Bio-Terrorism Threat and Casualty Prevention

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NOEL,WILLIAM P.

2000-01-01

The bio-terrorism threat has become the ''poor man's'' nuclear weapon. The ease of manufacture and dissemination has allowed an organization with only rudimentary skills and equipment to pose a significant threat with high consequences. This report will analyze some of the most likely agents that would be used, the ease of manufacture, the ease of dissemination and what characteristics of the public health response that are particularly important to the successful characterization of a high consequence event to prevent excessive causalities.

Categorizing threat : building and using a generic threat matrix.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Woodard, Laura; Veitch, Cynthia K.; Thomas, Sherry Reede; Duggan, David Patrick

2007-09-01

The key piece of knowledge necessary for building defenses capable of withstanding or surviving cyber and kinetic attacks is an understanding of the capabilities posed by threats to a government, function, or system. With the number of threats continuing to increase, it is no longer feasible to enumerate the capabilities of all known threats and then build defenses based on those threats that are considered, at the time, to be the most relevant. Exacerbating the problem for critical infrastructure entities is the fact that the majority of detailed threat information for higher-level threats is held in classified status and is not available for general use, such as the design of defenses and the development of mitigation strategies. To reduce the complexity of analyzing threat, the threat space must first be reduced. This is achieved by taking the continuous nature of the threat space and creating an abstraction that allows the entire space to be grouped, based on measurable attributes, into a small number of distinctly different levels. The work documented in this report is an effort to create such an abstraction.

The Convergence of Virtual Reality and Social Networks: Threats to Privacy and Autonomy.

Science.gov (United States)

O'Brolcháin, Fiachra; Jacquemard, Tim; Monaghan, David; O'Connor, Noel; Novitzky, Peter; Gordijn, Bert

2016-02-01

The rapid evolution of information, communication and entertainment technologies will transform the lives of citizens and ultimately transform society. This paper focuses on ethical issues associated with the likely convergence of virtual realities (VR) and social networks (SNs), hereafter VRSNs. We examine a scenario in which a significant segment of the world's population has a presence in a VRSN. Given the pace of technological development and the popularity of these new forms of social interaction, this scenario is plausible. However, it brings with it ethical problems. Two central ethical issues are addressed: those of privacy and those of autonomy. VRSNs pose threats to both privacy and autonomy. The threats to privacy can be broadly categorized as threats to informational privacy, threats to physical privacy, and threats to associational privacy. Each of these threats is further subdivided. The threats to autonomy can be broadly categorized as threats to freedom, to knowledge and to authenticity. Again, these three threats are divided into subcategories. Having categorized the main threats posed by VRSNs, a number of recommendations are provided so that policy-makers, developers, and users can make the best possible use of VRSNs.

Victims’ Reactions to the Interpersonal Threat to Public Identity Posed by Copycats

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stephen Reysen

2014-06-01

Full Text Available Interpersonal threats to public identity consist of situations where another person intentionally attempts to illegitimately undermine one’s ability to display a valued and distinctive public identity. In three studies, we examined victims’ reactions to copycatting as an interpersonal threat to public identity to test each component of this definition. In Study, participants expressed the greatest degree of anger when the copying was illegitimate and intentional. In Study 2, participants expressed a greater degree of anger to copying of an important (vs. unimportant characteristic. In Study 3, we manipulated the number of identity characteristics copied. A structural model showed that as the number of copied characteristics increased, participants’ perception of the situation as illegitimate and the copying as intentional predicted a threat to one’s freedom, which in turn predicted felt reactance predicting an unfavorable impression and a desire to confront the copycat. Together, the results support the definition of interpersonal threats to public identity and copycatting as such a situation.

Toxicological Threats of Plastic

Science.gov (United States)

Plastics pose both physical (e.g., entanglement, gastrointestinal blockage, reef destruction) and chemical threats (e.g., bioaccumulation of the chemical ingredients of plastic or toxic chemicals sorbed to plastics) to wildlife and the marine ecosystem.

From Threat to Relief: Expressing Prejudice toward Atheists as a Self-Regulatory Strategy Protecting the Religious Orthodox from Threat

Science.gov (United States)

Kossowska, Małgorzata; Szwed, Paulina; Czernatowicz-Kukuczka, Aneta; Sekerdej, Maciek; Wyczesany, Miroslaw

2017-01-01

We claim that religious orthodoxy is related to prejudice toward groups that violate important values, i.e., atheists. Moreover, we suggest that expressing prejudice may efficiently reduce the threat posed by this particular group among people who hold high levels, but not low levels, of orthodox belief. We tested these assumptions in an experimental study in which, after being exposed to atheistic worldviews (value-threat manipulation), high and low orthodox participants were allowed (experimental condition) or not (control condition) to express prejudice toward atheists. Threat was operationalized by cardiovascular reactivity, i.e., heart rate (HR); the higher the HR index, the higher the threat. The results found that people who hold high (vs. low) levels of orthodox belief responded with increased HR after the threat manipulation. However, we observed decreased HR after the expression of prejudice toward atheists among highly orthodox participants compared to the control condition. We did not find this effect among people holding low levels of orthodox belief. Thus, we conclude that expressing prejudice toward this particular group may be an efficient strategy to cope with the threat posed by this group for highly orthodox people. The results are discussed in light of previous findings on religious beliefs and the self-regulatory function of prejudice. PMID:28611715

THE BIOTERRORISM THREAT: TECHNOLOGICAL AND POLITICAL CONSIDERATIONS

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

J. F. PILAT

2000-03-01

Bioterrorism--along with biowarfare, from which it may not always be distinguishable in practice--will be a feature of the strategic landscape in the 21st century and is high on the US national security agenda. Bioterrorism poses a potential threat to the US population, agriculture, interests, friends and allies, and military forces (asymmetric threats). Yet these possibilities have not been widely pursued or realized by terrorists. The perceived threat is far worse than anything experienced to date, and is largely technologically driven.

Does imminent threat capture and hold attention?

Science.gov (United States)

Koster, Ernst H W; Crombez, Geert; Van Damme, Stefaan; Verschuere, Bruno; De Houwer, Jan

2004-09-01

According to models of attention and emotion, threat captures and holds attention. In behavioral tasks, robust evidence has been found for attentional holding but not for attentional capture by threat. An important explanation for the absence of attentional capture effects is that the visual stimuli used posed no genuine threat. The present study investigated whether visual cues that signal an aversive white noise can elicit attentional capture and holding effects. Cues presented in an attentional task were simultaneously provided with a threat value through an aversive conditioning procedure. Response latencies showed that threatening cues captured and held attention. These results support recent views on attention to threat, proposing that imminent threat captures attention in everyone. (c) 2004 APA, all rights reserved

Would an obese person whistle vivaldi? Targets of prejudice self-present to minimize appearance of specific threats.

Science.gov (United States)

Neel, Rebecca; Neufeld, Samantha L; Neuberg, Steven L

2013-05-01

How do targets of stigma manage social interactions? We built from a threat-specific model of prejudice to predict that targets select impression-management strategies that address the particular threats other people see them to pose. We recruited participants from two groups perceived to pose different threats: overweight people, who are heuristically associated with disease and targeted with disgust, and Black men, who are perceived to be dangerous and targeted with fear. When stereotypes and prejudices toward their groups were made salient, overweight people (Studies 1 and 2) and Black men (Study 2) selectively prioritized self-presentation strategies to minimize apparent disease threat (wearing clean clothes) or physical-violence threat (smiling), respectively. The specific threat a group is seen to pose plays an important but underexamined role in the psychology of being a target of prejudice.

Do New Mobile Devices in Enterprises Pose A Serious Security Threat?

OpenAIRE

Ali A Altalbe

2013-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to introduce a research proposal designed to explore the network securityissues concerning mobile devices protection. Many threats exist and they harm not only computers but handheld devices as well. The mobility of phones and their excessive use make them more vulnerable. The findings suggest a list of protections that can provide high level of security for new mobile devices.

Security Evaluation of the Cyber Networks under Advanced Persistent Threats

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Yang, L.; Li, Pengdeng; Yang, Xiaofan; Tang, Yuan Yan

2017-01-01

Advanced persistent threats (APTs) pose a grave threat to cyberspace, because they deactivate all the conventional cyber defense mechanisms. This paper addresses the issue of evaluating the security of the cyber networks under APTs. For this purpose, a dynamic model capturing the APT-based

Assessment of terrorist threats to the Canadian energy sector

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Shull, A. [Carleton Univ., Ottawa, ON (Canada). Norman Paterson School of International Affairs]|[Ottawa Univ., ON (Canada). Faculty of Law

2006-03-15

A critical terrorist threat assessment of Canadian energy systems was presented, as well as an analysis of integrated continental systems. Recent responses to heightened threat levels on the part of the Canadian government have ranged from information sharing to emergency preparedness and disaster mitigation strategies. This paper examined threats that the energy sector has traditionally encountered and argued that response capabilities do not match current threats posed by terrorism. The potential of a terrorist attack on the Canadian energy infrastructure is significant and has been referred to as a possible target by terrorist organizations. Actions taken by the Canadian government in response to heightened threat levels were examined. A review of energy industry security measures included outlines of: the natural gas industry, the electric sector, and nuclear reactors and waste. It was noted that not all elements of the critical energy infrastructure share the same level of risk. Recommendations included increased information sharing between government agencies and the private sector; resiliency standards in densely populated areas; and insulating the energy grid against a cascading blackout through the use of DC rather than AC lines. 59 refs.

Assessment of terrorist threats to the Canadian energy sector

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shull, A.

2006-01-01

A critical terrorist threat assessment of Canadian energy systems was presented, as well as an analysis of integrated continental systems. Recent responses to heightened threat levels on the part of the Canadian government have ranged from information sharing to emergency preparedness and disaster mitigation strategies. This paper examined threats that the energy sector has traditionally encountered and argued that response capabilities do not match current threats posed by terrorism. The potential of a terrorist attack on the Canadian energy infrastructure is significant and has been referred to as a possible target by terrorist organizations. Actions taken by the Canadian government in response to heightened threat levels were examined. A review of energy industry security measures included outlines of: the natural gas industry, the electric sector, and nuclear reactors and waste. It was noted that not all elements of the critical energy infrastructure share the same level of risk. Recommendations included increased information sharing between government agencies and the private sector; resiliency standards in densely populated areas; and insulating the energy grid against a cascading blackout through the use of DC rather than AC lines. 59 refs

Incinerators, Hazardous Waste, To identify and locate abandoned oil production facilities and apparatus which pose a potential threat for creating an oil spill through either natural or accidental causes., Published in 1998, 1:24000 (1in=2000ft) scale, Louisiana State University (LSU).

Data.gov (United States)

NSGIC Education | GIS Inventory — Incinerators, Hazardous Waste dataset current as of 1998. To identify and locate abandoned oil production facilities and apparatus which pose a potential threat for...

Science priorities for reducing the threat of invasive species

Science.gov (United States)

E. A. Chornesky; A. M. Bartuska; G. H. Aplet; J. Cummings-Carlson; F. W. Davis; J. Eskow; D. R. Gordon; K. W. Gottschalk; R. A. Haack; A. J. Hansen; R. N. Mack; F. J. Rahel; M. A. Shannon; L. A. Wainger; T. B. Wigley

2005-01-01

Invasive species pose a major, yet poorly addressed, threat to sustainable forestry. Here we set forth an interdisciplinary science strategy of research, development, and applications to reduce this threat. To spur action by public and private entities that too often are slow, reluctant, or unable to act, we recommend (a) better integrating invasive species into...

Hg-contaminated terrestrial spiders pose a potential risk to songbirds at Caddo Lake (Texas/Louisiana, USA).

Science.gov (United States)

Gann, Gretchen L; Powell, Cleveland H; Chumchal, Matthew M; Drenner, Ray W

2015-02-01

Methylmercury (MeHg) is an environmental contaminant that can have adverse effects on wildlife. Because MeHg is produced by bacteria in aquatic ecosystems, studies of MeHg contamination of food webs historically have focused on aquatic organisms. However, recent studies have shown that terrestrial organisms such as songbirds can be contaminated with MeHg by feeding on MeHg-contaminated spiders. In the present study, the authors examined the risk that MeHg-contaminated terrestrial long-jawed orb weaver spiders (Tetragnatha sp.) pose to songbirds at Caddo Lake (Texas/Louisiana, USA). Methylmercury concentrations in spiders were significantly different in river, wetland, and open-water habitats. The authors calculated spider-based wildlife values (the minimum spider MeHg concentrations causing physiologically significant doses in consumers) to assess exposure risks for arachnivorous birds. Methylmercury concentrations in spiders exceeded wildlife values for Carolina chickadee (Poecile carolinensis) nestlings, with the highest risk in the river habitat. The present study indicates that MeHg concentrations in terrestrial spiders vary with habitat and can pose a threat to small-bodied nestling birds that consume large amounts of spiders at Caddo Lake. This MeHg threat to songbirds may not be unique to Caddo Lake and may extend throughout the southeastern United States. © 2014 SETAC.

Foreign-funded M&A Poses No Threatto China’s Economic Security

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

王志乐

2007-01-01

Foreign funded M■A(Mergers ■ Acquisitions) activity is becoming increasingly common in China.In this article Wang Zhile assesses the effects and risks associated with M■A,finding that foreign funded M■A activity is immensely beneficial to China and poses no threat to economic security.

Report on the costs of domestic and international emergencies and on the threats posed by the Kuwaiti oil fires as required by P. L. 102-55

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

1991-06-01

The report fulfills the requirements of Public Law 12-55, the FY 1992 dire emergency supplemental appropriations bill, signed by the President on June 13, 1991. This law required the Director of the Office of Management and Budget to prepare and submit to the appropriate committees of Congress a report on: unfunded costs of dire emergencies because of floods, droughts, tornadoes, unemployment, and other disasters in the United States; unfunded costs, including food assistance, of international disaster emergencies existing because of floods, droughts, tornadoes, and other disasters; and the threats to oil supply, human health, and the environment that the Kuwaiti oil fires might pose.

Initial perspectives on process threat management

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Whiteley, James R. Rob; Mannan, M. Sam

2004-01-01

Terrorist and criminal acts are now considered credible risks in the process industries. Deliberate attacks on the nation's petroleum refineries and chemical plants would pose a significant threat to public welfare, national security, and the US economy. To-date, the primary response of government and industry has been on improved security to prevent attacks and the associated consequences. While prevention is clearly preferred, the potential for successful attacks must be addressed. If plant security is breached, the extent of the inflicted damage is determined by the available plant safety systems and procedures. We refer to this 'inside the gate' response as process threat management. The authors have initiated a joint industry/academia study to address: - the level of safety provided by existing plant equipment and safety systems in response to a terrorist act, and; - identification of process (rather than security) needs or opportunities to address this new safety concern. This paper describes the initial perspectives and issues identified by the team at the beginning of the study

Hybrid Wars: The 21 st -Century's New Threats to Global Peace and ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

cyber-terrorism' and 'cyber-war' against the backdrop of Russia's 'Ukrainian Spring' and the continuing threat posed by radical Islamist groups in Africa and the Middle East. It also discusses the findings of an on-going hybrid threat project by ...

Threat Assessment: Do Lone Terrorists Differ from Other Lone Offenders?

OpenAIRE

Diane M. Zierhoffer

2014-01-01

This study evaluates the viability of a threat assessment model developed to calculate the risk of targeted violence as a predictor of violence by potential lone terrorists. There is no profile, to date, which would assist in the identification of a lone terrorist prior to an attack. The threat assessment model developed by Borum, Fein, Vossekuil, and Berglund and described in “Threat Assessment: Defining an approach for evaluating risk of targeted violence” (1999) poses ten questions about t...

An alternative approach to risk rank chemicals on the threat they pose to the aquatic environment.

Science.gov (United States)

Johnson, Andrew C; Donnachie, Rachel L; Sumpter, John P; Jürgens, Monika D; Moeckel, Claudia; Pereira, M Gloria

2017-12-01

This work presents a new and unbiased method of risk ranking chemicals based on the threat they pose to the aquatic environment. The study ranked 12 metals, 23 pesticides, 11 other persistent organic pollutants (POPs), 13 pharmaceuticals, 10 surfactants and similar compounds and 2 nanoparticles (total of 71) of concern against one another by comparing their median UK river water and median ecotoxicity effect concentrations. To complement this, by giving an assessment on potential wildlife impacts, risk ranking was also carried out by comparing the lowest 10th percentile of the effects data with the highest 90th percentile of the exposure data. In other words, risk was pared down to just toxicity versus exposure. Further modifications included incorporating bioconcentration factors, using only recent water measurements and excluding either lethal or sub-lethal effects. The top ten chemicals, based on the medians, which emerged as having the highest risk to organisms in UK surface waters using all the ecotoxicity data were copper, aluminium, zinc, ethinylestradiol (EE2), linear alkylbenzene sulfonate (LAS), triclosan, manganese, iron, methomyl and chlorpyrifos. By way of contrast, using current UK environmental quality standards as the comparator to median UK river water concentrations would have selected 6 different chemicals in the top ten. This approach revealed big differences in relative risk; for example, zinc presented a million times greater risk then metoprolol and LAS 550 times greater risk than nanosilver. With the exception of EE2, most pharmaceuticals were ranked as having a relatively low risk. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Managing threats from emerging technologies: can safeguards show the way?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Leffer, Teri N.

2014-01-01

The system of international nuclear safeguards implemented by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is primarily a means of verification of states’ commitments under various legal instruments, principally the Nuclear Non‑Proliferation Treaty (NPT), to utilize controlled nuclear fission for peaceful purposes only. However, the safeguards system can also be seen as a mechanism through which states acted to reduce the threat posed by a new technology that had a transformative impact on existing national security paradigms when it emerged in the twentieth century. In the twenty‑first century, new technologies with equally profound national security implications are emerging. These include biotechnology and synthetic biology, nano technology, information technology, cognitive science, robotics and artificial intelligence. Throughout its history, the safeguards system has evolved to accommodate new technologies, new undertakings and new threats. Because multiple emerging technologies now constitute potential national security threats, it is appropriate to consider whether and how the lessons and successes of the safeguards system, including its capacity to evolve in response to changing requirements, could be leveraged to mitigate the threat posed by these new technologies. This paper addresses the possibility of re‑imagining safeguards in a way that makes them applicable to a broader range of technology‑based threats without compromising their effectiveness for their original purpose.

