Taketoshi; Sinoda, Noriyuki; Sato, Atsushi; Hattori, Kohji; Masaoka, Akira

    1993-01-01

    In this study computed tomography (CT) findings were examined in 6 cases of acute superior mesenteric arterial (SMA) occlusion. With simple CT, occluded site of SMA revealed a slightly high density in 2 cases, while no findings were noted in other cases. Slightly dilated multiple loops of the intestine were confirmed in 3 cases, but no particular changes in the intestinal wall were found. As other findings, ascites and air in the portal vein were found in each one case. Contrast enhanced CT was conducted in 2 out of the 6 cases, and occluded site was visualized as spots in one case but no findings were noted in the other. The contrast enhancement effect in vessels in SMA region was examined from its root to the peripheral in this order, and the 2 cases showed common findings that the contrast enhancement effect abruptly disappeared at a point in vessels in SMA region (discontinuance). The point was consistent with the occluded site on angiography. These findings indicate that simple CT alone is difficult to offer correct diagnosis of SMA occlusion, but contrast enhanced CT is able to visualize the SMA occlusion as a discontinuance picture. It is thought that contrast enhanced CT can be a useful procedure for early diagnosis of SMA occlusion. (author)

  3. Chordoma versus chondrosarcoma of the central skull base: MR and CT findings

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Choi, Guk Myeong; Han, Moon Hee; Chang, Kee Hyun; Kim, Hong Dae; Yeon, Kyung Mo; Kim, Sam Soo

    1998-01-01

    It is known that due to both their imaging and pathologic features, the accurate differentiation of chondrosarcoma from chordoma is difficult. Through an analysis of MR and CT finding, this study aims to determine the differential points between these two tumors. In 21 patients, CT and MR imaging studies of chordoma (n=12) and chondrosarcoma (n=9) at the base of the skull were retrospectively reviewed. Diagnosis had been established by histologic examination of surgically removed specimens. Eleven of the chordomas were subclassified as conventional and one as chondroid ; eight chondrosarcoma were conventional and one was myxoid. Four chordoma patients underwent CT and MR ; in six, only MR was in one, only CT was performed. All scans were retrospectively evaluated for the location (midline/off-midline), direction of extension, margin and shape, bony destruction and calcification, MR signal intensity and enhancement patterns of the tumors. Degree of calcification was graded from I to II. Although MR and CT findings were similar in both types of tumor, location and degree of calcification may be features which usefully distinguish chordoma from chondrosarcoma. (author). 17 refs., 2 tabs., 5 figs

  4. Similar Connotation in Chronic Hepatitis B and Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Patients with Dampness-Heat Syndrome

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jianye Dai

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available The phenomenon that the same syndrome turns up in different diseases appears in the sight of people around the world, which raises the thought for possibility of “Same Treatment for Different Diseases.” Actually, treatment based on ZHENG classification in Traditional Chinese Medicine could bring revelation for the former finding. The dampness-heat syndrome in chronic hepatitis B and nonalcoholic fatty liver is regarded as the breakthrough point. We discussed the molecular mechanism of similar connotation that exists in chronic hepatitis B and nonalcoholic fatty liver by metabonomics to give the modern understanding of dampness-heat syndrome. Both urine and serum metabolic profiling revealed that obvious differences existed between dampness-heat syndrome and non-dampness-heat syndrome but the commonality was proved to appear in chronic hepatitis B and nonalcoholic fatty liver patients with dampness-heat syndrome. Furthermore, disorder of body fluid metabolism, decline in digestive capacity, and imbalance of intestinal flora were found to be the new guiding for treatment, with the hope to provide the basis for Chinese personalized medicine.

  5. ClinicalKey: a point-of-care search engine.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vardell, Emily

    2013-01-01

    ClinicalKey is a new point-of-care resource for health care professionals. Through controlled vocabulary, ClinicalKey offers a cross section of resources on diseases and procedures, from journals to e-books and practice guidelines to patient education. A sample search was conducted to demonstrate the features of the database, and a comparison with similar tools is presented.

  6. BetterPoints: Motivating behaviour change using technology-driven incentivisation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anne Lancaster

    2015-10-01

    The BetterPoints system is unique in it’s flexibility and ability to draw on multiple behaviour change models to create high quality interventions. Early findings from existing programmes being implemented for Local Authorities in the UK suggest that BetterPoints can demonstrate real-world behaviour change. We would like to work with academic partners to further investigate these real-world changes in behaviour and establish a robust evidence base.

  7. Branes, superpotentials and superconformal fixed points

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Aharony, O.

    1997-01-01

    We analyze various brane configurations corresponding to field theories in three, four and five dimensions. We find brane configurations which correspond to three-dimensional N=2 and four-dimensional N=1 supersymmetric QCD theories with quartic superpotentials, in which what appear to be ''hidden parameters'' play an important role. We discuss the construction of five-dimensional N=1 supersymmetric gauge theories and superconformal fixed points using branes, which leads to new five-dimensional N=1 superconformal field theories. The same five-dimensional theories are also used, in a surprising way, to describe new superconformal fixed points of three-dimensional N=2 supersymmetric theories, which have both ''electric'' and ''magnetic'' Coulomb branches. (orig.)

  8. Self-similarity of hard cumulative processes in fixed target experiment for BES-II at STAR

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Tokarev, M. V.; Zborovský, Imrich; Aparin, A. A.

    2015-01-01

    Roč. 12, č. 2 (2015), s. 221-229 ISSN 1547-4771 R&D Projects: GA MŠk(CZ) LG13031 Institutional support: RVO:61389005 Keywords : critical point * cumulative process * heavy ions * high energy * phase transition * self-similarity Subject RIV: BE - Theoretical Physics

  9. Global Neural Pattern Similarity as a Common Basis for Categorization and Recognition Memory

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xue, Gui; Love, Bradley C.; Preston, Alison R.; Poldrack, Russell A.

    2014-01-01

    Familiarity, or memory strength, is a central construct in models of cognition. In previous categorization and long-term memory research, correlations have been found between psychological measures of memory strength and activation in the medial temporal lobes (MTLs), which suggests a common neural locus for memory strength. However, activation alone is insufficient for determining whether the same mechanisms underlie neural function across domains. Guided by mathematical models of categorization and long-term memory, we develop a theory and a method to test whether memory strength arises from the global similarity among neural representations. In human subjects, we find significant correlations between global similarity among activation patterns in the MTLs and both subsequent memory confidence in a recognition memory task and model-based measures of memory strength in a category learning task. Our work bridges formal cognitive theories and neuroscientific models by illustrating that the same global similarity computations underlie processing in multiple cognitive domains. Moreover, by establishing a link between neural similarity and psychological memory strength, our findings suggest that there may be an isomorphism between psychological and neural representational spaces that can be exploited to test cognitive theories at both the neural and behavioral levels. PMID:24872552

  10. Four points function fitted and first derivative procedure for determining the end points in potentiometric titration curves: statistical analysis and method comparison.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kholeif, S A

    2001-06-01

    A new method that belongs to the differential category for determining the end points from potentiometric titration curves is presented. It uses a preprocess to find first derivative values by fitting four data points in and around the region of inflection to a non-linear function, and then locate the end point, usually as a maximum or minimum, using an inverse parabolic interpolation procedure that has an analytical solution. The behavior and accuracy of the sigmoid and cumulative non-linear functions used are investigated against three factors. A statistical evaluation of the new method using linear least-squares method validation and multifactor data analysis are covered. The new method is generally applied to symmetrical and unsymmetrical potentiometric titration curves, and the end point is calculated using numerical procedures only. It outperforms the "parent" regular differential method in almost all factors levels and gives accurate results comparable to the true or estimated true end points. Calculated end points from selected experimental titration curves compatible with the equivalence point category of methods, such as Gran or Fortuin, are also compared with the new method.

  11. Relative Critical Points

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Debra Lewis

    2013-05-01

    Full Text Available Relative equilibria of Lagrangian and Hamiltonian systems with symmetry are critical points of appropriate scalar functions parametrized by the Lie algebra (or its dual of the symmetry group. Setting aside the structures – symplectic, Poisson, or variational – generating dynamical systems from such functions highlights the common features of their construction and analysis, and supports the construction of analogous functions in non-Hamiltonian settings. If the symmetry group is nonabelian, the functions are invariant only with respect to the isotropy subgroup of the given parameter value. Replacing the parametrized family of functions with a single function on the product manifold and extending the action using the (coadjoint action on the algebra or its dual yields a fully invariant function. An invariant map can be used to reverse the usual perspective: rather than selecting a parametrized family of functions and finding their critical points, conditions under which functions will be critical on specific orbits, typically distinguished by isotropy class, can be derived. This strategy is illustrated using several well-known mechanical systems – the Lagrange top, the double spherical pendulum, the free rigid body, and the Riemann ellipsoids – and generalizations of these systems.

  12. Binding Energy, Vapor Pressure and Melting Point of Semiconductor Nanoparticles

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    H. H. Farrell; C. D. Van Siclen

    2007-01-01

    Current models for the cohesive energy of nanoparticles generally predict a linear dependence on the inverse particle diameter for spherical clusters, or, equivalently, on the inverse of the cube root of the number of atoms in the cluster. Although this is generally true for metals, we find that for the group IV semiconductors, C, Si and Ge, this linear dependence does not hold. Instead, using first principles, density functional theory calculations to calculate the binding energy of these materials, we find a quadratic dependence on the inverse of the particle size. Similar results have also been obtained for the metallic group IV elements Sn and Pb. This is in direct contradiction to current assumptions. Further, as a consequence of this quadratic behavior, the vapor pressure of semiconductor nanoparticles rises more slowly with decreasing size than would be expected. In addition, the melting point of these nanoparticles will experience less suppression than experienced by metal nanoparticles with comparable bulk binding energies. This non-linearity also affects sintering or Ostwald ripening behavior of these nanoparticles as well as other physical properties that depend on the nanoparticle binding energy. The reason for this variation in size dependence involves the covalent nature of the bonding in semiconductors, and even in the 'poor' metals. Therefore, it is expected that this result will hold for compound semiconductors as well as the elemental semiconductors

  13. Relativistic dynamics of point magnetic moment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rafelski, Johann; Formanek, Martin; Steinmetz, Andrew

    2018-01-01

    The covariant motion of a classical point particle with magnetic moment in the presence of (external) electromagnetic fields is revisited. We are interested in understanding extensions to the Lorentz force involving point particle magnetic moment (Stern-Gerlach force) and how the spin precession dynamics is modified for consistency. We introduce spin as a classical particle property inherent to Poincaré symmetry of space-time. We propose a covariant formulation of the magnetic force based on a `magnetic' 4-potential and show how the point particle magnetic moment relates to the Amperian (current loop) and Gilbertian (magnetic monopole) descriptions. We show that covariant spin precession lacks a unique form and discuss the connection to g-2 anomaly. We consider the variational action principle and find that a consistent extension of the Lorentz force to include magnetic spin force is not straightforward. We look at non-covariant particle dynamics, and present a short introduction to the dynamics of (neutral) particles hit by a laser pulse of arbitrary shape.

  14. Collusion through Price Ceilings? In Search of a Focal-Point Effect

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Engelmann, D.; Müller, W.

    2008-01-01

    With this study we resume the search for a collusive focal-point effect of price ceilings in laboratory markets. We argue that market conditions in previous studies were unfavorable for collusion which may have been responsible for not finding such a focal-point effect. Our design aims at maximizing

  15. Collusion through price ceilings? In search of a focal-point effect

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Engelmann, D.; Müller, W.

    2011-01-01

    We resume the search for a collusive focal-point effect of price ceilings in laboratory markets. We argue that market conditions in previous studies were unfavorable for collusion which may have been responsible for not finding such a focal-point effect. Our design aims at maximizing the likelihood

  16. Investigating pointing tasks across angularly coupled display areas

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hennecke, Fabian; De Luca, Alexander; Nguyen, Ngo Dieu Huong

    2013-01-01

    Pointing tasks are a crucial part of today’s graphical user interfaces. They are well understood for flat displays and most prominently are modeled through Fitts’ Law. For novel displays (e.g., curved displays with multi-purpose areas), however, it remains unclear whether such models for predicting...... that the target position affects overall pointing speed and offset in both conditions. However, we also found that Fitts’ Law can in fact still be used to predict performance as on flat displays. Our results help designers to optimize user interfaces on angularly coupled displays when pointing tasks are involved....... user performance still hold – in particular when pointing is performed across differently oriented areas. To answer this question, we conducted an experiment on an angularly coupled display – the Curve – with two input conditions: direct touch and indirect mouse pointer. Our findings show...

  17. Self-similar optical pulses in competing cubic-quintic nonlinear media with distributed coefficients

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhang Jiefang; Tian Qing; Wang Yueyue; Dai Chaoqing; Wu Lei

    2010-01-01

    We present a systematic analysis of the self-similar propagation of optical pulses within the framework of the generalized cubic-quintic nonlinear Schroedinger equation with distributed coefficients. By appropriately choosing the relations between the distributed coefficients, we not only retrieve the exact self-similar solitonic solutions, but also find both the approximate self-similar Gaussian-Hermite solutions and compact solutions. Our analytical and numerical considerations reveal that proper choices of the distributed coefficients could make the unstable solitons stable and could restrict the nonlinear interaction between the neighboring solitons.

  18. Long-term skeletal findings in Menkes disease

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Amador, Eva; Domene, Ruth; Fuentes, Cristian; Carreno, Juan-Carlos; Enriquez, Goya

    2010-01-01

    Skeletal findings in infants with Menkes disease, the most characteristic of which are metaphyseal spurs, long-bone fractures and wormian bones, have been widely reported. However, the changes in skeletal features over time are not well known. The long-term findings differ completely from those initially observed and consist of undertubulation and metaphyseal flaring, similar to the findings seen in some types of bone dysplasia. The initial and long-term radiological features in an 8-year-old boy with Menkes disease are illustrated. (orig.)

  19. Examining the relationship between free recall and immediate serial recall: Similar patterns of rehearsal and similar effects of word length, presentation rate, and articulatory suppression.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bhatarah, Parveen; Ward, Geoff; Smith, Jessica; Hayes, Louise

    2009-07-01

    In five experiments, rehearsal and recall phenomena were examined using the free recall and immediate serial recall (ISR) tasks. In Experiment 1, participants were presented with lists of eight words, were precued or postcued to respond using free recall or ISR, and rehearsed out loud during presentation. The patterns of rehearsal were similar in all the conditions, and there was little difference between recall in the precued and postcued conditions. In Experiment 2, both free recall and ISR were sensitive to word length and presentation rate and showed similar patterns of rehearsal. In Experiment 3, both tasks were sensitive to word length and articulatory suppression. The word length effects generalized to 6-item (Experiment 4) and 12-item (Experiment 5) lists. These findings suggest that the two tasks are underpinned by highly similar rehearsal and recall processes.

  20. Beyond the relativistic point particle: A reciprocally invariant system and its generalisation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pavsic, Matej

    2009-01-01

    We investigate a reciprocally invariant system proposed by Low and Govaerts et al., whose action contains both the orthogonal and the symplectic forms and is invariant under global O(2,4) intersection Sp(2,4) transformations. We find that the general solution to the classical equations of motion has no linear term in the evolution parameter, τ, but only the oscillatory terms, and therefore cannot represent a particle propagating in spacetime. As a remedy, we consider a generalisation of the action by adopting a procedure similar to that of Bars et al., who introduced the concept of a τ derivative that is covariant under local Sp(2) transformations between the phase space variables x μ (τ) and p μ (τ). This system, in particular, is similar to a rigid particle whose action contains the extrinsic curvature of the world line, which turns out to be helical in spacetime. Another possible generalisation is the introduction of a symplectic potential proposed by Montesinos. We show how the latter approach is related to Kaluza-Klein theories and to the concept of Clifford space, a manifold whose tangent space at any point is Clifford algebra Cl(8), a promising framework for the unification of particles and forces.

  1. Dependence centrality similarity: Measuring the diversity of profession levels of interests

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yan, Deng-Cheng; Li, Ming; Wang, Bing-Hong

    2017-08-01

    To understand the relations between developers and software, we study a collaborative coding platform from the perspective of networks, including follower networks, dependence networks and developer-project bipartite networks. Through the analyzing of degree distribution, PageRank and degree-dependent nearest neighbors' centrality, we find that the degree distributions of all networks have a power-law form except the out-degree distributions of dependence networks. The nearest neighbors' centrality is negatively correlated with degree for developers but fluctuates around the average for projects. In order to measure the diversity of profession levels of interests, a new index called dependence centrality similarity is proposed and the correlation between dependence centrality similarity and degree is investigated. The result shows an obvious negative correlations between dependence centrality similarity and degree.

  2. MCTS Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Configuration Study Guide Exam 70-667

    CERN Document Server

    Pyles, James

    2010-01-01

    A Sybex study guide for the new SharePoint Server 2010 Configuration examSharePoint holds 55 percent of the collaboration and content management market, with many more companies indicating they plan to join the fold. IT professionals interested in enhancing their marketability with the new Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist: Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 Configuring exam will find this guide may be their only alternative to costly classroom training.Microsoft SharePoint claims over half the market for collaboration and content management software; IT professionals will boost their ma

  3. Entanglement near the optical instability point in damped four wave mixing systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chiangga, S.; Temnuch, W.; Frank, T. D.

    2018-06-01

    Entanglement of electromagnetic field modes of signal and idler photons generated by four-wave mixing (FWM) devices is a quantum phenomenon that has been examined in various experimental and theoretical studies. The focus of this theoretical study is on two aspects of this phenomenon: the emergence of signal and idler photons due to an optical instability and the entanglement of the signal and idler modes above the instability threshold. For simple FWM devices that are subjected to damping it is shown that the signal and idler modes are entangled close to the point of optical instability at which the signal and idler photons emerges. The degree of entanglement as measured by a particular entanglement function proposed earlier in the literature assumes at the point of optical instability a unique value that is independent of the model parameters of the devices. The value is slightly higher than the value reported in a FWM experiment by Boyer et al (2008 Science 321 544). Numerical simulations suggest that the aforementioned entanglement function is U-shaped such that the degree of entanglement at the instability point is the maximal possible one and represents the optimal value. A similar U-shaped pattern was observed in an FWM experiment conducted by Lawrie et al (2016 Appl. Phys. Lett. 108 151107). Our semi-analytical findings are derived within the framework of the positive P representation of quantum optical processes and are compared with the aforementioned experimental observations by Boyer et al and Lawrie et al.

  4. Soliton shock wave fronts and self-similar discontinuities in dispersion hydrodynamics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gurevich, A.V.; Meshcherkin, A.P.

    1987-01-01

    Nonlinear flows in nondissipative dispersion hydrodynamics are examined. It is demonstrated that in order to describe such flows it is necessary to incorporate a new concept: a special discontinuity called a ''self-similar'' discontinuity consisting of a nondissipative shock wave and a powerful slow wave discontinuity in regular hydrodynamics. The ''self similar discontinuity'' expands linearly over time. It is demonstrated that this concept may be introduced in a solution to Euler equations. The boundary conditions of the ''self similar discontinuity'' that allow closure of Euler equations for dispersion hydrodynamics are formulated, i.e., those that replace the shock adiabatic curve of standard dissipative hydrodynamics. The structure of the soliton front and of the trailing edge of the shock wave is investigated. A classification and complete solution are given to the problem of the decay of random initial discontinuities in the hydrodynamics of highly nonisothermic plasma. A solution is derived to the problem of the decay of initial discontinuities in the hydrodynamics of magnetized plasma. It is demonstrated that in this plasma, a feature of current density arises at the point of soliton inversion

  5. Self-similar pattern formation and continuous mechanics of self-similar systems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A. V. Dyskin

    2007-01-01

    Full Text Available In many cases, the critical state of systems that reached the threshold is characterised by self-similar pattern formation. We produce an example of pattern formation of this kind – formation of self-similar distribution of interacting fractures. Their formation starts with the crack growth due to the action of stress fluctuations. It is shown that even when the fluctuations have zero average the cracks generated by them could grow far beyond the scale of stress fluctuations. Further development of the fracture system is controlled by crack interaction leading to the emergence of self-similar crack distributions. As a result, the medium with fractures becomes discontinuous at any scale. We develop a continuum fractal mechanics to model its physical behaviour. We introduce a continuous sequence of continua of increasing scales covering this range of scales. The continuum of each scale is specified by the representative averaging volume elements of the corresponding size. These elements determine the resolution of the continuum. Each continuum hides the cracks of scales smaller than the volume element size while larger fractures are modelled explicitly. Using the developed formalism we investigate the stability of self-similar crack distributions with respect to crack growth and show that while the self-similar distribution of isotropically oriented cracks is stable, the distribution of parallel cracks is not. For the isotropically oriented cracks scaling of permeability is determined. For permeable materials (rocks with self-similar crack distributions permeability scales as cube of crack radius. This property could be used for detecting this specific mechanism of formation of self-similar crack distributions.

  6. Robust surface registration using N-points approximate congruent sets

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yao Jian

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Scans acquired by 3D sensors are typically represented in a local coordinate system. When multiple scans, taken from different locations, represent the same scene these must be registered to a common reference frame. We propose a fast and robust registration approach to automatically align two scans by finding two sets of N-points, that are approximately congruent under rigid transformation and leading to a good estimate of the transformation between their corresponding point clouds. Given two scans, our algorithm randomly searches for the best sets of congruent groups of points using a RANSAC-based approach. To successfully and reliably align two scans when there is only a small overlap, we improve the basic RANSAC random selection step by employing a weight function that approximates the probability of each pair of points in one scan to match one pair in the other. The search time to find pairs of congruent sets of N-points is greatly reduced by employing a fast search codebook based on both binary and multi-dimensional lookup tables. Moreover, we introduce a novel indicator of the overlapping region quality which is used to verify the estimated rigid transformation and to improve the alignment robustness. Our framework is general enough to incorporate and efficiently combine different point descriptors derived from geometric and texture-based feature points or scene geometrical characteristics. We also present a method to improve the matching effectiveness of texture feature descriptors by extracting them from an atlas of rectified images recovered from the scan reflectance image. Our algorithm is robust with respect to different sampling densities and also resilient to noise and outliers. We demonstrate its robustness and efficiency on several challenging scan datasets with varying degree of noise, outliers, extent of overlap, acquired from indoor and outdoor scenarios.

  7. Genetic similarity among commercial oil palm materials based on microsatellite markers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Diana Arias

    2012-08-01

    Full Text Available Microsatellite markers are used to determine genetic similarities among individuals and might be used in various applications in breeding programs. For example, knowing the genetic similarity relationships of commercial planting materials helps to better understand their responses to environmental, agronomic and plant health factors. This study assessed 17 microsatellite markers in 9 crosses (D x P of Elaeis guineensis Jacq. from various commercial companies in Malaysia, France, Costa Rica and Colombia, in order to find possible genetic differences and/or similarities. Seventy-seven alleles were obtained, with an average of 4.5 alleles per primer and a range of 2-8 amplified alleles. The results show a significant reduction of alleles, compared to the number of alleles reported for wild oil palm populations. The obtained dendrogram shows the formation of two groups based on their genetic similarity. Group A, with ~76% similarity, contains the commercial material of 3 codes of Deli x La Mé crosses produced in France and Colombia, and group B, with ~66% genetic similarity, includes all the materials produced by commercial companies in Malaysia, France, Costa Rica and Colombia

  8. New position of Dirac points in the strained graphene reciprocal lattice

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cui-Lian Li

    2014-08-01

    Full Text Available In the strained graphene, Fermi velocity shows space-dependent and it changes as the position of Dirac point shifts. In this paper, we apply the tight-binding approach within linear elasticity theory to investigate the shifting of Dirac points in the strained graphene reciprocal lattice space. Based on this, we derive the analytical expression on the new positions of the Dirac points as the strain parameter varies. Comparing the data from our analytical expression, ones from Eq. (20 in Phys. Rev. B 80, 045401 (2009, and those from numerical calculation, we find that our analytical expression raises the effective prediction range of the strain parameter from 3% to 15%. i.e., our analytical expression is practicable until the strain parameter is larger than 15%. This almost includes the whole range where the Dirac points present and the energy gap is zero. Moreover, we further calculate the energy gap by numerical method when the shear strain parameter varies from 0 to 20%, and find that the energy gap can not open until the strain parameter is larger than 16%. After this, the energy gap open and the Dirac points disappear.

  9. Critical Points in Distance Learning System

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Airina Savickaitė

    2013-08-01

    Full Text Available Purpose – This article presents the results of distance learning system analysis, i.e. the critical elements of the distance learning system. The critical points of distance learning are a part of distance education online environment interactivity/community process model. The most important is the fact that the critical point is associated with distance learning participants. Design/methodology/approach – Comparative review of articles and analysis of distance learning module. Findings – A modern man is a lifelong learner and distance learning is a way to be a modern person. The focus on a learner and feedback is the most important thing of learning distance system. Also, attention should be paid to the lecture-appropriate knowledge and ability to convey information. Distance system adaptation is the way to improve the learner’s learning outcomes. Research limitations/implications – Different learning disciplines and learning methods may have different critical points. Practical implications – The information of analysis could be important for both lecturers and students, who studies distance education systems. There are familiar critical points which may deteriorate the quality of learning. Originality/value – The study sought to develop remote systems for applications in order to improve the quality of knowledge. Keywords: distance learning, process model, critical points. Research type: review of literature and general overview.