External Threat Risk Assessment Algorithm (ExTRAA)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Powell, Troy C. [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

2017-08-01

Two risk assessment algorithms and philosophies have been augmented and combined to form a new algorit hm, the External Threat Risk Assessment Algorithm (ExTRAA), that allows for effective and statistically sound analysis of external threat sources in relation to individual attack methods . In addition to the attack method use probability and the attack method employment consequence, t he concept of defining threat sources is added to the risk assessment process. Sample data is tabulated and depicted in radar plots and bar graphs for algorithm demonstration purposes. The largest success of ExTRAA is its ability to visualize the kind of r isk posed in a given situation using the radar plot method.

Left-Wing Extremism: The Current Threat

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Karl A. Seger

2001-04-30

Left-wing extremism is ''alive and well'' both in the US and internationally. Although the current domestic terrorist threat within the U. S. is focused on right-wing extremists, left-wing extremists are also active and have several objectives. Leftist extremists also pose an espionage threat to U.S. interests. While the threat to the U.S. government from leftist extremists has decreased in the past decade, it has not disappeared. There are individuals and organizations within the U.S. who maintain the same ideology that resulted in the growth of left-wing terrorism in this country in the 1970s and 1980s. Some of the leaders from that era are still communicating from Cuba with their followers in the U.S., and new leaders and groups are emerging.

75 FR 30002 - Federal Advisory Committee; Threat Reduction Advisory Committee

Science.gov (United States)

2010-05-28

... management; c. Nuclear deterrence transformation; d. Weapons effects; and e. Other Office of the Under... Reduction Agency on the following: a. Reducing the threat posed by nuclear, biological, chemical...

Experimental estimation of snare detectability for robust threat monitoring

OpenAIRE

O Kelly, H. J.; Rowcliffe, M.; Durant, S.; Milner-Gulland, E. J.

2018-01-01

Hunting with wire snares is rife within many tropical forest systems, and constitutes one of the severest threats to a wide range of vertebrate taxa. As for all threats, reliable monitoring of snaring levels is critical for assessing the relative effectiveness of management interventions. However, snares pose a particular challenge in terms of tracking spatial or temporal trends in their prevalence because they are extremely difficult to detect, and are typically spread across large, inaccess...

Explaining opposition to refugee resettlement: The role of NIMBYism and perceived threats.

Science.gov (United States)

Ferwerda, Jeremy; Flynn, D J; Horiuchi, Yusaku

2017-09-01

One week after President Donald Trump signed a controversial executive order to reduce the influx of refugees to the United States, we conducted a survey experiment to understand American citizens' attitudes toward refugee resettlement. Specifically, we evaluated whether citizens consider the geographic context of the resettlement program (that is, local versus national) and the degree to which they are swayed by media frames that increasingly associate refugees with terrorist threats. Our findings highlight a collective action problem: Participants are consistently less supportive of resettlement within their own communities than resettlement elsewhere in the country. This pattern holds across all measured demographic, political, and geographic subsamples within our data. Furthermore, our results demonstrate that threatening media frames significantly reduce support for both national and local resettlement. Conversely, media frames rebutting the threat posed by refugees have no significant effect. Finally, the results indicate that participants in refugee-dense counties are less responsive to threatening frames, suggesting that proximity to previously settled refugees may reduce the impact of perceived security threats.

Transactional costs of the interaction between business and government as a threat to the economic security of the state

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Evmenov Aleksandr

2018-01-01

Full Text Available The article considers the costs of the interaction between the state and business as a threat to the development of the economy of the Russian Federation from the point of view of ensuring economic security. The authors identified significant obstacles both from the business and from the government side, which pose a threat to economic security. The study is of interest for the further development of a system of providing the economic security of the Russian Federation.

MILITARY TRADE UNIONS: A THREAT TO NATIONAL SECURITY ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

sacrificed at the altar of soldiers' constitutional rights to form and join trade unions .... includes a rights-based culture, a rise in individualism, a change in the acceptance of ... military leadership with the military unions that poses the greatest threat to civil– ... 10 European Organisation of Military Associations, available at ...

Kidnapping and abduction minimizing the threat and lessons in survival

CERN Document Server

Heard, Brian John

2014-01-01

Terrorist groups and organized crime cartels pose an increasing threat of kidnapping throughout many regions in the word. At the same time, international travel has become more commonplace for both business and leisure purposes. Kidnapping and Abduction: Minimizing the Threat and Lessons in Survival provides a practical guide on the precautions travelers can take to avoid being kidnapped or derail a kidnapping attempt in progress. In the event this cannot be avoided, the book supplies advice on how to ensure survival during captivity. Readers will learn: The basic elements of kidnapping and abduction The motivations and mechanisms of kidnappers The hotspots where kidnapping/hostage taking is prevalent Vehicles best suited for avoidance of kidnap threat and proposals for up-armoring an existing vehicle How to recognize immediate threats and precautions to be taken in assessing threat level The types of weapons most favored by kidnappers and their threat level Available bullet-resistant materials and their use ...

Conceptualizing threats to tobacco control from international economic agreements: the Brazilian experience.

Science.gov (United States)

Drope, Jeffrey; McGrady, Benn; Bialous, Stella Aguinaga; Lencucha, Raphael; Silva, Vera Luiza da Costa E

2017-10-19

Using the results of dozens of interviews with key actors involved in tobacco control policymaking, we examine these actors' perceptions of threats to tobacco control policy efforts from international economic policies on trade and investment. We also evaluate, from a legal perspective, the genuine threats that exist or potential challenges that economic policies may pose to the Brazilian government's public health efforts. We find that most actors did not perceive these economic policies as a major threat to tobacco control. Objectively, we found that some threats do exist. For example, Brazil's attempt to ban most tobacco additives and flavorings continues to met resistance at the World Trade Organization.

Toward a psychology of human survival: Psychological approaches to contemporary global threats

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Walsh, R.

1989-01-01

Nuclear weapons, population explosion, resource and food-supply depletion, and environmental deterioration have been posing increasing threats to human survival. Moreover, for the first time in history, all these major global threats are human caused and can, therefore, be traced in large part to psychological origins. After a brief overview of the nature and extent of current threats, this paper suggests criteria for an adequate psychology of human survival. The causes and effects of the threats are examined from various psychological perspectives and the psychological principles underlying effective responses are deduced. The ways in which mental health professionals may contribute to this most crucial task are discussed. 76 references

Threat Is a Multidimensional Construct: Exploring the Role of Children's Threat Appraisals in the Relationship between Interparental Conflict and Child Adjustment

Science.gov (United States)

Atkinson, Erin R.; Dadds, Mark R.; Chipuer, Heather; Dawe, Sharon

2009-01-01

Past research has emphasised the importance of children's appraisals of the threat posed by parent conflict for understanding links between interparental conflict and child outcomes. However, little is known about what it is that children actually find threatening about parent conflict. Children (n = 236) aged 10-16 years were recruited to examine…

Combating Terrorism: Linking Threats to Strategies and Resources

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

2000-01-01

...) gathers intelligence and assesses the threat posed by domestic sources of terrorism. According to the U.S. intelligence community, conventional explosives and firearms continue to be the weapons of choice for terrorists. The intelligence community (both foreign and domestic agencies) reports an increased possibility that terrorists may use CBRN agents in the next decade.

Camera formation and more, but what comes next? an analysis of volcanic threat of Nisyros island, Greece

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Winson, A; Kinvig, H; Gottsmann, J; Partington, E; Geyer, A

2008-01-01

We present an analysis of volcanic threat of Nisyros island (Greece) based on a catalogue of questions compiled for the USGS National Volcano Early Warning System (NVEWS). We find that the score puts Nisyros in the league of volcanoes posing a very high threat. US volcanoes with a comparable threat level include Mt. St. Helens, Augustine and the Long Valley caldera.

Camera formation and more, but what comes next? an analysis of volcanic threat of Nisyros island, Greece

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Winson, A; Kinvig, H; Gottsmann, J; Partington, E; Geyer, A [Department of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol (United Kingdom)

2008-10-01

We present an analysis of volcanic threat of Nisyros island (Greece) based on a catalogue of questions compiled for the USGS National Volcano Early Warning System (NVEWS). We find that the score puts Nisyros in the league of volcanoes posing a very high threat. US volcanoes with a comparable threat level include Mt. St. Helens, Augustine and the Long Valley caldera.

Threats to Security Posed by ISIS in Syria: A Human Security Approach

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lee-Ann Louw

2017-02-01

Full Text Available The civil war in Syria coupled with the attacks by ISIS, has resulted in one of the largest humanitarian crises since World War II. Although international efforts have resulted in regaining control of important cities, these military approaches have escalated and inflamed the violence of which innocent civilians bear the consequences. The continuing violence and resulting threats or insecurities negatively affect the lives, freedom, dignity and development of the people to name but a few. For that reason, the aim is to explore the applicability of a human security approach to the conflict in Syria that focuses on, among other aspects, minimising violence, mitigating the effects of the conflict, protecting people, restoring peace and eliminating the grounds that resulted in the development of these conditions in the first place.

Meeting the challenge of interacting threats in freshwater ecosystems: A call to scientists and managers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Laura S. Craig

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Human activities create threats that have consequences for freshwater ecosystems and, in most watersheds, observed ecological responses are the result of complex interactions among multiple threats and their associated ecological alterations. Here we discuss the value of considering multiple threats in research and management, offer suggestions for filling knowledge gaps, and provide guidance for addressing the urgent management challenges posed by multiple threats in freshwater ecosystems. There is a growing literature assessing responses to multiple alterations, and we build off this background to identify three areas that require greater attention: linking observed alterations to threats, understanding when and where threats overlap, and choosing metrics that best quantify the effects of multiple threats. Advancing science in these areas will help us understand existing ecosystem conditions and predict future risk from multiple threats. Because addressing the complex issues and novel ecosystems that arise from the interaction of multiple threats in freshwater ecosystems represents a significant management challenge, and the risks of management failure include loss of biodiversity, ecological goods, and ecosystem services, we also identify actions that could improve decision-making and management outcomes. These actions include drawing insights from management of individual threats, using threat attributes (e.g., causes and spatio-temporal dynamics to identify suitable management approaches, testing management strategies that are likely to be successful despite uncertainties about the nature of interactions among threats, avoiding unintended consequences, and maximizing conservation benefits. We also acknowledge the broadly applicable challenges of decision-making within a socio-political and economic framework, and suggest that multidisciplinary teams will be needed to innovate solutions to meet the current and future challenge of interacting

Meeting the challenge of interacting threats in freshwater ecosystems: A call to scientists and managers

Science.gov (United States)

Craig, Laura S.; Olden, Julian D.; Arthington, Angela; Entrekin, Sally; Hawkins, Charles P.; Kelly, John J.; Kennedy, Theodore A.; Maitland, Bryan M.; Rosi, Emma J.; Roy, Allison; Strayer, David L.; Tank, Jennifer L.; West, Amie O.; Wooten, Matthew S.

2017-01-01

Human activities create threats that have consequences for freshwater ecosystems and, in most watersheds, observed ecological responses are the result of complex interactions among multiple threats and their associated ecological alterations. Here we discuss the value of considering multiple threats in research and management, offer suggestions for filling knowledge gaps, and provide guidance for addressing the urgent management challenges posed by multiple threats in freshwater ecosystems. There is a growing literature assessing responses to multiple alterations, and we build off this background to identify three areas that require greater attention: linking observed alterations to threats, understanding when and where threats overlap, and choosing metrics that best quantify the effects of multiple threats. Advancing science in these areas will help us understand existing ecosystem conditions and predict future risk from multiple threats. Because addressing the complex issues and novel ecosystems that arise from the interaction of multiple threats in freshwater ecosystems represents a significant management challenge, and the risks of management failure include loss of biodiversity, ecological goods, and ecosystem services, we also identify actions that could improve decision-making and management outcomes. These actions include drawing insights from management of individual threats, using threat attributes (e.g., causes and spatio-temporal dynamics) to identify suitable management approaches, testing management strategies that are likely to be successful despite uncertainties about the nature of interactions among threats, avoiding unintended consequences, and maximizing conservation benefits. We also acknowledge the broadly applicable challenges of decision-making within a socio-political and economic framework, and suggest that multidisciplinary teams will be needed to innovate solutions to meet the current and future challenge of interacting threats in

Project risk as identity threat: explaining the development and consequences of risk discourse in an infrastructure project

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Os, A.; van Berkel, F.J.F.W.; de Gilder, T.C.; van Dyck, C.; Groenewegen, P.

2015-01-01

This paper explores the role of social identity threat in risk discourse in an infrastructure project, and the consequences risk discourse has for cooperation between stakeholders. We show that risks posed a threat to the identity of the project team, resulting in a discourse focused on attributing

New threats to academic freedom.

Science.gov (United States)

Minerva, Francesca

2014-05-01

Using a specific case as an example, the article argues that the Internet allows dissemination of academic ideas to the general public in ways that can sometimes pose a threat to academic freedom. Since academic freedom is a fundamental element of academia and since it benefits society at large, it is important to safeguard it. Among measures that can be taken in order to achieve this goal, the publication of anonymous research seems to be a good option. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Responding to the Threat of Weapons of Mass Destruction After September 11, 2001

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Lewy, Donald

2002-01-01

This paper addresses the threat posed by weapons of mass destruction as it is understood following the events of 11 September 2001 and the anthrax attacks directed at congressional and media offices...

Hantaviruses: an emerging public health threat in India? A review

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

PRAKASH KUMAR

is to increase awareness of these emerging pathogens and the threats they pose to the public health system. [Chandy S, Abraham P and ..... distribution of the hosts through international shipping routes. The majority of SEOV-related .... Dalrymple J M 1994 Serological relationships among viruses in the Hantavirus genus, ...

Swazi Journalism and the 'Muslim Threat' | Rooney | Lwati: A ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

... Swaziland constitution; (ii) a report that Muslims were enticing university students to convert to Islam in return for scholarships; and (iii) a public symposium run on the subject of Islam. It concludes that Swazi newspapers frame Muslims as warlike people who are plotting against the kingdom and who pose a threat to Swazi ...

Insiders and Insider Threats

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hunker, Jeffrey; Probst, Christian W.

2011-01-01

Threats from the inside of an organization’s perimeters are a significant problem, since it is difficult to distinguish them from benign activity. In this overview article we discuss defining properties of insiders and insider threats. After presenting definitions of these terms, we go on to disc......Threats from the inside of an organization’s perimeters are a significant problem, since it is difficult to distinguish them from benign activity. In this overview article we discuss defining properties of insiders and insider threats. After presenting definitions of these terms, we go...

Cyber threats within civil aviation

Science.gov (United States)

Heitner, Kerri A.

Existing security policies in civil aviation do not adequately protect against evolving cyber threats. Cybersecurity has been recognized as a top priority among some aviation industry leaders. Heightened concerns regarding cyber threats and vulnerabilities surround components utilized in compliance with the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) Next Generation Air Transportation (NextGen) implementation. Automated Dependent Surveillance-B (ADS-B) and Electronic Flight Bags (EFB) have both been exploited through the research of experienced computer security professionals. Civil aviation is essential to international infrastructure and if its critical assets were compromised, it could pose a great risk to public safety and financial infrastructure. The purpose of this research was to raise awareness of aircraft system vulnerabilities in order to provoke change among current national and international cybersecurity policies, procedures and standards. Although the education of cyber threats is increasing in the aviation industry, there is not enough urgency when creating cybersecurity policies. This project intended to answer the following questions: What are the cyber threats to ADS-B of an aircraft in-flight? What are the cyber threats to EFB? What is the aviation industry's response to the issue of cybersecurity and in-flight safety? ADS-B remains unencrypted while the FAA's mandate to implement this system is rapidly approaching. The cyber threat of both portable and non-portable EFB's have received increased publicity, however, airlines are not responding quick enough (if at all) to create policies for the use of these devices. Collectively, the aviation industry is not being proactive enough to protect its aircraft or airport network systems. That is not to say there are not leaders in cybersecurity advancement. These proactive organizations must set the standard for the future to better protect society and it's most reliable form of transportation.

Nuclear terrorism - Threat or not?

Science.gov (United States)

Pomper, Miles A.; Tarini, Gabrielle

2017-11-01

A terrorist attack using nuclear or radiological materials is a low-probability event, but if executed, would lead to unprecedented socio-economic, material, and psychological disruption and damage. This chapter seeks to provide a sound assessment of the scope and nature of the threat by examining the different types of nuclear terrorism, each of which poses different risks, involves different barriers to success, and requires different terrorist capabilities. In addition, the chapter aims to provide an overview of the sources and nature of terrorists' motivations to employ a nuclear attack.

Zika Virus: An Emerging Worldwide Threat

OpenAIRE

Irfan A. Rather; Jameel B. Lone; Vivek K. Bajpai; Woon K. Paek; Jeongheui Lim

2017-01-01

ZIKA virus (ZIKV) poses a severe threat to the world. Recent outbreaks of ZIKV after 2007 along with its quick transmission have made this virus a matter of international concern. The virus shows symptoms that are similar to those caused in the wake of dengue virus (DENV) and other flaviviruses, which makes it difficult to discern the viral infection. Diagnosis is further complicated as the virus cross-reacts with antibodies of other viruses. Currently, molecular diagnosis of the virus is bei...

Vital Interests, Virtual Threats: Reconciling International Law with Information Warfare and United States Security

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Shawhan, Karl

2001-01-01

.... Nontraditional threats, however, pose asymmetric dilemmas for the United States. The increased U.S. military and economic reliance on information systems introduces new vulnerabilities not adequately protected by traditional kinetic force arms...

The globalization of public health, I: Threats and opportunities.