  10. Protein-protein interaction network-based detection of functionally similar proteins within species.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Song, Baoxing; Wang, Fen; Guo, Yang; Sang, Qing; Liu, Min; Li, Dengyun; Fang, Wei; Zhang, Deli

    2012-07-01

    Although functionally similar proteins across species have been widely studied, functionally similar proteins within species showing low sequence similarity have not been examined in detail. Identification of these proteins is of significant importance for understanding biological functions, evolution of protein families, progression of co-evolution, and convergent evolution and others which cannot be obtained by detection of functionally similar proteins across species. Here, we explored a method of detecting functionally similar proteins within species based on graph theory. After denoting protein-protein interaction networks using graphs, we split the graphs into subgraphs using the 1-hop method. Proteins with functional similarities in a species were detected using a method of modified shortest path to compare these subgraphs and to find the eligible optimal results. Using seven protein-protein interaction networks and this method, some functionally similar proteins with low sequence similarity that cannot detected by sequence alignment were identified. By analyzing the results, we found that, sometimes, it is difficult to separate homologous from convergent evolution. Evaluation of the performance of our method by gene ontology term overlap showed that the precision of our method was excellent. Copyright © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  11. The effective QCD phase diagram and the critical end point

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alejandro Ayala

    2015-08-01

    Full Text Available We study the QCD phase diagram on the temperature T and quark chemical potential μ plane, modeling the strong interactions with the linear sigma model coupled to quarks. The phase transition line is found from the effective potential at finite T and μ taking into account the plasma screening effects. We find the location of the critical end point (CEP to be (μCEP/Tc,TCEP/Tc∼(1.2,0.8, where Tc is the (pseudocritical temperature for the crossover phase transition at vanishing μ. This location lies within the region found by lattice inspired calculations. The results show that in the linear sigma model, the CEP's location in the phase diagram is expectedly determined solely through chiral symmetry breaking. The same is likely to be true for all other models which do not exhibit confinement, provided the proper treatment of the plasma infrared properties for the description of chiral symmetry restoration is implemented. Similarly, we also expect these corrections to be substantially relevant in the QCD phase diagram.

  12. Generation of a statistical shape model with probabilistic point correspondences and the expectation maximization- iterative closest point algorithm

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hufnagel, Heike; Pennec, Xavier; Ayache, Nicholas; Ehrhardt, Jan; Handels, Heinz

    2008-01-01

    Identification of point correspondences between shapes is required for statistical analysis of organ shapes differences. Since manual identification of landmarks is not a feasible option in 3D, several methods were developed to automatically find one-to-one correspondences on shape surfaces. For unstructured point sets, however, one-to-one correspondences do not exist but correspondence probabilities can be determined. A method was developed to compute a statistical shape model based on shapes which are represented by unstructured point sets with arbitrary point numbers. A fundamental problem when computing statistical shape models is the determination of correspondences between the points of the shape observations of the training data set. In the absence of landmarks, exact correspondences can only be determined between continuous surfaces, not between unstructured point sets. To overcome this problem, we introduce correspondence probabilities instead of exact correspondences. The correspondence probabilities are found by aligning the observation shapes with the affine expectation maximization-iterative closest points (EM-ICP) registration algorithm. In a second step, the correspondence probabilities are used as input to compute a mean shape (represented once again by an unstructured point set). Both steps are unified in a single optimization criterion which depe nds on the two parameters 'registration transformation' and 'mean shape'. In a last step, a variability model which best represents the variability in the training data set is computed. Experiments on synthetic data sets and in vivo brain structure data sets (MRI) are then designed to evaluate the performance of our algorithm. The new method was applied to brain MRI data sets, and the estimated point correspondences were compared to a statistical shape model built on exact correspondences. Based on established measures of ''generalization ability'' and ''specificity'', the estimates were very satisfactory

  13. Are prostate carcinoma clinical stages T1C and T2 similar?

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    Athanase Billis

    2006-04-01

    Full Text Available PURPOSE: A recent study has found that PSA recurrence rate for clinical T1c tumors is similar to T2 tumors, indicating a need for further refinement of clinical staging system. To test this finding we compared clinicopathologic characteristics and the time to PSA progression following radical retropubic prostatectomy of patients with clinical stage T1c tumors to those with stage T2, T2a or T2b tumors. MATERIALS AND METHODS: From a total of 186 consecutive patients submitted to prostatectomy, 33.52% had clinical stage T1c tumors, 45.45% stage T2a tumors and 21.02% stage T2b tumors. The variables studied were age, preoperative PSA, prostate weight, Gleason score, tumor extent, positive surgical margins, extraprostatic extension (pT3a, seminal vesicle invasion (pT3b, and time to PSA progression. Tumor extent was evaluated by a point-count method. RESULTS: Patients with clinical stage T1c were younger and had the lowest mean preoperative PSA. In the surgical specimen, they had higher frequency of Gleason score < 7 and more organ confined cancer. In 40.54% of the patients with clinical stage T2b tumors, there was extraprostatic extension (pT3a. During the study period, 54 patients (30.68% developed a biochemical progression. Kaplan-Meier product-limit analysis revealed no significant difference in the time to PSA progression between men with clinical stage T1c versus clinical stage T2 (p = 0.7959, T2a (p = 0.6060 or T2b (p = 0.2941 as well as between men with clinical stage T2a versus stage T2b (p = 0.0994. CONCLUSION: Clinicopathological features are not similar considering clinical stage T1c versus clinical stages T2, T2a or T2b.

  14. [Intersection point rule for the retention value with mobile phase composition and boiling point of the homologues and chlorobenzenes in soil leaching column chromatography].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xu, F; Liang, X; Lin, B; Su, F

    1999-03-01

    Based on the linear retention equation of the logarithm of the capacity factor (logk') vs. the methanol volume fraction (psi) of aqueous binary mobile phase in soil leaching column chromatography, the intersection point rule for the logk' of homologues and weak polar chlorobenzenes, with psi, as well as with boiling point, has been derived due to existence of the similar interactions among solutes of the same series, stationary phase (soil) and eluent (methanol-water). These rules were testified by experimental data of homologues (n-alkylbenzenes, methylbenzenes) and weak polar chlorobenzenes.

  15. Extension of frequency-based dissimilarity for retrieving similar plasma waveforms

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hochin, Teruhisa; Koyama, Katsumasa; Nakanishi, Hideya; Kojima, Mamoru

    2008-01-01

    Some computer-aided assistance in finding the waveforms similar to a waveform has become indispensable for accelerating data analysis in the plasma experiments. For the slowly-varying waveforms and those having time-sectional oscillation patterns, the methods using the Fourier series coefficients of waveforms in calculating the dissimilarity have successfully improved the performance in retrieving similar waveforms. This paper treats severely-varying waveforms, and proposes two extensions to the dissimilarity of waveforms. The first extension is to capture the difference of the importance of the Fourier series coefficients of waveforms against frequency. The second extension is to consider the outlines of waveforms. The correctness of the extended dissimilarity is experimentally evaluated by using the metrics used in evaluating that of the information retrieval, i.e. precision and recall. The experimental results show that the extended dissimilarity could improve the correctness of the similarity retrieval of plasma waveforms

  16. Cranial ultrasound and CT findings in infants with hypernatremic dehydration

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Han, Bokyung K.; Lee, Munhyang; Yoon, Hye Kyung

    1997-01-01

    We present two newborn infants with hypernatremic dehydration with central nervous system (CNS) involvement. Both patients showed similar imaging findings, demonstrating generalized brain parenchymal abnormality and multifocal areas of hemorrhage or hemorrhagic infarction. These findings are compatible with previously described CNS pathologic findings in hypernatremia. (orig.). With 2 figs

  17. Temporal trends in United States dew point temperatures

    Science.gov (United States)

    Robinson, Peter J.

    2000-07-01

    In this study, hourly data for the 1951-1990 period for 178 stations in the coterminous United States were used to establish temporal trends in dew point temperature. Although the data had been quality controlled previously (Robinson, 1998. Monthly variations of dew point temperatures in the coterminous United States. International Journal of Climatology 18: 1539-1556), comparisons of values between nearby stations suggested that instrumental changes, combined with locational changes, may have modified the results by as much as 1°C during the 40-year period. Nevertheless, seasonally averaged results indicated an increase over much of the area, of slightly over 1°C/100 years in spring and autumn, slightly less than this in summer. Winter displayed a drying of over 1°C/100 years. When only the 1961-1990 period was considered, the patterns were similar and trends increased by approximately 1-2°C/100 years, except in autumn, which displayed a slight drying. Analyses for specific stations indicated periods of both increasing and decreasing Td, the change between them varying with observation hour. No single change point was common over a wide area, although January commonly indicated maximum values early in the period in the east and west, and much later in the north-central portion. Rates of increase were generally higher in daytime than at night, especially in summer. Investigation of the inter-decadal differences in dew point, as a function of wind conditions, indicated that changes during calm conditions were commonly similar in magnitude to that of the overall average changes, suggesting an important role for the local hydrologic cycle in driving changes. Other inter-decadal changes could be attributed to the changes in the frequency and moisture content of invading air-streams. This was particularly clear for the changes in north-south flow in the interior.

  18. Point-of-care and point-of-procedure optical imaging technologies for primary care and global health.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boppart, Stephen A; Richards-Kortum, Rebecca

    2014-09-10

    Leveraging advances in consumer electronics and wireless telecommunications, low-cost, portable optical imaging devices have the potential to improve screening and detection of disease at the point of care in primary health care settings in both low- and high-resource countries. Similarly, real-time optical imaging technologies can improve diagnosis and treatment at the point of procedure by circumventing the need for biopsy and analysis by expert pathologists, who are scarce in developing countries. Although many optical imaging technologies have been translated from bench to bedside, industry support is needed to commercialize and broadly disseminate these from the patient level to the population level to transform the standard of care. This review provides an overview of promising optical imaging technologies, the infrastructure needed to integrate them into widespread clinical use, and the challenges that must be addressed to harness the potential of these technologies to improve health care systems around the world. Copyright © 2014, American Association for the Advancement of Science.

  19. The fixed point structure of lattice field theories

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Baier, R.; Reusch, H.J.; Lang, C.B.

    1989-01-01

    Monte-Carlo renormalization group methods allow to analyze lattice regularized quantum field theories. The properties of the quantized field theory in the continuum may be recovered at a critical point of the lattice model. This requires a study of the phase diagram and the renormalization flow structure of the coupling constants. As an example the authors discuss the results of a recent MCRG investigation of the SU(2) adjoint Higgs model, where they find evidence for the existence of a tricritical point at finite values of the inverse gauge coupling β

  20. Insight into point defects and impurities in titanium from first principles

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nayak, Sanjeev K.; Hung, Cain J.; Sharma, Vinit; Alpay, S. Pamir; Dongare, Avinash M.; Brindley, William J.; Hebert, Rainer J.

    2018-03-01

    Titanium alloys find extensive use in the aerospace and biomedical industries due to a unique combination of strength, density, and corrosion resistance. Decades of mostly experimental research has led to a large body of knowledge of the processing-microstructure-properties linkages. But much of the existing understanding of point defects that play a significant role in the mechanical properties of titanium is based on semi-empirical rules. In this work, we present the results of a detailed self-consistent first-principles study that was developed to determine formation energies of intrinsic point defects including vacancies, self-interstitials, and extrinsic point defects, such as, interstitial and substitutional impurities/dopants. We find that most elements, regardless of size, prefer substitutional positions, but highly electronegative elements, such as C, N, O, F, S, and Cl, some of which are common impurities in Ti, occupy interstitial positions.

  1. Computing three-point functions for short operators

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bargheer, Till; Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, NJ; Minahan, Joseph A.; Pereira, Raul

    2013-11-01

    We compute the three-point structure constants for short primary operators of N=4 super Yang.Mills theory to leading order in 1/√(λ) by mapping the problem to a flat-space string theory calculation. We check the validity of our procedure by comparing to known results for three chiral primaries. We then compute the three-point functions for any combination of chiral and non-chiral primaries, with the non-chiral primaries all dual to string states at the first massive level. Along the way we find many cancellations that leave us with simple expressions, suggesting that integrability is playing an important role.

  2. Computing three-point functions for short operators

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bargheer, Till [Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Hamburg (Germany); Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, NJ (United States). School of Natural Sciences; Minahan, Joseph A.; Pereira, Raul [Uppsala Univ. (Sweden). Dept. of Physics and Astronomy

    2013-11-15

    We compute the three-point structure constants for short primary operators of N=4 super Yang.Mills theory to leading order in 1/√(λ) by mapping the problem to a flat-space string theory calculation. We check the validity of our procedure by comparing to known results for three chiral primaries. We then compute the three-point functions for any combination of chiral and non-chiral primaries, with the non-chiral primaries all dual to string states at the first massive level. Along the way we find many cancellations that leave us with simple expressions, suggesting that integrability is playing an important role.

  3. Some genus 3 curves with many points

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Auer, R; Top, J; Fieker, C; Kohel, DR

    2002-01-01

    We explain a naive approach towards the problem of finding genus 3 curves C over any given finite field F-q of odd characteristic, with a number of rational points close to the Hasse-Weil-Serre upper bound q+1+3[2rootq]. The method turns out to be successful at least in characteristic 3.

  4. Frame Filtering and Skipping for Point Cloud Data Video Transmission

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Carlos Moreno

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Sensors for collecting 3D spatial data from the real world are becoming more important. They are a prime research area topic and have applications in consumer markets, such as medical, entertainment, and robotics. However, a primary concern with collecting this data is the vast amount of information being generated, and thus, needing to be processed before being transmitted. To address the issue, we propose the use of filtering methods and frame skipping. To collect the 3D spatial data, called point clouds, we used the Microsoft Kinect sensor. In addition, we utilized the Point Cloud Library to process and filter the data being generated by the Kinect. Two different computers were used: a client which collects, filters, and transmits the point clouds; and a server that receives and visualizes the point clouds. The client is also checking for similarity in consecutive frames, skipping those that reach a similarity threshold. In order to compare the filtering methods and test the effectiveness of the frame skipping technique, quality of service (QoS metrics such as frame rate and percentage of filter were introduced. These metrics indicate how well a certain combination of filtering method and frame skipping accomplishes the goal of transmitting point clouds from one location to another. We found that the pass through filter in conjunction with frame skipping provides the best relative QoS. However, results also show that there is still too much data for a satisfactory QoS. For a real-time system to provide reasonable end-to-end quality, dynamic compression and progressive transmission need to be utilized.

  5. A smooth landscape: ending saddle point inflation requires features to be shallow

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Battefeld, Diana; Battefeld, Thorsten

    2013-01-01

    We consider inflation driven near a saddle point in a higher dimensional field space, which is the most likely type of slow roll inflation on the string theoretical landscape; anthropic arguments need to be invoked in order to find a sufficiently flat region. To give all inflatons large masses after inflation and yield a small but positive cosmological constant, the trajectory in field space needs to terminate in a hole on the inflationary plateau, introducing a curved end-of-inflation hypersurface. We compute non-Gaussianities (bi- and tri-spectrum) caused by this curved hyper-surface and find a negative, potentially large, local non-linearity parameter. To be consistent with current observational bounds, the hole needs to be shallow, i.e. considerably wider than deep in natural units. To avoid singling out our vacuum as special (i.e. more special than a positive cosmological constant entails), we deduce that all features on field space should be similarly shallow, severely limiting the type of landscapes one may use for inflationary model building. We justify the use of a truncated Fourier series with random coefficients, which are suppressed the higher the frequency, to model such a smooth landscape by a random potential, as is often done in the literature without a good a priory reason

  6. Sepsis-Induced Takotsubo Cardiomyopathy Leading to Torsades de Pointes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nirav Patel

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Background. Takotsubo cardiomyopathy (TCM is sudden and reversible myocardial dysfunction often attributable to physical or emotional triggers. Case Report. We describe a 51-year-old man presented to emergency department with sepsis from urinary tract infection (UTI. He was placed on cefepime for UTI and non-ST-elevation myocardial infarction protocol given elevated troponins with chest pain. Subsequently, patient was pulseless with torsades de pointes (TdP and then converted to sinus rhythm with cardioversion. An echocardiogram revealed low ejection fraction with hypokinesis of the apical wall. Over 48 hours, the patient was extubated and stable on 3 L/min nasal cannula. He underwent a cardiac catheterization to evaluate coronary artery disease (CAD and was found to have mild nonobstructive CAD with no further findings. Conclusion. TCM is a rare disorder presenting with symptoms similar to acute coronary syndrome. Though traditionally elicited by physical and emotional triggers leading to transient left ventricular dysfunction, our case suggests that it may also be triggered by a urinary tract infection and lead to severe QT prolongation and a malignant ventricular arrhythmia in TdP.

  7. Phoneme Similarity and Confusability

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bailey, T.M.; Hahn, U.

    2005-01-01

    Similarity between component speech sounds influences language processing in numerous ways. Explanation and detailed prediction of linguistic performance consequently requires an understanding of these basic similarities. The research reported in this paper contrasts two broad classes of approach to the issue of phoneme similarity-theoretically…

  8. Self-similar factor approximants

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gluzman, S.; Yukalov, V.I.; Sornette, D.

    2003-01-01

    The problem of reconstructing functions from their asymptotic expansions in powers of a small variable is addressed by deriving an improved type of approximants. The derivation is based on the self-similar approximation theory, which presents the passage from one approximant to another as the motion realized by a dynamical system with the property of group self-similarity. The derived approximants, because of their form, are called self-similar factor approximants. These complement the obtained earlier self-similar exponential approximants and self-similar root approximants. The specific feature of self-similar factor approximants is that their control functions, providing convergence of the computational algorithm, are completely defined from the accuracy-through-order conditions. These approximants contain the Pade approximants as a particular case, and in some limit they can be reduced to the self-similar exponential approximants previously introduced by two of us. It is proved that the self-similar factor approximants are able to reproduce exactly a wide class of functions, which include a variety of nonalgebraic functions. For other functions, not pertaining to this exactly reproducible class, the factor approximants provide very accurate approximations, whose accuracy surpasses significantly that of the most accurate Pade approximants. This is illustrated by a number of examples showing the generality and accuracy of the factor approximants even when conventional techniques meet serious difficulties

  9. QUALIDADE DA CARCAÇA E DA CARNE DE NOVILHOS ABATIDOS COM PESOS SIMILARES, TERMINADOS EM DIFERENTES SISTEMAS DE ALIMENTAÇÃO CARCASS AND MEAT QUALITY FROM STEERS SLAUGHTERED WITH SIMILAR WEIGHTS, FINISHED IN DIFFERENT FEEDING SYSTEMS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    José Luiz Moletta

    2007-04-01

    percentages. Also fat percentage was similar between treatments, being of 22.8 and 20.7%, respectively, for steers finished in cultivated pasture and feedlot. Juiciness, palatability, shear force and thawing loss were higher for meat from steers finished on cultivated pasture, being, respectively 6.93 points, 6.60 points, 9.23 kgf and 8.28% versus 5.93 points, 5.77 points, 7.27 kgf and 5.27% in the same order, for steers finished in feedlot. However, others qualitative characteristics as meat color, texture, marbling, tenderness and cooking loss were similar between treatments. KEY WORDS: Aberdeen Angus, feedlot, sugar cane, winter pasture.

  10. Improved cosine similarity measures of simplified neutrosophic sets for medical diagnoses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ye, Jun

    2015-03-01

    In pattern recognition and medical diagnosis, similarity measure is an important mathematical tool. To overcome some disadvantages of existing cosine similarity measures of simplified neutrosophic sets (SNSs) in vector space, this paper proposed improved cosine similarity measures of SNSs based on cosine function, including single valued neutrosophic cosine similarity measures and interval neutrosophic cosine similarity measures. Then, weighted cosine similarity measures of SNSs were introduced by taking into account the importance of each element. Further, a medical diagnosis method using the improved cosine similarity measures was proposed to solve medical diagnosis problems with simplified neutrosophic information. The improved cosine similarity measures between SNSs were introduced based on cosine function. Then, we compared the improved cosine similarity measures of SNSs with existing cosine similarity measures of SNSs by numerical examples to demonstrate their effectiveness and rationality for overcoming some shortcomings of existing cosine similarity measures of SNSs in some cases. In the medical diagnosis method, we can find a proper diagnosis by the cosine similarity measures between the symptoms and considered diseases which are represented by SNSs. Then, the medical diagnosis method based on the improved cosine similarity measures was applied to two medical diagnosis problems to show the applications and effectiveness of the proposed method. Two numerical examples all demonstrated that the improved cosine similarity measures of SNSs based on the cosine function can overcome the shortcomings of the existing cosine similarity measures between two vectors in some cases. By two medical diagnoses problems, the medical diagnoses using various similarity measures of SNSs indicated the identical diagnosis results and demonstrated the effectiveness and rationality of the diagnosis method proposed in this paper. The improved cosine measures of SNSs based on cosine

  11. Geometry of polynomials and root-finding via path-lifting

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Myong-Hi; Martens, Marco; Sutherland, Scott

    2018-02-01

    Using the interplay between topological, combinatorial, and geometric properties of polynomials and analytic results (primarily the covering structure and distortion estimates), we analyze a path-lifting method for finding approximate zeros, similar to those studied by Smale, Shub, Kim, and others. Given any polynomial, this simple algorithm always converges to a root, except on a finite set of initial points lying on a circle of a given radius. Specifically, the algorithm we analyze consists of iterating where the t k form a decreasing sequence of real numbers and z 0 is chosen on a circle containing all the roots. We show that the number of iterates required to locate an approximate zero of a polynomial f depends only on log\\vert f(z_0)/ρ_\\zeta\\vert (where ρ_\\zeta is the radius of convergence of the branch of f-1 taking 0 to a root ζ) and the logarithm of the angle between f(z_0) and certain critical values. Previous complexity results for related algorithms depend linearly on the reciprocals of these angles. Note that the complexity of the algorithm does not depend directly on the degree of f, but only on the geometry of the critical values. Furthermore, for any polynomial f with distinct roots, the average number of steps required over all starting points taken on a circle containing all the roots is bounded by a constant times the average of log(1/ρ_\\zeta) . The average of log(1/ρ_\\zeta) over all polynomials f with d roots in the unit disk is \

  12. A Quantitative Comparison of the Similarity between Genes and Geography in Worldwide Human Populations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Chaolong; Zöllner, Sebastian; Rosenberg, Noah A.

    2012-01-01

    Multivariate statistical techniques such as principal components analysis (PCA) and multidimensional scaling (MDS) have been widely used to summarize the structure of human genetic variation, often in easily visualized two-dimensional maps. Many recent studies have reported similarity between geographic maps of population locations and MDS or PCA maps of genetic variation inferred from single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). However, this similarity has been evident primarily in a qualitative sense; and, because different multivariate techniques and marker sets have been used in different studies, it has not been possible to formally compare genetic variation datasets in terms of their levels of similarity with geography. In this study, using genome-wide SNP data from 128 populations worldwide, we perform a systematic analysis to quantitatively evaluate the similarity of genes and geography in different geographic regions. For each of a series of regions, we apply a Procrustes analysis approach to find an optimal transformation that maximizes the similarity between PCA maps of genetic variation and geographic maps of population locations. We consider examples in Europe, Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, East Asia, and Central/South Asia, as well as in a worldwide sample, finding that significant similarity between genes and geography exists in general at different geographic levels. The similarity is highest in our examples for Asia and, once highly distinctive populations have been removed, Sub-Saharan Africa. Our results provide a quantitative assessment of the geographic structure of human genetic variation worldwide, supporting the view that geography plays a strong role in giving rise to human population structure. PMID:22927824

  13. A quantitative comparison of the similarity between genes and geography in worldwide human populations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Chaolong; Zöllner, Sebastian; Rosenberg, Noah A

    2012-08-01

    Multivariate statistical techniques such as principal components analysis (PCA) and multidimensional scaling (MDS) have been widely used to summarize the structure of human genetic variation, often in easily visualized two-dimensional maps. Many recent studies have reported similarity between geographic maps of population locations and MDS or PCA maps of genetic variation inferred from single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). However, this similarity has been evident primarily in a qualitative sense; and, because different multivariate techniques and marker sets have been used in different studies, it has not been possible to formally compare genetic variation datasets in terms of their levels of similarity with geography. In this study, using genome-wide SNP data from 128 populations worldwide, we perform a systematic analysis to quantitatively evaluate the similarity of genes and geography in different geographic regions. For each of a series of regions, we apply a Procrustes analysis approach to find an optimal transformation that maximizes the similarity between PCA maps of genetic variation and geographic maps of population locations. We consider examples in Europe, Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, East Asia, and Central/South Asia, as well as in a worldwide sample, finding that significant similarity between genes and geography exists in general at different geographic levels. The similarity is highest in our examples for Asia and, once highly distinctive populations have been removed, Sub-Saharan Africa. Our results provide a quantitative assessment of the geographic structure of human genetic variation worldwide, supporting the view that geography plays a strong role in giving rise to human population structure.

  14. Are the correlates of sport participation similar to those of screen time?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mark S. Allen

    2015-01-01

    Conclusion: Our findings show that demographic, socioeconomic and environmental factors measured at age 4 predict sport participation and screen time at age 12, and that the correlates of childhood sport participation and childhood sedentary behavior may be more similar than previously estimated.

  15. Exploring the relationship between sequence similarity and accurate phylogenetic trees.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cantarel, Brandi L; Morrison, Hilary G; Pearson, William

    2006-11-01

    We have characterized the relationship between accurate phylogenetic reconstruction and sequence similarity, testing whether high levels of sequence similarity can consistently produce accurate evolutionary trees. We generated protein families with known phylogenies using a modified version of the PAML/EVOLVER program that produces insertions and deletions as well as substitutions. Protein families were evolved over a range of 100-400 point accepted mutations; at these distances 63% of the families shared significant sequence similarity. Protein families were evolved using balanced and unbalanced trees, with ancient or recent radiations. In families sharing statistically significant similarity, about 60% of multiple sequence alignments were 95% identical to true alignments. To compare recovered topologies with true topologies, we used a score that reflects the fraction of clades that were correctly clustered. As expected, the accuracy of the phylogenies was greatest in the least divergent families. About 88% of phylogenies clustered over 80% of clades in families that shared significant sequence similarity, using Bayesian, parsimony, distance, and maximum likelihood methods. However, for protein families with short ancient branches (ancient radiation), only 30% of the most divergent (but statistically significant) families produced accurate phylogenies, and only about 70% of the second most highly conserved families, with median expectation values better than 10(-60), produced accurate trees. These values represent upper bounds on expected tree accuracy for sequences with a simple divergence history; proteins from 700 Giardia families, with a similar range of sequence similarities but considerably more gaps, produced much less accurate trees. For our simulated insertions and deletions, correct multiple sequence alignments did not perform much better than those produced by T-COFFEE, and including sequences with expressed sequence tag-like sequencing errors did not

  16. End points for validating early warning scores in the context of rapid response systems

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Pedersen, N. E.; Oestergaard, D.; Lippert, A.

    2016-01-01

    with optimal treatment. This could pose a limitation to studies using these end points. We studied current expert opinion on end points for validating tools for the identification of patients in hospital wards at risk of imminent critical illness. METHODS: The Delphi consensus methodology was used. We......INTRODUCTION: When investigating early warning scores and similar physiology-based risk stratification tools, death, cardiac arrest and intensive care unit admission are traditionally used as end points. A large proportion of the patients identified by these end points cannot be saved, even...

  17. Using Qualitative Metasummary to Synthesize Qualitative and Quantitative Descriptive Findings

    OpenAIRE

    Sandelowski, Margarete; Barroso, Julie; Voils, Corrine I.

    2007-01-01

    The new imperative in the health disciplines to be more methodologically inclusive has generated a growing interest in mixed research synthesis, or the integration of qualitative and quantitative research findings. Qualitative metasummary is a quantitatively oriented aggregation of qualitative findings originally developed to accommodate the distinctive features of qualitative surveys. Yet these findings are similar in form and mode of production to the descriptive findings researchers often ...

  18. APPLICABILITY OF SIMILARITY CONDITIONS TO ANALOGUE MODELLING OF TECTONIC STRUCTURES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mikhail A. Goncharov

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available The publication is aimed at comparing concepts of V.V. Belousov and M.V. Gzovsky, outstanding researchers who established fundamentals of tectonophysics in Russia, specifically similarity conditions in application to tectonophysical modeling. Quotations from their publications illustrate differences in their views. In this respect, we can reckon V.V. Belousov as a «realist» as he supported «the liberal point of view» [Methods of modelling…, 1988, p. 21–22], whereas M.V. Gzovsky can be regarded as an «idealist» as he believed that similarity conditions should be mandatorily applied to ensure correctness of physical modeling of tectonic deformations and structures [Gzovsky, 1975, pp. 88 and 94].Objectives of the present publication are (1 to be another reminder about desirability of compliance with similarity conditions in experimental tectonics; (2 to point out difficulties in ensuring such compliance; (3 to give examples which bring out the fact that similarity conditions are often met per se, i.e. automatically observed; (4 to show that modeling can be simplified in some cases without compromising quantitative estimations of parameters of structure formation.(1 Physical modelling of tectonic deformations and structures should be conducted, if possible, in compliance with conditions of geometric and physical similarity between experimental models and corresponding natural objects. In any case, a researcher should have a clear vision of conditions applicable to each particular experiment.(2 Application of similarity conditions is often challenging due to unavoidable difficulties caused by the following: a Imperfection of experimental equipment and technologies (Fig. 1 to 3; b uncertainties in estimating parameters of formation of natural structures, including main ones: structure size (Fig. 4, time of formation (Fig. 5, deformation properties of the medium wherein such structures are formed, including, first of all, viscosity (Fig. 6

  19. Ewald Electrostatics for Mixtures of Point and Continuous Line Charges.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Antila, Hanne S; Tassel, Paul R Van; Sammalkorpi, Maria

    2015-10-15

    Many charged macro- or supramolecular systems, such as DNA, are approximately rod-shaped and, to the lowest order, may be treated as continuous line charges. However, the standard method used to calculate electrostatics in molecular simulation, the Ewald summation, is designed to treat systems of point charges. We extend the Ewald concept to a hybrid system containing both point charges and continuous line charges. We find the calculated force between a point charge and (i) a continuous line charge and (ii) a discrete line charge consisting of uniformly spaced point charges to be numerically equivalent when the separation greatly exceeds the discretization length. At shorter separations, discretization induces deviations in the force and energy, and point charge-point charge correlation effects. Because significant computational savings are also possible, the continuous line charge Ewald method presented here offers the possibility of accurate and efficient electrostatic calculations.

  20. The Influence of Label Co-occurrence and Semantic Similarity on Children’s Inductive Generalization

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bryan J Matlen

    2015-08-01

    Full Text Available Semantically-similar labels that co-occur in child-directed speech (e.g., bunny-rabbit are more likely to promote inductive generalization in preschoolers than non-co-occurring labels (e.g., lamb-sheep. However, it remains unclear whether this effect stems from co-occurrence or other factors, and how co-occurrence contributes to generalization. To address these issues, preschoolers were exposed to a stream of semantically-similar labels that don’t co-occur in natural language, but were arranged to co-occur in the experimental setting. In Experiment 1, children exposed to the co-occurring stream were more likely to make category-consistent inferences than children in two control conditions. Experiment 2 replicated this effect and provided evidence that co-occurrence training influenced generalization only when the trained labels were categorically-similar. These findings suggest that both co-occurrence information and semantic representations contribute to preschool-age children’s inductive generalization. The findings are discussed in relation to the developmental accounts of inductive generalization.

  1. Nuclear markers reveal that inter-lake cichlids' similar morphologies do not reflect similar genealogy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kassam, Daud; Seki, Shingo; Horic, Michio; Yamaoka, Kosaku

    2006-08-01

    The apparent inter-lake morphological similarity among East African Great Lakes' cichlid species/genera has left evolutionary biologists asking whether such similarity is due to sharing of common ancestor or mere convergent evolution. In order to answer such question, we first used Geometric Morphometrics, GM, to quantify morphological similarity and then subsequently used Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism, AFLP, to determine if similar morphologies imply shared ancestry or convergent evolution. GM revealed that not all presumed morphological similar pairs were indeed similar, and the dendrogram generated from AFLP data indicated distinct clusters corresponding to each lake and not inter-lake morphological similar pairs. Such results imply that the morphological similarity is due to convergent evolution and not shared ancestry. The congruency of GM and AFLP generated dendrograms imply that GM is capable of picking up phylogenetic signal, and thus GM can be potential tool in phylogenetic systematics.

  2. Relativistic dynamics of point magnetic moment

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Rafelski, Johann; Formanek, Martin; Steinmetz, Andrew [The University of Arizona, Department of Physics, Tucson, AZ (United States)

    2018-01-15

    The covariant motion of a classical point particle with magnetic moment in the presence of (external) electromagnetic fields is revisited. We are interested in understanding extensions to the Lorentz force involving point particle magnetic moment (Stern-Gerlach force) and how the spin precession dynamics is modified for consistency. We introduce spin as a classical particle property inherent to Poincare symmetry of space-time. We propose a covariant formulation of the magnetic force based on a 'magnetic' 4-potential and show how the point particle magnetic moment relates to the Amperian (current loop) and Gilbertian (magnetic monopole) descriptions. We show that covariant spin precession lacks a unique form and discuss the connection to g - 2 anomaly. We consider the variational action principle and find that a consistent extension of the Lorentz force to include magnetic spin force is not straightforward. We look at non-covariant particle dynamics, and present a short introduction to the dynamics of (neutral) particles hit by a laser pulse of arbitrary shape. (orig.)

  3. Thermal conductivity at a disordered quantum critical point

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hartnoll, Sean A.; Ramirez, David M.; Santos, Jorge E.

    2016-01-01

    Strongly disordered and strongly interacting quantum critical points are difficult to access with conventional field theoretic methods. They are, however, both experimentally important and theoretically interesting. In particular, they are expected to realize universal incoherent transport. Such disordered quantum critical theories have recently been constructed holographically by deforming a CFT by marginally relevant disorder. In this paper we find additional disordered fixed points via relevant disordered deformations of a holographic CFT. Using recently developed methods in holographic transport, we characterize the thermal conductivity in both sets of theories in 1+1 dimensions. The thermal conductivity is found to tend to a constant at low temperatures in one class of fixed points, and to scale as T"0"."3 in the other. Furthermore, in all cases the thermal conductivity exhibits discrete scale invariance, with logarithmic in temperature oscillations superimposed on the low temperature scaling behavior. At no point do we use the replica trick.

  4. Personality traits across countries: Support for similarities rather than differences.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kajonius, Petri; Mac Giolla, Erik

    2017-01-01

    In the current climate of migration and globalization, personality characteristics of individuals from different countries have received a growing interest. Previous research has established reliable differences in personality traits across countries. The present study extends this research by examining 30 personality traits in 22 countries, based on an online survey in English with large national samples (NTotal = 130,602). The instrument used was a comprehensive, open-source measure of the Five Factor Model (FFM) (IPIP-NEO-120). We postulated that differences in personality traits between countries would be small, labeling this a Similarities Hypothesis. We found support for this in three stages. First, similarities across countries were observed for model fits for each of the five personality trait structures. Second, within-country sex differences for the five personality traits showed similar patterns across countries. Finally, the overall the contribution to personality traits from countries was less than 2%. In other words, the relationship between a country and an individual's personality traits, however interesting, are small. We conclude that the most parsimonious explanation for the current and past findings is a cross-country personality Similarities Hypothesis.

  5. Efficient string similarity join in multi-core and distributed systems.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cairong Yan

    Full Text Available In big data area a significant challenge about string similarity join is to find all similar pairs more efficiently. In this paper, we propose a parallel processing framework for efficient string similarity join. First, the input is split into some disjoint small subsets according to the joint frequency distribution and the interval distribution of strings. Then the filter-verification strategy is adopted in the computation of string similarity for each subset so that the number of candidate pairs is reduced before an effective pruning strategy is used to improve the performance. Finally, the operation of string join is executed in parallel. Para-Join algorithm based on the multi-threading technique is proposed to implement the framework in a multi-core system while Pada-Join algorithm based on Spark platform is proposed to implement the framework in a cluster system. We prove that Para-Join and Pada-Join cannot only avoid reduplicate computation but also ensure the completeness of the result. Experimental results show that Para-Join can achieve high efficiency and significantly outperform than state-of-the-art approaches, meanwhile, Pada-Join can work on large datasets.

  6. Vendor compliance with Ontario's tobacco point of sale legislation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dubray, Jolene M; Schwartz, Robert M; Garcia, John M; Bondy, Susan J; Victor, J Charles

    2009-01-01

    On May 31, 2006, Ontario joined a small group of international jurisdictions to implement legislative restrictions on tobacco point of sale promotions. This study compares the presence of point of sale promotions in the retail tobacco environment from three surveys: one prior to and two following implementation of the legislation. Approximately 1,575 tobacco vendors were randomly selected for each survey. Each regionally-stratified sample included equal numbers of tobacco vendors categorized into four trade classes: chain convenience, independent convenience and discount, gas stations, and grocery. Data regarding the six restricted point of sale promotions were collected using standardized protocols and inspection forms. Weighted estimates and 95% confidence intervals were produced at the provincial, regional and vendor trade class level using the bootstrap method for estimating variance. At baseline, the proportion of tobacco vendors who did not engage in each of the six restricted point of sale promotions ranged from 41% to 88%. Within four months following implementation of the legislation, compliance with each of the six restricted point of sale promotions exceeded 95%. Similar levels of compliance were observed one year later. Grocery stores had the fewest point of sale promotions displayed at baseline. Compliance rates did not differ across vendor trade classes at either follow-up survey. Point of sale promotions did not differ across regions in any of the three surveys. Within a short period of time, a high level of compliance with six restricted point of sale promotions was achieved.

  7. a Point Cloud Classification Approach Based on Vertical Structures of Ground Objects

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhao, Y.; Hu, Q.; Hu, W.

    2018-04-01

    This paper proposes a novel method for point cloud classification using vertical structural characteristics of ground objects. Since urbanization develops rapidly nowadays, urban ground objects also change frequently. Conventional photogrammetric methods cannot satisfy the requirements of updating the ground objects' information efficiently, so LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) technology is employed to accomplish this task. LiDAR data, namely point cloud data, can obtain detailed three-dimensional coordinates of ground objects, but this kind of data is discrete and unorganized. To accomplish ground objects classification with point cloud, we first construct horizontal grids and vertical layers to organize point cloud data, and then calculate vertical characteristics, including density and measures of dispersion, and form characteristic curves for each grids. With the help of PCA processing and K-means algorithm, we analyze the similarities and differences of characteristic curves. Curves that have similar features will be classified into the same class and point cloud correspond to these curves will be classified as well. The whole process is simple but effective, and this approach does not need assistance of other data sources. In this study, point cloud data are classified into three classes, which are vegetation, buildings, and roads. When horizontal grid spacing and vertical layer spacing are 3 m and 1 m respectively, vertical characteristic is set as density, and the number of dimensions after PCA processing is 11, the overall precision of classification result is about 86.31 %. The result can help us quickly understand the distribution of various ground objects.

  8. Extending the Similarity-Attraction Effect : The effects of When-Similarity in mediated communication

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kaptein, M.C.; Castaneda, D.; Fernandez, N.; Nass, C.

    2014-01-01

    The feeling of connectedness experienced in computer-mediated relationships can be explained by the similarity-attraction effect (SAE). Though SAE is well established in psychology, the effects of some types of similarity have not yet been explored. In 2 studies, we demonstrate similarity-attraction

  9. Existential Threat or Dissociative Response? Examining Defensive Avoidance of Point-of-Care Testing Devices Through a Terror Management Theory Framework.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dunne, Simon; Gallagher, Pamela; Matthews, Anne

    2015-01-01

    Using a terror management theory framework, this study investigated if providing mortality reminders or self-esteem threats would lead participants to exhibit avoidant responses toward a point-of-care testing device for cardiovascular disease risk and if the nature of the device served to diminish the existential threat of cardiovascular disease. One hundred and twelve participants aged 40-55 years completed an experimental questionnaire. Findings indicated that participants were not existentially threatened by established terror management methodologies, potentially because of cross-cultural variability toward such methodologies. Highly positive appraisals of the device also suggest that similar technologies may beneficially affect the uptake of screening behaviors.

  10. The semantic similarity ensemble

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andrea Ballatore

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available Computational measures of semantic similarity between geographic terms provide valuable support across geographic information retrieval, data mining, and information integration. To date, a wide variety of approaches to geo-semantic similarity have been devised. A judgment of similarity is not intrinsically right or wrong, but obtains a certain degree of cognitive plausibility, depending on how closely it mimics human behavior. Thus selecting the most appropriate measure for a specific task is a significant challenge. To address this issue, we make an analogy between computational similarity measures and soliciting domain expert opinions, which incorporate a subjective set of beliefs, perceptions, hypotheses, and epistemic biases. Following this analogy, we define the semantic similarity ensemble (SSE as a composition of different similarity measures, acting as a panel of experts having to reach a decision on the semantic similarity of a set of geographic terms. The approach is evaluated in comparison to human judgments, and results indicate that an SSE performs better than the average of its parts. Although the best member tends to outperform the ensemble, all ensembles outperform the average performance of each ensemble's member. Hence, in contexts where the best measure is unknown, the ensemble provides a more cognitively plausible approach.

  11. Beyond common features: The role of roles in determining similarity1

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jones, Matt; Love, Bradley C.

    2007-01-01

    Historically, accounts of object representation and perceived similarity have focused on intrinsic features. Although more recent accounts have explored how objects, scenes, and situations containing common relational structures come to be perceived as similar, less is known about how the perceived similarity of parts or objects embedded within these relational systems is affected. The current studies test the hypothesis that objects situated in common relational systems come to be perceived as more similar. Similarity increases most for objects playing the same role within a relation (e.g., predator), but also increases for objects playing different roles within the same relation (e.g., the predator or prey role in the hunts relation) regardless of whether the objects participate in the same instance of the relation. This pattern of results can be captured by extending existing models that extract meaning from text corpora so that they are sensitive to the verb-specific thematic roles that objects fill. Alternative explanations based on analogical and inferential processes are also considered, as well as the implications of the current findings to research in language processing, personality and person perception, decision making, and category learning. PMID:17094958

  12. Downscaling remotely sensed imagery using area-to-point cokriging and multiple-point geostatistical simulation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tang, Yunwei; Atkinson, Peter M.; Zhang, Jingxiong

    2015-03-01

    A cross-scale data integration method was developed and tested based on the theory of geostatistics and multiple-point geostatistics (MPG). The goal was to downscale remotely sensed images while retaining spatial structure by integrating images at different spatial resolutions. During the process of downscaling, a rich spatial correlation model in the form of a training image was incorporated to facilitate reproduction of similar local patterns in the simulated images. Area-to-point cokriging (ATPCK) was used as locally varying mean (LVM) (i.e., soft data) to deal with the change of support problem (COSP) for cross-scale integration, which MPG cannot achieve alone. Several pairs of spectral bands of remotely sensed images were tested for integration within different cross-scale case studies. The experiment shows that MPG can restore the spatial structure of the image at a fine spatial resolution given the training image and conditioning data. The super-resolution image can be predicted using the proposed method, which cannot be realised using most data integration methods. The results show that ATPCK-MPG approach can achieve greater accuracy than methods which do not account for the change of support issue.

  13. Evaluation of sequential images for photogrammetrically point determination

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kowalczyk, M.

    2011-12-01

    Close range photogrammetry encounters many problems with reconstruction of objects three-dimensional shape. Relative orientation parameters of taken photos makes usually key role leading to right solution of this problem. Automation of technology process is hardly performed due to recorded scene complexity and configuration of camera positions. This configuration makes the process of joining photos into one set usually impossible automatically. Application of camcorder is the solution widely proposed in literature for support in 3D models creation. Main advantages of this tool are connected with large number of recorded images and camera positions. Exterior orientation changes barely between two neighboring frames. Those features of film sequence gives possibilities for creating models with basic algorithms, working faster and more robust, than with remotely taken photos. The first part of this paper presents results of experiments determining interior orientation parameters of some sets of frames, presenting three-dimensional test field. This section describes calibration repeatability of film frames taken from camcorder. It is important due to stability of interior camera geometric parameters. Parametric model of systematical errors was applied for correcting images. Afterwards a short film of the same test field had been taken for determination of check points group. This part has been done for controlling purposes of camera application in measurement tasks. Finally there are presented some results of experiments which compare determination of recorded object points in 3D space. In common digital photogrammetry, where separate photos are used, first levels of image pyramids are taken to connect with feature based matching. This complicated process creates a lot of emergencies, which can produce false detections of image similarities. In case of digital film camera, authors of publications avoid this dangerous step, going straightly to area based matching, aiming

  14. The Perceived Social Costs and Importance of Seeking Emotional Support in the Workplace: Gender Differences and Similarities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cahill, Daniel J.; Sias, Patricia M.

    1997-01-01

    Investigates gender differences and similarities in the perceived social costs and importance of seeking emotional support regarding work-related problems. Finds women perceived such support to be more important than did men. Finds no gender differences regarding perceived social costs associated with seeking support from coworkers. Finds women…

  15. Fast randomized point location without preprocessing in two- and three-dimensional Delaunay triangulations

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Muecke, E.P.; Saias, I.; Zhu, B.

    1996-05-01

    This paper studies the point location problem in Delaunay triangulations without preprocessing and additional storage. The proposed procedure finds the query point simply by walking through the triangulation, after selecting a good starting point by random sampling. The analysis generalizes and extends a recent result of d = 2 dimensions by proving this procedure to take expected time close to O(n{sup 1/(d+1)}) for point location in Delaunay triangulations of n random points in d = 3 dimensions. Empirical results in both two and three dimensions show that this procedure is efficient in practice.

  16. Optimization of the Phase Advance Between RHIC Interaction Points

    CERN Document Server

    Tomas, Rogelio

    2005-01-01

    We consider the scenario of having two identical Interaction Points (IPs) in the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). The strengths of beam-beam resonances strongly depend on the phase advance between these two IPs and therefore certain phase advances could improve beam lifetime and luminosity. We compute the dynamic aperture as function of the phase advance between these IPs to find the optimum settings. The beam-beam interaction is treated in the weak-strong approximation and a complete non-linear model of the lattice is used. For the current RHIC proton working point (0.69,0.685) the design lattice is found to have the optimum phase advance. However this is not the case for other working points.

  17. Forgotten Features of Head Zones and Their Relation to Diagnostically Relevant Acupuncture Points

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Florian Beissner

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available In the 1890s Sir Henry Head discovered certain areas of the skin that develop tenderness (allodynia in the course of visceral disease. These areas were later termed “Head zones”. In addition, he also emphasized the existence of specific points within these zones, that he called “maximum points”, a finding that seems to be almost forgotten today. We hypothesized that two important groups of acupuncture points, the diagnostically relevant Mu and Shu points, spatially and functionally coincide with these maximum points to a large extent. A comparison of Head's papers with the Huang Di Neijing (Yellow Thearch's Inner Classic and the Zhen Jiu Jia Yi Jing (Systematic Classic of Acupuncture and Moxibustion, two of the oldest still extant Chinese sources on acupuncture, revealed astonishing parallels between the two concepts regarding both point locations and functional aspects. These findings suggest that the Chinese discovery of viscerocutaneous reflexes preceded the discovery in the West by more than 2000 years. Furthermore, the fact that Chinese medicine uses Mu and Shu points not only diagnostically but also therapeutically may give us new insights into the underlying mechanisms of acupuncture.

  18. Point application with Angong Niuhuang sticker protects hippocampal and cortical neurons in rats with cerebral ischemia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dong-shu Zhang

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Angong Niuhuang pill, a Chinese materia medica preparation, can improve neurological functions after acute ischemic stroke. Because of its inconvenient application and toxic components (Cinnabaris and Realgar, we used transdermal enhancers to deliver Angong Niuhuang pill by modern technology, which expanded the safe dose range and clinical indications. In this study, Angong Niuhuang stickers administered at different point application doses (1.35, 2.7, and 5.4 g/kg were administered to the Dazhui (DU14, Qihai (RN6 and Mingmen (DU4 of rats with chronic cerebral ischemia, for 4 weeks. The Morris water maze was used to determine the learning and memory ability of rats. Hematoxylin-eosin staining and Nissl staining were used to observe neuronal damage of the cortex and hippocampal CA1 region in rats with chronic cerebral ischemia. The middle- and high-dose point application of Angong Niuhuang stickers attenuated neuronal damage in the cortex and hippocampal CA1 region, and improved the memory of rats with chronic cerebral ischemia with an efficacy similar to interventions by electroacupuncture at Dazhui (DU14, Qihai (RN6 and Mingmen (DU4. Our experimental findings indicate that point application with Angong Niuhuang stickers can improve cognitive function after chronic cerebral ischemia in rats and is neuroprotective with an equivalent efficacy to acupuncture.

  19. Two-point model for divertor transport

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Galambos, J.D.; Peng, Y.K.M.

    1984-04-01

    Plasma transport along divertor field lines was investigated using a two-point model. This treatment requires considerably less effort to find solutions to the transport equations than previously used one-dimensional (1-D) models and is useful for studying general trends. It also can be a valuable tool for benchmarking more sophisticated models. The model was used to investigate the possibility of operating in the so-called high density, low temperature regime

  20. Nursing Reference Center: a point-of-care resource.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vardell, Emily; Paulaitis, Gediminas Geddy

    2012-01-01

    Nursing Reference Center is a point-of-care resource designed for the practicing nurse, as well as nursing administrators, nursing faculty, and librarians. Users can search across multiple resources, including topical Quick Lessons, evidence-based care sheets, patient education materials, practice guidelines, and more. Additional features include continuing education modules, e-books, and a new iPhone application. A sample search and comparison with similar databases were conducted.

  1. The Art of Way Finding (1/2)

    CERN Multimedia

    CERN. Geneva

    2015-01-01

    In modern era we've become accustomed to instantaneous transfer of information filtered by applications that act as a kind of guardian of information. In the realm of finding one’s way, we use GPS and devices that take us from point A to point B without giving it a second thought. Are we slowly losing the cognitive processes that our ancestors had, and at what price? I use the theme of navigation as an avenue to explore the question of what we’ve lost in the information age. Cultures, such as the Polynesians, the Vikings and the early European explorers developed navigational schema that relied on a person’s relation to the environment to find one’s way. The concept of navigation often takes on a metaphorical meaning of how one lead’s one’s life or achieves goals. Recent work on the organization of cognitive processes in the context of navigation has shown that this may be more than a simple metaphor: that navigation is a kind of template of how we organize our thoughts around future actions. Le...

  2. The Art of Way Finding (2/2)

    CERN Multimedia

    CERN. Geneva

    2015-01-01

    In modern era we've become accustomed to instantaneous transfer of information filtered by applications that act as a kind of guardian of information. In the realm of finding one’s way, we use GPS and devices that take us from point A to point B without giving it a second thought. Are we slowly losing the cognitive processes that our ancestors had, and at what price? I use the theme of navigation as an avenue to explore the question of what we’ve lost in the information age. Cultures, such as the Polynesians, the Vikings and the early European explorers developed navigational schema that relied on a person’s relation to the environment to find one’s way. The concept of navigation often takes on a metaphorical meaning of how one lead’s one’s life or achieves goals. Recent work on the organization of cognitive processes in the context of navigation has shown that this may be more than a simple metaphor: that navigation is a kind of template of how we organize our thoughts around future actions. Le...

  3. Wrox SharePoint 2010 SharePoint911 three-pack

    CERN Document Server

    Klindt, Todd; Mason, Jennifer; Rogers, Laura; Drisgill, Randy; Ross, John; Riemann, Larry; Perran, Amanda; Perran, Shane; Sanford, Jacob J; Stubbs, Paul; Caravajal, Steve

    2012-01-01

    The Wrox SharePoint 2010 SharePoint911 Three-Pack combines the contents of three full e-books written by the experts from SharePoint911.  That's over 1800 pages of hands-on advice from Todd Klindt, Shane Young, Laura Rogers, Randy Drisgill, Jennifer Mason, John Ross, and Larry Riemann, among others. In Beginning SharePoint 2010: Building Business Solutions with SharePoint (ISBN 978-0-470-61789-2) by Amanda Perran, Shane Perran, Jennifer Mason, and Laura Rogers, readers learn the core concepts, terminology, and features of SharePoint 2010. In Professiona

  4. Effect of surfaces similarity on contact resistance of fractal rough surfaces under cyclic loading

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gao, Yuanwen; Liu, Limei; Ta, Wurui; Song, Jihua

    2018-03-01

    Although numerous studies have shown that contact resistance depends significantly on roughness and fractal dimension, it remains elusive how they affect contact resistance between rough surfaces. The interface similarity index is first proposed to describe the similarity of the contact surfaces, which gives a good indication of the actual contact area between surfaces. We reveal that the surfaces' similarity be an origin of contact resistance variation. The cyclic loading can increase the contact stiffness, and the contact stiffness increases with the increase of the interface similarity index. These findings explain the mechanism of surface roughness and fractal dimension on contact resistance, and also provide reference for the reliability design of the electrical connection.