Science.gov (United States)

Yach, D; Bettcher, D

1998-01-01

The globalization of public health poses new threats to health but also holds important opportunities in the coming century. This commentary identifies the major threats and opportunities presented by the process of globalization and emphasizes the need for transnational public health approaches to take advantage of the positive aspects of global change and to minimize the negative ones. Transnational public health issues are areas of mutual concern for the foreign policies of all countries. These trends indicate a need for cross-national comparisons (e.g., in the areas of health financing and policy development) and for the development of a transnational research agenda in public health. PMID:9585736

A study of insider threat in nuclear security analysis using game theoretic modeling

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Kyo-Nam; Yim, Man-Sung; Schneider, Erich

2017-01-01

Highlights: • Implications of an insider threat in nuclear security were quantitatively analyzed. • The analysis was based on of a hypothetical nuclear facility and using game theoretic approach. • Through a sensitivity analysis, vulnerable paths and important parameters were identified. • The methodology can be utilized to prioritize the implementation of PPS improvements in a facility. - Abstract: An Insider poses a greater threat to the security system of a nuclear power plant (NPP) because of their ability to take advantage of their access rights and knowledge of a facility, to bypass dedicated security measures. If an insider colludes with an external terrorist group, this poses a key threat to the safety-security interface. However, despite the importance of the insider threat, few studies have been conducted to quantitatively analyze an insider threat. This research examines the quantitative framework for investigating the implications of insider threat, taking a novel approach. Conventional tools assessing the security threats to nuclear facilities focus on a limited number of attack pathways. These are defined by the modeler and are based on simple probabilistic calculations. They do not capture the adversary’s intentions nor do they account for their response and adaptation to defensive investments. As an alternative way of performing physical protection analysis, this research explores the use of game theoretic modeling of Physical Protection Systems (PPS) analysis by incorporating the implications of an insider threat, to address the issues of intentionality and interactions. The game theoretic approach has the advantage of modeling an intelligent adversary and insider who has an intention to do harm and complete knowledge of the facility. Through a quantitative assessment and sensitivity analysis, vulnerable but important parameters in this model were identified. This made it possible to determine which insider threat is more important. The

University Students' Problem Posing Abilities and Attitudes towards Mathematics.

Science.gov (United States)

Grundmeier, Todd A.

2002-01-01

Explores the problem posing abilities and attitudes towards mathematics of students in a university pre-calculus class and a university mathematical proof class. Reports a significant difference in numeric posing versus non-numeric posing ability in both classes. (Author/MM)

Global Threat Reduction Initiative International Partners' Conference. Summary of the proceedings and findings of the conference

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2004-01-01

The Global Threat Reduction Initiative (GTRI) International Partners' Conference took place in Vienna, Austria, from September 18-19, 2004. More than 590 representatives from 100 International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Member States attended the GTRI International Partners' Conference on September 18-19, 2004, in Vienna, Austria. Representatives from ten non-governmental and international organizations were also present during the conference. The Governments of the United States and the Russian Federation co-sponsored the International Partners Conference, with support from the International Atomic Energy Agency. The purpose of the International Partners' Conference was to build and broaden international support for efforts by national authorities to identify, secure, recover, and/or facilitate the disposition of high-risk nuclear and radioactive materials that pose a potential threat to the international community. One of the significant outcomes of the International Partners Conference was reaching agreement on the Findings of the Conference (enclosed in this document) by participating Member States that outlined a broadly shared opinion of participating Member States on efforts to reduce the potential threat posed by vulnerable, unsecured nuclear and other radioactive material. It is hoped that this document can be used as a framework to consolidate, expand, and accelerate domestic, regional, and IAEA programs that address unsecured vulnerable nuclear and radioactive materials, as deemed necessary by Member States. As a first step, participating members states urged the international community to note additional opportunities to further build support for activities related to GTRI

Problem Posing

OpenAIRE

Šilhavá, Marie

2009-01-01

This diploma thesis concentrates on problem posing from the students' point of view. Problem posing can be either seen as a teaching method which can be used in the class, or it can be used as a tool for researchers or teachers to assess the level of students' understanding of the topic. In my research, I compare three classes, one mathematics specialist class and two generalist classes, in their ability of problem posing. As an assessment tool it seemed that mathemathics specialists were abl...

Climate change poses additional threat to the future of ash resources in the eastern United States

Science.gov (United States)

Anantha Prasad; Louis Iverson; Stephen Matthews; Matthew Peters

2010-01-01

It is becoming increasingly clear that climate change has the potential to alter the distribution of plant species all over the world. In the United States, ash (Fraxinus spp.) is encountering the double threat of short-term emerald ash borer (EAB) infestation, which could decimate ash throughout the country, and longer term perturbations due to...

Multi-task pose-invariant face recognition.

Science.gov (United States)

Ding, Changxing; Xu, Chang; Tao, Dacheng

2015-03-01

Face images captured in unconstrained environments usually contain significant pose variation, which dramatically degrades the performance of algorithms designed to recognize frontal faces. This paper proposes a novel face identification framework capable of handling the full range of pose variations within ±90° of yaw. The proposed framework first transforms the original pose-invariant face recognition problem into a partial frontal face recognition problem. A robust patch-based face representation scheme is then developed to represent the synthesized partial frontal faces. For each patch, a transformation dictionary is learnt under the proposed multi-task learning scheme. The transformation dictionary transforms the features of different poses into a discriminative subspace. Finally, face matching is performed at patch level rather than at the holistic level. Extensive and systematic experimentation on FERET, CMU-PIE, and Multi-PIE databases shows that the proposed method consistently outperforms single-task-based baselines as well as state-of-the-art methods for the pose problem. We further extend the proposed algorithm for the unconstrained face verification problem and achieve top-level performance on the challenging LFW data set.

Exemplar-based human action pose correction.

Science.gov (United States)

Shen, Wei; Deng, Ke; Bai, Xiang; Leyvand, Tommer; Guo, Baining; Tu, Zhuowen

2014-07-01

The launch of Xbox Kinect has built a very successful computer vision product and made a big impact on the gaming industry. This sheds lights onto a wide variety of potential applications related to action recognition. The accurate estimation of human poses from the depth image is universally a critical step. However, existing pose estimation systems exhibit failures when facing severe occlusion. In this paper, we propose an exemplar-based method to learn to correct the initially estimated poses. We learn an inhomogeneous systematic bias by leveraging the exemplar information within a specific human action domain. Furthermore, as an extension, we learn a conditional model by incorporation of pose tags to further increase the accuracy of pose correction. In the experiments, significant improvements on both joint-based skeleton correction and tag prediction are observed over the contemporary approaches, including what is delivered by the current Kinect system. Our experiments for the facial landmark correction also illustrate that our algorithm can improve the accuracy of other detection/estimation systems.

Health and environmental threats associated with the destruction of chemical weapons.

Science.gov (United States)

Matousek, Jirí

2006-09-01

Still existing arsenals of chemical weapons (CW) pose not only security threats for possible use in hostilities by state actors or misuse by terrorists but also safety threats to humans and biota due to leakages and possible accidents. The Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) commits the States Parties (SPs) to destroy CW using technologies taking into consideration human health and environmental protection. It does not allow methods, routinely used up to the 1970s, such as earth burial, open-pit burning, and sea dumping. Long-term health and environmental threats and some accidents that have already occurred in the known localities of the sea-dumped and earth-buried arsenals of Nazi-German armed forces in the Baltic Region and of Imperial Japanese forces in the Far East Region are analyzed according to the impact of major CW and ammunition types (i.e., sulfur mustard--HD, tabun--GA, arsenicals--DA, DC, DM, arsine oil, and chloroacetophenone--CN). Any possible operations and handling with CW envisaged by the CWC as well as their verification are summarized taking into account the health threat they pose. CW and toxic armament waste to be destroyed and applied technologies (both developed and under current use in operational CW destruction facilities [CWDF]) are reviewed as are systems of health safety and environmental protection of the destruction/demilitarization stems from the extraordinary high toxicity of supertoxic lethal agents in man and biota. Problems of currently used Russian and U.S. standards for maximum allowable workplace concentrations and general population limits and possibilities of their determination by available analytical instrumentation are discussed.

Enemies within: Christian Extremism, a Threat to the Homeland

Science.gov (United States)

2016-06-10

promotes fear of Muslim radical groups that perpetuate violence in the name of religion , while ignoring the threat Christian extremism poses on...those within the homeland that threaten the very liberty and freedom intended by the founding fathers for all Americans. This thesis and many more...the safety and freedom of Americans are protected. 15. SUBJECT TERMS Christian Extremism 16. SECURITY CLASSIFICATION OF: 17. LIMITATION OF

Coping with global environmental change, disasters and security: threats, challenges, vulnerabilities and risks

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Brauch, H.G.; Oswald Spring, Ú.; Mesjasz, C.; Grin, J.; Kameri-Mbote, P.; Chourou, B.; Dunay, P.; Birkmann, J.

2011-01-01

This policy-focused Global Environmental and Human Security Handbook for the Anthropo-cene (GEHSHA) addresses new security threats, challenges, vulnerabilities and risks posed by global environmental change and disasters. In 6 forewords, 5 preface essays 95 peer reviewed chapcountries analyse in 10

No Imminent Threat to Catholic Colleges' Freedom Seen in Vatican Ban on Teacher.

Science.gov (United States)

Ingalls, Zoe

1986-01-01

Observers say the Vatican's revocation of a prominent scholar's license to teach theology at the Catholic University of America poses no immediate threat to academic freedom at other Roman Catholic colleges and universities but could make theologians at those institutions hesitate to express opinions. (MSE)

Fear, threat and efficacy in threat appeals: message involvement as a key mediator to message acceptance.

Science.gov (United States)

Cauberghe, Verolien; De Pelsmacker, Patrick; Janssens, Wim; Dens, Nathalie

2009-03-01

In a sample of 170 youngsters, the effect of two versions of a public service announcement (PSA) threat appeal against speeding, placed in four different contexts, on evoked fear, perceived threat (severity and probability of occurrence), perceived response efficacy and self-efficacy, message involvement and anti-speeding attitude and anti-speeding intention is investigated. Evoked fear and perceived threat and efficacy independently influence message involvement. Message involvement is a full mediator between evoked fear, perceived threat and efficacy perception on the one hand, and attitudes towards the message and behavioral intention to accept the message on the other. Speeding experience has a significantly negative impact on anti-speeding attitudes. Message and medium context threat levels and context thematic congruency have a significant effect on evoked fear and to a lesser extent on perceived threat.

Significance of the institute of appeals under the conditions of increasing threats to national security

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. V. Kapulovskyi

2015-03-01

Full Text Available The article deals with the regulatory and scientific foundation for the development of the institute of citizens’ treatments in terms of obvious internal and external threats to national security. An attempt to construct an applicable model of management of public processes in terms of threats to national security, in which public opinion plays a key value. The fact that a successful resolution of problem of public participation in the preparation and acceptance of political decisions requires not only the presence of the constitutionally enshrined rights and duties and political institutions formed democratically, but also a variety of forms and ways of influencing in the activities of public authorities. At the same time, in a not declared, the so-called »hybrid» war, in which warfare are conducted locally - in some parts of the state and all other public and private institutions function in usual mode, tracking of possible threats to national security and factors that give rise to such threats should be carried out by means of both cleanly military, and civil means and methods. Thus, one of the most effective civil means of tracking such threats are the reception of citizens’ treatments, their processing and the adoption of appropriate response measures, in my opinion. Keywords: national security, public safety, human rights, public authorities, public interest.

An integrated approach to adapt physical protection to the new terrorism threats

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Steinhaeusler, F.; Braun, C.; Bunn, G.

2002-01-01

Full text: New terrorism (NT) differs significantly from the traditional form of terrorism insofar as it has the capability to: train and deploy suicide commandos; use sophisticated logistics; implement transnational terrorist operations; infiltrate security and diplomatic communities; and commit acts of mass disturbance and mass killings. NT does not engage in negotiations: it does not discriminate in its attacks between children, adult civilians or military personnel; and it is willing to deploy weapons of mass destruction. These characteristics require that the conventional approach to physical protection of installations dealing with nuclear and other radioactive materials (e.g., Design Basis Threat (DBT)) be adapted accordingly. This integrated approach should encompass: at the international level: revised legally binding conventions and recommendations which are more specific than current versions, providing practically applicable advice reflecting the new threat scenarios; at the national level: introducing an element of transparency for validating the national threat perception and supra-national review of the effectiveness of the counteractions taken such as regulatory approaches implementing these international agreements; at the operational level: enhancing security-related co-operation at the command and control level between the on-site security forces at nuclear installations, the response force, police and the military, as well as upgrading of the force-on-force training; and at the research level: R and D in physical protection technology and practices to keep abreast of the threats posed by the NT. (author)

Local Feature Learning for Face Recognition under Varying Poses

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Duan, Xiaodong; Tan, Zheng-Hua

2015-01-01

In this paper, we present a local feature learning method for face recognition to deal with varying poses. As opposed to the commonly used approaches of recovering frontal face images from profile views, the proposed method extracts the subject related part from a local feature by removing the pose...... related part in it on the basis of a pose feature. The method has a closed-form solution, hence being time efficient. For performance evaluation, cross pose face recognition experiments are conducted on two public face recognition databases FERET and FEI. The proposed method shows a significant...... recognition improvement under varying poses over general local feature approaches and outperforms or is comparable with related state-of-the-art pose invariant face recognition approaches. Copyright ©2015 by IEEE....

Unintended allergens in precautionary labelled and unlabelled products pose significant risks to UK allergic consumers

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Remington, B.C.; Baumert, J.L.; Blom, W.M.; Houben, G.F.; Taylor, S.L.; Kruizinga, A.G.

2015-01-01

Background Allergens in food may pose a risk to allergic consumers. While there is EU regulation for allergens present as an ingredient, this is not the case for unintended allergen presence (UAP). Food companies use precautionary allergen labels to inform allergic individuals of a potential risk

Threats to North American Forests from Southern Pine Beetle with Warming Winters

Science.gov (United States)

Lesk, Corey; Coffel, Ethan; D'Amato, Anthony W.; Dodds, Kevin; Horton, Radley M.

2016-01-01

In coming decades, warmer winters are likely to lift range constraints on many cold-limited forest insects. Recent unprecedented expansion of the southern pine beetle (SPB, Dendroctonus frontalis) into New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts in concert with warming annual temperature minima highlights the risk that this insect pest poses to the pine forests of the northern United States and Canada under continued climate change. Here we present the first projections of northward expansion in SPB-suitable climates using a statistical bioclimatic range modeling approach and current-generation general circulation model (GCM) output under the RCP 4.5 and 8.5 emissions scenarios. Our results show that by the middle of the 21st century, the climate is likely to be suitable for SPB expansion into vast areas of previously unaffected forests throughout the northeastern United States and into southeastern Canada. This scenario would pose a significant economic and ecological risk to the affected regions, including disruption oflocal ecosystem services, dramatic shifts in forest structure, and threats to native biodiversity.

Yoga Poses Increase Subjective Energy and State Self-Esteem in Comparison to 'Power Poses'.

Science.gov (United States)

Golec de Zavala, Agnieszka; Lantos, Dorottya; Bowden, Deborah

2017-01-01

Research on beneficial consequences of yoga focuses on the effects of yogic breathing and meditation. Less is known about the psychological effects of performing yoga postures. The present study investigated the effects of yoga poses on subjective sense of energy and self-esteem. The effects of yoga postures were compared to the effects of 'power poses,' which arguably increase the sense of power and self-confidence due to their association with interpersonal dominance (Carney et al., 2010). The study tested the novel prediction that yoga poses, which are not associated with interpersonal dominance but increase bodily energy, would increase the subjective feeling of energy and therefore increase self-esteem compared to 'high power' and 'low power' poses. A two factorial, between participants design was employed. Participants performed either two standing yoga poses with open front of the body ( n = 19), two standing yoga poses with covered front of the body ( n = 22), two expansive, high power poses ( n = 21), or two constrictive, low power poses ( n = 20) for 1-min each. The results showed that yoga poses in comparison to 'power poses' increased self-esteem. This effect was mediated by an increased subjective sense of energy and was observed when baseline trait self-esteem was controlled for. These results suggest that the effects of performing open, expansive body postures may be driven by processes other than the poses' association with interpersonal power and dominance. This study demonstrates that positive effects of yoga practice can occur after performing yoga poses for only 2 min.

The Four Dimensions of the Foreign Fighter Threat : Making Sense of an Evolving Phenomenon

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Reed, A.G., Pohl, J. and M. Jegerings.

2017-01-01

In light of Islamic State’s decreasing military power and growing emphasis on a decentralised operational strategy, the threat posed by foreign fighters is shifting, with some aspects becoming less threatening as others become more salient. This Policy Brief provides a concise outline of four main

Contactless and pose invariant biometric identification using hand surface.

Science.gov (United States)

Kanhangad, Vivek; Kumar, Ajay; Zhang, David

2011-05-01

This paper presents a novel approach for hand matching that achieves significantly improved performance even in the presence of large hand pose variations. The proposed method utilizes a 3-D digitizer to simultaneously acquire intensity and range images of the user's hand presented to the system in an arbitrary pose. The approach involves determination of the orientation of the hand in 3-D space followed by pose normalization of the acquired 3-D and 2-D hand images. Multimodal (2-D as well as 3-D) palmprint and hand geometry features, which are simultaneously extracted from the user's pose normalized textured 3-D hand, are used for matching. Individual matching scores are then combined using a new dynamic fusion strategy. Our experimental results on the database of 114 subjects with significant pose variations yielded encouraging results. Consistent (across various hand features considered) performance improvement achieved with the pose correction demonstrates the usefulness of the proposed approach for hand based biometric systems with unconstrained and contact-free imaging. The experimental results also suggest that the dynamic fusion approach employed in this work helps to achieve performance improvement of 60% (in terms of EER) over the case when matching scores are combined using the weighted sum rule.

Political instability and the ability of local government to respond to reputational threats in unison

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Grøn, Caroline Louise Howard; Salomonsen, Heidi Houlberg

2017-01-01

This article investigates whether local governments are able to act in a unified manner when responding to reputational threats posed by negative media coverage. Based on an argument that local governments facing political instability are less able to perform in unison, the article investigates a...

Boneless Pose Editing and Animation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bærentzen, Jakob Andreas; Hansen, Kristian Evers; Erleben, Kenny

2007-01-01

In this paper, we propose a pose editing and animation method for triangulated surfaces based on a user controlled partitioning of the model into deformable parts and rigid parts which are denoted handles. In our pose editing system, the user can sculpt a set of poses simply by transforming...... the handles for each pose. Using Laplacian editing, the deformable parts are deformed to match the handles. In our animation system the user can constrain one or several handles in order to define a new pose. New poses are interpolated from the examples poses, by solving a small non-linear optimization...... problem in order to obtain the interpolation weights. While the system can be used simply for building poses, it is also an animation system. The user can specify a path for a given constraint and the model is animated correspondingly....

Threats to the Internal Validity of Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Research in Healthcare.

Science.gov (United States)

Flannelly, Kevin J; Flannelly, Laura T; Jankowski, Katherine R B

2018-01-24

The article defines, describes, and discusses the seven threats to the internal validity of experiments discussed by Donald T. Campbell in his classic 1957 article: history, maturation, testing, instrument decay, statistical regression, selection, and mortality. These concepts are said to be threats to the internal validity of experiments because they pose alternate explanations for the apparent causal relationship between the independent variable and dependent variable of an experiment if they are not adequately controlled. A series of simple diagrams illustrate three pre-experimental designs and three true experimental designs discussed by Campbell in 1957 and several quasi-experimental designs described in his book written with Julian C. Stanley in 1966. The current article explains why each design controls for or fails to control for these seven threats to internal validity.

The role of warning behaviors in threat assessment: an exploration and suggested typology.

Science.gov (United States)

Reid Meloy, J; Hoffmann, Jens; Guldimann, Angela; James, David

2012-01-01

The concept of warning behaviors offers an additional perspective in threat assessment. Warning behaviors are acts which constitute evidence of increasing or accelerating risk. They are acute, dynamic, and particularly toxic changes in patterns of behavior which may aid in structuring a professional's judgment that an individual of concern now poses a threat - whether the actual target has been identified or not. They require an operational response. A typology of eight warning behaviors for assessing the threat of intended violence is proposed: pathway, fixation, identification, novel aggression, energy burst, leakage, directly communicated threat, and last resort warning behaviors. Previous research on risk factors associated with such warning behaviors is reviewed, and examples of each warning behavior from various intended violence cases are presented, including public figure assassination, adolescent and adult mass murder, corporate celebrity stalking, and both domestic and foreign acts of terrorism. Practical applications and future research into warning behaviors are suggested. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Best practices in ranking communicable disease threats: a literature review, 2015.

Science.gov (United States)

O'Brien, Eleanor Charlotte; Taft, Rachel; Geary, Katie; Ciotti, Massimo; Suk, Jonathan E

2016-04-28

The threat of serious, cross-border communicable disease outbreaks in Europe poses a significant challenge to public health and emergency preparedness because the relative likelihood of these threats and the pathogens involved are constantly shifting in response to a range of changing disease drivers. To inform strategic planning by enabling effective resource allocation to manage the consequences of communicable disease outbreaks, it is useful to be able to rank and prioritise pathogens. This paper reports on a literature review which identifies and evaluates the range of methods used for risk ranking. Searches were performed across biomedical and grey literature databases, supplemented by reference harvesting and citation tracking. Studies were selected using transparent inclusion criteria and underwent quality appraisal using a bespoke checklist based on the AGREE II criteria. Seventeen studies were included in the review, covering five methodologies. A narrative analysis of the selected studies suggests that no single methodology was superior. However, many of the methods shared common components, around which a 'best-practice' framework was formulated. This approach is intended to help inform decision makers' choice of an appropriate risk-ranking study design.

Effect of evaluation threat on procrastination behavior.

Science.gov (United States)

Bui, Ngoc H

2007-06-01

The author evaluated the effects of evaluation apprehension and trait procrastination on behaviors. The author examined private university students from southern California (N = 72) on two independent variables: evaluation threat (manipulated) and trait procrastination (nonmanipulated). The author found a significant interaction effect between type of evaluation threat and level of trait procrastination on the number of days to complete an assigned essay. Post hoc analyses showed high trait procrastinators in the high evaluation threat group significantly delayed returning essays compared with those in the low evaluation threat group. Also, in the low evaluation threat group, low trait procrastinators delayed more than did high trait procrastinators. These results suggest that educators can reduce behavioral delays by increasing evaluation threat, depending on a student's level of trait procrastination.

Different groups, different threats: a multi-threat approach to the experience of stereotype threats.

Science.gov (United States)

Shapiro, Jenessa R

2011-04-01

Two studies demonstrated that different negatively stereotyped groups are at risk for distinct forms of stereotype threats. The Multi-Threat Framework articulates six distinct stereotype threats and the unique constellations of variables (e.g., group identification, stereotype endorsement) that elicit each stereotype threat. Previous research suggests that different negatively stereotyped groups systematically vary across these stereotype threat elicitors; a pilot study confirms these differences. Across two studies, groups that tend to elicit low stereotype endorsement (religion, race/ethnicity, congenital blindness) were less likely to report experiencing self-as-source stereotype threats (stereotype threats requiring stereotype endorsement) and groups that tend to elicit low group identification (mental illness, obesity, blindness later in life) were less likely to report experiencing group-as-target stereotype threats (stereotype threats requiring group identification). This research suggests that traditional models may overlook the experiences of stereotype threats within some groups and that interventions tailored to address differences between stereotype threats will be most effective.

Addressing the insider threat

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hochberg, J.G.; Jackson, K.A.; McClary, J.F.; Simmonds, D.D.

1993-05-01

Computers have come to play a major role in the processing of information vital to our national security. As we grow more dependent on computers, we also become more vulnerable to their misuse. Misuse may be accidental, or may occur deliberately for purposes of personal gain, espionage, terrorism, or revenge. While it is difficult to obtain exact statistics on computer misuse, clearly it is growing. It is also clear that insiders -- authorized system users -- are responsible for most of this increase. Unfortunately, their insider status gives them a greater potential for harm This paper takes an asset-based approach to the insider threat. We begin by characterizing the insider and the threat posed by variously motivated insiders. Next, we characterize the asset of concern: computerized information of strategic or economic value. We discuss four general ways in which computerized information is vulnerable to adversary action by the insider: disclosure, violation of integrity, denial of service, and unauthorized use of resources. We then look at three general remedies for these vulnerabilities. The first is formality of operations, such as training, personnel screening, and configuration management. The second is the institution of automated safeguards, such as single-use passwords, encryption, and biometric devices. The third is the development of automated systems that collect and analyze system and user data to look for signs of misuse.

Addressing the insider threat

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hochberg, J.G.; Jackson, K.A.; McClary, J.F.; Simmonds, D.D.

1993-01-01

Computers have come to play a major role in the processing of information vital to our national security. As we grow more dependent on computers, we also become more vulnerable to their misuse. Misuse may be accidental, or may occur deliberately for purposes of personal gain, espionage, terrorism, or revenge. While it is difficult to obtain exact statistics on computer misuse, clearly it is growing. It is also clear that insiders -- authorized system users -- are responsible for most of this increase. Unfortunately, their insider status gives them a greater potential for harm This paper takes an asset-based approach to the insider threat. We begin by characterizing the insider and the threat posed by variously motivated insiders. Next, we characterize the asset of concern: computerized information of strategic or economic value. We discuss four general ways in which computerized information is vulnerable to adversary action by the insider: disclosure, violation of integrity, denial of service, and unauthorized use of resources. We then look at three general remedies for these vulnerabilities. The first is formality of operations, such as training, personnel screening, and configuration management. The second is the institution of automated safeguards, such as single-use passwords, encryption, and biometric devices. The third is the development of automated systems that collect and analyze system and user data to look for signs of misuse.

Threat Assessment: Do Lone Terrorists Differ from Other Lone Offenders?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Diane M. Zierhoffer

2014-10-01

Full Text Available This study evaluates the viability of a threat assessment model developed to calculate the risk of targeted violence as a predictor of violence by potential lone terrorists. There is no profile, to date, which would assist in the identification of a lone terrorist prior to an attack. The threat assessment model developed by Borum, Fein, Vossekuil, and Berglund and described in “Threat Assessment: Defining an approach for evaluating risk of targeted violence” (1999 poses ten questions about the patterns of thinking and behaviors that may precipitate an attack of targeted violence. Three terrorists are studied to assess the model’s value as a predictor of terrorism. It is assessed for its use within law enforcement, during an investigation of someone brought to attention as a possible terrorist and for family members or friends who suspect potential terrorist behavior. Would these questions encourage someone to report a friend to prevent a possible attack? This threat assessment model provides a foundation for future research focused on developing a structured risk assessment for lone terrorists. In its present form, the questions can assist both citizens and law enforcement personnel in identifying the patterns of thought and behavior potentially indicative of a lone terrorist.

Gender-Atypical Mental Illness as Male Gender Threat.

Science.gov (United States)

Michniewicz, Kenneth S; Bosson, Jennifer K; Lenes, Joshua G; Chen, Jason I

2016-07-01

The present study examined whether men view gender-atypical (i.e., feminine) psychological disorders as threats to their gender status. Men and women (N = 355) rated their expectations of gender status loss, feelings of distress, and help-seeking intentions in response to 10 different stereotypically masculine and feminine psychological disorders. Men as compared to women expected greater gender status loss for, and reported more distress to, gender-atypical versus gender-typical disorders. Expectations of gender status loss partially mediated the link between participant gender and distress at the thought of gender-atypical disorders. These findings suggest that feminine disorders pose more powerful gender status threats for men than masculine disorders do and that men's expectations of gender status loss for feminine disorders drive their negative reactions to these mental illnesses. The discussion emphasizes the importance of considering the gender-typicality of disorders, and the implications of these findings for clinical interventions. © The Author(s) 2015.

Turkey's response to threats of weapons of mass destruction

OpenAIRE

Al, Guray.

2001-01-01

Unlike most of its NATO allies, Turkey did not emerge from the Cold War with enhanced security. The acquisition of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and ballistic missiles by its neighbors in the Middle Eastâ Iran, Iraq and Syriaâ creates a serious security concern for Turkey. This thesis analyzes the numerous threats posed to Turkey by its neighborsα nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programs and their ballistic missiles. It evaluates Turkeyαs defense options to counter these thre...

The art of problem posing

CERN Document Server

Brown, Stephen I

1990-01-01

Updated and expanded, this second edition satisfies the same philosophical objective as the first -- to show the importance of problem posing. Although interest in mathematical problem solving increased during the past decade, problem posing remained relatively ignored. The Art of Problem Posing draws attention to this equally important act and is the innovator in the field. Special features include: * an exploration ofthe logical relationship between problem posing and problem solving * a special chapter devoted to teaching problem posing as a separate course * sketches, drawings, diagrams, and cartoons that illustrate the schemes proposed * a special section on writing in mathematics.

Challenges Posed by Novel Psychoactive Substances – Middle East Perspective

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Maciej J. Bogusz

2017-04-01

Full Text Available New psychoactive substances (NPS are defined as substances of abuse, either in a pure form or a preparation, that are not controlled by the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs or the 1971 Convention on Psychotropic Substances, but which may pose a public health threat. In this context, the term “new” does not necessarily refer to new inventions but to substances that have recently become available or popular in a given society or country. This definition indicates that the problem of NPS is not new; however, the availability of any information via new communication technologies in the 21st century has enabled the spread of unwanted and socially harmful information, like information on the commercial availability of various NPS, offered in rising amounts and brands.

Alert but less alarmed: a pooled analysis of terrorism threat perception in Australia

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Barr Margo

2011-10-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Previous Australian research has highlighted disparities in community perceptions of the threat posed by terrorism. A study with a large sample size is needed to examine reported concerns and anticipated responses of community sub-groups and to determine their consistency with existing Australian and international findings. Methods Representative samples of New South Wales (NSW adults completed terrorism perception questions as part of computer assisted telephone interviews (CATI in 2007 (N = 2081 and 2010 (N = 2038. Responses were weighted against the NSW population. Data sets from the two surveys were pooled and multivariate multilevel analyses conducted to identify health and socio-demographic factors associated with higher perceived risk of terrorism and evacuation response intentions, and to examine changes over time. Results In comparison with 2007, Australians in 2010 were significantly more likely to believe that a terrorist attack would occur in Australia (Adjusted Odd Ratios (AOR = 1.24, 95%CI:1.06-1.45 but felt less concerned that they would be directly affected by such an incident (AOR = 0.65, 95%CI:0.55-0.75. Higher perceived risk of terrorism and related changes in living were associated with middle age, female gender, lower education and higher reported psychological distress. Australians of migrant background reported significantly lower likelihood of terrorism (AOR = 0.52, 95%CI:0.39-0.70 but significantly higher concern that they would be personally affected by such an incident (AOR = 1.57, 95%CI:1.21-2.04 and having made changes in the way they live due to this threat (AOR = 2.47, 95%CI:1.88-3.25. Willingness to evacuate homes and public places in response to potential incidents increased significantly between 2007 and 2010 (AOR = 1.53, 95%CI:1.33-1.76. Conclusion While an increased proportion of Australians believe that the national threat of terrorism remains high, concern about being personally affected

Perceptions of Threats to Physical Safety, Sexual Autonomy, Values, and of Discrimination Drive LGB Prejudices Toward Heterosexuals.

Science.gov (United States)

Pirlott, Angela G; Rusten, Marta L; Butterfuss, Reese M

2016-09-01

Many studies have investigated heterosexuals' prejudices toward nonheterosexuals, yet LGB's prejudices toward heterosexuals remain largely unexplored. Therefore, we sought to determine the threats and opportunities (i.e., affordances) LGB perceive heterosexuals to pose and whether those affordances explain their sexual prejudices toward heterosexuals. Study 1 analyzed LGB's reasons for liking and disliking heterosexuals, which determined whether the threats predicted to be salient for LGB mirrored the affordances they generated. Study 2 measured these perceived affordances and examined the extent to which they drove LGB's prejudices toward heterosexuals. Generally, perceptions of discrimination and unreciprocated sexual interest threats drove anger, physical safety and sexual autonomy threats drove fear, and values threats drove moral disgust toward heterosexuals, although results varied slightly by perceiver and target groups. Goals to alleviate the tensions between heterosexuals and LGB require an understanding of the dynamics between these groups. This research provides preliminary insights into understanding those dynamics. © 2016 by the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc.

Real threat of nuclear smuggling

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Williams, P.; Woessner, P.N.

1996-01-01

Trade in uranium and plutonium during the past five years has given smuggling unprecedented relevance to international security. Yet there is considerable controversy over the threat nuclear smuggling poses. Even though serious efforts are being made to attack the problem at the source, the international community has been slow to respond to the dangers that nuclear smuggling presents. We suggest that systematic multinational measures be taken as soon as possible to inhibit theft at the source, to disrupt trafficking and to deter buyers. The U.S., Germany, Russia and other nations with an interest in the nuclear problem should set up a 'flying squad' with an investigative arm, facilities for counter terrorist and counter extortion actions and a disaster management team. This paper discusses these issues. 3 refs

Pose Space Surface Manipulation

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Yusuke Yoshiyasu

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Example-based mesh deformation techniques produce natural and realistic shapes by learning the space of deformations from examples. However, skeleton-based methods cannot manipulate a global mesh structure naturally, whereas the mesh-based approaches based on a translational control do not allow the user to edit a local mesh structure intuitively. This paper presents an example-driven mesh editing framework that achieves both global and local pose manipulations. The proposed system is built with a surface deformation method based on a two-step linear optimization technique and achieves direct manipulations of a model surface using translational and rotational controls. With the translational control, the user can create a model in natural poses easily. The rotational control can adjust the local pose intuitively by bending and twisting. We encode example deformations with a rotation-invariant mesh representation which handles large rotations in examples. To incorporate example deformations, we infer a pose from the handle translations/rotations and perform pose space interpolation, thereby avoiding involved nonlinear optimization. With the two-step linear approach combined with the proposed multiresolution deformation method, we can edit models at interactive rates without losing important deformation effects such as muscle bulging.

Statistical Model-Based Face Pose Estimation

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

GE Xinliang; YANG Jie; LI Feng; WANG Huahua

2007-01-01

A robust face pose estimation approach is proposed by using face shape statistical model approach and pose parameters are represented by trigonometric functions. The face shape statistical model is firstly built by analyzing the face shapes from different people under varying poses. The shape alignment is vital in the process of building the statistical model. Then, six trigonometric functions are employed to represent the face pose parameters. Lastly, the mapping function is constructed between face image and face pose by linearly relating different parameters. The proposed approach is able to estimate different face poses using a few face training samples. Experimental results are provided to demonstrate its efficiency and accuracy.

Reducing the global threat of radiological terrorism in Central Asia and Caucus regions. The global threat reduction initiative approach to radioactive source security

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Smith, E.

2010-01-01

The security of radioactive sources is of worldwide concern, due to their wide use in civilian commerce and the potentially devastating effects of their misuse. In cooperation with host countries and international partners, the Global Threat Reduction Initiative has utilized a proven process for providing technical and financial assistance to protect radioactive sources in diverse uses and unique circumstances at hundreds of sites worldwide. The mission of the Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration's program includes reducing the risk posed by vulnerable radiological materials that could be used in a Radioactive Dispersal Device). The program's objectives are to identify, consolidate, secure, and/or dispose of high-activity radiological materials to prevent their theft and malicious use. The Global Threat Reduction Initiative Program's scope is global, with projects in over 100 countries at more than 755 radiological sites, including industrial, medical and commercial facilities. In addition to working bilaterally, the Program works closely with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and other partner countries. (author)

Jihadist Foreign Fighter Phenomenon in Western Europe: A Low-Probability, High-Impact Threat

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Edwin Bakker

2015-11-01

Full Text Available The phenomenon of foreign fighters in Syria and Iraq is making headlines. Their involvement in the atrocities committed by terrorist groups such as the so-called “Islamic State” and Jabhat al-Nusra have caused grave concern and public outcry in the foreign fighters’ European countries of origin. While much has been written about these foreign fighters and the possible threat they pose, the impact of this phenomenon on Western European societies has yet to be documented. This Research Paper explores four particular areas where this impact is most visible: a violent incidents associated with (returned foreign fighters, b official and political responses linked to these incidents, c public opinion, and d anti-Islam reactions linked to these incidents. The authors conclude that the phenomenon of jihadist foreign fighters in European societies should be primarily regarded as a social and political threat, not a physical one. They consider the phenomenon of European jihadist foreign fighters a “low-probability, high-impact” threat.