  5. Vere-Jones' self-similar branching model

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Saichev, A.; Sornette, D.

    2005-01-01

    Motivated by its potential application to earthquake statistics as well as for its intrinsic interest in the theory of branching processes, we study the exactly self-similar branching process introduced recently by Vere-Jones. This model extends the ETAS class of conditional self-excited branching point-processes of triggered seismicity by removing the problematic need for a minimum (as well as maximum) earthquake size. To make the theory convergent without the need for the usual ultraviolet and infrared cutoffs, the distribution of magnitudes m ' of daughters of first-generation of a mother of magnitude m has two branches m ' ' >m with exponent β+d, where β and d are two positive parameters. We investigate the condition and nature of the subcritical, critical, and supercritical regime in this and in an extended version interpolating smoothly between several models. We predict that the distribution of magnitudes of events triggered by a mother of magnitude m over all generations has also two branches m ' ' >m with exponent β+h, with h=d√(1-s), where s is the fraction of triggered events. This corresponds to a renormalization of the exponent d into h by the hierarchy of successive generations of triggered events. For a significant part of the parameter space, the distribution of magnitudes over a full catalog summed over an average steady flow of spontaneous sources (immigrants) reproduces the distribution of the spontaneous sources with a single branch and is blind to the exponents β,d of the distribution of triggered events. Since the distribution of earthquake magnitudes is usually obtained with catalogs including many sequences, we conclude that the two branches of the distribution of aftershocks are not directly observable and the model is compatible with real seismic catalogs. In summary, the exactly self-similar Vere-Jones model provides an attractive new approach to model triggered seismicity, which alleviates delicate questions on the role of

  6. Magic identities for conformal four-point integrals

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Drummond, James M.; Henn, Johannes; Smirnov, Vladimir A.; Sokatchev, Emery

    2007-01-01

    We propose an iterative procedure for constructing classes of off-shell four-point conformal integrals which are identical. The proof of the identity is based on the conformal properties of a subintegral common for the whole class. The simplest example are the so-called 'triple scalar box' and 'tennis court' integrals. In this case we also give an independent proof using the method of Mellin-Barnes representation which can be applied in a similar way for general off-shell Feynman integrals

  7. Boundary Fixed Points, Enhanced Gauge Symmetry and Singular Bundles on K3

    CERN Document Server

    Fuchs, J; Lerche, Wolfgang; Lütken, C A; Schweigert, C; Walcher, J

    2001-01-01

    We investigate certain fixed points in the boundary conformal field theory representation of type IIA D-branes on Gepner points of K3. They correspond geometrically to degenerate brane configurations, and physically lead to enhanced gauge symmetries on the world-volume. Non-abelian gauge groups arise if the stabilizer group of the fixed points is realized projectively, which is similar to D-branes on orbifolds with discrete torsion. Moreover, the fixed point boundary states can be resolved into several irreducible components. These correspond to bound states at threshold and can be viewed as (non-locally free) sub-sheaves of semi-stable sheaves. Thus, the BCFT fixed points appear to carry two-fold geometrical information: on the one hand they probe the boundary of the instanton moduli space on K3, on the other hand they probe discrete torsion in D-geometry.

  8. Clustering by reordering of similarity and Laplacian matrices: Application to galaxy clusters

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mahmoud, E.; Shoukry, A.; Takey, A.

    2018-04-01

    Similarity metrics, kernels and similarity-based algorithms have gained much attention due to their increasing applications in information retrieval, data mining, pattern recognition and machine learning. Similarity Graphs are often adopted as the underlying representation of similarity matrices and are at the origin of known clustering algorithms such as spectral clustering. Similarity matrices offer the advantage of working in object-object (two-dimensional) space where visualization of clusters similarities is available instead of object-features (multi-dimensional) space. In this paper, sparse ɛ-similarity graphs are constructed and decomposed into strong components using appropriate methods such as Dulmage-Mendelsohn permutation (DMperm) and/or Reverse Cuthill-McKee (RCM) algorithms. The obtained strong components correspond to groups (clusters) in the input (feature) space. Parameter ɛi is estimated locally, at each data point i from a corresponding narrow range of the number of nearest neighbors. Although more advanced clustering techniques are available, our method has the advantages of simplicity, better complexity and direct visualization of the clusters similarities in a two-dimensional space. Also, no prior information about the number of clusters is needed. We conducted our experiments on two and three dimensional, low and high-sized synthetic datasets as well as on an astronomical real-dataset. The results are verified graphically and analyzed using gap statistics over a range of neighbors to verify the robustness of the algorithm and the stability of the results. Combining the proposed algorithm with gap statistics provides a promising tool for solving clustering problems. An astronomical application is conducted for confirming the existence of 45 galaxy clusters around the X-ray positions of galaxy clusters in the redshift range [0.1..0.8]. We re-estimate the photometric redshifts of the identified galaxy clusters and obtain acceptable values

  9. High-resolution wave number spectrum using multi-point measurements in space – the Multi-point Signal Resonator (MSR technique

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Y. Narita

    2011-02-01

    Full Text Available A new analysis method is presented that provides a high-resolution power spectrum in a broad wave number domain based on multi-point measurements. The analysis technique is referred to as the Multi-point Signal Resonator (MSR and it benefits from Capon's minimum variance method for obtaining the proper power spectral density of the signal as well as the MUSIC algorithm (Multiple Signal Classification for considerably reducing the noise part in the spectrum. The mathematical foundation of the analysis method is presented and it is applied to synthetic data as well as Cluster observations of the interplanetary magnetic field. Using the MSR technique for Cluster data we find a wave in the solar wind propagating parallel to the mean magnetic field with relatively small amplitude, which is not identified by the Capon spectrum. The Cluster data analysis shows the potential of the MSR technique for studying waves and turbulence using multi-point measurements.

  10. Student and Professor Similarity: Exploring the Effects of Gender and Relative Age

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gehrt, Kenneth; Louie, Therese A.; Osland, Asbjorn

    2015-01-01

    The authors examined student responses to faculty traits. Earlier findings revealing a preference for male instructors were obtained before female faculty and students were prevalent on college campuses and may have reflected a male demographic similarity effect. It was hypothesized that students would more favorably evaluate faculty who were…

  11. Flash Points of Secondary Alcohol and n-Alkane Mixtures.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Esina, Zoya N; Miroshnikov, Alexander M; Korchuganova, Margarita R

    2015-11-19

    The flash point is one of the most important characteristics used to assess the ignition hazard of mixtures of flammable liquids. To determine the flash points of mixtures of secondary alcohols with n-alkanes, it is necessary to calculate the activity coefficients. In this paper, we use a model that allows us to obtain enthalpy of fusion and enthalpy of vaporization data of the pure components to calculate the liquid-solid equilibrium (LSE) and vapor-liquid equilibrium (VLE). Enthalpy of fusion and enthalpy of vaporization data of secondary alcohols in the literature are limited; thus, the prediction of these characteristics was performed using the method of thermodynamic similarity. Additionally, the empirical models provided the critical temperatures and boiling temperatures of the secondary alcohols. The modeled melting enthalpy and enthalpy of vaporization as well as the calculated LSE and VLE flash points were determined for the secondary alcohol and n-alkane mixtures.

  12. Goal-Role Integration as Driver for Customer Engagement Behaviours across Touch-points

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Haurum, Helle; Beckmann, Suzanne C.

    Customers and firms interact at many different touch-points that enable customer engagement behaviour. By adopting a customer-centric approach we investigated through 20 in-depth interviews what drives service customers’ CEB manifestations in touch-points, which the firm either manages, monitors......, or manoeuvres between. The key findings are that (a) CEBs are driven by different forms of goal-role integration across touch-points, (b) customers’ goal-directedness determines the touch-points where CEBs are manifested, (c) customers’ role-playing behaviours determine the nature of CEBs, and (d) customers......’ role-playing behaviours can change across touch-points, contingent upon goal-directedness. Hence, this study provides rich insights into customer-firm encounters at touch-points, which subsequently define and shape the relation over time....

  13. Suspect filler similarity in eyewitness lineups: a literature review and a novel methodology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fitzgerald, Ryan J; Oriet, Chris; Price, Heather L

    2015-02-01

    Eyewitness lineups typically contain a suspect (guilty or innocent) and fillers (known innocents). The degree to which fillers should resemble the suspect is a complex issue that has yet to be resolved. Previously, researchers have voiced concern that eyewitnesses would be unable to identify their target from a lineup containing highly similar fillers; however, our literature review suggests highly similar fillers have only rarely been shown to have this effect. To further examine the effect of highly similar fillers on lineup responses, we used morphing software to create fillers of moderately high and very high similarity to the suspect. When the culprit was in the lineup, a higher correct identification rate was observed in moderately high similarity lineups than in very high similarity lineups. When the culprit was absent, similarity did not yield a significant effect on innocent suspect misidentification rates. However, the correct rejection rate in the moderately high similarity lineup was 20% higher than in the very high similarity lineup. When choosing rates were controlled by calculating identification probabilities for only those who made a selection from the lineup, culprit identification rates as well as innocent suspect misidentification rates were significantly higher in the moderately high similarity lineup than in the very high similarity lineup. Thus, very high similarity fillers yielded costs and benefits. Although our research suggests that selecting the most similar fillers available may adversely affect correct identification rates, we recommend additional research using fillers obtained from police databases to corroborate our findings.

  14. Radiologic findings of granulomatous mastitis

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kim, Tae Gyu; Kim, Ji Young; Jeong, Myeong Ja; Kim, Jae Hyung; Kim, Soung Hee; Kim, Soo Hyun; Jun, Woo Sun; Park, Kyeong Mee; Han, Se Hwan [Paik Hospital, Inje University College of Medicine, Seoul (Korea, Republic of)

    2008-08-15

    The describe the radiologic findings of granulomatous mastitis of the breast. This study included 19 patients (age range: 22 to 56 years; mean 37 years) with 22 lesions that were pathologically confirmed as having granulomatous mastitis. All the patients underwent a breast ultrasonography and 13 patients underwent a mammography. The results of the mammography revealed focal asymmetry (n = 9), multiple ill-defined isodense nodules (n 2), ill-defined nodular density on craniocaudal view (n = 1), and unremarkable finding (n = 1). The sonographic findings included continuous or discontinuous multiple tubular and nodular low echoic lesions (n = 7), ill-defined heterogeneously low echoic lesion (n = 5), irregular-shaped, ill-defined low echoic mass (n = 4), fluid collection with internal floating materials suggesting the presence of an abscess (n = 4), ill-defined heterogeneously low echoic lesion and abscess (n = 1), and multiple ill-defined nodules (n = 1). In the case of granulomatous mastitis, the mammography results indicate a lack of specificity between normal findings and focal asymmetry. The sonographic findings indicate that ill-defined heterogeneously low echoic lesions or irregular shaped, ill-defined low echoic masses are difficult to differentiate from breast cancer. The sonographic findings of abscesses indicate a difficulty in differentiating them from cases of pyogenic mastitis. However, multiple tubular and nodular low echoic lesions, especially with a continuous appearance, should point to granulomatous mastitis, and is helpful in its differential diagnosis and treatment.

  15. Radiologic findings of granulomatous mastitis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kim, Tae Gyu; Kim, Ji Young; Jeong, Myeong Ja; Kim, Jae Hyung; Kim, Soung Hee; Kim, Soo Hyun; Jun, Woo Sun; Park, Kyeong Mee; Han, Se Hwan

    2008-01-01

    The describe the radiologic findings of granulomatous mastitis of the breast. This study included 19 patients (age range: 22 to 56 years; mean 37 years) with 22 lesions that were pathologically confirmed as having granulomatous mastitis. All the patients underwent a breast ultrasonography and 13 patients underwent a mammography. The results of the mammography revealed focal asymmetry (n = 9), multiple ill-defined isodense nodules (n 2), ill-defined nodular density on craniocaudal view (n = 1), and unremarkable finding (n = 1). The sonographic findings included continuous or discontinuous multiple tubular and nodular low echoic lesions (n = 7), ill-defined heterogeneously low echoic lesion (n = 5), irregular-shaped, ill-defined low echoic mass (n = 4), fluid collection with internal floating materials suggesting the presence of an abscess (n = 4), ill-defined heterogeneously low echoic lesion and abscess (n = 1), and multiple ill-defined nodules (n = 1). In the case of granulomatous mastitis, the mammography results indicate a lack of specificity between normal findings and focal asymmetry. The sonographic findings indicate that ill-defined heterogeneously low echoic lesions or irregular shaped, ill-defined low echoic masses are difficult to differentiate from breast cancer. The sonographic findings of abscesses indicate a difficulty in differentiating them from cases of pyogenic mastitis. However, multiple tubular and nodular low echoic lesions, especially with a continuous appearance, should point to granulomatous mastitis, and is helpful in its differential diagnosis and treatment

  16. First observation of the fourth neutral polarization point in the atmosphere

    Science.gov (United States)

    Horvath, Gabor; Bernath, Balazs; Suhai, Bence; Barta, Andras; Wehner, Rudiger

    2002-10-01

    In the clear sky there are three commonly known loci, the Arago, Babinet, and Brewster neutral points, where the skylight is unpolarized. These peculiar celestial points, bearing the names of their discoverers, have been the subject of many ground-based investigations, because their positions are sensitive indicators of the amount and type of atmospheric turbidity. According to theoretical considerations and computer simulations, there should exist an additional neutral point approximately opposite to the Babinet point, which can be observed only at higher altitudes in the air or space. Until now, this anonymous fourth neutral point has not been observed during air- or space-borne polarimetric experiments and has been forgotten, in spite of the fact that the neutral points were a basic tool in atmospheric research for a century. Here, we report on the first observation of this fourth neutral point from a hot air balloon. Using 180-field-of-view imaging polarimetry, we could observe the fourth neutral point at 450, 550, and 650 nm from different altitudes between 900 and 3500 m during and after sunrise at approximately 2240 below the anti-solar point along the anti-solar meridian, depending on the wavelength and solar elevation. We show that the fourth neutral point exists at the expected location and has characteristics similar to those of the Arago, Babinet, and Brewster points. We discuss why the fourth neutral point has not been observed in previous air- or space-borne polarimetric experiments. 2002 Optical Society of America

  17. Beginning SharePoint 2010 Administration Windows SharePoint Foundation 2010 and Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010

    CERN Document Server

    Husman, Göran

    2010-01-01

    Complete coverage on the latest advances in SharePoint 2010 administration. SharePoint 2010 comprises an abundance of new features, and this book shows you how to take advantage of all SharePoint 2010's many improvements. Written by a four-time SharePoint MVP, Beginning SharePoint 2010 Administration begins with a comparison of SharePoint 2010 compared to the previous version and then examines the differences between WSS 4.0 and MSS 2010. Packed with step-by-step instructions, tips and tricks, and real-world examples, this book dives into the basics of how to install, manage, and administrate

  18. Bianchi VI0 and III models: self-similar approach

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Belinchon, Jose Antonio

    2009-01-01

    We study several cosmological models with Bianchi VI 0 and III symmetries under the self-similar approach. We find new solutions for the 'classical' perfect fluid model as well as for the vacuum model although they are really restrictive for the equation of state. We also study a perfect fluid model with time-varying constants, G and Λ. As in other studied models we find that the behaviour of G and Λ are related. If G behaves as a growing time function then Λ is a positive decreasing time function but if G is decreasing then Λ 0 is negative. We end by studying a massive cosmic string model, putting special emphasis in calculating the numerical values of the equations of state. We show that there is no SS solution for a string model with time-varying constants.

  19. Exceptional points near first- and second-order quantum phase transitions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stránský, Pavel; Dvořák, Martin; Cejnar, Pavel

    2018-01-01

    We study the impact of quantum phase transitions (QPTs) on the distribution of exceptional points (EPs) of the Hamiltonian in the complex-extended parameter domain. Analyzing first- and second-order QPTs in the Lipkin-Meshkov-Glick model we find an exponentially and polynomially close approach of EPs to the respective critical point with increasing size of the system. If the critical Hamiltonian is subject to random perturbations of various kinds, the averaged distribution of EPs close to the critical point still carries decisive information on the QPT type. We therefore claim that properties of the EP distribution represent a parametrization-independent signature of criticality in quantum systems.

  20. Torsades de Pointes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Richard J Chen, MD

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available History of present illness: 70-year-old male with a history ventricular arrhythmia, AICD (automated implantable cardioverter defibrillator, coronary artery disease and cardiac stents presented to the Emergency Department after three AICD discharges with dyspnea but no chest pain. During triage, he was found to have an irregular radial pulse and was placed on a cardiac monitor. Significant findings: The patient was found to be in a polymorphic ventricular tachycardia; he was alert, awake and asymptomatic. A rhythm strip showed a wide complex tachycardia with the QRS complex varying in amplitude around the isoelectric line consistent with Torsades de Pointes. Discussion: Torsades de Pointes (TdP is a specific type of polymorphic ventricular tachycardia. The arrhythmia’s characteristic morphology consists of the QRS complex “twisting” around the isoelectric line with gradual variation of the amplitude, reflecting its literal translation of “twisting of the points.”1 This arrhythmia occurs in the context of prolonged QT. The most common form of acquired QT prolongation is medication induced. Common causes include antiarrhythmics, antipsychotics, antiemetics, and antibiotics.2 Patient specific risk factors include female sex, bradycardia, hypokalemia, hypomagnesemia, hypocalcemia, hypothermia and heart disease.3 In the setting of prolonged QT, the repolarization phase is extended. TdP is initiated when a PVC (premature ventricular contraction occurs during this repolarization, known as an ‘R on T’ phenomenon. TdP is often asymptomatic and self-limited. The danger in TdP is its potential to deteriorate into ventricular fibrillation. A mainstay of management of TdP is prevention of risk factors when possible.4 Unstable patients should be treated with synchronized cardioversion. Magnesium sulfate should be administered in all cases of TdP.1 If a patient is not responsive to magnesium, consider isoproterenol, amiodarone, and overdrive

  1. Combined semantic and similarity search in medical image databases

    Science.gov (United States)

    Seifert, Sascha; Thoma, Marisa; Stegmaier, Florian; Hammon, Matthias; Kramer, Martin; Huber, Martin; Kriegel, Hans-Peter; Cavallaro, Alexander; Comaniciu, Dorin

    2011-03-01

    The current diagnostic process at hospitals is mainly based on reviewing and comparing images coming from multiple time points and modalities in order to monitor disease progression over a period of time. However, for ambiguous cases the radiologist deeply relies on reference literature or second opinion. Although there is a vast amount of acquired images stored in PACS systems which could be reused for decision support, these data sets suffer from weak search capabilities. Thus, we present a search methodology which enables the physician to fulfill intelligent search scenarios on medical image databases combining ontology-based semantic and appearance-based similarity search. It enabled the elimination of 12% of the top ten hits which would arise without taking the semantic context into account.

  2. Conductance enhancement in quantum-point-contact semiconductor-superconductor devices

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Mortensen, Asger; Jauho, Antti-Pekka; Flensberg, Karsten

    1999-01-01

    We present numerical calculations of the conductance of an interface between a phase-coherent two-dimensional electron gas and a superconductor with a quantum point contact in the normal region. Using a scattering matrix approach we reconsider the geometry of De Raedt, Michielsen, and Klapwijk...... [Phys. Rev. B 50, 631 (1994)] which was studied within the time-dependent Bogoliubov-de Gennes formalism. We find that the factor-of-2 enhancement of the conductance G(NS) compared to the normal state conductance GN for ideal interfaces may be suppressed for interfaces with a quantum point contact...

  3. Similar solutions for viscous hypersonic flow over a slender three-fourths-power body of revolution

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lin, Chin-Shun

    1987-01-01

    For hypersonic flow with a shock wave, there is a similar solution consistent throughout the viscous and inviscid layers along a very slender three-fourths-power body of revolution The strong pressure interaction problem can then be treated by the method of similarity. Numerical calculations are performed in the viscous region with the edge pressure distribution known from the inviscid similar solutions. The compressible laminar boundary-layer equations are transformed into a system of ordinary differential equations. The resulting two-point boundary value problem is then solved by the Runge-Kutta method with a modified Newton's method for the corresponding boundary conditions. The effects of wall temperature, mass bleeding, and body transverse curvature are investigated. The induced pressure, displacement thickness, skin friction, and heat transfer due to the previously mentioned parameters are estimated and analyzed.

  4. Similar and dissimilar friction welding of Zr-Cu-Al bulk glassy alloys

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shin, Hyung-Seop; Park, Jung-Soo; Jung, Yoon-Chul; Ahn, Jung-Ho; Yokoyama, Yoshihiko; Inoue, Akihisa

    2009-01-01

    The friction welding of three kinds of Zr-Cu-Al bulk glassy alloys (BGAs) which show eutectic or hypoeutectic compositions to similar and dissimilar BGAs and crystalline metals has been tried. The shape and volume of the protrusion formed at the weld interface were investigated. In order to characterize the friction welded interface, micrographic observation and X-ray diffraction analysis on the weld cross-section were carried out. A successful joining of Zr-Cu-Al bulk glassy alloys to similar and dissimilar BGAs was achieved without occurrence of crystallizations at the weld interface through the precise control of friction conditions. In addition, the joining of Zr 50 Cu 40 Al 10 BGA to crystalline alloys was tried, but it was only successful for specific material combinations. The residual strength after welding of dissimilar BGAs was evaluated by the four-point bending test.

  5. Identifying influential data points in hydrological model calibration and their impact on streamflow predictions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wright, David; Thyer, Mark; Westra, Seth

    2015-04-01

    Highly influential data points are those that have a disproportionately large impact on model performance, parameters and predictions. However, in current hydrological modelling practice the relative influence of individual data points on hydrological model calibration is not commonly evaluated. This presentation illustrates and evaluates several influence diagnostics tools that hydrological modellers can use to assess the relative influence of data. The feasibility and importance of including influence detection diagnostics as a standard tool in hydrological model calibration is discussed. Two classes of influence diagnostics are evaluated: (1) computationally demanding numerical "case deletion" diagnostics; and (2) computationally efficient analytical diagnostics, based on Cook's distance. These diagnostics are compared against hydrologically orientated diagnostics that describe changes in the model parameters (measured through the Mahalanobis distance), performance (objective function displacement) and predictions (mean and maximum streamflow). These influence diagnostics are applied to two case studies: a stage/discharge rating curve model, and a conceptual rainfall-runoff model (GR4J). Removing a single data point from the calibration resulted in differences to mean flow predictions of up to 6% for the rating curve model, and differences to mean and maximum flow predictions of up to 10% and 17%, respectively, for the hydrological model. When using the Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency in calibration, the computationally cheaper Cook's distance metrics produce similar results to the case-deletion metrics at a fraction of the computational cost. However, Cooks distance is adapted from linear regression with inherit assumptions on the data and is therefore less flexible than case deletion. Influential point detection diagnostics show great potential to improve current hydrological modelling practices by identifying highly influential data points. The findings of this

  6. Domestic dogs use contextual information and tone of voice when following a human pointing gesture.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Linda Scheider

    Full Text Available Domestic dogs are skillful at using the human pointing gesture. In this study we investigated whether dogs take contextual information into account when following pointing gestures, specifically, whether they follow human pointing gestures more readily in the context in which food has been found previously. Also varied was the human's tone of voice as either imperative or informative. Dogs were more sustained in their searching behavior in the 'context' condition as opposed to the 'no context' condition, suggesting that they do not simply follow a pointing gesture blindly but use previously acquired contextual information to inform their interpretation of that pointing gesture. Dogs also showed more sustained searching behavior when there was pointing than when there was not, suggesting that they expect to find a referent when they see a human point. Finally, dogs searched more in high-pitched informative trials as opposed to the low-pitched imperative trials, whereas in the latter dogs seemed more inclined to respond by sitting. These findings suggest that a dog's response to a pointing gesture is flexible and depends on the context as well as the human's tone of voice.

  7. May 2002 Lidar Point Data of Southern California Coastline: Dana Point to Point La Jolla

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — This data set contains lidar point data from a strip of Southern California coastline (including water, beach, cliffs, and top of cliffs) from Dana Point to Point La...

  8. September 2002 Lidar Point Data of Southern California Coastline: Dana Point to Point La Jolla

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — This data set contains lidar point data from a strip of Southern California coastline (including water, beach, cliffs, and top of cliffs) from Dana Point to Point La...

  9. The Euclidean three-point function in loop and perturbative gravity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rovelli, Carlo; Zhang Mingyi

    2011-01-01

    We compute the leading order of the three-point function in loop quantum gravity, using the vertex expansion of the Euclidean version of the new spin foam dynamics, in the region of γ < 1. We find results consistent with Regge calculus in the limit γ → 0, j → ∞. We also compute the tree-level three-point function of perturbative quantum general relativity in position space and discuss the possibility of directly comparing the two results.

  10. Point-of-care hemoglobin testing for postmortem diagnosis of anemia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Na, Joo-Young; Park, Ji Hye; Choi, Byung Ha; Kim, Hyung-Seok; Park, Jong-Tae

    2018-03-01

    An autopsy involves examination of a body using invasive methods such as dissection, and includes various tests using samples procured during dissection. During medicolegal autopsies, the blood carboxyhemoglobin concentration is commonly measured using the AVOXimeter® 4000 as a point-of-care test. When evaluating the body following hypovolemic shock, characteristics such as reduced livor mortis or an anemic appearance of the viscera can be identified, but these observations arequite subjective. Thus, a more objective test is required for the postmortem diagnosis of anemia. In the present study, the AVOXimeter® 4000 was used to investigate the utility of point-of-care hemoglobin testing. Hemoglobin tests were performed in 93 autopsy cases. The AVOXimeter® 4000 and the BC-2800 Auto Hematology Analyzer were used to test identical samples in 29 of these cases. The results of hemoglobin tests performed with these two devices were statistically similar (r = 0.969). The results of hemoglobin tests using postmortem blood were compared with antemortem test results from medical records from 31 cases, and these results were similar. In 13 of 17 cases of death from internal hemorrhage, hemoglobin levels were lower in the cardiac blood than in blood from the affected body cavity, likely due to compensatory changes induced by antemortem hemorrhage. It is concluded that blood hemoglobin testing may be useful as a point-of-care test for diagnosing postmortem anemia.

  11. Concurrence of rule- and similarity-based mechanisms in artificial grammar learning.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Opitz, Bertram; Hofmann, Juliane

    2015-03-01

    A current theoretical debate regards whether rule-based or similarity-based learning prevails during artificial grammar learning (AGL). Although the majority of findings are consistent with a similarity-based account of AGL it has been argued that these results were obtained only after limited exposure to study exemplars, and performance on subsequent grammaticality judgment tests has often been barely above chance level. In three experiments the conditions were investigated under which rule- and similarity-based learning could be applied. Participants were exposed to exemplars of an artificial grammar under different (implicit and explicit) learning instructions. The analysis of receiver operating characteristics (ROC) during a final grammaticality judgment test revealed that explicit but not implicit learning led to rule knowledge. It also demonstrated that this knowledge base is built up gradually while similarity knowledge governed the initial state of learning. Together these results indicate that rule- and similarity-based mechanisms concur during AGL. Moreover, it could be speculated that two different rule processes might operate in parallel; bottom-up learning via gradual rule extraction and top-down learning via rule testing. Crucially, the latter is facilitated by performance feedback that encourages explicit hypothesis testing. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  12. A Method for Generating Approximate Similarity Solutions of Nonlinear Partial Differential Equations

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mazhar Iqbal

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Standard application of similarity method to find solutions of PDEs mostly results in reduction to ODEs which are not easily integrable in terms of elementary or tabulated functions. Such situations usually demand solving reduced ODEs numerically. However, there are no systematic procedures available to utilize these numerical solutions of reduced ODE to obtain the solution of original PDE. A practical and tractable approach is proposed to deal with such situations and is applied to obtain approximate similarity solutions to different cases of an initial-boundary value problem of unsteady gas flow through a semi-infinite porous medium.

  13. Hierarchical Matching of Traffic Information Services Using Semantic Similarity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zongtao Duan

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Service matching aims to find the information similar to a given query, which has numerous applications in web search. Although existing methods yield promising results, they are not applicable for transportation. In this paper, we propose a multilevel matching method based on semantic technology, towards efficiently searching the traffic information requested. Our approach is divided into two stages: service clustering, which prunes candidate services that are not promising, and functional matching. The similarity at function level between services is computed by grouping the connections between the services into inheritance and noninheritance relationships. We also developed a three-layer framework with a semantic similarity measure that requires less time and space cost than existing method since the scale of candidate services is significantly smaller than the whole transportation network. The OWL_TC4 based service set was used to verify the proposed approach. The accuracy of offline service clustering reached 93.80%, and it reduced the response time to 651 ms when the total number of candidate services was 1000. Moreover, given the different thresholds for the semantic similarity measure, the proposed mixed matching model did better in terms of recall and precision (i.e., up to 72.7% and 80%, respectively, for more than 1000 services compared to the compared models based on information theory and taxonomic distance. These experimental results confirmed the effectiveness and validity of service matching for responding quickly and accurately to user queries.

  14. Similar taste-nutrient relationships in commonly consumed Dutch and Malaysian foods.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Teo, Pey Sze; van Langeveld, Astrid W B; Pol, Korrie; Siebelink, Els; de Graaf, Cees; Yan, See Wan; Mars, Monica

    2018-06-01

    Three recent studies showed that taste intensity signals nutrient content. However, current data reflects only the food patterns in Western societies. No study has yet been performed in Asian culture. The Malaysian cuisine represents a mixture of Malay, Chinese and Indian foods. This study aimed to investigate the associations between taste intensity and nutrient content in commonly consumed Dutch (NL) and Malaysian (MY) foods. Perceived intensities of sweetness, sourness, bitterness, umami, saltiness and fat sensation were assessed for 469 Dutch and 423 Malaysian commonly consumed foods representing about 83% and 88% of an individual's average daily energy intake in each respective country. We used a trained Dutch (n = 15) and Malaysian panel (n = 20) with quantitative sensory Spectrum™ 100-point rating scales and reference solutions, R1 (13-point), R2 (33-point) and R3 (67-point). Dutch and Malaysian foods had relatively low mean sourness and bitterness (point) was higher than that of Dutch foods (8-point). Positive associations were found between sweetness and mono- and disaccharides (R 2  = 0.67 (NL), 0.38 (MY)), between umami and protein (R 2  = 0.29 (NL), 0.26 (MY)), between saltiness and sodium (R 2  = 0.48 (NL), 0.27 (MY)), and between fat sensation and fat content (R 2  = 0.56 (NL), 0.17(MY)) in Dutch and Malaysian foods (all, p < 0.001). The associations between taste intensity and nutrient content are not different between different countries, except for fat sensation-fat content. The two dimensional basic taste-nutrient space, representing the variance and associations between tastes and nutrients, is similar between Dutch and Malaysian commonly consumed foods. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  15. Gender similarities and differences.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hyde, Janet Shibley

    2014-01-01

    Whether men and women are fundamentally different or similar has been debated for more than a century. This review summarizes major theories designed to explain gender differences: evolutionary theories, cognitive social learning theory, sociocultural theory, and expectancy-value theory. The gender similarities hypothesis raises the possibility of theorizing gender similarities. Statistical methods for the analysis of gender differences and similarities are reviewed, including effect sizes, meta-analysis, taxometric analysis, and equivalence testing. Then, relying mainly on evidence from meta-analyses, gender differences are reviewed in cognitive performance (e.g., math performance), personality and social behaviors (e.g., temperament, emotions, aggression, and leadership), and psychological well-being. The evidence on gender differences in variance is summarized. The final sections explore applications of intersectionality and directions for future research.

  16. Using the method of ideal point to solve dual-objective problem for production scheduling

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mariia Marko

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available In practice, there are often problems, which must simultaneously optimize several criterias. This so-called multi-objective optimization problem. In the article we consider the use of the method ideal point to solve the two-objective optimization problem of production planning. The process of finding solution to the problem consists of a series of steps where using simplex method, we find the ideal point. After that for solving a scalar problems, we use the method of Lagrange multipliers

  17. The Sun-Earth saddle point: characterization and opportunities to test general relativity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Topputo, Francesco; Dei Tos, Diogene A.; Rasotto, Mirco; Nakamiya, Masaki

    2018-04-01

    The saddle points are locations where the net gravitational accelerations balance. These regions are gathering more attention within the astrophysics community. Regions about the saddle points present clean, close-to-zero background acceleration environments where possible deviations from General Relativity can be tested and quantified. Their location suggests that flying through a saddle point can be accomplished by leveraging highly nonlinear orbits. In this paper, the geometrical and dynamical properties of the Sun-Earth saddle point are characterized. A systematic approach is devised to find ballistic orbits that experience one or multiple passages through this point. A parametric analysis is performed to consider spacecraft initially on L_{1,2} Lagrange point orbits. Sun-Earth saddle point ballistic fly-through trajectories are evaluated and classified for potential use. Results indicate an abundance of short-duration, regular solutions with a variety of characteristics.

  18. Imaging findings of Castleman disease of the abdomen and pelvis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhou Liangping; Wang Peihua; Peng Weijun; Yang Wentao; Zhang Bei; Guan Yubao; Zhou Kangrong

    2006-01-01

    Objective: The purpose of this work was to analysis the most suggestive imaging findings of Castleman disease in the abdomen and pelvis and to improve the recognition of this rare disease. Methods: Ten patients with pathologically proved Castleman disease in the abdomen (n=9) and pelvis (n=1) were included in this study. Patients were 18-56 yeas old (mean=40); 7 were men and 3 women. Imaging findings (CT and MRI, n=4; only CT, n=4; only MRI, n=2) were retrospectively reviewed and correlated with clinical and pathologic findings. Results: The lesions were divided into localized (n=9) and disseminated (n=1) group. The pathologic subtypes of all 9 cases of localized disease were hyaline vascular type. Imaging findings showed a single large mass in six and a single dominant mass with small satellite nodules in three. On plain CT images, the lesions manifested as homogeneous soft masses, which is isoattenuating to muscle. After intravenous injection of contrast media, most of the masses enhanced sharply (5/7) with the attenuation similar to large arteries at arterial phase and delay scans. On MR imaging, the lesions also were homogenous and had isointense or slightly low signal intensity compared with that of muscle on T 1 weighted images and high signal intensity on T 2 weighted images, and showed contrast enhancement in a similar pattern to contrast enhanced CT. After intravenous injection of contrast media, areas of central lower radial attenuation in the mass were noted in 4 cases of large masses ( > 5 cm) and proved to be fibrotic component pathologically. The pathologic subtypes of 1 cases of disseminated disease was plasma cell type. Imaging findings showed several well-defined nodules lied in the retroperitoneal zone that enhanced sharply with the attenuation similar to large arteries after intravenous injection of contrast media. Conclusion: Imaging findings of Castleman disease in the abdomen and pelvis are closely associated with its pathology. The most

  19. FDM and DMT performance comparison in high capacity point-to-point fibre links for intra/inter-datacentre connections

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gatto, A.; Parolari, P.; Boffi, P.

    2018-05-01

    Frequency division multiplexing (FDM) is attractive to achieve high capacities in multiple access networks characterized by direct modulation and direct detection. In this paper we take into account point-to-point intra- and inter-datacenter connections to understand the performance of FDM operation compared with the ones achievable with standard multiple carrier modulation approach based on discrete multitone (DMT). DMT and FDM allow to match the non-uniform and bandwidth-limited response of the system under test, associated with the employment of low-cost directly-modulated sources, such as VCSELs with high-frequency chirp, and with fibre-propagation in presence of chromatic dispersion. While for very short distances typical of intra-datacentre communications, the huge number of DMT subcarriers permits to increase the transported capacity with respect to the FDM employment, in case of few tens-km reaches typical of inter-datacentre connections, the capabilities of FDM are more evident, providing system performance similar to the case of DMT application.

  20. Three Boundary Conditions for Computing the Fixed-Point Property in Binary Mixture Data.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Leendert van Maanen

    Full Text Available The notion of "mixtures" has become pervasive in behavioral and cognitive sciences, due to the success of dual-process theories of cognition. However, providing support for such dual-process theories is not trivial, as it crucially requires properties in the data that are specific to mixture of cognitive processes. In theory, one such property could be the fixed-point property of binary mixture data, applied-for instance- to response times. In that case, the fixed-point property entails that response time distributions obtained in an experiment in which the mixture proportion is manipulated would have a common density point. In the current article, we discuss the application of the fixed-point property and identify three boundary conditions under which the fixed-point property will not be interpretable. In Boundary condition 1, a finding in support of the fixed-point will be mute because of a lack of difference between conditions. Boundary condition 2 refers to the case in which the extreme conditions are so different that a mixture may display bimodality. In this case, a mixture hypothesis is clearly supported, yet the fixed-point may not be found. In Boundary condition 3 the fixed-point may also not be present, yet a mixture might still exist but is occluded due to additional changes in behavior. Finding the fixed-property provides strong support for a dual-process account, yet the boundary conditions that we identify should be considered before making inferences about underlying psychological processes.

  1. Jump point detection for real estate investment success

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hui, Eddie C. M.; Yu, Carisa K. W.; Ip, Wai-Cheung

    2010-03-01

    In the literature, studies on real estate market were mainly concentrating on the relation between property price and some key factors. The trend of the real estate market is a major concern. It is believed that changes in trend are signified by some jump points in the property price series. Identifying such jump points reveals important findings that enable policy-makers to look forward. However, not all jump points are observable from the plot of the series. This paper looks into the trend and introduces a new approach to the framework for real estate investment success. The main purpose of this paper is to detect jump points in the time series of some housing price indices and stock price index in Hong Kong by applying the wavelet analysis. The detected jump points reflect to some significant political issues and economic collapse. Moreover, the relations among properties of different classes and between stocks and properties are examined. It can be shown from the empirical result that a lead-lag effect happened between the prices of large-size property and those of small/medium-size property. However, there is no apparent relation or consistent lead in terms of change point measure between property price and stock price. This may be due to the fact that globalization effect has more impact on the stock price than the property price.

  2. New finds from the prehistoric sites in the surrounding of Leskovac

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Stojić Milorad Č.

    2003-01-01

    Full Text Available New finds, mainly pottery, provide a more complete picture of cultural development in the Leskovac region, during the prehistoric period (localities Kale in Grdelica, Jeremište in Lipovica, Pusto Semče in Semče Sastanci in Bobište, Hisar-plateau in Leskovac, Gornji Guberevac and Grkinje. The pottery from the Aeneolithic period at the site Sastanci in Bobište, indicate that the Leskovac valley developed in the same way during the Copper Age as the nearby Niš valley. This site, for the time being, is the most southerly in the Morava valley where the Kostolac pottery can be found. It is characteristic that at every newly discovered Metal Age site in this region, pottery of the Vatin type, numerous and varied pottery of the Brnjica culture group, pottery of the phase Lanište II - Basarabi, as well as Greek type pottery and that of the Early Iron Age, is found. Among the pottery which is published in this study (Grdelica and Semče, the most typical autochthon pottery of Iron Age III from the Morava valley, east Serbia and the Serbian Danube valley, downstream from Novi Sad, is also included. New locations of the Brnjica cultural group in the Leskovac valley point to the population density in one of the regions of this community and its territorial organization. On the bases of number disposition and topography of the localities it is possible to presume not only the size of population, but its territorial organization as well. Namely, it is obvious that the people of the Brnjica cultural group based their defense on elevated settlements, like those on the plateaus of Hisar in Leskovac, Skobaljić Grad in Vučje, Kale in Grdelica, Pusto Semče in Semče and other similar sites, while the settlements like those in Bobište Lipovac, Gornji Grabovac and others in the valley, had an obvious agricultural character. Numerous sites in Gornja Jablanica, near one of the biggest mines of gold and other metals in the Lece area, where slag has been found

  3. Extending the Similarity-Attraction Effect: The Effects of When-Similarity in Computer-Mediated Communication

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kaptein, M.C.; Castaneda, D.; Fernandez, N.; Nass, C.

    2014-01-01

    The feeling of connectedness experienced in computer-mediated relationships can be explained by the similarity-attraction effect (SAE). Though SAE is well established in psychology, the effects of some types of similarity have not yet been explored. In 2 studies, we demonstrate similarity-attraction

  4. Computed tomographic brain scan findings in Q fever encephalitis

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Gomez Aranda, F.; Romero Acebal, M.; Maestre Moreno, J.; Pachon Diaz, J.; Lopez Cortes, L.; Navarro Rodriguez, A.

    1984-07-01

    Neurological involvement in Q Fever is unusual. We present a case of encephalitis due to Coxiella Burnetii with neuroradiologic findings on CT not described previously, consisting in areas of decreased absorption coefficient in the subcortical white matter of both hemispheres, predominantly in the right. Differential diagnosis must be established from viral encephalitis, of similar clinical presentation, which may show similar CT lesions to those in this case.

  5. Disentangling Similarity Judgments from Pragmatic Judgments: Response to Sloutsky and Fisher (2012)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Noles, Nicholaus S.; Gelman, Susan A.

    2012-01-01

    Sloutsky and Fisher (2012) attempt to reframe the results presented in Noles and Gelman (2012) as a pure replication of their original work validating the similarity, induction, naming, and categorization (SINC) model. However, their critique fails to engage with the central findings reported in Noles and Gelman, and their reanalysis fails to…

  6. Gender-role's attitude, perceived similarity, and sexual prejudice against gay men.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Falomir-Pichastor, Juan Manuel; Martínez, Carmen; Paterna, Consuelo

    2010-11-01

    Two hundred and twenty-six heterosexual participants (115 women and 111 men) were asked to indicate their attitude toward gender-roles, their perceived similarities with gay men, and their attitude toward gay men (i.e., sexual prejudice). As expected, male participants showed more sexual prejudice than female participants, and perceived dissimilarities were related to a greater sexual prejudice. Support for gender-roles was related to sexual prejudice for male participants, but not for female participants. More interestingly, the three-way interaction suggested that perceived similarities moderated the link between gender-roles and sexual prejudice among heterosexual men, but not among heterosexual women. Attitude in favor of traditional gender-roles was related to sexual prejudice for male participants who perceived gay men as different, but not for those who perceived gay men as similar. These findings are discussed in terms of the defensive function of men's attitude toward homosexuality as a result of threat to masculinity.

  7. Self-similar two-particle separation model

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lüthi, Beat; Berg, Jacob; Ott, Søren

    2007-01-01

    .g.; in the inertial range as epsilon−1/3r2/3. Particle separation is modeled as a Gaussian process without invoking information of Eulerian acceleration statistics or of precise shapes of Eulerian velocity distribution functions. The time scale is a function of S2(r) and thus of the Lagrangian evolving separation......We present a new stochastic model for relative two-particle separation in turbulence. Inspired by material line stretching, we suggest that a similar process also occurs beyond the viscous range, with time scaling according to the longitudinal second-order structure function S2(r), e....... The model predictions agree with numerical and experimental results for various initial particle separations. We present model results for fixed time and fixed scale statistics. We find that for the Richardson-Obukhov law, i.e., =gepsilont3, to hold and to also be observed in experiments, high Reynolds...

  8. A self-similar hierarchy of the Korean stock market

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lim, Gyuchang; Min, Seungsik; Yoo, Kun-Woo

    2013-01-01

    A scaling analysis is performed on market values of stocks listed on Korean stock exchanges such as the KOSPI and the KOSDAQ. Different from previous studies on price fluctuations, market capitalizations are dealt with in this work. First, we show that the sum of the two stock exchanges shows a clear rank-size distribution, i.e., the Zipf's law, just as each separate one does. Second, by abstracting Zipf's law as a γ-sequence, we define a self-similar hierarchy consisting of many levels, with the numbers of firms at each level forming a geometric sequence. We also use two exponential functions to describe the hierarchy and derive a scaling law from them. Lastly, we propose a self-similar hierarchical process and perform an empirical analysis on our data set. Based on our findings, we argue that all money invested in the stock market is distributed in a hierarchical way and that a slight difference exists between the two exchanges.

  9. Statistical representation of a spray as a point process

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Subramaniam, S.

    2000-01-01

    The statistical representation of a spray as a finite point process is investigated. One objective is to develop a better understanding of how single-point statistical information contained in descriptions such as the droplet distribution function (ddf), relates to the probability density functions (pdfs) associated with the droplets themselves. Single-point statistical information contained in the droplet distribution function (ddf) is shown to be related to a sequence of single surrogate-droplet pdfs, which are in general different from the physical single-droplet pdfs. It is shown that the ddf contains less information than the fundamental single-point statistical representation of the spray, which is also described. The analysis shows which events associated with the ensemble of spray droplets can be characterized by the ddf, and which cannot. The implications of these findings for the ddf approach to spray modeling are discussed. The results of this study also have important consequences for the initialization and evolution of direct numerical simulations (DNS) of multiphase flows, which are usually initialized on the basis of single-point statistics such as the droplet number density in physical space. If multiphase DNS are initialized in this way, this implies that even the initial representation contains certain implicit assumptions concerning the complete ensemble of realizations, which are invalid for general multiphase flows. Also the evolution of a DNS initialized in this manner is shown to be valid only if an as yet unproven commutation hypothesis holds true. Therefore, it is questionable to what extent DNS that are initialized in this manner constitute a direct simulation of the physical droplets. Implications of these findings for large eddy simulations of multiphase flows are also discussed. (c) 2000 American Institute of Physics

  10. Address Points - COUNTY_ADDRESS_POINTS_IDHS_IN: Address Points Maintained by County Agencies in Indiana (Indiana Department of Homeland Security, Point feature class)

    Data.gov (United States)

    NSGIC State | GIS Inventory — COUNTY_ADDRESS_POINTS_IDHS_IN is an ESRI Geodatabase point feature class that contains address points maintained by county agencies in Indiana, provided by personnel...

  11. Binary similarity measures for fingerprint analysis of qualitative metabolomic profiles.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rácz, Anita; Andrić, Filip; Bajusz, Dávid; Héberger, Károly

    2018-01-01

    Contemporary metabolomic fingerprinting is based on multiple spectrometric and chromatographic signals, used either alone or combined with structural and chemical information of metabolic markers at the qualitative and semiquantitative level. However, signal shifting, convolution, and matrix effects may compromise metabolomic patterns. Recent increase in the use of qualitative metabolomic data, described by the presence (1) or absence (0) of particular metabolites, demonstrates great potential in the field of metabolomic profiling and fingerprint analysis. The aim of this study is a comprehensive evaluation of binary similarity measures for the elucidation of patterns among samples of different botanical origin and various metabolomic profiles. Nine qualitative metabolomic data sets covering a wide range of natural products and metabolomic profiles were applied to assess 44 binary similarity measures for the fingerprinting of plant extracts and natural products. The measures were analyzed by the novel sum of ranking differences method (SRD), searching for the most promising candidates. Baroni-Urbani-Buser (BUB) and Hawkins-Dotson (HD) similarity coefficients were selected as the best measures by SRD and analysis of variance (ANOVA), while Dice (Di1), Yule, Russel-Rao, and Consonni-Todeschini 3 ranked the worst. ANOVA revealed that concordantly and intermediately symmetric similarity coefficients are better candidates for metabolomic fingerprinting than the asymmetric and correlation based ones. The fingerprint analysis based on the BUB and HD coefficients and qualitative metabolomic data performed equally well as the quantitative metabolomic profile analysis. Fingerprint analysis based on the qualitative metabolomic profiles and binary similarity measures proved to be a reliable way in finding the same/similar patterns in metabolomic data as that extracted from quantitative data.

  12. Identification of Medication Errors with Similar Pronunciation, Spelling and Packaging in Tabriz Shahid Madani Hospital -1392

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gisoo Alizadeh

    2015-08-01

    Full Text Available Background and objectives: Evidence suggests that medication errors are among the most common types of medical errors, and over fifty percent of them are preventable. Since a significant proportion of these errors are related to the similarity between drug names, this study was designed to evaluate drugs with similar spelling, spelling and packaging. Material and Methods: This is a qualitative study with phenomenological approach. Participants were selected by purposive sampling. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and with the help of previously designed guide. Data were analyzed using content analysis. Results: The central themes of the findings of this study include: the accuracy of drug use, the way of recording and monitoring used medication, the storage, reporting, and notification of similar medications, verbal or telephone orders, medication lists with similar spelling, pronunciation and packaging and recommendations of the participants. The most errors in the Heparin-Atropine pair was the packaging of the drugs, spelling was the highest error in Dopamine- Dobutamine pair drug and spelling was the highest error in Atropine and Atorvastatin pair drug. Conclusion: The study findings indicate that there is no certain system for recording, monitoring and storage of similar drugs. Therefore, identifying the medication list with similar pronunciation, spelling and packaging is an opportunity to reduce these types of errors with appropriate interventions. ​

  13. The use of low density high accuracy (LDHA) data for correction of high density low accuracy (HDLA) point cloud

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rak, Michal Bartosz; Wozniak, Adam; Mayer, J. R. R.

    2016-06-01

    Coordinate measuring techniques rely on computer processing of coordinate values of points gathered from physical surfaces using contact or non-contact methods. Contact measurements are characterized by low density and high accuracy. On the other hand optical methods gather high density data of the whole object in a short time but with accuracy at least one order of magnitude lower than for contact measurements. Thus the drawback of contact methods is low density of data, while for non-contact methods it is low accuracy. In this paper a method for fusion of data from two measurements of fundamentally different nature: high density low accuracy (HDLA) and low density high accuracy (LDHA) is presented to overcome the limitations of both measuring methods. In the proposed method the concept of virtual markers is used to find a representation of pairs of corresponding characteristic points in both sets of data. In each pair the coordinates of the point from contact measurements is treated as a reference for the corresponding point from non-contact measurement. Transformation enabling displacement of characteristic points from optical measurement to their match from contact measurements is determined and applied to the whole point cloud. The efficiency of the proposed algorithm was evaluated by comparison with data from a coordinate measuring machine (CMM). Three surfaces were used for this evaluation: plane, turbine blade and engine cover. For the planar surface the achieved improvement was of around 200 μm. Similar results were obtained for the turbine blade but for the engine cover the improvement was smaller. For both freeform surfaces the improvement was higher for raw data than for data after creation of mesh of triangles.

  14. Three-point statistics of cosmological stochastic gravitational waves

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Adshead, Peter; Lim, Eugene A.

    2010-01-01

    We consider the three-point function (i.e. the bispectrum or non-Gaussianity) for stochastic backgrounds of gravitational waves. We estimate the amplitude of this signal for the primordial inflationary background, gravitational waves generated during preheating, and for gravitational waves produced by self-ordering scalar fields following a global phase transition. To assess detectability, we describe how to extract the three-point signal from an idealized interferometric experiment and compute the signal to noise ratio as a function of integration time. The three-point signal for the stochastic gravitational wave background generated by inflation is unsurprisingly tiny. For gravitational radiation generated by purely causal, classical mechanisms we find that, no matter how nonlinear the process is, the three-point correlations produced vanish in direct detection experiments. On the other hand, we show that in scenarios where the B-mode of the cosmic microwave background is sourced by gravitational waves generated by a global phase transition, a strong three-point signal among the polarization modes is also produced. This may provide another method of distinguishing inflationary B-modes. To carry out this computation, we have developed a diagrammatic approach to the calculation of stochastic gravitational waves sourced by scalar fluids, which has applications beyond the present scenario.

  15. A dual exterior point simplex type algorithm for the minimum cost network flow problem

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Geranis George

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available A new dual simplex type algorithm for the Minimum Cost Network Flow Problem (MCNFP is presented. The proposed algorithm belongs to a special 'exterior- point simplex type' category. Similarly to the classical network dual simplex algorithm (NDSA, this algorithm starts with a dual feasible tree-solution and reduces the primal infeasibility, iteration by iteration. However, contrary to the NDSA, the new algorithm does not always maintain a dual feasible solution. Instead, the new algorithm might reach a basic point (tree-solution outside the dual feasible area (exterior point - dual infeasible tree.