Tooth display and lip position during spontaneous and posed smiling in adults.

Science.gov (United States)

Van Der Geld, Pieter; Oosterveld, Paul; Berge, Stefaan J; Kuijpers-Jagtman, Anne M

2008-08-01

To analyze differences in tooth display, lip-line height, and smile width between the posed smiling record, traditionally produced for orthodontic diagnosis, and the spontaneous (Duchenne) smile of joy. The faces of 122 male participants were each filmed during spontaneous and posed smiling. Spontaneous smiles were elicited through the participants watching a comical movie. Maxillary and mandibular lip-line heights, tooth display, and smile width were measured using a digital videographic method for smile analysis. Paired sample t-tests were used to compare measurements of posed and spontaneous smiling. Maxillary lip-line heights during spontaneous smiling were significantly higher than during posed smiling. Compared to spontaneous smiling, tooth display in the (pre)molar area during posed smiling decreased by up to 30%, along with a significant reduction of smile width. During posed smiling, also mandibular lip-line heights changed and the teeth were more covered by the lower lip than during spontaneous smiling. Reduced lip-line heights, tooth display, and smile width on a posed smiling record can have implications for the diagnostics of lip-line height, smile arc, buccal corridors, and plane of occlusion. Spontaneous smiling records next to posed smiling records are therefore recommended for diagnostic purposes. Because of the dynamic nature of spontaneous smiling, it is proposed to switch to dynamic video recording of the smile.

Defending against the Advanced Persistent Threat: An Optimal Control Approach

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pengdeng Li

2018-01-01

Full Text Available The new cyberattack pattern of advanced persistent threat (APT has posed a serious threat to modern society. This paper addresses the APT defense problem, that is, the problem of how to effectively defend against an APT campaign. Based on a novel APT attack-defense model, the effectiveness of an APT defense strategy is quantified. Thereby, the APT defense problem is modeled as an optimal control problem, in which an optimal control stands for a most effective APT defense strategy. The existence of an optimal control is proved, and an optimality system is derived. Consequently, an optimal control can be figured out by solving the optimality system. Some examples of the optimal control are given. Finally, the influence of some factors on the effectiveness of an optimal control is examined through computer experiments. These findings help organizations to work out policies of defending against APTs.

Population structure, behavior, and current threats to the sarus crane (Grus antigone antigone in Nepal

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Kamal Raj Gosai

2016-09-01

Full Text Available The sarus crane (Grus antigone antigone is listed as “vulnerable” in the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Sarus cranes are distributed in the lowlands, but most live outside protected areas, especially in agricultural areas and wetlands of Nepal. The continuous expansion of agricultural land and the reduction of wetland habitats pose the greatest threats to the conservation of the species. We studied the sarus crane in the Rupandehi District of Nepal to understand their population structure, behavior, and current threats. We used the line (i.e., road transect method from August 2013 to February 2014. The study area contained 147 sarus cranes. Agricultural land and wetland areas contained the highest number of sarus cranes. Our analysis showed that the population of sarus crane in the area has declined since 2007. Most sarus cranes lived in pairs. A single flock contained 13 cranes at maximum. Sarus crane behavior was not significantly different before and after the breeding seasons. Human–sarus crane conflict began when cranes started utilizing agricultural areas. The main threats to the hatching success and survival of sarus cranes in the Rupendehi District are egg theft and the hunting of cranes for meat. The findings of this study establish baseline information on the overall conservation status, habitat availability, and ecological behavior of sarus cranes in the district. We propose regular surveys to monitor sarus crane population levels in the face of multiple anthropogenic threats to their survival.

Development of a semi-quantitative risk assessment model for evaluating environmental threat posed by the three first EU watch-list pharmaceuticals to urban wastewater treatment plants: An Irish case study.

Science.gov (United States)

Tahar, Alexandre; Tiedeken, Erin Jo; Clifford, Eoghan; Cummins, Enda; Rowan, Neil

2017-12-15

Contamination of receiving waters with pharmaceutical compounds is of pressing concern. This constitutes the first study to report on the development of a semi-quantitative risk assessment (RA) model for evaluating the environmental threat posed by three EU watch list pharmaceutical compounds namely, diclofenac, 17-beta-estradiol and 17-alpha-ethinylestradiol, to aquatic ecosystems using Irish data as a case study. This RA model adopts the Irish Environmental Protection Agency Source-Pathway-Receptor concept to define relevant parameters for calculating low, medium or high risk score for each agglomeration of wastewater treatment plant (WWTP), which include catchment, treatments, operational and management factors. This RA model may potentially be used on a national scale to (i) identify WWTPs that pose a particular risk as regards releasing disproportionally high levels of these pharmaceutical compounds, and (ii) help identify priority locations for introducing or upgrading control measures (e.g. tertiary treatment, source reduction). To assess risks for these substances of emerging concern, the model was applied to 16 urban WWTPs located in different regions in Ireland that were scored for the three different compounds and ranked as low, medium or high risk. As a validation proxy, this case study used limited monitoring data recorded at some these plants receiving waters. It is envisaged that this semi-quantitative RA approach may aid other EU countries investigate and screen for potential risks where limited measured or predicted environmental pollutant concentrations and/or hydrological data are available. This model is semi-quantitative, as other factors such as influence of climate change and drug usage or prescription data will need to be considered in a future point for estimating and predicting risks. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Toxic industrial chemicals (TICs) as asymmetric weapons: the design basis threat

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Skinner, L.

2009-01-01

Asymmetric warfare concepts relate well to the use of improvised chemical weapons against urban targets. Sources of information on toxic industrial chemicals (TICs) and lists of high threat chemicals are available that point to likely choices for an attack. Accident investigations can be used as a template for attacks, and to judge the possible effectiveness of an attack using TICs. The results of a chlorine rail car accident in South Carolina, USA and the Russian military assault on a Moscow theater provide many illustrative points for similar incidents that mighty be carried out deliberately. Computer modeling of outdoor releases shows how an attack might take into consideration issues of stand-off distance and dilution. Finally, the preceding may be used to estimate with some accuracy the design basis threat posed by the used of TICs as weapons.(author)

Adapting to the Changing Climate: An Assessment of Local Health Department Preparations for Climate Change-Related Health Threats, 2008-2012.

Science.gov (United States)

Roser-Renouf, Connie; Maibach, Edward W; Li, Jennifer

2016-01-01

Climate change poses a major public health threat. A survey of U.S. local health department directors in 2008 found widespread recognition of the threat, but limited adaptive capacity, due to perceived lack of expertise and other resources. We assessed changes between 2008 and 2012 in local public health departments' preparedness for the public health threats of climate change, in light of increasing national polarization on the issue, and widespread funding cutbacks for public health. A geographically representative online survey of directors of local public health departments was conducted in 2011-2012 (N = 174; response rate = 50%), and compared to the 2008 telephone survey results (N = 133; response rate = 61%). Significant polarization had occurred: more respondents in 2012 were certain that the threat of local climate change impacts does/does not exist, and fewer were unsure. Roughly 10% said it is not a threat, compared to 1% in 2008. Adaptation capacity decreased in several areas: perceived departmental expertise in climate change risk assessment; departmental prioritization of adaptation; and the number of adaptation-related programs and services departments provided. In 2008, directors' perceptions of local impacts predicted the number of adaptation-related programs and services their departments offered, but in 2012, funding predicted programming and directors' impact perceptions did not. This suggests that budgets were constraining directors' ability to respond to local climate change-related health threats. Results also suggest that departmental expertise may mitigate funding constraints. Strategies for overcoming these obstacles to local public health departments' preparations for climate change are discussed.

Countering the Nuclear Terrorist Threat

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vantine, H C

2002-01-01

The nuclear/radioactive threat to homeland security posed by terrorists can be broken into four categories. Of highest concern is the use of an improvised nuclear device (IND). An IND, as its name implies, is a nuclear explosive device. It produces nuclear yield, and this nuclear yield has catastrophic effects. An IND is the ultimate terrorist weapon, and terrorist groups are actively attempting to acquire nuclear weapons. Detonation of an IND could dwarf the devastation of the September 11 attack on the World Trade Center. Dealing with the aftermath of an IND would be horrific. Rescue efforts and cleanup would be hazardous and difficult. Workers would have to wear full protection suits and self-contained breathing apparatus. Because of the residual radioactivity, in certain locations they could only work short times before acquiring their ''lifetime'' dose. As with the Chernobyl event, some rescue workers might well expose themselves to lethal doses of radiation, adding to the casualty toll. Enormous volumes of contaminated debris would have to be removed and disposed. If a terrorist group decides not to pursue an actual nuclear device, it might well turn to Radiological Dispersal Devices (RDDs) or ''dirty bombs'' as they are often called. RDDs spread radioactivity but they do not generate nuclear yield. The fabrication of an RDD requires radioactive material and a dispersal mechanism. Radioactive materials are used all over the world for medical, industrial, and research applications. Standards for safe handling and accountability of radioactive material vary around the world. Stories in the press suggest inadequate controls on radiological materials in parts of the world. The effects of an RDD vary widely, and are measured in terms of contamination area, health effects to the exposed population, and economic consequences. Even a negligible, but measurable, exposure would exploit the general public's fear of things radioactive and would have significant

Autobiographical memory sources of threats in dreams.

Science.gov (United States)

Lafrenière, Alexandre; Lortie-Lussier, Monique; Dale, Allyson; Robidoux, Raphaëlle; De Koninck, Joseph

2018-02-01

Temporal sources of dream threats were examined through the paradigm of the Threat Simulation Theory. Two groups of young adults (18-24 years old), who did not experience severe threatening events in the year preceding their dream and reported a dream either with or without threats, were included. Participants (N = 119) kept a log of daily activities and a dream diary, indicating whether dream components referred to past experiences. The occurrence of oneiric threats correlated with the reporting of threats in the daily logs, their average severity, and the stress level experienced the day preceding the dream. The group whose dreams contained threats had significantly more references to temporal categories beyond one year than the group with dreams without threats. Our findings suggest that in the absence of recent highly negative emotional experiences, the threat simulation system selects memory traces of threatening events experienced in the past. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Digital danger: a review of the global public health, patient safety and cybersecurity threats posed by illicit online pharmacies

Science.gov (United States)

Mackey, Tim K.; Nayyar, Gaurvika

2016-01-01

Background Amidst the rise of e-commerce, there has been a proliferation of illicit online pharmacies that threaten global patient safety by selling drugs without a prescription directly to the consumer. Despite this clear threat, little is known about the key risk characteristics, central challenges and current legal, regulatory and law enforcement responses. Sources of data A review was conducted of the English literature with search terms ‘online pharmacies’, ‘Internet pharmacies’, ‘cyber pharmacies’, ‘rogue pharmacies’, and ‘e-pharmacies’ using PubMed, JSTOR, and Google Scholar from 1999–2005. Areas of agreement Illicit online pharmacies are a rapidly growing public health threat and are characterized by a number of complex and interrelated risk factors. Areas of controversy Solutions are varied and are of questionable utility in the face of evolving technology that enables this form of transnational cybercrime. Growing points Legal, regulatory and technology solutions must address the entire illicit online pharmacy ecosystem in order to be effective. Areas timely for developing research There is a critical need to build international consensus, conduct additional research and develop technology to combat illicit online pharmacies. PMID:27151957

Digital danger: a review of the global public health, patient safety and cybersecurity threats posed by illicit online pharmacies.

Science.gov (United States)

Mackey, Tim K; Nayyar, Gaurvika

2016-06-01

Amidst the rise of e-commerce, there has been a proliferation of illicit online pharmacies that threaten global patient safety by selling drugs without a prescription directly to the consumer. Despite this clear threat, little is known about the key risk characteristics, central challenges and current legal, regulatory and law enforcement responses. A review was conducted of the English literature with search terms 'online pharmacies', 'Internet pharmacies', 'cyber pharmacies', 'rogue pharmacies', and 'e-pharmacies' using PubMed, JSTOR, and Google Scholar from 1999-2005. Illicit online pharmacies are a rapidly growing public health threat and are characterized by a number of complex and interrelated risk factors. Solutions are varied and are of questionable utility in the face of evolving technology that enables this form of transnational cybercrime. Legal, regulatory and technology solutions must address the entire illicit online pharmacy ecosystem in order to be effective. There is a critical need to build international consensus, conduct additional research and develop technology to combat illicit online pharmacies. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Stereotypes as stumbling-blocks: how coping with stereotype threat affects life outcomes for people with physical disabilities.

Science.gov (United States)

Silverman, Arielle M; Cohen, Geoffrey L

2014-10-01

Stereotype threat, the concern about being judged in light of negative stereotypes, causes underperformance in evaluative situations. However, less is known about how coping with stereotypes can aggravate underperformance over time. We propose a model in which ongoing stereotype threat experiences threaten a person's sense of self-integrity, which in turn prompts defensive avoidance of stereotype-relevant situations, impeding growth, achievement, and well-being. We test this model in an important but understudied population: the physically disabled. In Study 1, blind adults reporting higher levels of stereotype threat reported lower self-integrity and well-being and were more likely to be unemployed and to report avoiding stereotype-threatening situations. In Study 2's field experiment, blind students in a compensatory skill-training program made more progress if they had completed a values-affirmation, an exercise that bolsters self-integrity. The findings suggest that stereotype threat poses a chronic threat to self-integrity and undermines life outcomes for people with disabilities. © 2014 by the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc.

Threats from urban expansion, agricultural transformation and forest loss on global conservation priority areas

Science.gov (United States)

Moilanen, Atte; Di Minin, Enrico

2017-01-01

Including threats in spatial conservation prioritization helps identify areas for conservation actions where biodiversity is at imminent risk of extinction. At the global level, an important limitation when identifying spatial priorities for conservation actions is the lack of information on the spatial distribution of threats. Here, we identify spatial conservation priorities under three prominent threats to biodiversity (residential and commercial development, agricultural expansion, and forest loss), which are primary drivers of habitat loss and threaten the persistence of the highest number of species in the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List, and for which spatial data is available. We first explore how global priority areas for the conservation of vertebrate (mammals, birds, and amphibians) species coded in the Red List as vulnerable to each threat differ spatially. We then identify spatial conservation priorities for all species vulnerable to all threats. Finally, we identify the potentially most threatened areas by overlapping the identified priority areas for conservation with maps for each threat. We repeat the same with four other well-known global conservation priority area schemes, namely Key Biodiversity Areas, Biodiversity Hotspots, the global Protected Area Network, and Wilderness Areas. We find that residential and commercial development directly threatens only about 4% of the global top 17% priority areas for species vulnerable under this threat. However, 50% of the high priority areas for species vulnerable to forest loss overlap with areas that have already experienced some forest loss. Agricultural expansion overlapped with ~20% of high priority areas. Biodiversity Hotspots had the greatest proportion of their total area under direct threat from all threats, while expansion of low intensity agriculture was found to pose an imminent threat to Wilderness Areas under future agricultural expansion. Our results

Pengenalan Pose Tangan Menggunakan HuMoment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dina Budhi Utami

2017-02-01

Full Text Available Computer vision yang didasarkan pada pengenalan bentuk memiliki banyak potensi dalam interaksi manusia dan komputer. Pose tangan dapat dijadikan simbol interaksi manusia dengan komputer seperti halnya pada penggunaan berbagai pose tangan pada bahasa isyarat. Berbagai pose tangan dapat digunakan untuk menggantikan fungsi mouse, untuk mengendalikan robot, dan sebagainya. Penelitian ini difokuskan pada pembangunan sistem pengenalan pose tangan menggunakan HuMoment. Proses pengenalan pose tangan dimulai dengan melakukan segmentasi citra masukan untuk menghasilkan citra ROI (Region of Interest yaitu area telapak tangan. Selanjutnya dilakukan proses deteksi tepi. Kemudian dilakukan ekstraksi nilai HuMoment. Nilai HuMoment dikuantisasikan ke dalam bukukode yang dihasilkan dari proses pelatihan menggunakan K-Means. Proses kuantisasi dilakukan dengan menghitung nilai Euclidean Distance terkecil antara nilai HuMomment citra masukan dan bukukode. Berdasarkan hasil penelitian, nilai akurasi sistem dalam mengenali pose tangan adalah 88.57%.

Using PLSI-U To Detect Insider Threats from Email Traffic

Science.gov (United States)

Okolica, James; Peterson, Gilbert; Mills, Robert

Despite a technology bias that focuses on external electronic threats, insiders pose the greatest threat to commercial and government organizations. Once information on a specific topic has gone missing, being able to quickly determine who has shown an interest in that topic can allow investigators to focus their attention. Even more promising is when individuals can be found who have an interest in the topic but who have never communicated that interest within the organization. An employee's interests can be discerned by data mining corporate email correspondence. These interests can be used to construct social networks that graphically expose investigative leads. This paper describes the use of Probabilistic Latent Semantic Indexing (PLSI) [4] extended to include users (PLSI-U) to determine topics that are of interest to employees from their email activity. It then applies PLSI-U to the Enron email corpus and finds a small number of employees (0.02%) who appear to have had clandestine interests.

Spontaneous and posed facial expression in Parkinson's disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, M C; Smith, M K; Ellgring, H

1996-09-01

Spontaneous and posed emotional facial expressions in individuals with Parkinson's disease (PD, n = 12) were compared with those of healthy age-matched controls (n = 12). The intensity and amount of facial expression in PD patients were expected to be reduced for spontaneous but not posed expressions. Emotional stimuli were video clips selected from films, 2-5 min in duration, designed to elicit feelings of happiness, sadness, fear, disgust, or anger. Facial movements were coded using Ekman and Friesen's (1978) Facial Action Coding System (FACS). In addition, participants rated their emotional experience on 9-point Likert scales. The PD group showed significantly less overall facial reactivity than did controls when viewing the films. The predicted Group X Condition (spontaneous vs. posed) interaction effect on smile intensity was found when PD participants with more severe disease were compared with those with milder disease and with controls. In contrast, ratings of emotional experience were similar for both groups. Depression was positively associated with emotion rating but not with measures of facial activity. Spontaneous facial expression appears to be selectively affected in PD, whereas posed expression and emotional experience remain relatively intact.