  16. Beginning SharePoint 2010 Building Business Solutions with SharePoint

    CERN Document Server

    Perran, Amanda; Mason, Jennifer; Rogers, Laura

    2010-01-01

    Two SharePoint MVPs provide the ultimate introduction to SharePoint 2010Beginning SharePoint 2010: Building Team Solutions with SharePoint provides information workers and site managers with extensive knowledge and expert advice, empowering them to become SharePoint champions within their organizations.Provides expansive coverage of SharePoint topics, as well as specialty areas such as forms, excel services, records management, and web content managementDetails realistic usage scenarios, and includes practice examples that highlight best practices for configuration and customizationIncludes de

  17. Similarity of Symbol Frequency Distributions with Heavy Tails

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Martin Gerlach

    2016-04-01

    Full Text Available Quantifying the similarity between symbolic sequences is a traditional problem in information theory which requires comparing the frequencies of symbols in different sequences. In numerous modern applications, ranging from DNA over music to texts, the distribution of symbol frequencies is characterized by heavy-tailed distributions (e.g., Zipf’s law. The large number of low-frequency symbols in these distributions poses major difficulties to the estimation of the similarity between sequences; e.g., they hinder an accurate finite-size estimation of entropies. Here, we show analytically how the systematic (bias and statistical (fluctuations errors in these estimations depend on the sample size N and on the exponent γ of the heavy-tailed distribution. Our results are valid for the Shannon entropy (α=1, its corresponding similarity measures (e.g., the Jensen-Shanon divergence, and also for measures based on the generalized entropy of order α. For small α’s, including α=1, the errors decay slower than the 1/N decay observed in short-tailed distributions. For α larger than a critical value α^{*}=1+1/γ≤2, the 1/N decay is recovered. We show the practical significance of our results by quantifying the evolution of the English language over the last two centuries using a complete α spectrum of measures. We find that frequent words change more slowly than less frequent words and that α=2 provides the most robust measure to quantify language change.

  18. Impact of point-of-sale tobacco display bans: findings from the International Tobacco Control Four Country Survey

    OpenAIRE

    Li, Lin; Borland, Ron; Fong, Geoffrey T.; Thrasher, James F.; Hammond, David; Cummings, Kenneth M.

    2013-01-01

    This study examined the impact of point-of-sale (POS) tobacco marketing restrictions in Australia and Canada, in relation to the United Kingdom and the United States where there were no such restrictions during the study period (2006–10). The data came from the International Tobacco Control Four Country Survey, a prospective multi-country cohort survey of adult smokers. In jurisdictions where POS display bans were implemented, smokers’ reported exposure to tobacco marketing declined markedly....

  19. Comparison between cross sections, saddle point and scission point barriers for the 32S+24Mg reaction

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Santos T. J.

    2014-04-01

    Full Text Available One of the principal characteristics of nuclear multifragmentation is the emission of complex fragments of intermediate mass. The statistical multifragmentation model has been used for many years to describe the distribution of these fragments. An extension of the statistical multifragmentation model to include partial widths and lifetimes for emission, interprets the fragmentation process as the near simultaneous limit of a series of sequential binary decays. In this extension, the expression describing intermediate mass fragment emission is almost identical to that of light particle emission. At lower temperatures, similar expressions have been shown to furnish a good description of very light intermediate mass fragment emission. However, this is usually not considered a good approximation to the emission of heavier fragments. These emissions seem to be determined by the characteristics of the system at the saddle-point and its subsequent dynamical evolution rather than by the scission point. Here, we compare the barriers and decay widths of these different formulations of intermediate fragment emission and analyze the extent to which they remain distinguishable at high excitation energy.

  20. Genetic Similarities between Compulsive Overeating and Addiction Phenotypes: A Case for "Food Addiction"?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carlier, Nina; Marshe, Victoria S; Cmorejova, Jana; Davis, Caroline; Müller, Daniel J

    2015-12-01

    There exists a continuous spectrum of overeating, where at the extremes there are casual overindulgences and at the other a 'pathological' drive to consume palatable foods. It has been proposed that pathological eating behaviors may be the result of addictive appetitive behavior and loss of ability to regulate the consumption of highly processed foods containing refined carbohydrates, fats, salt, and caffeine. In this review, we highlight the genetic similarities underlying substance addiction phenotypes and overeating compulsions seen in individuals with binge eating disorder. We relate these similarities to findings from neuroimaging studies on reward processing and clinical diagnostic criteria based on addiction phenotypes. The abundance of similarities between compulsive overeating and substance addictions puts forth a case for a 'food addiction' phenotype as a valid, diagnosable disorder.

  1. On different forms of self similarity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Aswathy, R.K.; Mathew, Sunil

    2016-01-01

    Fractal geometry is mainly based on the idea of self-similar forms. To be self-similar, a shape must able to be divided into parts that are smaller copies, which are more or less similar to the whole. There are different forms of self similarity in nature and mathematics. In this paper, some of the topological properties of super self similar sets are discussed. It is proved that in a complete metric space with two or more elements, the set of all non super self similar sets are dense in the set of all non-empty compact sub sets. It is also proved that the product of self similar sets are super self similar in product metric spaces and that the super self similarity is preserved under isometry. A characterization of super self similar sets using contracting sub self similarity is also presented. Some relevant counterexamples are provided. The concepts of exact super and sub self similarity are introduced and a necessary and sufficient condition for a set to be exact super self similar in terms of condensation iterated function systems (Condensation IFS’s) is obtained. A method to generate exact sub self similar sets using condensation IFS’s and the denseness of exact super self similar sets are also discussed.

  2. Best Proximity Point Results in Complex Valued Metric Spaces

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Binayak S. Choudhury

    2014-01-01

    complex valued metric spaces. We treat the problem as that of finding the global optimal solution of a fixed point equation although the exact solution does not in general exist. We also define and use the concept of P-property in such spaces. Our results are illustrated with examples.

  3. Edge effects in four-point direct current potential drop measurements on metal plates

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lu, Y; Bowler, N; Bowler, J R; Huang, Y

    2009-01-01

    Four-point direct current potential drop (DCPD) measurements are commonly used to measure the conductivity (or resistivity) of semiconductors and ferrous or non-ferrous metals. The measured electrical potential difference is often interpreted in terms of analytic expressions developed for large plates that are either 'thin' or 'thick' relative to the probe length. It is well known that the presence of the back surface of a plate leads to a solution expressed in terms of an infinite series representing the current source and its images. This approach can be generalized to account for multiple surfaces in order to obtain a solution for a finite plate, but convergence of the series is poor when the plate dimensions are similar to or smaller than the separation of the current injection and extraction points. Here, Fourier series representations of the infinite sums are obtained. It is shown that the Fourier series converge with many fewer terms than the series obtained from image theory, for plates with dimensions similar to or smaller than the separation of the current injection and extraction points. Comparing calculated results for the potential drop obtained by a four-point probe centred on finite plates of varying dimension, with those for a probe in contact with a large (laterally infinite) plate, estimates are given of the uncertainty due to edge effects in measurements on small plates interpreted using analytic formulae developed for large plates. It is also shown that these uncertainties due to edge effects are reduced, for a given plate size, if the probe pick-up points are moved closer to the current injection points, rather than adopting the common arrangement in which the four probe points are equally spaced. Calculated values of DCPD are compared with experimental data taken on aluminium and spring-steel plates of various sizes and excellent agreement is obtained.

  4. Edge effects in four-point direct current potential drop measurements on metal plates

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lu, Y.; Bowler, N.; Bowler, J. R.; Huang, Y.

    2009-07-01

    Four-point direct current potential drop (DCPD) measurements are commonly used to measure the conductivity (or resistivity) of semiconductors and ferrous or non-ferrous metals. The measured electrical potential difference is often interpreted in terms of analytic expressions developed for large plates that are either 'thin' or 'thick' relative to the probe length. It is well known that the presence of the back surface of a plate leads to a solution expressed in terms of an infinite series representing the current source and its images. This approach can be generalized to account for multiple surfaces in order to obtain a solution for a finite plate, but convergence of the series is poor when the plate dimensions are similar to or smaller than the separation of the current injection and extraction points. Here, Fourier series representations of the infinite sums are obtained. It is shown that the Fourier series converge with many fewer terms than the series obtained from image theory, for plates with dimensions similar to or smaller than the separation of the current injection and extraction points. Comparing calculated results for the potential drop obtained by a four-point probe centred on finite plates of varying dimension, with those for a probe in contact with a large (laterally infinite) plate, estimates are given of the uncertainty due to edge effects in measurements on small plates interpreted using analytic formulae developed for large plates. It is also shown that these uncertainties due to edge effects are reduced, for a given plate size, if the probe pick-up points are moved closer to the current injection points, rather than adopting the common arrangement in which the four probe points are equally spaced. Calculated values of DCPD are compared with experimental data taken on aluminium and spring-steel plates of various sizes and excellent agreement is obtained.

  5. Cerebral computerized tomography findings in AIDS patients; Cerebrale CT-funn ved AIDS

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hol, P.K.; Dunlop, O. [Ullevaal Sykehus, Oslo (Norway)

    1997-09-01

    A cerebral CT was performed in 82 of 525 AIDS patients, with positive findings in 46 cases. These findings included cerebral atrophy in 28 cases, pathological demyelinisation in two, progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy in one, toxoplasmoses in 11, lymphomas in seven, infarction in one and one subdural haematoma. The radiological findings are correlated to pathology and clinical symptoms. The authors point out the importance of these findings for correct interpretation of the CT scans. 11 refs., 7 figs., 2 tabs.

  6. Finding phosphorus containing additives in manufactured foods

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lyn Lloyd

    2012-06-01

    This reflects manufactured foods in NZ and it is likely that these results could be generalized to countries with similar food patterns and supplies. Quantitative data in manufactured foods is unlikely to be available to guide patient choice so qualitative information of where to find P additives can be helpful.

  7. Morphological similarity and ecological overlap in two rotifer species.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gabaldón, Carmen; Montero-Pau, Javier; Serra, Manuel; Carmona, María José

    2013-01-01

    Co-occurrence of cryptic species raises theoretically relevant questions regarding their coexistence and ecological similarity. Given their great morphological similitude and close phylogenetic relationship (i.e., niche retention), these species will have similar ecological requirements and are expected to have strong competitive interactions. This raises the problem of finding the mechanisms that may explain the coexistence of cryptic species and challenges the conventional view of coexistence based on niche differentiation. The cryptic species complex of the rotifer Brachionus plicatilis is an excellent model to study these questions and to test hypotheses regarding ecological differentiation. Rotifer species within this complex are filtering zooplankters commonly found inhabiting the same ponds across the Iberian Peninsula and exhibit an extremely similar morphology-some of them being even virtually identical. Here, we explore whether subtle differences in body size and morphology translate into ecological differentiation by comparing two extremely morphologically similar species belonging to this complex: B. plicatilis and B. manjavacas. We focus on three key ecological features related to body size: (1) functional response, expressed by clearance rates; (2) tolerance to starvation, measured by growth and reproduction; and (3) vulnerability to copepod predation, measured by the number of preyed upon neonates. No major differences between B. plicatilis and B. manjavacas were found in the response to these features. Our results demonstrate the existence of a substantial niche overlap, suggesting that the subtle size differences between these two cryptic species are not sufficient to explain their coexistence. This lack of evidence for ecological differentiation in the studied biotic niche features is in agreement with the phylogenetic limiting similarity hypothesis but requires a mechanistic explanation of the coexistence of these species not based on

  8. Morphological similarity and ecological overlap in two rotifer species.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Carmen Gabaldón

    Full Text Available Co-occurrence of cryptic species raises theoretically relevant questions regarding their coexistence and ecological similarity. Given their great morphological similitude and close phylogenetic relationship (i.e., niche retention, these species will have similar ecological requirements and are expected to have strong competitive interactions. This raises the problem of finding the mechanisms that may explain the coexistence of cryptic species and challenges the conventional view of coexistence based on niche differentiation. The cryptic species complex of the rotifer Brachionus plicatilis is an excellent model to study these questions and to test hypotheses regarding ecological differentiation. Rotifer species within this complex are filtering zooplankters commonly found inhabiting the same ponds across the Iberian Peninsula and exhibit an extremely similar morphology-some of them being even virtually identical. Here, we explore whether subtle differences in body size and morphology translate into ecological differentiation by comparing two extremely morphologically similar species belonging to this complex: B. plicatilis and B. manjavacas. We focus on three key ecological features related to body size: (1 functional response, expressed by clearance rates; (2 tolerance to starvation, measured by growth and reproduction; and (3 vulnerability to copepod predation, measured by the number of preyed upon neonates. No major differences between B. plicatilis and B. manjavacas were found in the response to these features. Our results demonstrate the existence of a substantial niche overlap, suggesting that the subtle size differences between these two cryptic species are not sufficient to explain their coexistence. This lack of evidence for ecological differentiation in the studied biotic niche features is in agreement with the phylogenetic limiting similarity hypothesis but requires a mechanistic explanation of the coexistence of these species not

  9. Similarity or difference?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Villadsen, Anders Ryom

    2013-01-01

    While the organizational structures and strategies of public organizations have attracted substantial research attention among public management scholars, little research has explored how these organizational core dimensions are interconnected and influenced by pressures for similarity....... In this paper I address this topic by exploring the relation between expenditure strategy isomorphism and structure isomorphism in Danish municipalities. Different literatures suggest that organizations exist in concurrent pressures for being similar to and different from other organizations in their field......-shaped relation exists between expenditure strategy isomorphism and structure isomorphism in a longitudinal quantitative study of Danish municipalities....

  10. A touch-probe path generation method through similarity analysis between the feature vectors in new and old models

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Jeon, Hye Sung; Lee, Jin Won; Yang, Jeong Sam [Dept. of Industrial Engineering, Ajou University, Suwon (Korea, Republic of)

    2016-10-15

    The On-machine measurement (OMM), which measures a work piece during or after the machining process in the machining center, has the advantage of measuring the work piece directly within the work space without moving it. However, the path generation procedure used to determine the measuring sequence and variables for the complex features of a target work piece has the limitation of requiring time-consuming tasks to generate the measuring points and mostly relies on the proficiency of the on-site engineer. In this study, we propose a touch-probe path generation method using similarity analysis between the feature vectors of three-dimensional (3-D) shapes for the OMM. For the similarity analysis between a new 3-D model and existing 3-D models, we extracted the feature vectors from models that can describe the characteristics of a geometric shape model; then, we applied those feature vectors to a geometric histogram that displays a probability distribution obtained by the similarity analysis algorithm. In addition, we developed a computer-aided inspection planning system that corrects non-applied measuring points that are caused by minute geometry differences between the two models and generates the final touch-probe path.

  11. Processes of Similarity Judgment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Larkey, Levi B.; Markman, Arthur B.

    2005-01-01

    Similarity underlies fundamental cognitive capabilities such as memory, categorization, decision making, problem solving, and reasoning. Although recent approaches to similarity appreciate the structure of mental representations, they differ in the processes posited to operate over these representations. We present an experiment that…

  12. Judgments of brand similarity

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bijmolt, THA; Wedel, M; Pieters, RGM; DeSarbo, WS

    This paper provides empirical insight into the way consumers make pairwise similarity judgments between brands, and how familiarity with the brands, serial position of the pair in a sequence, and the presentation format affect these judgments. Within the similarity judgment process both the

  13. Communication: Understanding molecular representations in machine learning: The role of uniqueness and target similarity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huang, Bing; von Lilienfeld, O. Anatole

    2016-10-01

    The predictive accuracy of Machine Learning (ML) models of molecular properties depends on the choice of the molecular representation. Inspired by the postulates of quantum mechanics, we introduce a hierarchy of representations which meet uniqueness and target similarity criteria. To systematically control target similarity, we simply rely on interatomic many body expansions, as implemented in universal force-fields, including Bonding, Angular (BA), and higher order terms. Addition of higher order contributions systematically increases similarity to the true potential energy and predictive accuracy of the resulting ML models. We report numerical evidence for the performance of BAML models trained on molecular properties pre-calculated at electron-correlated and density functional theory level of theory for thousands of small organic molecules. Properties studied include enthalpies and free energies of atomization, heat capacity, zero-point vibrational energies, dipole-moment, polarizability, HOMO/LUMO energies and gap, ionization potential, electron affinity, and electronic excitations. After training, BAML predicts energies or electronic properties of out-of-sample molecules with unprecedented accuracy and speed.

  14. Renewing the Respect for Similarity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shimon eEdelman

    2012-07-01

    Full Text Available In psychology, the concept of similarity has traditionally evoked a mixture of respect, stemmingfrom its ubiquity and intuitive appeal, and concern, due to its dependence on the framing of the problemat hand and on its context. We argue for a renewed focus on similarity as an explanatory concept, bysurveying established results and new developments in the theory and methods of similarity-preservingassociative lookup and dimensionality reduction — critical components of many cognitive functions, aswell as of intelligent data management in computer vision. We focus in particular on the growing familyof algorithms that support associative memory by performing hashing that respects local similarity, andon the uses of similarity in representing structured objects and scenes. Insofar as these similarity-basedideas and methods are useful in cognitive modeling and in AI applications, they should be included inthe core conceptual toolkit of computational neuroscience.

  15. Self-similar continued root approximants

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gluzman, S.; Yukalov, V.I.

    2012-01-01

    A novel method of summing asymptotic series is advanced. Such series repeatedly arise when employing perturbation theory in powers of a small parameter for complicated problems of condensed matter physics, statistical physics, and various applied problems. The method is based on the self-similar approximation theory involving self-similar root approximants. The constructed self-similar continued roots extrapolate asymptotic series to finite values of the expansion parameter. The self-similar continued roots contain, as a particular case, continued fractions and Padé approximants. A theorem on the convergence of the self-similar continued roots is proved. The method is illustrated by several examples from condensed-matter physics.

  16. Dogs (Canis familiaris, but not chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes, understand imperative pointing.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Katharina C Kirchhofer

    Full Text Available Chimpanzees routinely follow the gaze of humans to outside targets. However, in most studies using object choice they fail to use communicative gestures (e.g. pointing to find hidden food. Chimpanzees' failure to do this may be due to several difficulties with this paradigm. They may, for example, misinterpret the gesture as referring to the opaque cup instead of the hidden food. Or perhaps they do not understand informative communicative intentions. In contrast, dogs seem to be skilful in using human communicative cues in the context of finding food, but as of yet there is not much data showing whether they also use pointing in the context of finding non-food objects. Here we directly compare chimpanzees' (N = 20 and dogs' (N = 32 skills in using a communicative gesture directed at a visible object out of reach of the human but within reach of the subject. Pairs of objects were placed in view of and behind the subjects. The task was to retrieve the object the experimenter wanted. To indicate which one she desired, the experimenter pointed imperatively to it and directly rewarded the subject for handing over the correct one. While dogs performed well on this task, chimpanzees failed to identify the referent. Implications for great apes' and dogs' understanding of human communicative intentions are discussed.

  17. Microscopic return point memory in Co/Pd multilayer films

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Seu, K.A.; Su, R.; Roy, S.; Parks, D.; Shipton, E.; Fullerton, E.E.; Kevan, S.D.

    2009-10-01

    We report soft x-ray speckle metrology measurements of microscopic return point and complementary point memory in Co/Pd magnetic films having perpendicular anisotropy. We observe that the domains assemble into a common labyrinth phase with a period that varies by nearly a factor of two between initial reversal and fields near saturation. Unlike previous studies of similar systems, the ability of the film to reproduce its domain structure after magnetic cycling through saturation varies from loop to loop, from position to position on the sample, and with the part of the speckle pattern used in the metrology measurements. We report the distribution of memory as a function of field and discuss these results in terms of the reversal process.

  18. Masqued findings of the lung in children

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fliegel, C.P.

    1982-01-01

    Masqued findings of the lung in children can cause grave diagnostic errors. A gamut list of typical pseudodiagnoses is given. Relevant cases are demonstrated as questions and answers. Practical hints how to reach a correct diagnosis are outlined. It is pointed out that initial standard films frequently have to be compleemented by special views to avoid false judgements, which could be harmful to the patient. (orig.)

  19. Prosodic Similarity Effects in Short-Term Memory in Developmental Dyslexia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Goswami, Usha; Barnes, Lisa; Mead, Natasha; Power, Alan James; Leong, Victoria

    2016-11-01

    Children with developmental dyslexia are characterized by phonological difficulties across languages. Classically, this 'phonological deficit' in dyslexia has been investigated with tasks using single-syllable words. Recently, however, several studies have demonstrated difficulties in prosodic awareness in dyslexia. Potential prosodic effects in short-term memory have not yet been investigated. Here we create a new instrument based on three-syllable words that vary in stress patterns, to investigate whether prosodic similarity (the same prosodic pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables) exerts systematic effects on short-term memory. We study participants with dyslexia and age-matched and younger reading-level-matched typically developing controls. We find that all participants, including dyslexic participants, show prosodic similarity effects in short-term memory. All participants exhibited better retention of words that differed in prosodic structure, although participants with dyslexia recalled fewer words accurately overall compared to age-matched controls. Individual differences in prosodic memory were predicted by earlier vocabulary abilities, by earlier sensitivity to syllable stress and by earlier phonological awareness. To our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of prosodic similarity effects in short-term memory. The implications of a prosodic similarity effect for theories of lexical representation and of dyslexia are discussed. © 2016 The Authors. Dyslexia published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. © 2016 The Authors. Dyslexia published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  20. A comprehensive comparison of network similarities for link prediction and spurious link elimination

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Peng; Qiu, Dan; Zeng, An; Xiao, Jinghua

    2018-06-01

    Identifying missing interactions in complex networks, known as link prediction, is realized by estimating the likelihood of the existence of a link between two nodes according to the observed links and nodes' attributes. Similar approaches have also been employed to identify and remove spurious links in networks which is crucial for improving the reliability of network data. In network science, the likelihood for two nodes having a connection strongly depends on their structural similarity. The key to address these two problems thus becomes how to objectively measure the similarity between nodes in networks. In the literature, numerous network similarity metrics have been proposed and their accuracy has been discussed independently in previous works. In this paper, we systematically compare the accuracy of 18 similarity metrics in both link prediction and spurious link elimination when the observed networks are very sparse or consist of inaccurate linking information. Interestingly, some methods have high prediction accuracy, they tend to perform low accuracy in identification spurious interaction. We further find that methods can be classified into several cluster according to their behaviors. This work is useful for guiding future use of these similarity metrics for different purposes.

  1. Computational prediction of drug-drug interactions based on drugs functional similarities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ferdousi, Reza; Safdari, Reza; Omidi, Yadollah

    2017-06-01

    Therapeutic activities of drugs are often influenced by co-administration of drugs that may cause inevitable drug-drug interactions (DDIs) and inadvertent side effects. Prediction and identification of DDIs are extremely vital for the patient safety and success of treatment modalities. A number of computational methods have been employed for the prediction of DDIs based on drugs structures and/or functions. Here, we report on a computational method for DDIs prediction based on functional similarity of drugs. The model was set based on key biological elements including carriers, transporters, enzymes and targets (CTET). The model was applied for 2189 approved drugs. For each drug, all the associated CTETs were collected, and the corresponding binary vectors were constructed to determine the DDIs. Various similarity measures were conducted to detect DDIs. Of the examined similarity methods, the inner product-based similarity measures (IPSMs) were found to provide improved prediction values. Altogether, 2,394,766 potential drug pairs interactions were studied. The model was able to predict over 250,000 unknown potential DDIs. Upon our findings, we propose the current method as a robust, yet simple and fast, universal in silico approach for identification of DDIs. We envision that this proposed method can be used as a practical technique for the detection of possible DDIs based on the functional similarities of drugs. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Inc.

  2. The turning points of world history : financial and methodological interpretations

    OpenAIRE

    Kukliński, Antoni (ed.); Pawłowski, Krzysztof (ed.); Swianiewicz, Jan (ed.)

    2012-01-01

    Volumes VI and VII of the REUPUS Series “The Atlantic Community. The Titanic of the XXI Century?” and “The Turning Points of World History” can be seen as twin volumes trying to find new empirical observations, new methodological approaches and new value judgements to face the enigma of the XXI Century. Those volumes try to present some new interpretations of one of the greatest turning points of human history which is the essential feature of our times... Volume VII is the ...

  3. Tipping Point

    Medline Plus

    Full Text Available ... en español Blog About OnSafety CPSC Stands for Safety The Tipping Point Home > 60 Seconds of Safety (Videos) > The Tipping Point The Tipping Point by ... danger death electrical fall furniture head injury product safety television tipover tv Watch the video in Adobe ...

  4. One-point functions in defect CFT and integrability

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Leeuw, Marius de; Kristjansen, Charlotte [The Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, Blegdamsvej 17, Copenhagen Ø, DK-2100 (Denmark); Zarembo, Konstantin [NORDITA, KTH Royal Institute of Technology and Stockholm University, Roslagstullsbacken 23, Stockholm, SE-106 91 (Sweden); Department of Physics and Astronomy, Uppsala University, Uppsala, SE-751 08 (Sweden)

    2015-08-19

    We calculate planar tree level one-point functions of non-protected operators in the defect conformal field theory dual to the D3-D5 brane system with k units of the world volume flux. Working in the operator basis of Bethe eigenstates of the Heisenberg XXX{sub 1/2} spin chain we express the one-point functions as overlaps of these eigenstates with a matrix product state. For k=2 we obtain a closed expression of determinant form for any number of excitations, and in the case of half-filling we find a relation with the Néel state. In addition, we present a number of results for the limiting case k→∞.

  5. The MAGIC Touch: Combining MAGIC-Pointing with a Touch-Sensitive Mouse

    Science.gov (United States)

    Drewes, Heiko; Schmidt, Albrecht

    In this paper, we show how to use the combination of eye-gaze and a touch-sensitive mouse to ease pointing tasks in graphical user interfaces. A touch of the mouse positions the mouse pointer at the current gaze position of the user. Thus, the pointer is always at the position where the user expects it on the screen. This approach changes the user experience in tasks that include frequent switching between keyboard and mouse input (e.g. working with spreadsheets). In a user study, we compared the touch-sensitive mouse with a traditional mouse and observed speed improvements for pointing tasks on complex backgrounds. For pointing task on plain backgrounds, performances with both devices were similar, but users perceived the gaze-sensitive interaction of the touch-sensitive mouse as being faster and more convenient. Our results show that using a touch-sensitive mouse that positions the pointer on the user’s gaze position reduces the need for mouse movements in pointing tasks enormously.