Cyber threat metrics.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Frye, Jason Neal; Veitch, Cynthia K.; Mateski, Mark Elliot; Michalski, John T.; Harris, James Mark; Trevino, Cassandra M.; Maruoka, Scott

2012-03-01

Threats are generally much easier to list than to describe, and much easier to describe than to measure. As a result, many organizations list threats. Fewer describe them in useful terms, and still fewer measure them in meaningful ways. This is particularly true in the dynamic and nebulous domain of cyber threats - a domain that tends to resist easy measurement and, in some cases, appears to defy any measurement. We believe the problem is tractable. In this report we describe threat metrics and models for characterizing threats consistently and unambiguously. The purpose of this report is to support the Operational Threat Assessment (OTA) phase of risk and vulnerability assessment. To this end, we focus on the task of characterizing cyber threats using consistent threat metrics and models. In particular, we address threat metrics and models for describing malicious cyber threats to US FCEB agencies and systems.

Hunted woolly monkeys (Lagothrix poeppigii show threat-sensitive responses to human presence.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sarah Papworth

Full Text Available Responding only to individuals of a predator species which display threatening behaviour allows prey species to minimise energy expenditure and other costs of predator avoidance, such as disruption of feeding. The threat sensitivity hypothesis predicts such behaviour in prey species. If hunted animals are unable to distinguish dangerous humans from non-dangerous humans, human hunting is likely to have a greater effect on prey populations as all human encounters should lead to predator avoidance, increasing stress and creating opportunity costs for exploited populations. We test the threat sensitivity hypothesis in wild Poeppigi's woolly monkeys (Lagothrix poeppigii in Yasuní National Park, Ecuador, by presenting human models engaging in one of three behaviours "hunting", "gathering" or "researching". These experiments were conducted at two sites with differing hunting pressures. Visibility, movement and vocalisations were recorded and results from two sites showed that groups changed their behaviours after being exposed to humans, and did so in different ways depending on the behaviour of the human model. Results at the site with higher hunting pressure were consistent with predictions based on the threat sensitivity hypothesis. Although results at the site with lower hunting pressure were not consistent with the results at the site with higher hunting pressure, groups at this site also showed differential responses to different human behaviours. These results provide evidence of threat-sensitive predator avoidance in hunted primates, which may allow them to conserve both time and energy when encountering humans which pose no threat.

Effects of night work, sleep loss and time on task on simulated threat detection performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Basner, Mathias; Rubinstein, Joshua; Fomberstein, Kenneth M; Coble, Matthew C; Ecker, Adrian; Avinash, Deepa; Dinges, David F

2008-09-01

To investigate the effects of night work and sleep loss on a simulated luggage screening task (SLST) that mimicked the x-ray system used by airport luggage screeners. We developed more than 5,800 unique simulated x-ray images of luggage organized into 31 stimulus sets of 200 bags each. 25% of each set contained either a gun or a knife with low or high target difficulty. The 200-bag stimuli sets were then run on software that simulates an x-ray screening system (SLST). Signal detection analysis was used to obtain measures of hit rate (HR), false alarm rate (FAR), threat detection accuracy (A'), and response bias (B"(D)). Experimental laboratory study 24 healthy nonprofessional volunteers (13 women, mean age +/- SD = 29.9 +/- 6.5 years). Subjects performed the SLST every 2 h during a 5-day period that included a 35 h period of wakefulness that extended to night work and then another day work period after the night without sleep. Threat detection accuracy A' decreased significantly (P work, while both A' (P = 0.001) and HR decreased (P = 0.008) during day work following sleep loss. There were prominent time-on-task effects on response bias B"(D) (P= 0.002) and response latency (P = 0.004), but accuracy A' was unaffected. Both HR and FAR increased significantly with increasing study duration (both P work and sleep loss adversely affect the accuracy of detecting complex real world objects among high levels of background clutter. If the results can be replicated in professional screeners and real work environments, fatigue in luggage screening personnel may pose a threat for air traffic safety unless countermeasures for fatigue are deployed.

Potential Threats Posed by Tetrodotoxins in UK Waters: Examination of Detection Methodology Used in Their Control

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Andrew D. Turner

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Tetrodotoxin is a neurotoxin responsible for many human fatalities, most commonly following the consumption of pufferfish. Whilst the source of the toxin has not been conclusively proven, it is thought to be associated with various species of marine bacteria. Whilst the toxins are well studied in fish and gastropods, in recent years, there have been a number of reports of tetrodotoxin occurring in bivalve shellfish, including those harvested from the UK and other parts of Europe. This paper reviews evidence concerning the prevalence of tetrodotoxins in the UK together with methodologies currently available for testing. Biological, biomolecular and chemical methods are reviewed, including recommendations for further work. With the recent development of quantitative chromatographic methods for these and other hydrophilic toxins, as well as the commercial availability of rapid testing kits, there are a number of options available to ensure consumers are protected against this threat.

The Human Threat to River Ecosystems at the Watershed Scale: An Ecological Security Assessment of the Songhua River Basin, Northeast China

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Yuan Shen

2017-03-01

Full Text Available Human disturbances impact river basins by reducing the quality of, and services provided by, aquatic ecosystems. Conducting quantitative assessments of ecological security at the watershed scale is important for enhancing the water quality of river basins and promoting environmental management. In this study, China’s Songhua River Basin was divided into 204 assessment units by combining watershed and administrative boundaries. Ten human threat factors were identified based on their significant influence on the river ecosystem. A modified ecological threat index was used to synthetically evaluate the ecological security, where frequency was weighted by flow length from the grids to the main rivers, while severity was weighted by the potential hazard of the factors on variables of river ecosystem integrity. The results showed that individual factors related to urbanization, agricultural development and facility construction presented different spatial distribution characteristics. At the center of the plain area, the provincial capital cities posed the highest level of threat, as did the municipal districts of prefecture-level cities. The spatial relationships between hot spot locations of the ecological threat index and water quality, as well as the distribution areas of critically endangered species, were analyzed. The sensitivity analysis illustrated that alteration of agricultural development largely changed the ecological security level of the basin. By offering a reference for assessing ecological security, this study can enhance water environmental planning and management.

NATO Advanced Research Workshop on Preparedness for Nuclear and Radiological Threats

CERN Document Server

Diamond, David

2015-01-01

The nuclear crisis in Fukushima and growing threats of nuclear terrorism must serve as a wake-up call, prompting greater action to prepare ourselves for nuclear and radiological disasters. Our strategy to prepare for these threats is multi-layered and the events of these past years have proved the necessity to re-evaluate the national and international preparedness goals on a scale never before considered. The programme of NATO Advanced Research Workshop on “Preparedness for Nuclear and Radiological Threats” has been focused on science and technology challenges associated with our need to improve the national and international capacity and capability to prevent, protect against, mitigate the effects of, respond to, and recover from the nuclear and radiological disasters, including nuclear and radiological accident, terrorist attack by Improvised Nuclear Device (IND) or by “Dirty Bomb”-Radiological Dispersal Device (RDD), that pose the greatest risk to the national and international security and safety...

Problem posing reflections and applications

CERN Document Server

Brown, Stephen I

2014-01-01

As a result of the editors' collaborative teaching at Harvard in the late 1960s, they produced a ground-breaking work -- The Art Of Problem Posing -- which related problem posing strategies to the already popular activity of problem solving. It took the concept of problem posing and created strategies for engaging in that activity as a central theme in mathematics education. Based in part upon that work and also upon a number of articles by its authors, other members of the mathematics education community began to apply and expand upon their ideas. This collection of thirty readings is a tes

Stereotype threat can both enhance and impair older adults' memory.

Science.gov (United States)

Barber, Sarah J; Mather, Mara

2013-12-01

Negative stereotypes about aging can impair older adults' memory via stereotype threat; however, the mechanisms underlying this phenomenon are unclear. In two experiments, we tested competing predictions derived from two theoretical accounts of stereotype threat: executive-control interference and regulatory fit. Older adults completed a working memory test either under stereotype threat about age-related memory declines or not under such threat. Monetary incentives were manipulated such that recall led to gains or forgetting led to losses. The executive-control-interference account predicts that stereotype threat decreases the availability of executive-control resources and hence should impair working memory performance. The regulatory-fit account predicts that threat induces a prevention focus, which should impair performance when gains are emphasized but improve performance when losses are emphasized. Results were consistent only with the regulatory-fit account. Although stereotype threat significantly impaired older adults' working memory performance when remembering led to gains, it significantly improved performance when forgetting led to losses.

Affirmative Action and Stereotype Threat

OpenAIRE

Cohen, Alma

2015-01-01

This paper provides experimental evidence on the effect of affirmative action (AA). In particular, we investigate whether affirmative action has a ”stereotype threat effect” – that is, whether AA cues a negative stereotype that leads individuals to conform to the stereotype and adversely affects their performance. Stereotype threat has been shown in the literature to be potentially significant for individuals who identify strongly with the domain of the stereotype and who engage in complex st...

Stereotype Threat.

Science.gov (United States)

Spencer, Steven J; Logel, Christine; Davies, Paul G

2016-01-01

When members of a stigmatized group find themselves in a situation where negative stereotypes provide a possible framework for interpreting their behavior, the risk of being judged in light of those stereotypes can elicit a disruptive state that undermines performance and aspirations in that domain. This situational predicament, termed stereotype threat, continues to be an intensely debated and researched topic in educational, social, and organizational psychology. In this review, we explore the various sources of stereotype threat, the mechanisms underlying stereotype-threat effects (both mediators and moderators), and the consequences of this situational predicament, as well as the means through which society and stigmatized individuals can overcome the insidious effects of stereotype threat. Ultimately, we hope this review alleviates some of the confusion surrounding stereotype threat while also sparking further research and debate.

Human action recognition based on estimated weak poses

Science.gov (United States)

Gong, Wenjuan; Gonzàlez, Jordi; Roca, Francesc Xavier

2012-12-01

We present a novel method for human action recognition (HAR) based on estimated poses from image sequences. We use 3D human pose data as additional information and propose a compact human pose representation, called a weak pose, in a low-dimensional space while still keeping the most discriminative information for a given pose. With predicted poses from image features, we map the problem from image feature space to pose space, where a Bag of Poses (BOP) model is learned for the final goal of HAR. The BOP model is a modified version of the classical bag of words pipeline by building the vocabulary based on the most representative weak poses for a given action. Compared with the standard k-means clustering, our vocabulary selection criteria is proven to be more efficient and robust against the inherent challenges of action recognition. Moreover, since for action recognition the ordering of the poses is discriminative, the BOP model incorporates temporal information: in essence, groups of consecutive poses are considered together when computing the vocabulary and assignment. We tested our method on two well-known datasets: HumanEva and IXMAS, to demonstrate that weak poses aid to improve action recognition accuracies. The proposed method is scene-independent and is comparable with the state-of-art method.

Unpacking Terrorism, Revolution and Insurgency in Yemen: Real and Imagined Threats to Regional Security

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Alexandra Lewis

2013-10-01

Full Text Available Recent months have seen a seeming escalation in the international threat posed by Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP, a terrorist network that has taken Yemen as its regional base of operations. In light of recent attacks, and resulting embassy closures, Yemen is a rising priority in the Western-led War on Terror. However, this has resulted in a side-lining of other security threats in Yemen, which may cause serious challenges to the authority of the Yemeni Government. In reality, the role of AQAP has been heavily manipulated throughout Yemen’s contemporary history: this was most evident during the 2011 Arab Spring, when both sides in the conflict claimed that Al Qaeda operatives were working with members of the other. Two years later, the true nature of the AQAP threat in Yemen is rarely questioned by external observers, yet remains largely shrouded in mystery. There is a need for more critical approaches to the AQAP challenges, which take the broader context of Yemeni security into account.

What About the Children? The Threat of Nuclear War and Our Responsibility to Preserve this Planet for Future Generations.

Science.gov (United States)

Hawkes, Glenn W.

Part of a global effort, this brochure was written to increase understanding of the threat nuclear war poses to children. Several issues are raised and briefly discussed, including (1) the present capacity for annihilating the next generation or ending human life on this planet, (2) the inadequacy of deterrence, (3) the suffering of children after…

British National Party representations of Muslims in the month after the London bombings: homogeneity, threat, and the conspiracy tradition.

Science.gov (United States)

Wood, C; Finlay, W M L

2008-12-01

This study presents an analysis of articles written by prominent members of the British National Party. Each of these articles discussed Muslims and Islam in the aftermath of the 7 July 2005 London bombings. Two prominent discursive themes are discussed here. The first concerned the writers' constructions of the threat that Muslims and Islam pose to Britain. Central to this theme were constructions of Muslims as 'fascists', anti-white racists, and all potentially dangerous, although there was variability in this. Using the Koran as evidence, the articles present a vision of a faith which intends to take over the country; in this way, a homogenous, culturally essentialist version of Muslims is worked up. The second theme illustrates how the writers challenge those who believe that creating a British multicultural society is possible, and in doing so construct liberals and multiculturalists as also posing a threat to the country. The ways in which this represents a variety of conspiracy theory, and the implications of these constructions for social action, are discussed.

Stereotype threat and executive functions: which functions mediate different threat-related outcomes?

Science.gov (United States)

Rydell, Robert J; Van Loo, Katie J; Boucher, Kathryn L

2014-03-01

Stereotype threat research shows that women's math performance can be reduced by activating gender-based math stereotypes. Models of stereotype threat assert that threat reduces cognitive functioning, thereby accounting for its negative effects. This work provides a more detailed understanding of the cognitive processes through which stereotype threat leads women to underperform at math and to take risks, by examining which basic executive functions (inhibition, shifting, and updating) account for these outcomes. In Experiments 1 and 2, women under threat showed reduced inhibition, reduced updating, and reduced math performance compared with women in a control condition (or men); however, only updating accounted for women's poor math performance under threat. In Experiment 3, only updating accounted for stereotype threat's effect on women's math performance, whereas only inhibition accounted for the effect of threat on risk-taking, suggesting that distinct executive functions can account for different stereotype threat-related outcomes.

Web-based Visualisation of Head Pose and Facial Expressions Changes:

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kalliatakis, Grigorios; Vidakis, Nikolaos; Triantafyllidis, Georgios

2016-01-01

Despite significant recent advances in the field of head pose estimation and facial expression recognition, raising the cognitive level when analysing human activity presents serious challenges to current concepts. Motivated by the need of generating comprehensible visual representations from...... and accurately estimate head pose changes in unconstrained environment. In order to complete the secondary process of recognising four universal dominant facial expressions (happiness, anger, sadness and surprise), emotion recognition via facial expressions (ERFE) was adopted. After that, a lightweight data...

How Is Existential Threat Related to Intergroup Conflict? Introducing the Multidimensional Existential Threat (MET) Model

Science.gov (United States)

Hirschberger, Gilad; Ein-Dor, Tsachi; Leidner, Bernhard; Saguy, Tamar

2016-01-01

Existential threat lies at the heart of intergroup conflict, but the literature on existential concerns lacks clear conceptualization and integration. To address this problem, we offer a new conceptualization and measurement of existential threat. We establish the reliability and validity of our measure, and to illustrate its utility, we examine whether different existential threats underlie the association between political ideology and support for specific political policies. Study 1 (N = 798) established the construct validity of the scale, and revealed four distinct existential threats: personal death (PD), physical collective annihilation (PA), symbolic collective annihilation (SA), and past victimization (PV). Study 2 (N = 424) confirmed the 4-factor structure, and the convergent and discriminant validity of the scale. Study 3 (N = 170) revealed that the association between a hawkish political ideology and support for hardline policies was mediated by PV, whereas the association between a dovish political ideology and conciliatory policies was mediated by concerns over collective symbolic annihilation. Study 4 (N = 503) conceptually replicated the pattern of findings found in Study 3, and showed that at times of conflict, PA concerns also mediate the relationship between hawkish ideologies and support for hardline policies. In both Studies 3 and 4, when controlling for other threats, PD did not play a significant role. These results underscore the need to consider the multidimensional nature of existential threat, especially in the context of political conflict. PMID:27994561

Threats of Password Pattern Leakage Using Smartwatch Motion Recognition Sensors

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Jihun Kim

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Thanks to the development of Internet of Things (IoT technologies, wearable markets have been growing rapidly. Smartwatches can be said to be the most representative product in wearable markets, and involve various hardware technologies in order to overcome the limitations of small hardware. Motion recognition sensors are a representative example of those hardware technologies. However, smartwatches and motion recognition sensors that can be worn by users may pose security threats of password pattern leakage. In the present paper, passwords are inferred through experiments to obtain password patterns inputted by users using motion recognition sensors, and verification of the results and the accuracy of the results is shown.

Cosmic bombardment V: Threat object-dispersing approaches to active planetary defense

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Teller, E.; Wood, L. [Stanford Univ., CA (United States). Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace]|[Lawrence Livermore National Lab., CA (United States); Ishikawa, M. [Stanford Univ., CA (United States). Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics]|[Lawrence Livermore National Lab., CA (United States); Hyde, R. [Lawrence Livermore National Lab., CA (United States)

1995-05-24

Earth-impacting comets and asteroids with diameters {approx}0.03 - 10 km pose the greatest threats to the terrestrial biosphere in terms of impact frequency-weighted impact consequences, and thus are of most concern to designers of active planetary defenses. Specific gravitational binding energies of such objects range from 10{sup -7} to 10{sup -2} J/gm, and are small compared with the specific energies of 1x10{sup 3} to 3x10{sup 3} J/gm required to vaporize objects of typical composition or the specific energies required to pulverize them, which are 10{sup -1} to 10 J/gm. All of these are small compared to the specific kinetic energy of these objects in the Earth- centered frame, which is 2x10{sup 5} to 2x10{sup 6} J/gm. The prospect naturally arises of negating all such threats by deflecting, pulverizing or vaporizing the objects. Pulverization-with-dispersal is an attractive option of reasonable defensive robustness. Examples of such equipments - which employ no explosives of any type - are given. Vaporization is the maximally robust defensive option, and may be invoked to negate threat objects not observed until little time is left until Earth-strike, and pulverization-with-dispersal has proven inadequate. Physically larger threats may be vaporized with nuclear explosives. No contemporary technical means of any kind appear capable of directly dispersing the -100 km diameter scale Charon- class cometary objects recently observed in the outer solar system, although such objects may be deflected to defensively useful extents. Means of implementing defenses of each of these types are proposed for specificity, and areas for optimization noted. Biospheric impacts of threat object debris are briefly considered, for bounding purposes. Experiments are suggested on cometary and asteroidal objects.

Use of modified threat reduction assessments to estimate success of conservation measures within and adjacent to Kruger National Park, South Africa.

Science.gov (United States)

Anthony, Brandon P

2008-12-01

The importance of biodiversity as natural capital for economic development and sustaining human welfare is well documented. Nevertheless, resource degradation rates and persistent deterioration of human welfare in developing countries is increasingly worrisome. Developing effective monitoring and evaluation schemes and measuring biodiversity loss continue to pose unique challenges, particularly when there is a paucity of historical data. Threat reduction assessment (TRA) has been proposed as a method to measure conservation success and as a proxy measurement of conservation impact, monitoring threats to resources rather than changes to biological parameters themselves. This tool is considered a quick, practical alternative to more cost- and time-intensive approaches, but has inherent weaknesses. I conducted TRAs to evaluate the effectiveness of Kruger National Park (KNP) and Limpopo Province, South Africa, in mitigating threats to biodiversity from 1994 to 2004 in 4 geographical areas. I calculated TRA index values in these TRAs by using the original scoring developed by Margoluis and Salafsky (2001)and a modified scoring system that assigned negative mitigation values to incorporate new or worsening threats. Threats were standardized to allow comparisons across the sites. Modified TRA index values were significantly lower than values derived from the original scoring exercise. Five of the 11 standardized threats were present in all 4 assessment areas, 2 were restricted to KNP, 2 to Limpopo Province, and 2 only to Malamulele municipality. These results indicate, first, the need to integrate negative mitigation values into TRA scoring. By including negative values, investigators will be afforded a more accurate picture of biodiversity threats and of temporal and spatial trends across sites. Where the original TRA scoring was used to measure conservation success, reevaluation of these cases with the modified scoring is recommended. Second, practitioners must

Problem Posing with Realistic Mathematics Education Approach in Geometry Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Mahendra, R.; Slamet, I.; Budiyono

2017-09-01

One of the difficulties of students in the learning of geometry is on the subject of plane that requires students to understand the abstract matter. The aim of this research is to determine the effect of Problem Posing learning model with Realistic Mathematics Education Approach in geometry learning. This quasi experimental research was conducted in one of the junior high schools in Karanganyar, Indonesia. The sample was taken using stratified cluster random sampling technique. The results of this research indicate that the model of Problem Posing learning with Realistic Mathematics Education Approach can improve students’ conceptual understanding significantly in geometry learning especially on plane topics. It is because students on the application of Problem Posing with Realistic Mathematics Education Approach are become to be active in constructing their knowledge, proposing, and problem solving in realistic, so it easier for students to understand concepts and solve the problems. Therefore, the model of Problem Posing learning with Realistic Mathematics Education Approach is appropriately applied in mathematics learning especially on geometry material. Furthermore, the impact can improve student achievement.

Applying the multi-threat framework of stereotype threat in the context of digital gaming.

Science.gov (United States)

Pennington, Charlotte R; Kaye, Linda K; McCann, Joseph J

2018-01-01

Females often report experiencing stigmatisation pertaining to their competency in digital gaming communities. Employing the principles of the multi-threat framework of stereotype threat, the current research examined the impact of gender-related stereotypes on females' gaming performance and related self-perceptions. In Experiment 1, 90 females were assigned to one of three conditions in which they were primed that their performance would be either diagnostic of their personal (self-as-target) or gender group's ability (group-as-target) or would be non-diagnostic of gaming ability (control). In Experiment 2, 90 females were primed that their performance would be judged by a group of other females (in-group source) or males (out-group source), or would be non-diagnostic of ability (control). Participants then completed a casual gaming task, as well as measures of competence beliefs, self-efficacy and self-esteem. Findings from Experiment 1 indicate that neither a self-as-target nor a group-as-target stereotype affected significantly gaming performance, or game-related self-efficacy, self-esteem and competency beliefs. Findings from Experiment 2 reveal further that females' gaming performance and associated self-perceptions were not impacted significantly by an in-group or out-group source of stereotype threat. The discussion turns to potential explanations for these findings, proposing that females may not perceive negative gender-gaming stereotypes to be an accurate representation of their personal or social group's gaming ability. We also discuss the implications of the experimental design and difficulty, as well as the potential for domain identification to moderate performance outcomes under stereotype threat.

Applying the multi-threat framework of stereotype threat in the context of digital gaming.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Charlotte R Pennington

Full Text Available Females often report experiencing stigmatisation pertaining to their competency in digital gaming communities. Employing the principles of the multi-threat framework of stereotype threat, the current research examined the impact of gender-related stereotypes on females' gaming performance and related self-perceptions. In Experiment 1, 90 females were assigned to one of three conditions in which they were primed that their performance would be either diagnostic of their personal (self-as-target or gender group's ability (group-as-target or would be non-diagnostic of gaming ability (control. In Experiment 2, 90 females were primed that their performance would be judged by a group of other females (in-group source or males (out-group source, or would be non-diagnostic of ability (control. Participants then completed a casual gaming task, as well as measures of competence beliefs, self-efficacy and self-esteem. Findings from Experiment 1 indicate that neither a self-as-target nor a group-as-target stereotype affected significantly gaming performance, or game-related self-efficacy, self-esteem and competency beliefs. Findings from Experiment 2 reveal further that females' gaming performance and associated self-perceptions were not impacted significantly by an in-group or out-group source of stereotype threat. The discussion turns to potential explanations for these findings, proposing that females may not perceive negative gender-gaming stereotypes to be an accurate representation of their personal or social group's gaming ability. We also discuss the implications of the experimental design and difficulty, as well as the potential for domain identification to moderate performance outcomes under stereotype threat.

Hymenoptera of Afghanistan and the central command area of operations: assessing the threat to deployed U.S. service members with insect venom hypersensitivity.

Science.gov (United States)

Turbyville, Joseph C; Dunford, James C; Nelson, Michael R

2013-01-01

Insect venom hypersensitivity can pose a threat to personnel deployed to a combat zone but the exposure risk in Afghanistan is currently unknown. This study was designed to assess the threat of Hymenoptera stings and associated allergic reactions in Afghanistan. Hymenoptera species were collected during a deployment to southern Afghanistan from June 2010 through January 2011. The literature was also reviewed to determine species of medically important Hymenoptera recorded in the region. The U.S. Army theater electronic medical data system was mined for ICD-9 codes associated with insect stings to determine the number of theater medical clinic encounters addressing insect sting reactions. Three species of flying hymenoptera were commonly encountered during the study period: Vespa orientalis L., Polistes wattii Cameron, and Vespula germanica (F.). A literature review also confirms the presence of honeybees (Apidae), numerous velvet ant (Mutillidae) species, and various ant (Formicidae) species all capable of stinging. No evidence was identified to suggest that fire ants (Solenopsis ssp.) are a threat in the region. Based on electronic medical records from the U.S. Central Command area of operations over a 2-year period, roughly 1 in 500 clinic visits involved a patient with a diagnosis of insect bite or sting. Cross-reactive members of all five flying Hymenoptera species commonly assessed for in Hymenoptera allergy evaluations are present in Afghanistan. The review of in-theater medical records confirms that insect stings pose an environmental threat to deployed service members.

Improving Visual Threat Detection: Research to Validate the Threat Detection Skills Trainer

Science.gov (United States)

2013-08-01

26 Threat Detection and Mitigation Strategies...quicker when identifying threats in relevant locations. This task utilized the Flicker paradigm (Rensink, O’Regan, & Clark, 1997; Scholl, 2000...the meaning and implication of threats, why cues were relevant, strategies used to detect and mitigate threats, and challenges when attempting to

Students’ Creativity: Problem Posing in Structured Situation

Science.gov (United States)

Amalina, I. K.; Amirudin, M.; Budiarto, M. T.

2018-01-01

This is a qualitative research concerning on students’ creativity on problem posing task. The study aimed at describing the students’ creative thinking ability to pose the mathematics problem in structured situations with varied condition of given problems. In order to find out the students’ creative thinking ability, an analysis of mathematics problem posing test based on fluency, novelty, and flexibility and interview was applied for categorizing students’ responses on that task. The data analysis used the quality of problem posing and categorized in 4 level of creativity. The results revealed from 29 secondary students grade 8, a student in CTL (Creative Thinking Level) 1 met the fluency. A student in CTL 2 met the novelty, while a student in CTL 3 met both fluency and novelty and no one in CTL 4. These results are affected by students’ mathematical experience. The findings of this study highlight that student’s problem posing creativity are dependent on their experience in mathematics learning and from the point of view of which students start to pose problem.

Protected areas in tropical Africa: assessing threats and conservation activities.

Science.gov (United States)

Tranquilli, Sandra; Abedi-Lartey, Michael; Abernethy, Katharine; Amsini, Fidèle; Asamoah, Augustus; Balangtaa, Cletus; Blake, Stephen; Bouanga, Estelle; Breuer, Thomas; Brncic, Terry M; Campbell, Geneviève; Chancellor, Rebecca; Chapman, Colin A; Davenport, Tim R B; Dunn, Andrew; Dupain, Jef; Ekobo, Atanga; Eno-Nku, Manasseh; Etoga, Gilles; Furuichi, Takeshi; Gatti, Sylvain; Ghiurghi, Andrea; Hashimoto, Chie; Hart, John A; Head, Josephine; Hega, Martin; Herbinger, Ilka; Hicks, Thurston C; Holbech, Lars H; Huijbregts, Bas; Kühl, Hjalmar S; Imong, Inaoyom; Yeno, Stephane Le-Duc; Linder, Joshua; Marshall, Phil; Lero, Peter Minasoma; Morgan, David; Mubalama, Leonard; N'Goran, Paul K; Nicholas, Aaron; Nixon, Stuart; Normand, Emmanuelle; Nziguyimpa, Leonidas; Nzooh-Dongmo, Zacharie; Ofori-Amanfo, Richard; Ogunjemite, Babafemi G; Petre, Charles-Albert; Rainey, Hugo J; Regnaut, Sebastien; Robinson, Orume; Rundus, Aaron; Sanz, Crickette M; Okon, David Tiku; Todd, Angelique; Warren, Ymke; Sommer, Volker

2014-01-01

Numerous protected areas (PAs) have been created in Africa to safeguard wildlife and other natural resources. However, significant threats from anthropogenic activities and decline of wildlife populations persist, while conservation efforts in most PAs are still minimal. We assessed the impact level of the most common threats to wildlife within PAs in tropical Africa and the relationship of conservation activities with threat impact level. We collated data on 98 PAs with tropical forest cover from 15 countries across West, Central and East Africa. For this, we assembled information about local threats as well as conservation activities from published and unpublished literature, and questionnaires sent to long-term field workers. We constructed general linear models to test the significance of specific conservation activities in relation to the threat impact level. Subsistence and commercial hunting were identified as the most common direct threats to wildlife and found to be most prevalent in West and Central Africa. Agriculture and logging represented the most common indirect threats, and were most prevalent in West Africa. We found that the long-term presence of conservation activities (such as law enforcement, research and tourism) was associated with lower threat impact levels. Our results highlight deficiencies in the management effectiveness of several PAs across tropical Africa, and conclude that PA management should invest more into conservation activities with long-term duration.

Protected areas in tropical Africa: assessing threats and conservation activities.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sandra Tranquilli

Full Text Available Numerous protected areas (PAs have been created in Africa to safeguard wildlife and other natural resources. However, significant threats from anthropogenic activities and decline of wildlife populations persist, while conservation efforts in most PAs are still minimal. We assessed the impact level of the most common threats to wildlife within PAs in tropical Africa and the relationship of conservation activities with threat impact level. We collated data on 98 PAs with tropical forest cover from 15 countries across West, Central and East Africa. For this, we assembled information about local threats as well as conservation activities from published and unpublished literature, and questionnaires sent to long-term field workers. We constructed general linear models to test the significance of specific conservation activities in relation to the threat impact level. Subsistence and commercial hunting were identified as the most common direct threats to wildlife and found to be most prevalent in West and Central Africa. Agriculture and logging represented the most common indirect threats, and were most prevalent in West Africa. We found that the long-term presence of conservation activities (such as law enforcement, research and tourism was associated with lower threat impact levels. Our results highlight deficiencies in the management effectiveness of several PAs across tropical Africa, and conclude that PA management should invest more into conservation activities with long-term duration.

Invasive lionfish (Pterois volitans): a potential human health threat for ciguatera fish poisoning in tropical waters.

Science.gov (United States)

Robertson, Alison; Garcia, Ana C; Quintana, Harold A Flores; Smith, Tyler B; Castillo, Bernard F; Reale-Munroe, Kynoch; Gulli, Joseph A; Olsen, David A; Hooe-Rollman, Jennifer I; Jester, Edward L E; Klimek, Brian J; Plakas, Steven M

2013-12-27

Invasive Indo-Pacific lionfish (Pterois volitans) have rapidly expanded in the Western Atlantic over the past decade and have had a significant negative impact on reef fish biodiversity, habitat, and community structure, with lionfish out-competing native predators for resources. In an effort to reduce this population explosion, lionfish have been promoted for human consumption in the greater Caribbean region. This study examined whether the geographical expansion of the lionfish into a known ciguatera-endemic region can pose a human health threat for ciguatera fish poisoning (CFP). More than 180 lionfish were collected from waters surrounding the US Virgin Islands throughout 2010 and 2011. Ciguatoxin testing included an in vitro neuroblastoma cytotoxicity assay for composite toxicity assessment of sodium-channel toxins combined with confirmatory liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry. A 12% prevalence rate of ciguatoxic lionfish exceeding the FDA guidance level of 0.1 µg/kg C-CTX-1 equivalents was identified in fish from the U.S. Virgin Islands, highlighting a potential consumption risk in this region. This study presents the first evidence that the invasive lionfish, pose a direct human health risk for CFP and highlights the need for awareness and research on this food safety hazard in known endemic areas.

Invasive Lionfish (Pterois volitans: A Potential Human Health Threat for Ciguatera Fish Poisoning in Tropical Waters

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alison Robertson

2013-12-01

Full Text Available Invasive Indo-Pacific lionfish (Pterois volitans have rapidly expanded in the Western Atlantic over the past decade and have had a significant negative impact on reef fish biodiversity, habitat, and community structure, with lionfish out-competing native predators for resources. In an effort to reduce this population explosion, lionfish have been promoted for human consumption in the greater Caribbean region. This study examined whether the geographical expansion of the lionfish into a known ciguatera-endemic region can pose a human health threat for ciguatera fish poisoning (CFP. More than 180 lionfish were collected from waters surrounding the US Virgin Islands throughout 2010 and 2011. Ciguatoxin testing included an in vitro neuroblastoma cytotoxicity assay for composite toxicity assessment of sodium-channel toxins combined with confirmatory liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry. A 12% prevalence rate of ciguatoxic lionfish exceeding the FDA guidance level of 0.1 µg/kg C-CTX-1 equivalents was identified in fish from the U.S. Virgin Islands, highlighting a potential consumption risk in this region. This study presents the first evidence that the invasive lionfish, pose a direct human health risk for CFP and highlights the need for awareness and research on this food safety hazard in known endemic areas.

Invasive Lionfish (Pterois volitans): A Potential Human Health Threat for Ciguatera Fish Poisoning in Tropical Waters

Science.gov (United States)

Robertson, Alison; Garcia, Ana C.; Flores Quintana, Harold A.; Smith, Tyler B.; Castillo, Bernard F.; Reale-Munroe, Kynoch; Gulli, Joseph A.; Olsen, David A.; Hooe-Rollman, Jennifer I.; Jester, Edward L. E.; Klimek, Brian J.; Plakas, Steven M.

2013-01-01

Invasive Indo-Pacific lionfish (Pterois volitans) have rapidly expanded in the Western Atlantic over the past decade and have had a significant negative impact on reef fish biodiversity, habitat, and community structure, with lionfish out-competing native predators for resources. In an effort to reduce this population explosion, lionfish have been promoted for human consumption in the greater Caribbean region. This study examined whether the geographical expansion of the lionfish into a known ciguatera-endemic region can pose a human health threat for ciguatera fish poisoning (CFP). More than 180 lionfish were collected from waters surrounding the US Virgin Islands throughout 2010 and 2011. Ciguatoxin testing included an in vitro neuroblastoma cytotoxicity assay for composite toxicity assessment of sodium-channel toxins combined with confirmatory liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry. A 12% prevalence rate of ciguatoxic lionfish exceeding the FDA guidance level of 0.1 µg/kg C-CTX-1 equivalents was identified in fish from the U.S. Virgin Islands, highlighting a potential consumption risk in this region. This study presents the first evidence that the invasive lionfish, pose a direct human health risk for CFP and highlights the need for awareness and research on this food safety hazard in known endemic areas. PMID:24378919

Scaling range sizes to threats for robust predictions of risks to biodiversity.

Science.gov (United States)

Keith, David A; Akçakaya, H Resit; Murray, Nicholas J

2018-04-01

Assessments of risk to biodiversity often rely on spatial distributions of species and ecosystems. Range-size metrics used extensively in these assessments, such as area of occupancy (AOO), are sensitive to measurement scale, prompting proposals to measure them at finer scales or at different scales based on the shape of the distribution or ecological characteristics of the biota. Despite its dominant role in red-list assessments for decades, appropriate spatial scales of AOO for predicting risks of species' extinction or ecosystem collapse remain untested and contentious. There are no quantitative evaluations of the scale-sensitivity of AOO as a predictor of risks, the relationship between optimal AOO scale and threat scale, or the effect of grid uncertainty. We used stochastic simulation models to explore risks to ecosystems and species with clustered, dispersed, and linear distribution patterns subject to regimes of threat events with different frequency and spatial extent. Area of occupancy was an accurate predictor of risk (0.81<|r|<0.98) and performed optimally when measured with grid cells 0.1-1.0 times the largest plausible area threatened by an event. Contrary to previous assertions, estimates of AOO at these relatively coarse scales were better predictors of risk than finer-scale estimates of AOO (e.g., when measurement cells are <1% of the area of the largest threat). The optimal scale depended on the spatial scales of threats more than the shape or size of biotic distributions. Although we found appreciable potential for grid-measurement errors, current IUCN guidelines for estimating AOO neutralize geometric uncertainty and incorporate effective scaling procedures for assessing risks posed by landscape-scale threats to species and ecosystems. © 2017 The Authors. Conservation Biology published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of Society for Conservation Biology.