  6. Mean-field behavior for the survival probability and the point-to-surface connectivity

    CERN Document Server

    Sakai, A

    2003-01-01

    We consider the critical survival probability for oriented percolation and the contact process, and the point-to-surface connectivity for critical percolation. By similarity, let \\rho denote the critical expoents for both quantities. We prove in a unified fashion that, if \\rho exists and if both two-point function and its certain restricted version exhibit the same mean-field behavior, then \\rho=2 for percolation with d>7 and \\rho=1 for the time-oriented models with d>4.

  7. Personalized mortality prediction driven by electronic medical data and a patient similarity metric.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Joon; Maslove, David M; Dubin, Joel A

    2015-01-01

    Clinical outcome prediction normally employs static, one-size-fits-all models that perform well for the average patient but are sub-optimal for individual patients with unique characteristics. In the era of digital healthcare, it is feasible to dynamically personalize decision support by identifying and analyzing similar past patients, in a way that is analogous to personalized product recommendation in e-commerce. Our objectives were: 1) to prove that analyzing only similar patients leads to better outcome prediction performance than analyzing all available patients, and 2) to characterize the trade-off between training data size and the degree of similarity between the training data and the index patient for whom prediction is to be made. We deployed a cosine-similarity-based patient similarity metric (PSM) to an intensive care unit (ICU) database to identify patients that are most similar to each patient and subsequently to custom-build 30-day mortality prediction models. Rich clinical and administrative data from the first day in the ICU from 17,152 adult ICU admissions were analyzed. The results confirmed that using data from only a small subset of most similar patients for training improves predictive performance in comparison with using data from all available patients. The results also showed that when too few similar patients are used for training, predictive performance degrades due to the effects of small sample sizes. Our PSM-based approach outperformed well-known ICU severity of illness scores. Although the improved prediction performance is achieved at the cost of increased computational burden, Big Data technologies can help realize personalized data-driven decision support at the point of care. The present study provides crucial empirical evidence for the promising potential of personalized data-driven decision support systems. With the increasing adoption of electronic medical record (EMR) systems, our novel medical data analytics contributes to

  8. Personalized mortality prediction driven by electronic medical data and a patient similarity metric.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Joon Lee

    Full Text Available Clinical outcome prediction normally employs static, one-size-fits-all models that perform well for the average patient but are sub-optimal for individual patients with unique characteristics. In the era of digital healthcare, it is feasible to dynamically personalize decision support by identifying and analyzing similar past patients, in a way that is analogous to personalized product recommendation in e-commerce. Our objectives were: 1 to prove that analyzing only similar patients leads to better outcome prediction performance than analyzing all available patients, and 2 to characterize the trade-off between training data size and the degree of similarity between the training data and the index patient for whom prediction is to be made.We deployed a cosine-similarity-based patient similarity metric (PSM to an intensive care unit (ICU database to identify patients that are most similar to each patient and subsequently to custom-build 30-day mortality prediction models. Rich clinical and administrative data from the first day in the ICU from 17,152 adult ICU admissions were analyzed. The results confirmed that using data from only a small subset of most similar patients for training improves predictive performance in comparison with using data from all available patients. The results also showed that when too few similar patients are used for training, predictive performance degrades due to the effects of small sample sizes. Our PSM-based approach outperformed well-known ICU severity of illness scores. Although the improved prediction performance is achieved at the cost of increased computational burden, Big Data technologies can help realize personalized data-driven decision support at the point of care.The present study provides crucial empirical evidence for the promising potential of personalized data-driven decision support systems. With the increasing adoption of electronic medical record (EMR systems, our novel medical data analytics

  9. Personalized recommendation with corrected similarity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhu, Xuzhen; Tian, Hui; Cai, Shimin

    2014-01-01

    Personalized recommendation has attracted a surge of interdisciplinary research. Especially, similarity-based methods in applications of real recommendation systems have achieved great success. However, the computations of similarities are overestimated or underestimated, in particular because of the defective strategy of unidirectional similarity estimation. In this paper, we solve this drawback by leveraging mutual correction of forward and backward similarity estimations, and propose a new personalized recommendation index, i.e., corrected similarity based inference (CSI). Through extensive experiments on four benchmark datasets, the results show a greater improvement of CSI in comparison with these mainstream baselines. And a detailed analysis is presented to unveil and understand the origin of such difference between CSI and mainstream indices. (paper)

  10. Image mosaicking based on feature points using color-invariant values

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Dong-Chang; Kwon, Oh-Seol; Ko, Kyung-Woo; Lee, Ho-Young; Ha, Yeong-Ho

    2008-02-01

    In the field of computer vision, image mosaicking is achieved using image features, such as textures, colors, and shapes between corresponding images, or local descriptors representing neighborhoods of feature points extracted from corresponding images. However, image mosaicking based on feature points has attracted more recent attention due to the simplicity of the geometric transformation, regardless of distortion and differences in intensity generated by camera motion in consecutive images. Yet, since most feature-point matching algorithms extract feature points using gray values, identifying corresponding points becomes difficult in the case of changing illumination and images with a similar intensity. Accordingly, to solve these problems, this paper proposes a method of image mosaicking based on feature points using color information of images. Essentially, the digital values acquired from a real digital color camera are converted to values of a virtual camera with distinct narrow bands. Values based on the surface reflectance and invariant to the chromaticity of various illuminations are then derived from the virtual camera values and defined as color-invariant values invariant to changing illuminations. The validity of these color-invariant values is verified in a test using a Macbeth Color-Checker under simulated illuminations. The test also compares the proposed method using the color-invariant values with the conventional SIFT algorithm. The accuracy of the matching between the feature points extracted using the proposed method is increased, while image mosaicking using color information is also achieved.

  11. Research on Kalman Filtering Algorithm for Deformation Information Series of Similar Single-Difference Model

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    L(U) Wei-cai; XU Shao-quan

    2004-01-01

    Using similar single-difference methodology(SSDM) to solve the deformation values of the monitoring points, there is unstability of the deformation information series, at sometimes.In order to overcome this shortcoming, Kalman filtering algorithm for this series is established,and its correctness and validity are verified with the test data obtained on the movable platform in plane. The results show that Kalman filtering can improve the correctness, reliability and stability of the deformation information series.

  12. Capacitance and conductance of mesoscopic systems connected by quantum point contacts

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Flensberg, Karsten

    1993-01-01

    We study the transport properties of quantum dots and quantum point contacts in the Coulomb blockade regime and in the limit where the quantum point contact has nearly fully transmitting channels. Using a transformation to a multichannel Tomonaga-Luttinger-type model, we find the scaling behavior...... of the junction close to pinchoff. It is shown that the junction scales to an insulating junction. We find a crossover between a low-temperature regime with Coulomb blockade to a high-temperature regime where the quantum charge fluctuations are dominant. The crossover temperature between these regimes is given...... by Tc∼U[1-G0/NGH]N/2, where U are the bare charging energy, G0 is the nominal conductance, N is the number of channels, and GH=e2/h....

  13. Some properties of point processes in statistical optics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Picinbono, B.; Bendjaballah, C.

    2010-01-01

    The analysis of the statistical properties of the point process (PP) of photon detection times can be used to determine whether or not an optical field is classical, in the sense that its statistical description does not require the methods of quantum optics. This determination is, however, more difficult than ordinarily admitted and the first aim of this paper is to illustrate this point by using some results of the PP theory. For example, it is well known that the analysis of the photodetection of classical fields exhibits the so-called bunching effect. But this property alone cannot be used to decide the nature of a given optical field. Indeed, we have presented examples of point processes for which a bunching effect appears and yet they cannot be obtained from a classical field. These examples are illustrated by computer simulations. Similarly, it is often admitted that for fields with very low light intensity the bunching or antibunching can be described by using the statistical properties of the distance between successive events of the point process, which simplifies the experimental procedure. We have shown that, while this property is valid for classical PPs, it has no reason to be true for nonclassical PPs, and we have presented some examples of this situation also illustrated by computer simulations.

  14. Laser desorption mass spectrometry for point mutation detection

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Taranenko, N.I.; Chung, C.N.; Zhu, Y.F. [Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (United States)] [and others

    1996-12-31

    A point mutation can be associated with the pathogenesis of inherited or acquired diseases. Laser desorption mass spectrometry coupled with allele specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was first used for point mutation detection. G551D is one of several mutations of the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) gene present in 1-3% of the mutant CFTR alleles in most European populations. In this work, two different approaches were pursued to detect G551D point mutation in the cystic fibrosis gene. The strategy is to amplify the desired region of DNA template by PCR using two primers that overlap one base at the site of the point mutation and which vary in size. If the two primers based on the normal sequence match the target DNA sequence, a normal PCR product will be produced. However, if the alternately sized primers that match the mutant sequence recognize the target DNA, an abnormal PCR product will be produced. Thus, the mass spectrometer can be used to identify patients that are homozygous normal, heterozygous for a mutation or homozygous abnormal at a mutation site. Another approach to identify similar mutations is the use of sequence specific restriction enzymes which respond to changes in the DNA sequence. Mass spectrometry is used to detect the length of the restriction fragments by digestion of a PCR generated target fragment. 21 refs., 10 figs., 2 tabs.

  15. In the pursuit of a semantic similarity metric based on UMLS annotations for articles in PubMed Central Open Access.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Garcia Castro, Leyla Jael; Berlanga, Rafael; Garcia, Alexander

    2015-10-01

    Although full-text articles are provided by the publishers in electronic formats, it remains a challenge to find related work beyond the title and abstract context. Identifying related articles based on their abstract is indeed a good starting point; this process is straightforward and does not consume as many resources as full-text based similarity would require. However, further analyses may require in-depth understanding of the full content. Two articles with highly related abstracts can be substantially different regarding the full content. How similarity differs when considering title-and-abstract versus full-text and which semantic similarity metric provides better results when dealing with full-text articles are the main issues addressed in this manuscript. We have benchmarked three similarity metrics - BM25, PMRA, and Cosine, in order to determine which one performs best when using concept-based annotations on full-text documents. We also evaluated variations in similarity values based on title-and-abstract against those relying on full-text. Our test dataset comprises the Genomics track article collection from the 2005 Text Retrieval Conference. Initially, we used an entity recognition software to semantically annotate titles and abstracts as well as full-text with concepts defined in the Unified Medical Language System (UMLS®). For each article, we created a document profile, i.e., a set of identified concepts, term frequency, and inverse document frequency; we then applied various similarity metrics to those document profiles. We considered correlation, precision, recall, and F1 in order to determine which similarity metric performs best with concept-based annotations. For those full-text articles available in PubMed Central Open Access (PMC-OA), we also performed dispersion analyses in order to understand how similarity varies when considering full-text articles. We have found that the PubMed Related Articles similarity metric is the most suitable for

  16. The Lewisian turning point and international migration: the case of Japan.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Watanabe, S

    1994-01-01

    "This article critically examines the Lewisian turning point [concerning the availability of unlimited manpower resources] in light of Japan's experience since the mid-1800s. Japan reached its Lewisian turning point around 1960. Contrary to the assumptions of the theory however, the findings for Japan indicate that political factors have been more determinative of the rate of migration than purely economic ones. Prior to its turning point in 1960, international relations, war and forced repatriation were the decisive factors. Recently, though the inflow of foreign workers to fill labor shortages has increased, so also has the outflow of Japanese to accompany direct foreign investment." excerpt

  17. Point Pollution Sources Dimensioning

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Georgeta CUCULEANU

    2011-06-01

    Full Text Available In this paper a method for determining the main physical characteristics of the point pollution sources is presented. It can be used to find the main physical characteristics of them. The main physical characteristics of these sources are top inside source diameter and physical height. The top inside source diameter is calculated from gas flow-rate. For reckoning the physical height of the source one takes into account the relation given by the proportionality factor, defined as ratio between the plume rise and physical height of the source. The plume rise depends on the gas exit velocity and gas temperature. That relation is necessary for diminishing the environmental pollution when the production capacity of the plant varies, in comparison with the nominal one.

  18. US findings of bilateral primary breast cancer: Retrospective study

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lou Li; Cong Xinli; Yu Guofang; Li Jichang; Ma Yuxiang

    2007-01-01

    Background: For women with breast cancer, the contralateral breast is at high risk. The bilateral cancers may be synchronous or metachronous. If the bilateral breast cancers have similar ultrasonography (US) appearances, the US findings of the first breast cancer (index cancer) might lead to early detection of the contralateral cancer. The purpose of this study was to identify the US characteristics of bilateral breast cancer and to determine whether bilateral breast cancers have similar US appearances and whether the US findings for one breast cancer might be predictive of the contralateral breast cancer. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the US manifestations of 58 patients with surgically proven bilateral primary breast cancer and compared the contralateral cancer with the index cancer by evaluation the margin, shape, inside echoes, posterior attenuation, calcification and color flow signals of 58 lesion pairs to investigate whether the bilateral breast cancers have similar US appearances. Results: Bilateral primary breast cancers were more located in upper outer quadrant, frequently spiculation, taller than wide shape, with irregular margin, heterogeneous internal echo and acoustic shadowing, containing microcalcification and abundant color flow signals. The most common US appearances were taller than wide shape (75.0%, 87/116), irregular margins (79.3%, 92/116) and heterogeneous internal echo (86.2%, 100/116). Of the total 58 lesion pairs, 18 (31.0%) pairs had similar US characteristics, whereas 40 (69.0%) pairs had different US characteristics. Conclusions: US signs of the index cancer do not indicate the most likely appearance of the second cancer in the contralateral breast. Evaluation of the contralateral cancer should be performed without regard for the US findings for the index cancer

  19. CT findings of pulmonary hypertension

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Inoue, Yukio; Tanimoto, Akihiro; Sato, Toru; Kuribayashi, Sachio

    2006-01-01

    For the treatment for pulmonary hypertension (PH), the differential diagnosis of its causal diseases is essential. To determine whether X-ray CT is useful for differentiating PH, we reviewed CT findings of 53 patients (18 men and 35 women, mean age of 44.9) given a diagnosis of PH, consisting of 25 with primary pulmonary hypertension (PPH), 18 with chronic pulmonary embolism (cPE), 6 with Eisenmenger syndrome, 5 cases of collagen diseases, 2 of acute PE, and 1 of cor pulmonale. The intrapulmonary distribution of CT findings (ground glass opacity [GGO], mosaic attenuation, striation and/or infiltration, and interlobular septal thickening) were reviewed and scored on a 4-point scale (grade 0: no findings, 1: involving one third of the lung, 2: involving one-two thirds, and 3: diffuse distribution) by two radiologists who reached a consensus. PPH showed preferentially diffuse distribution of GGO as compared with cPE (p<0.05). However, there was no apparent relationship between the pulmonary vascular resistance and the distribution of GGO in PPH cases. The mosaic attenuation pattern was more frequent in cPE (43%) than PPH (12%; p<0.05). Striation and/or infiltration was observed in 36% of cPE, but only 4% of PPH. Interlobular septal thickening was seen in 16% of PPH, and 0% in cPE. Evaluation of CT findings is useful to differentiate PH. (author)

  20. Solving fuzzy two-point boundary value problem using fuzzy Laplace transform

    OpenAIRE

    Ahmad, Latif; Farooq, Muhammad; Ullah, Saif; Abdullah, Saleem

    2014-01-01

    A natural way to model dynamic systems under uncertainty is to use fuzzy boundary value problems (FBVPs) and related uncertain systems. In this paper we use fuzzy Laplace transform to find the solution of two-point boundary value under generalized Hukuhara differentiability. We illustrate the method for the solution of the well known two-point boundary value problem Schrodinger equation, and homogeneous boundary value problem. Consequently, we investigate the solutions of FBVPs under as a ne...

  1. Object-Based Coregistration of Terrestrial Photogrammetric and ALS Point Clouds in Forested Areas

    Science.gov (United States)

    Polewski, P.; Erickson, A.; Yao, W.; Coops, N.; Krzystek, P.; Stilla, U.

    2016-06-01

    Airborne Laser Scanning (ALS) and terrestrial photogrammetry are methods applicable for mapping forested environments. While ground-based techniques provide valuable information about the forest understory, the measured point clouds are normally expressed in a local coordinate system, whose transformation into a georeferenced system requires additional effort. In contrast, ALS point clouds are usually georeferenced, yet the point density near the ground may be poor under dense overstory conditions. In this work, we propose to combine the strengths of the two data sources by co-registering the respective point clouds, thus enriching the georeferenced ALS point cloud with detailed understory information in a fully automatic manner. Due to markedly different sensor characteristics, coregistration methods which expect a high geometric similarity between keypoints are not suitable in this setting. Instead, our method focuses on the object (tree stem) level. We first calculate approximate stem positions in the terrestrial and ALS point clouds and construct, for each stem, a descriptor which quantifies the 2D and vertical distances to other stem centers (at ground height). Then, the similarities between all descriptor pairs from the two point clouds are calculated, and standard graph maximum matching techniques are employed to compute corresponding stem pairs (tiepoints). Finally, the tiepoint subset yielding the optimal rigid transformation between the terrestrial and ALS coordinate systems is determined. We test our method on simulated tree positions and a plot situated in the northern interior of the Coast Range in western Oregon, USA, using ALS data (76 x 121 m2) and a photogrammetric point cloud (33 x 35 m2) derived from terrestrial photographs taken with a handheld camera. Results on both simulated and real data show that the proposed stem descriptors are discriminative enough to derive good correspondences. Specifically, for the real plot data, 24

  2. CPN-1 models with a θ term and fixed point action

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Burkhalter, Rudolf; Imachi, Masahiro; Shinno, Yasuhiko; Yoneyama, Hiroshi

    2001-01-01

    The topological charge distribution P(Q) is calculated for lattice CP N-1 models. In order to suppress lattice cutoff effects, we employ a fixed point (FP) action. Through transformation of P(Q), we calculate the free energy F(θ) as a function of the θ parameter. For N=4, scaling behavior is observed for P(Q) and F(θ), as well as the correlation lengths ξ(Q). For N=2, however, scaling behavior is not observed, as expected. For comparison, we also make a calculation for the CP 3 model with a standard action. We furthermore pay special attention to the behavior of P(Q) in order to investigate the dynamics of instantons. For this purpose, we carefully consider the behavior of γ eff , which is an effective power of P(Q) (∼exp (-CQ γeff )), and reflects the local behavior of P(Q) as a function of Q. We study γ eff for two cases, the dilute gas approximation based on the Poisson distribution of instantons and the Debye-Hueckel approximation of instanton quarks. In both cases, we find behavior similar to that observed in numerical simulations. (author)

  3. A New Similarity Measure of Interval-Valued Intuitionistic Fuzzy Sets Considering Its Hesitancy Degree and Applications in Expert Systems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chong Wu

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available As an important content in fuzzy mathematics, similarity measure is used to measure the similarity degree between two fuzzy sets. Considering the existing similarity measures, most of them do not consider the hesitancy degree and some methods considering the hesitancy degree are based on the intuitionistic fuzzy sets, intuitionistic fuzzy values. It may cause some counterintuitive results in some cases. In order to make up for the drawback, we present a new approach to construct the similarity measure between two interval-valued intuitionistic fuzzy sets using the entropy measure and considering the hesitancy degree. In particular, the proposed measure was demonstrated to yield a similarity measure. Besides, some examples are given to prove the practicality and effectiveness of the new measure. We also apply the similarity measure to expert system to solve the problems on pattern recognition and the multicriteria group decision making. In these examples, we also compare it with existing methods such as other similarity measures and the ideal point method.

  4. Convincing similar and dissimilar others: the power of language abstraction in political communication.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Menegatti, Michela; Rubini, Monica

    2013-05-01

    Three studies examined the production of political messages and their persuasive impact on recipients as a function of speaker-audience similarity. The first two studies found support for the hypothesis that political leaders (Study 1) and party activists (Study 2) formulate more abstract messages when the audience is politically similar to them than when the audience is dissimilar or heterogeneous. The third study examined the persuasive impact of message abstractness versus concreteness. We predicted and found that abstract messages are more effective in convincing an audience whose political positions are similar to the speaker's and concrete messages are more effective in convincing an audience whose political positions differ from the speaker's or are heterogeneous. Implications of these findings for the relation between language and social cognition are discussed.

  5. Current singularities at finitely compressible three-dimensional magnetic null points

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pontin, D.I.; Craig, I.J.D.

    2005-01-01

    The formation of current singularities at line-tied two- and three-dimensional (2D and 3D, respectively) magnetic null points in a nonresistive magnetohydrodynamic environment is explored. It is shown that, despite the different separatrix structures of 2D and 3D null points, current singularities may be initiated in a formally equivalent manner. This is true no matter whether the collapse is triggered by flux imbalance within closed, line-tied null points or driven by externally imposed velocity fields in open, incompressible geometries. A Lagrangian numerical code is used to investigate the finite amplitude perturbations that lead to singular current sheets in collapsing 2D and 3D null points. The form of the singular current distribution is analyzed as a function of the spatial anisotropy of the null point, and the effects of finite gas pressure are quantified. It is pointed out that the pressure force, while never stopping the formation of the singularity, significantly alters the morphology of the current distribution as well as dramatically weakening its strength. The impact of these findings on 2D and 3D magnetic reconnection models is discussed

  6. Low alloy steel versus ADI – differences and similarities

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A. Krzyńska

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available The results of comparison between the microstructure of selected bainitic low alloy steel and austempered ductile iron ADI are presented. The aim of the comparison was to find out differences and similarities existing in these iron carbon commercial alloys. In this paper our own results on ADI structure and literature data were used. It follows from discussion presented here that both microstructure and properties of ADI are very close that which are observed in low alloy carbon steel. Moreover, we suggest that there is no so doubt to treat ADI mechanical properties as steel containing nodular inclusions of graphite.

  7. Similar or different?: the importance of similarities and differences for support between siblings

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Voorpostel, M.; van der Lippe, T.; Dykstra, P.A.; Flap, H.

    2007-01-01

    Using a large-scale Dutch national sample (N = 7,126), the authors examine the importance of similarities and differences in the sibling dyad for the provision of support. Similarities are assumed to enhance attraction and empathy; differences are assumed to be related to different possibilities for

  8. Similar or Different? The Importance of Similarities and Differences for Support Between Siblings

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Voorpostel, Marieke; Lippe, Tanja van der; Dykstra, Pearl A.; Flap, Henk

    2007-01-01

    Using a large-scale Dutch national sample (N = 7,126), the authors examine the importance of similarities and differences in the sibling dyad for the provision of support. Similarities are assumed to enhance attraction and empathy; differences are assumed to be related to different possibilities for

  9. Being similar while judging right and wrong: The effects of personal and situational similarity on moral judgements.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pascal, Emilia

    2017-07-20

    This study investigated the effects of similarity with the transgressor and the victim on the perceived immorality of the transgression. Participants read two stories describing a person that cheated on their partner and a police officer that mistreated somebody. In the first story we manipulated participants' personal similarity to the transgressor and in the second their personal similarity to the victim. In each story, participants' past situational similarity to the target character was assessed according to their previous experiences of being in the same position. Results show that both personal and past situational similarity to the transgressor determine less severe moral judgements, while personal and past situational similarity with the victim have the opposite effect. We also tested several potential mediators of these effects, derived from competing theoretical accounts of the influence of similarity on perceived responsibility. Empathy emerged as mediating most of the effects of similarity on moral judgements, except those induced by past situational similarity with the victim. The foreseen probability of being in a similar situation mediated only the effects of similarity to the transgressor, and not those of similarity to the victim. Overall, results highlight the complex mechanisms of the influences of similarity on moral judgements. © 2017 International Union of Psychological Science.

  10. Self-similar cosmological models

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Chao, W Z [Cambridge Univ. (UK). Dept. of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics

    1981-07-01

    The kinematics and dynamics of self-similar cosmological models are discussed. The degrees of freedom of the solutions of Einstein's equations for different types of models are listed. The relation between kinematic quantities and the classifications of the self-similarity group is examined. All dust local rotational symmetry models have been found.

  11. Self-organizing maps for measuring similarity of audiovisual speech percepts

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bothe, Hans-Heinrich

    The goal of this work is to find a way to measure similarity of audiovisual speech percepts. Phoneme-related self-organizing maps (SOM) with a rectangular basis are trained with data material from a (labeled) video film. For the training, a combination of auditory speech features and corresponding....... Dependent on the training data, these other units may also be contextually immediate neighboring units. The poster demonstrates the idea with text material spoken by one individual subject using a set of simple audio-visual features. The data material for the training process consists of 44 labeled...... sentences in German with a balanced phoneme repertoire. As a result it can be stated that (i) the SOM can be trained to map auditory and visual features in a topology-preserving way and (ii) they show strain due to the influence of other audio-visual units. The SOM can be used to measure similarity amongst...

  12. Point-to-point people with purpose—Exploring the possibility of a commercial traveler market for point-to-point suborbital space transportation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Webber, Derek

    2013-12-01

    An argument was made at the First Arcachon Conference on Private Human Access to Space in 2008 [1] that some systematic market research should be conducted into potential market segments for point-to-point suborbital space transportation (PtP), in order to understand whether a commercial market exists which might augment possible government use for such a vehicle. The cargo market potential was subsequently addressed via desk research, and the results, which resulted in a pessimistic business case outlook, were presented in [2]. The same desk research approach is now used in this paper to address the potential business and wealthy individual passenger traveler market segment ("point-to-point people with purpose"). The results, with the assumed ticket pricing, are not encouraging.

  13. FIGHT ZONE WITH POINTS OF THE SHOTOKAN KARATE FEMALE COMPETITION

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nelson Kautzner Marques Junior

    2014-04-01

    Full Text Available The objective of the study was to determine the fight zone with point during the female kumite of competition. This study used a quantitative research for identify the fight zone with point (ippon or waza-ari or not during the female kumite of competition. Were selected on the Internet several championship of kumite of the JKA and of the ITKF. The study detected a high probability of point in the zone 7 and in the zone 2. The study determined that the most points at the corner occurred when the karateka practiced the attack in fight zone. Kruskal-Wallis ANOVA verified significant difference between the fight zone with points, H (10 = 29,49, p = 0,001. The Mann Whitney U test detected significant difference between the zone 5 with waza-ari versus all the zone. The greatest number of points in the fight zone was in agreement with the size of the fight zone. The central zone or zone 5 has 6x6 m, during the female kumite occurred more points, total of 68 waza-aris and 5 ippons. The study on the fight zone with points of the female kumite permits that the karateka has knowledge about the combat zones and guides the karateka before, during and after the female kumite. However, more studies should be done to confirm these findings.

  14. Functional similarities between the dictyostelium protein AprA and the human protein dipeptidyl-peptidase IV.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Herlihy, Sarah E; Tang, Yu; Phillips, Jonathan E; Gomer, Richard H

    2017-03-01

    Autocrine proliferation repressor protein A (AprA) is a protein secreted by Dictyostelium discoideum cells. Although there is very little sequence similarity between AprA and any human protein, AprA has a predicted structural similarity to the human protein dipeptidyl peptidase IV (DPPIV). AprA is a chemorepellent for Dictyostelium cells, and DPPIV is a chemorepellent for neutrophils. This led us to investigate if AprA and DPPIV have additional functional similarities. We find that like AprA, DPPIV is a chemorepellent for, and inhibits the proliferation of, D. discoideum cells, and that AprA binds some DPPIV binding partners such as fibronectin. Conversely, rAprA has DPPIV-like protease activity. These results indicate a functional similarity between two eukaryotic chemorepellent proteins with very little sequence similarity, and emphasize the usefulness of using a predicted protein structure to search a protein structure database, in addition to searching for proteins with similar sequences. © 2016 The Protein Society.

  15. Functional similarities between the dictyostelium protein AprA and the human protein dipeptidyl‐peptidase IV

    Science.gov (United States)

    Herlihy, Sarah E.; Tang, Yu; Phillips, Jonathan E.

    2017-01-01

    Abstract Autocrine proliferation repressor protein A (AprA) is a protein secreted by Dictyostelium discoideum cells. Although there is very little sequence similarity between AprA and any human protein, AprA has a predicted structural similarity to the human protein dipeptidyl peptidase IV (DPPIV). AprA is a chemorepellent for Dictyostelium cells, and DPPIV is a chemorepellent for neutrophils. This led us to investigate if AprA and DPPIV have additional functional similarities. We find that like AprA, DPPIV is a chemorepellent for, and inhibits the proliferation of, D. discoideum cells, and that AprA binds some DPPIV binding partners such as fibronectin. Conversely, rAprA has DPPIV‐like protease activity. These results indicate a functional similarity between two eukaryotic chemorepellent proteins with very little sequence similarity, and emphasize the usefulness of using a predicted protein structure to search a protein structure database, in addition to searching for proteins with similar sequences. PMID:28028841

  16. Bianchi VI{sub 0} and III models: self-similar approach

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Belinchon, Jose Antonio, E-mail: abelcal@ciccp.e [Departamento de Fisica, ETS Arquitectura, UPM, Av. Juan de Herrera 4, Madrid 28040 (Spain)

    2009-09-07

    We study several cosmological models with Bianchi VI{sub 0} and III symmetries under the self-similar approach. We find new solutions for the 'classical' perfect fluid model as well as for the vacuum model although they are really restrictive for the equation of state. We also study a perfect fluid model with time-varying constants, G and LAMBDA. As in other studied models we find that the behaviour of G and LAMBDA are related. If G behaves as a growing time function then LAMBDA is a positive decreasing time function but if G is decreasing then LAMBDA{sub 0} is negative. We end by studying a massive cosmic string model, putting special emphasis in calculating the numerical values of the equations of state. We show that there is no SS solution for a string model with time-varying constants.

  17. Detecting corner points from digital curves

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sarfraz, M.

    2011-01-01

    Corners in digital images give important clues for shape representation, recognition, and analysis. Since dominant information regarding shape is usually available at the corners, they provide important features for various real life applications in the disciplines like computer vision, pattern recognition, computer graphics. Corners are the robust features in the sense that they provide important information regarding objects under translation, rotation and scale change. They are also important from the view point of understanding human perception of objects. They play crucial role in decomposing or describing the digital curves. They are also used in scale space theory, image representation, stereo vision, motion tracking, image matching, building mosaics and font designing systems. If the corner points are identified properly, a shape can be represented in an efficient and compact way with sufficient accuracy. Corner detection schemes, based on their applications, can be broadly divided into two categories: binary (suitable for binary images) and gray level (suitable for gray level images). Corner detection approaches for binary images usually involve segmenting the image into regions and extracting boundaries from those regions that contain them. The techniques for gray level images can be categorized into two classes: (a) Template based and (b) gradient based. The template based techniques utilize correlation between a sub-image and a template of a given angle. A corner point is selected by finding the maximum of the correlation output. Gradient based techniques require computing curvature of an edge that passes through a neighborhood in a gray level image. Many corner detection algorithms have been proposed in the literature which can be broadly divided into two parts. One is to detect corner points from grayscale images and other relates to boundary based corner detection. This contribution mainly deals with techniques adopted for later approach

  18. College-based case studies in using PowerPoint effectively

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yukiko Inoue-Smith

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available This study reexamined PowerPoint’s potential to enhance traditional pedagogical practices in higher education. The study addressed (1 the conditions under which PowerPoint meets students’ needs in typical lecture-based classrooms, (2 whether professors consider PowerPoint-based lectures more effective than lectures supported by material on chalkboards, and (3 whether PowerPoint is the best tool for what professors want to accomplish in the classroom. The study’s participants were seven faculty members at a four-year US Land Grant institution in the western Pacific serving both undergraduate and graduate students. The participants represented a variety of teaching disciplines from Psychology to English and from Art to Political Science. In the study, data were obtained through non-participant observations and follow-up questions. The findings of this study suggest the ways of using PowerPoint to meet students’ needs, as well as the professor’s needs, by shifting from a passive, teacher-centered (thus lecture-style classroom to an interactive, student-centered classroom.

  19. Spatial determination of magnetic avalanche ignition points

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jaafar, Reem; McHugh, S.; Suzuki, Yoko; Sarachik, M.P.; Myasoedov, Y.; Zeldov, E.; Shtrikman, H.; Bagai, R.; Christou, G.

    2008-01-01

    Using time-resolved measurements of local magnetization in the molecular magnet Mn 12 -ac, we report studies of magnetic avalanches (fast magnetization reversals) with non-planar propagating fronts, where the curved nature of the magnetic fronts is reflected in the time-of-arrival at micro-Hall sensors placed at the surface of the sample. Assuming that the avalanche interface is a spherical bubble that grows with a radius proportional to time, we are able to locate the approximate ignition point of each avalanche in a two-dimensional cross-section of the crystal. We find that although in most samples the avalanches ignite at the long ends, as found in earlier studies, there are crystals in which ignition points are distributed throughout an entire weak region near the center, with a few avalanches still originating at the ends

  20. Spatial determination of magnetic avalanche ignition points

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Jaafar, Reem; McHugh, S.; Suzuki, Yoko [Physics Department, City College of the City University of New York, New York, NY 10031 (United States); Sarachik, M.P. [Physics Department, City College of the City University of New York, New York, NY 10031 (United States)], E-mail: sarachik@sci.ccny.cuny.edu; Myasoedov, Y.; Zeldov, E.; Shtrikman, H. [Department Condensed Matter Physics, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100 (Israel); Bagai, R.; Christou, G. [Department of Chemistry, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611 (United States)

    2008-03-15

    Using time-resolved measurements of local magnetization in the molecular magnet Mn{sub 12}-ac, we report studies of magnetic avalanches (fast magnetization reversals) with non-planar propagating fronts, where the curved nature of the magnetic fronts is reflected in the time-of-arrival at micro-Hall sensors placed at the surface of the sample. Assuming that the avalanche interface is a spherical bubble that grows with a radius proportional to time, we are able to locate the approximate ignition point of each avalanche in a two-dimensional cross-section of the crystal. We find that although in most samples the avalanches ignite at the long ends, as found in earlier studies, there are crystals in which ignition points are distributed throughout an entire weak region near the center, with a few avalanches still originating at the ends.

  1. SIMILARITIES AND DISSIMILARITIES BETWEEN THE ROMANIAN PUBLIC ACCOUNTING SYSTEM AND IPSAS 1 – PRESENTATION OF FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andrei-Răzvan CRIȘAN

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available Nowadays, the accounting harmonization in the public sector has become a key problem in the accounting world. The need for harmonization is generated by the globalization process, both in the private and public sector. This is the reason why the awareness of international bodies for public sector accounting harmonization is significantly raising. The aim of the paper is to compare the information disclosed by the Romanian legal framework to information disclosed by IPSAS 1 – Presentation of Financial Statements, in order to determine the extent to which Romanian laws took the provisions of this standard that is considered by researchers a significant point of modern accounting. The authors try to establish the extent to which the central Romanian regulations have taken the main provisions from IPSAS 1. The purpose is to discover the similarity degree between these two regulations. This study is useful for the authorities empowered to publish regulations because it helps to determine the most important omissions from IPSAS 1 and find the best solutions for improving the future legislation, in order to be as close as possible to IPSAS.

  2. Hardware-accelerated Point Generation and Rendering of Point-based Impostors

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bærentzen, Jakob Andreas

    2005-01-01

    This paper presents a novel scheme for generating points from triangle models. The method is fast and lends itself well to implementation using graphics hardware. The triangle to point conversion is done by rendering the models, and the rendering may be performed procedurally or by a black box API....... I describe the technique in detail and discuss how the generated point sets can easily be used as impostors for the original triangle models used to create the points. Since the points reside solely in GPU memory, these impostors are fairly efficient. Source code is available online....

  3. Stability analysis of the Gyroscopic Power Take-Off wave energy point absorber

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nielsen, Søren R. K.; Zhang, Zili; Kramer, Morten Mejlhede

    2015-01-01

    The Gyroscopic Power Take-Off (GyroPTO) wave energy point absorber consists of a float rigidly connected to a lever. The operational principle is somewhat similar to that of the so-called gyroscopic hand wrist exercisers, where the rotation of the float is brought forward by the rotational particle...

  4. Neuroimaging findings in movement disorders

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Topalov, N.

    2015-01-01

    Full text: Neuroimaging methods are of great importance for the differential diagnostic delimitation of movement disorders associated with structural damage (neoplasms, ischemic lesions, neuroinfections) from those associated with specific pathophysiological mechanisms (dysmetabolic disorders, neurotransmitter disorders). Learning objective: Presentation of typical imaging findings contributing to nosological differentiation in groups of movement disorders with similar clinical signs. In this presentation are discussed neuroimaging findings in Parkinson‘s disease, atypical parkinsonian syndromes (multiple system atrophy, progressive supranuclear palsy, corticobasal degeneration), parkinsonism in genetically mediated diseases (Wilson’s disease, pantothenate kinase-associated neurodegeneration – PKAN), vascular parkinsonism, hyperkinetic movement disorders (palatal tremor, Huntington‘s chorea, symptomatic chorea in ischemic stroke and diabetes, rubral tremor, ballismus, hemifacial spasm). Contemporary neuroimaging methods enable support for diagnostic and differential diagnostic precision of a number of hypo- and hyperkinetic movement disorders, which is essential for neurological clinical practice

  5. Infrared fixed point of SU(2) gauge theory with six flavors

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leino, Viljami; Rummukainen, Kari; Suorsa, Joni; Tuominen, Kimmo; Tähtinen, Sara

    2018-06-01

    We compute the running of the coupling in SU(2) gauge theory with six fermions in the fundamental representation of the gauge group. We find strong evidence that this theory has an infrared stable fixed point at strong coupling and measure also the anomalous dimension of the fermion mass operator at the fixed point. This theory therefore likely lies close to the boundary of the conformal window and will display novel infrared dynamics if coupled with the electroweak sector of the Standard Model.

  6. Influence of Ethnicity, Gender and Answering Mode on a Virtual Point-to-Origin Task

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alexandra eKitson

    2016-02-01

    Full Text Available In a virtual point-to-origin task, participants seem to show different response patterns and underlying strategies for orientation, such as turner and non-turner response patterns. Turners respond as if succeeding to update simulated heading changes, and non-turners respond as if failing to update their heading, resulting in left-right hemisphere errors. We present two other response patterns, non-movers and spinners, that also appear to result in failures to update heading. We have three specific goals in mind: (1 extend previous findings of higher turner rates with spatial language response mode using a point-to-origin task instead of a triangle completion task; (2 replicate the gender effect of males more likely responding as turners; (3 examine ethnicity influence. Designed as a classroom study, we presented participants (N = 498 with four passages through a virtual star field. Participants selected the direction pointing to the origin from four multiple-choice items. Response mode was either pictograms or written lan- guage, chosen to compare with similar studies and see if these response modes have an effect on virtual orientation behaviour. Results show a majority of participants (48.35% classified as non-turners, 32.93% turners, 15.57% as non-movers, and 3.14% as spinners. A multinomial regression model reached 49% classification performance. Written spatial language, compared to pictograms, made turner response patterns more likely; this effect was more pronounced for Chinese participants and among females, but not male Caucasians. Moreover, higher turner numbers for written spatial language extends Avraamides findings of higher turner numbers when participants turned their bodies toward the origin but not when they responded verbally. Using pictorial response mode (i.e., top-down picture of a head may have increased cognitive load because it could be considered more embodied. It remains to be seen how we can reduce the reference frame

  7. Semantic similarity between old and new items produces false alarms in recognition memory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Montefinese, Maria; Zannino, Gian Daniele; Ambrosini, Ettore

    2015-09-01

    In everyday life, human beings can report memories of past events that did not occur or that occurred differently from the way they remember them because memory is an imperfect process of reconstruction and is prone to distortion and errors. In this recognition study using word stimuli, we investigated whether a specific operationalization of semantic similarity among concepts can modulate false memories while controlling for the possible effect of associative strength and word co-occurrence in an old-new recognition task. The semantic similarity value of each new concept was calculated as the mean cosine similarity between pairs of vectors representing that new concept and each old concept belonging to the same semantic category. Results showed that, compared with (new) low-similarity concepts, (new) high-similarity concepts had significantly higher probability of being falsely recognized as old, even after partialling out the effect of confounding variables, including associative relatedness and lexical co-occurrence. This finding supports the feature-based view of semantic memory, suggesting that meaning overlap and sharing of semantic features (which are greater when more similar semantic concepts are being processed) have an influence on recognition performance, resulting in more false alarms for new high-similarity concepts. We propose that the associative strength and word co-occurrence among concepts are not sufficient to explain illusory memories but is important to take into account also the effects of feature-based semantic relations, and, in particular, the semantic similarity among concepts.

  8. A naturally large four-point function in single field inflation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Senatore, Leonardo; Zaldarriaga, Matias

    2011-01-01

    Non-Gaussianities of the primordial density perturbations have emerged as a very powerful possible signal to test the dynamics that drove the period of inflation. While in general the most sensitive observable is the three-point function in this paper we show that there are technically natural inflationary models where the leading source of non-Gaussianity is the four-point function. Using the recently developed Effective Field Theory of Inflation, we are able to show that it is possible to impose an approximate parity symmetry and an approximate continuos shift symmetry on the inflaton fluctuations that allow, when the dispersion relation if of the form ω ∼ c s k, for a unique quartic operator, while approximately forbidding all the cubic ones. The resulting shape for the four-point function is unique. In the models where the dispersion relation is of the form ω ∼ k 2 /M a similar construction can be carried out and additional shapes are possible

  9. Correlation between the solubility of aromatic hydrocarbons in water and micellar solutions, with their normal boiling points

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Almgren, M.; Grieser, F.; Powell, J.R.; Thomas, J.K.

    1979-01-01

    A linear correlation between the logarithm of the solubility in water of aromatic hydrocarbons and their normal boiling points is shown. Similarly, the logarithm of the distribution ratio of aromatic hydrocarbons in aqueous micellar solution is shown to be linearly related to the boiling points of the hydrocarbons. 2 figures, 2 tables

  10. Nanoindentation of HMX and Idoxuridine to Determine Mechanical Similarity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alexandra C. Burch

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available Assessing the mechanical behavior (elastic properties, plastic properties, and fracture phenomena of molecular crystals is often complicated by the difficulty in preparing samples. Pharmaceuticals and energetic materials in particular are often used in composite structures or tablets, where the individual grains can strongly impact the solid behavior. Nanoindentation is a convenient method to experimentally assess these properties, and it is used here to demonstrate the similarity in the mechanical properties of two distinct systems: individual crystals of the explosive cyclotetramethylene tetranitramine (HMX and the pharmaceutical idoxuridine were tested in their as-precipitated state, and the effective average modulus and hardness (which can be orientation dependent were determined. Both exhibit a hardness of 1.0 GPa, with an effective reduced modulus of 25 and 23 GPa for the HMX and idoxuridine, respectively. They also exhibit similar yield point behavior. This indicates idoxuridine may be a suitable mechanical surrogate (or “mock” for HMX. While the methodology to assess elastic and plastic properties was relatively insensitive to specific crystal orientation (i.e., a uniform distribution in properties was observed for all random crystals tested, the indentation-induced fracture properties appear to be much more sensitive to tip-crystal orientation, and an unloading slope analysis is used to demonstrate the need for further refinement in relating toughness to orientation in these materials with relatively complex slip systems and crystal structures.

  11. Mixed connective tissue disease associated with noted pulmonary CT findings

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Yamazaki, Souji; Tsukada, Atsuko; Furuya, Tatsutaka

    1984-10-01

    CT was performed in a 56-year-old woman with mixed connective tissue disease (MCTD). Much more definitive pulmonary findings were obtained by CT than by the conventional chest x-ray examination and pulmonary function test. CT findings disclosed pulmonary lesions extremely similar to those in cases of progressive systemic sclerosis. Pulmonary CT was considered useful in examining pulmonary lesions for MCTD.

  12. The similarity of river evolution at the initial stage of channel erosion

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lin, Jiun-Chuan

    2014-05-01

    The study deals with a comparison study of two types of rocks at the initial stage of channel erosion in Taiwan. It is interesting that channel erosion at different types of rocks shows some similarity. There are two types of rocks: sandstone at Ta-an River, central Taiwan where river channel erosion from the nick point because of earthquake uplifting and mud rock at Tainan, southern Taiwan where rill erosion on a flat surface after artificial engineering. These two situations are both at the beginning stage of channel erosion, there are some similar landform appeared on channels. However the rate of erosion and magnitude of erosion are different. According to the using of photogrammetry method to reconstruct archive imageries and field surveying by total station and 3D scanner at different stages. The incision rate is high both at the Ta-an River and the bank erosion and it is even more obvious at mud rock area because of erodibility of mud rock. The results show that bank erosion and incision both are obvious processes. Bank erosion made channel into meander. The bank erosion cause slope in a asymmetric channel profile. The incision process will start at the site where land is relatively uplifted. This paper demonstrates such similarity and landform characters.

  13. Wind loads and competition for light sculpt trees into self-similar structures.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eloy, Christophe; Fournier, Meriem; Lacointe, André; Moulia, Bruno

    2017-10-18

    Trees are self-similar structures: their branch lengths and diameters vary allometrically within the tree architecture, with longer and thicker branches near the ground. These tree allometries are often attributed to optimisation of hydraulic sap transport and safety against elastic buckling. Here, we show that these allometries also emerge from a model that includes competition for light, wind biomechanics and no hydraulics. We have developed MECHATREE, a numerical model of trees growing and evolving on a virtual island. With this model, we identify the fittest growth strategy when trees compete for light and allocate their photosynthates to grow seeds, create new branches or reinforce existing ones in response to wind-induced loads. Strikingly, we find that selected trees species are self-similar and follow allometric scalings similar to those observed on dicots and conifers. This result suggests that resistance to wind and competition for light play an essential role in determining tree allometries.

  14. Readout from iconic memory and selective spatial attention involve similar neural processes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ruff, Christian C; Kristjánsson, Arni; Driver, Jon

    2007-10-01

    Iconic memory and spatial attention are often considered separately, but they may have functional similarities. Here we provide functional magnetic resonance imaging evidence for some common underlying neural effects. Subjects judged three visual stimuli in one hemifield of a bilateral array comprising six stimuli. The relevant hemifield for partial report was indicated by an auditory cue, administered either before the visual array (precue, spatial attention) or shortly after the array (postcue, iconic memory). Pre- and postcues led to similar activity modulations in lateral occipital cortex contralateral to the cued side. This finding indicates that readout from iconic memory can have some neural effects similar to those of spatial attention. We also found common bilateral activation of a fronto-parietal network for postcue and precue trials. These neuroimaging data suggest that some common neural mechanisms underlie selective spatial attention and readout from iconic memory. Some differences were also found; compared with precues, postcues led to higher activity in the right middle frontal gyrus.

  15. Necrotizing fasciitis: unreliable MRI findings in the preoperative diagnosis

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Arslan, Arzu E-mail: arzuarslan@netscape.net; Pierre-Jerome, Claude; Borthne, Arne

    2000-12-01

    The authors present two cases of necrotizing fasciitis (NF), one case of dermatomyositis and one case of posttraumatic muscle injury, which have similar magnetic resonance imaging findings in terms of skin, subcutaneous fat, superficial and deep fasciae and muscle involvement. These cases highlight the need for cautious interpretation of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings, for they are nonspecific and the preoperative decision should be based mostly on the evolution of the clinical status.

  16. Method of synthesis of abstract images with high self-similarity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Matveev, Nikolay V.; Shcheglov, Sergey A.; Romanova, Galina E.; Koneva, Ð.¢atiana A.

    2017-06-01

    Abstract images with high self-similarity could be used for drug-free stress therapy. This based on the fact that a complex visual environment has a high affective appraisal. To create such an image we can use the setup based on the three laser sources of small power and different colors (Red, Green, Blue), the image is the pattern resulting from the reflecting and refracting by the complicated form object placed into the laser ray paths. The images were obtained experimentally which showed the good therapy effect. However, to find and to choose the object which gives needed image structure is very difficult and requires many trials. The goal of the work is to develop a method and a procedure of finding the object form which if placed into the ray paths can provide the necessary structure of the image In fact the task means obtaining the necessary irradiance distribution on the given surface. Traditionally such problems are solved using the non-imaging optics methods. In the given case this task is very complicated because of the complicated structure of the illuminance distribution and its high non-linearity. Alternative way is to use the projected image of a mask with a given structure. We consider both ways and discuss how they can help to speed up the synthesis procedure for the given abstract image of the high self-similarity for the setups of drug-free therapy.

  17. Evaluation of three Monte Carlo estimation schemes for flux at a point

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kalli, H.J.; Cashwell, E.D.

    1977-09-01

    Three Monte Carlo estimation schemes were studied to avoid the difficulties caused by the (1/r 2 ) singularity in the expression of the normal next-event estimator (NEE) for the flux at a point. A new, fast, once-more collided flux estimator (OMCFE) scheme, based on a very simple probability density function (p.d.f.) of the distance to collision in the selection of the intermediate collision points, is proposed. This kind of p.d.f. of the collision distance is used in two nonanalog schemes using the NEE. In these two schemes, which have principal similarities to some schemes proposed earlier in the literature, the (1/r 2 ) singularity is canceled by incorporating the singularity into the p.d.f. of the collision points. This is achieved by playing a suitable nonanalog game in the neighborhood of the detector points. The three schemes were tested in a monoenergetic, homogeneous infinite-medium problem, then were evaluated in a point-cross-section problem by using the Monte Carlo code MCNG. 10 figures

  18. Susceptibilities from a black hole engineered EoS with a critical point

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Portillo, Israel

    2017-01-01

    Currently at the Beam Energy Scan at RHIC experimental efforts are being made to find the QCD critical point. On the theoretical side, the behavior of higher-order susceptibilities of the net-baryon charge from Lattice QCD at µ B = 0 may allow us to estimate the position of the critical point in the QCD phase diagram. However, even if the series expansion continues to higher-orders, there is always the possibility to miss the critical point behavior due to truncation errors. An alternative approach is to use a black hole engineered holographic model, which displays a critical point at large densities and matches lattice susceptibilities at µB = 0. Using the thermodynamic data from this black hole model, we obtain the freeze-out points extracted from the net-protons distribution measured at STAR and explore higher order fluctuations at the lowest energies at the beam energy scan to investigate signatures of the critical point. (paper)

  19. From global to heavy-light: 5-point conformal blocks

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Alkalaev, Konstantin; Belavin, Vladimir

    2016-01-01

    We consider Virasoro conformal blocks in the large central charge limit. There are different regimes depending on the behavior of the conformal dimensions. The most simple regime is reduced to the global sl(2,ℂ) conformal blocks while the most complicated one is known as the classical conformal blocks. Recently, Fitzpatrick, Kaplan, and Walters showed that the two regimes are related through the intermediate stage of the so-called heavy-light semiclassical limit. We study this idea in the particular case of the 5-point conformal block. To find the 5-point global block we use the projector technique and the Casimir operator approach. Furthermore, we discuss the relation between the global and the heavy-light limits and construct the heavy-light block from the global block. In this way we reproduce our previous results for the 5-point perturbative classical block obtained by means of the monodromy method.

  20. Do cognition and other non-motor symptoms decline similarly among patients with Parkinson's disease motor subtypes? Findings from a 5-year prospective study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arie, L; Herman, Talia; Shema-Shiratzky, S; Giladi, N; Hausdorff, J M

    2017-10-01

    Among patients with Parkinson's disease (PD), a wide range of motor and non-motor symptoms (NMS) are evident. PD is often divided into tremor dominant (TD) and postural instability gait difficulty (PIGD) motor subtypes. We evaluated the effect of disease duration and aimed to characterize whether there are differences in the deterioration of cognitive function and other NMS between the PIGD and TD subtypes. Sixty-three subjects were re-evaluated at the follow-up visit about 5 years after baseline examination. Cognitive function and other NMS were assessed. At follow-up, the PIGD and TD groups were similar with respect to medications, comorbidities and disease-related symptoms. There was a significant time effect for all measures, indicating deterioration and worsening in both groups. However, cognitive scores, particularly those related to executive function, became significantly worse in the PIGD with a more moderate decrease in the TD group. For example, the computerized global cognitive score declined in the PIGD group from 94.21 ± 11.88 to 83.91 ± 13.76, p motor-cognitive catch game (p = 0.008). In contrast, several NMS including depression, health-related quality of life and fear of falling deteriorated in parallel in both subtypes, with no interaction effect. The present findings highlight the difference in the natural history of the disease between the two PD "motor" subtypes. While the PIGD group demonstrated a significant cognitive decline, especially in executive functions, a more favorable course was observed in the TD subtype. This behavior was not seen in regards to the other NMS.