Consistently Showing Your Best Side? Intra-individual Consistency in #Selfie Pose Orientation

Science.gov (United States)

Lindell, Annukka K.

2017-01-01

Painted and photographic portraits of others show an asymmetric bias: people favor their left cheek. Both experimental and database studies confirm that the left cheek bias extends to selfies. To date all such selfie studies have been cross-sectional; whether individual selfie-takers tend to consistently favor the same pose orientation, or switch between multiple poses, remains to be determined. The present study thus examined intra-individual consistency in selfie pose orientations. Two hundred selfie-taking participants (100 male and 100 female) were identified by searching #selfie on Instagram. The most recent 10 single-subject selfies for the each of the participants were selected and coded for type of selfie (normal; mirror) and pose orientation (left, midline, right), resulting in a sample of 2000 selfies. Results indicated that selfie-takers do tend to consistently adopt a preferred pose orientation (α = 0.72), with more participants showing an overall left cheek bias (41%) than would be expected by chance (overall right cheek bias = 31.5%; overall midline bias = 19.5%; no overall bias = 8%). Logistic regression modellng, controlling for the repeated measure of participant identity, indicated that sex did not affect pose orientation. However, selfie type proved a significant predictor when comparing left and right cheek poses, with a stronger left cheek bias for mirror than normal selfies. Overall, these novel findings indicate that selfie-takers show intra-individual consistency in pose orientation, and in addition, replicate the previously reported left cheek bias for selfies and other types of portrait, confirming that the left cheek bias also presents within individuals’ selfie corpora. PMID:28270790

Identifying and Mitigating Insider Threats

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Probst, Christian W.

2011-01-01

Organisations face many threats that coarsely can be separated in inside threats and outside threats. Threats from insiders are especially hard to counter since insiders have special knowledge and privileges. Therefore, malicious insider actions are hard to distinguish from benign actions. After ...... discussing new definitions of insiders and insider threats, this article gives an overview of how to mitigate insider threats and discusses conflicting goals when dealing with insider threats....

Threat Posed by Mounting Vigilantism in Mexico

Science.gov (United States)

2011-09-01

unexamined amid this narco-mayhem are vigilante activities. Rossana Reguillo Cruz , an activ- ist who studies crime and violence at the Jesuit Uni...zero—even though choppers belonging to television networks managed to set down. Mayor Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who narrowly lost the 2006...groundswell of support.3 Rossana Reguillo Cruz , an activist who studies crime and vio- lence at the Jesuit University of Guadalajara, echoed this

Examining perceived stereotype threat among overweight/obese adults using a multi-threat framework.

Science.gov (United States)

Carels, Robert A; Domoff, Sarah E; Burmeister, Jacob M; Koball, Afton M; Hinman, Nova G; Davis, Alan K; Wagner Oehlhof, Marissa; Leroy, Michelle; Bannon, Erin; Hoffmann, Debra A

2013-01-01

The Multi-Threat Framework accounts for potentially different forms of stereotype threat that differ in target (i.e., the individual or the group) and source (i.e., the self or others). This investigation examined how these different forms of perceived stereotype threat were related to concepts, such as group identity, stereotype endorsement, stigma consciousness, etc., among overweight and obese individuals. 216 adults completed an online survey. Participants' mean age was 23.6 (SD 10.1; range 18-64) years and mean BMI was 31.6 (SD 7.5) kg/m². Participants reported a history of feeling threatened by stereotypes related to weight. When reflecting on past experiences of perceived stereotype threat, participants reported greater levels of self/own stereotype threat compared to group stereotype threat. Level of stereotype threat was related to a number of personal characteristics (i.e., sex, BMI) and individual factors (i.e., group identity, stigma consciousness, fear of fat). Individuals who are overweight report a history of being threatened by negative stereotypes. The findings support the Multi-Threat Framework for stereotype threat based on body weight. Overweight individuals' susceptibility to stereotype threat may vary systematically depending on several factors. Future research should examine weight-related stereotypes' impact on cognitive and behavioral outcomes. Copyright © 2013 S. Karger GmbH, Freiburg

Examining Perceived Stereotype Threat among Overweight/Obese Adults Using a Multi-Threat Framework

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Robert A. Carels

2013-05-01

Full Text Available Objective: The Multi-Threat Framework accounts for potentially different forms of stereotype threat that differ in target (i.e., the individual or the group and source (i.e., the self or others. This investigation examined how these different forms of perceived stereotype threat were related to concepts, such as group identity, stereotype endorsement, stigma consciousness, etc., among overweight and obese individuals. Method: 216 adults completed an online survey. Participants' mean age was 23.6 (SD 10.1; range 18-64 years and mean BMI was 31.6 (SD 7.5 kg/m2. Results: Participants reported a history of feeling threatened by stereotypes related to weight. When reflecting on past experiences of perceived stereotype threat, participants reported greater levels of self/own stereotype threat compared to group stereotype threat. Level of stereotype threat was related to a number of personal characteristics (i.e., sex, BMI and individual factors (i.e., group identity, stigma consciousness, fear of fat. Conclusion: Individuals who are overweight report a history of being threatened by negative stereotypes. The findings support the Multi-Threat Framework for stereotype threat based on body weight. Overweight individuals' susceptibility to stereotype threat may vary systematically depending on several factors. Future research should examine weight-related stereotypes' impact on cognitive and behavioral outcomes.

Single leg balancing in ballet: effects of shoe conditions and poses.

Science.gov (United States)

Lobo da Costa, Paula H; Azevedo Nora, Fernanda G S; Vieira, Marcus Fraga; Bosch, Kerstin; Rosenbaum, Dieter

2013-03-01

The purpose of this study was to describe the effects of lower limb positioning and shoe conditions on stability levels of selected single leg ballet poses performed in demi-pointe position. Fourteen female non-professional ballet dancers (mean age of 18.4±2.8 years and mean body mass index of 21.5±2.8kg/m(2)) who had practiced ballet for at least seven years, without any musculoskeletal impairment volunteered to participate in this study. A capacitive pressure platform allowed for the assessment of center of pressure variables related to the execution of three single leg ballet poses in demi pointé position: attitude devant, attitude derriére, and attitude a la second. Peak pressures, contact areas, COP oscillation areas, anterior-posterior and medio-lateral COP oscillations and velocities were compared between two shoe conditions (barefoot versus slippers) and among the different poses. Barefoot performances produced more stable poses with significantly higher plantar contact areas, smaller COP oscillation areas and smaller anterior-posterior COP oscillations. COP oscillation areas, anterior-posterior COP oscillations and medio-lateral COP velocities indicated that attitude a la second is the least challenging and attitude derriére the most challenging pose. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Pose Planning for the Feed Support System of FAST

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rui Yao

2014-01-01

Full Text Available A six-cable driven parallel manipulator and an A-B rotator in the feed support system of the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST are adopted for realizing the position and pose of nine feeds. The six-cable driven parallel manipulator is a flexible mechanism, which may not be stably controlled due to a small cable tension. The A-B rotator is a rigid mechanism, and its stability and accuracy can be improved by small pose angle. Based on the different characteristics, a pose planning function is presented. The optimization target of the pose planning function is to get the smallest pose angle of the A-B rotator, and the constraint condition can reflect the controllability of the six-cable driven parallel manipulator. Then, the pose planning realization process of the feed support system is proposed. Based on the pose planning method, optimized pose angles of the feed support system for the nine feeds are obtained, which suggests that the pose angle of the six-cable driven parallel manipulator changes from 0° to 14° and the pose angle of the A-B rotator changes from 0° to 26.4°.

2D Methods for pose invariant face recognition

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Mokoena, Ntabiseng

2016-12-01

Full Text Available The ability to recognise face images under random pose is a task that is done effortlessly by human beings. However, for a computer system, recognising face images under varying poses still remains an open research area. Face recognition across pose...

Are all interventions created equal? A multi-threat approach to tailoring stereotype threat interventions.

Science.gov (United States)

Shapiro, Jenessa R; Williams, Amy M; Hambarchyan, Mariam

2013-02-01

To date, stereotype threat interventions have been considered interchangeable. Across 4 experiments, the present research demonstrates that stereotype threat interventions need to be tailored to the specific form of experienced stereotype threat to be effective. The Multi-Threat Framework (Shapiro & Neuberg, 2007) distinguishes between group-as-target stereotype threats-concerns that a stereotype-relevant performance will reflect poorly on the abilities of one's group-and self-as-target stereotype threats-concerns that a stereotype-relevant performance will reflect poorly on one's own abilities. The present experiments explored Black college students' performance on diagnostic intelligence tests (Experiments 1 and 3) and women's interest (Experiment 2) and performance (Experiment 4) in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). Across the 4 experiments, participants were randomly assigned to experience either a group-as-target or self-as-target stereotype threat. Experiments 1 and 2 revealed that role model interventions were successful at protecting only against group-as-target stereotype threats, and Experiments 3 and 4 revealed that self-affirmation interventions were successful at protecting only against self-as-target stereotype threats. The present research provides an experimental test of the Multi-Threat Framework across different negatively stereotyped groups (Black students, female students), different negatively stereotyped domains (general intelligence, STEM), and different outcomes (test performance, career interest). This research suggests that interventions should address the range of possible stereotype threats to effectively protect individuals against these threats. Through an appreciation of the distinct forms of stereotype threats and the ways in which interventions work to reduce them, this research aims to facilitate a more complete understanding of stereotype threat. (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved.

The Urban Crisis in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Threat to Human Security and Sustainable Development

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mediel Hove

2013-03-01

Full Text Available Urban centres have existed and have been evolving for many centuries across the world. However, the accelerated growth of urbanisation is a relatively recent phenomenon. The enormous size of urban populations and more significantly, the rapidity with which urban areas have been and are growing in many developing countries have severe social, economic and physical repercussions. This paper argues that the accelerated growth of urbanisation has amplified the demand for key services. However, the provision of shelter and basic services such as water and sanitation, education, public health, employment and transport has not kept pace with this increasing demand. Furthermore, accelerated and poorly managed urbanisation has resulted in various types of atmospheric, land and water pollution thereby jeopardising human security. This paper offers the conclusion that the increased environmental, social and economic problems associated with rapid urbanisation pose a threat to sustainable development, human security and, crucially, peace.

The nucleolus is well-posed

Science.gov (United States)

Fragnelli, Vito; Patrone, Fioravante; Torre, Anna

2006-02-01

The lexicographic order is not representable by a real-valued function, contrary to many other orders or preorders. So, standard tools and results for well-posed minimum problems cannot be used. We prove that under suitable hypotheses it is however possible to guarantee the well-posedness of a lexicographic minimum over a compact or convex set. This result allows us to prove that some game theoretical solution concepts, based on lexicographic order are well-posed: in particular, this is true for the nucleolus.

Real-Time Head Pose Estimation on Mobile Platforms

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jianfeng Ren

2010-06-01

Full Text Available Many computer vision applications such as augmented reality require head pose estimation. As far as the real-time implementation of head pose estimation on relatively resource limited mobile platforms is concerned, it is required to satisfy real-time constraints while maintaining reasonable head pose estimation accuracy. The introduced head pose estimation approach in this paper is an attempt to meet this objective. The approach consists of the following components: Viola-Jones face detection, color-based face tracking using an online calibration procedure, and head pose estimation using Hu moment features and Fisher linear discriminant. Experimental results running on an actual mobile device are reported exhibiting both the real- time and accuracy aspects of the developed approach.

Head pose estimation algorithm based on deep learning

Science.gov (United States)

Cao, Yuanming; Liu, Yijun

2017-05-01

Head pose estimation has been widely used in the field of artificial intelligence, pattern recognition and intelligent human-computer interaction and so on. Good head pose estimation algorithm should deal with light, noise, identity, shelter and other factors robustly, but so far how to improve the accuracy and robustness of attitude estimation remains a major challenge in the field of computer vision. A method based on deep learning for pose estimation is presented. Deep learning with a strong learning ability, it can extract high-level image features of the input image by through a series of non-linear operation, then classifying the input image using the extracted feature. Such characteristics have greater differences in pose, while they are robust of light, identity, occlusion and other factors. The proposed head pose estimation is evaluated on the CAS-PEAL data set. Experimental results show that this method is effective to improve the accuracy of pose estimation.

In-the-wild facial expression recognition in extreme poses

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Fei; Zhang, Qian; Zheng, Chi; Qiu, Guoping

2018-04-01

In the computer research area, facial expression recognition is a hot research problem. Recent years, the research has moved from the lab environment to in-the-wild circumstances. It is challenging, especially under extreme poses. But current expression detection systems are trying to avoid the pose effects and gain the general applicable ability. In this work, we solve the problem in the opposite approach. We consider the head poses and detect the expressions within special head poses. Our work includes two parts: detect the head pose and group it into one pre-defined head pose class; do facial expression recognize within each pose class. Our experiments show that the recognition results with pose class grouping are much better than that of direct recognition without considering poses. We combine the hand-crafted features, SIFT, LBP and geometric feature, with deep learning feature as the representation of the expressions. The handcrafted features are added into the deep learning framework along with the high level deep learning features. As a comparison, we implement SVM and random forest to as the prediction models. To train and test our methodology, we labeled the face dataset with 6 basic expressions.

Face pose tracking using the four-point algorithm

Science.gov (United States)

Fung, Ho Yin; Wong, Kin Hong; Yu, Ying Kin; Tsui, Kwan Pang; Kam, Ho Chuen

2017-06-01

In this paper, we have developed an algorithm to track the pose of a human face robustly and efficiently. Face pose estimation is very useful in many applications such as building virtual reality systems and creating an alternative input method for the disabled. Firstly, we have modified a face detection toolbox called DLib for the detection of a face in front of a camera. The detected face features are passed to a pose estimation method, known as the four-point algorithm, for pose computation. The theory applied and the technical problems encountered during system development are discussed in the paper. It is demonstrated that the system is able to track the pose of a face in real time using a consumer grade laptop computer.

Experimental estimation of snare detectability for robust threat monitoring.

Science.gov (United States)

O'Kelly, Hannah J; Rowcliffe, J Marcus; Durant, Sarah; Milner-Gulland, E J

2018-02-01

Hunting with wire snares is rife within many tropical forest systems, and constitutes one of the severest threats to a wide range of vertebrate taxa. As for all threats, reliable monitoring of snaring levels is critical for assessing the relative effectiveness of management interventions. However, snares pose a particular challenge in terms of tracking spatial or temporal trends in their prevalence because they are extremely difficult to detect, and are typically spread across large, inaccessible areas. As with cryptic animal targets, any approach used to monitor snaring levels must address the issue of imperfect detection, but no standard method exists to do so. We carried out a field experiment in Keo Seima Wildlife Reserve in eastern Cambodia with the following objectives: (1) To estimate the detection probably of wire snares within a tropical forest context, and to investigate how detectability might be affected by habitat type, snare type, or observer. (2) To trial two sets of sampling protocols feasible to implement in a range of challenging field conditions. (3) To conduct a preliminary assessment of two potential analytical approaches to dealing with the resulting snare encounter data. We found that although different observers had no discernible effect on detection probability, detectability did vary between habitat type and snare type. We contend that simple repeated counts carried out at multiple sites and analyzed using binomial mixture models could represent a practical yet robust solution to the problem of monitoring snaring levels both inside and outside of protected areas. This experiment represents an important first step in developing improved methods of threat monitoring, and such methods are greatly needed in southeast Asia, as well as in as many other regions.

The reduced-risk insecticide azadirachtin poses a toxicological hazard to stingless bee Partamona helleri (Friese, 1900) queens.

Science.gov (United States)

Bernardes, Rodrigo Cupertino; Barbosa, Wagner Faria; Martins, Gustavo Ferreira; Lima, Maria Augusta Pereira

2018-06-01

Large-scale pesticide application poses a major threat to bee biodiversity by causing a decline in bee populations that, in turn, compromises ecosystem maintenance and agricultural productivity. Biopesticides are considered an alternative to synthetic pesticides with a focus on reducing potential detrimental effects to beneficial organisms such as bees. The production of healthy queen stingless bees is essential for the survival and reproduction of hives, although it remains unknown whether biopesticides influence stingless bee reproduction. In the present study, we investigated the effects of the biopesticide azadirachtin on the survival, behavior, morphology, development, and reproduction of queens of the stingless bee Partamona helleri (Friese, 1900). The neonicotinoid imidacloprid was used as a toxic reference standard. Queens were orally exposed in vitro to a contaminated diet (containing azadirachtin and imidacloprid) during development. Azadirachtin resulted in reduced survival, similarly to imidacloprid, altered development time, caused deformations, and reduced the size of the queens' reproductive organs. All of these factors could potentially compromise colony survival. Results from the present study showed azadirachtin posed a toxicological hazard to P. helleri queens. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Implications of Transnational Cyber Threats in International Humanitarian Law: Analysing the Distinction Between Cybercrime, Cyber Attack, and Cyber Warfare in the 21st Century

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Faga Hemen Philip

2017-06-01

Full Text Available This paper is an attempt to draw distinctive lines between the concepts of cybercrime, cyber-attack, and cyber warfare in the current information age, in which it has become difficult to separate the activities of transnational criminals from acts of belligerents using cyberspace. The paper considers the implications of transnational cyber threats in international humanitarian law (IHL with a particular focus on cyber-attacks by non-state actors, the principles of state responsibility, and the implications of targeting non-state perpetrators under IHL. It concludes that current international law constructs are inadequate to address the implications of transnational cyber threats; the author recommends consequential amendments to the laws of war in order to address the challenges posed by transnational cyber threats.

The consequences of chronic stereotype threat: domain disidentification and abandonment.

Science.gov (United States)

Woodcock, Anna; Hernandez, Paul R; Estrada, Mica; Schultz, P Wesley

2012-10-01

Stereotype threat impairs performance across many domains. Despite a wealth of research, the long-term consequences of chronic stereotype threat have received little empirical attention. Beyond the immediate impact on performance, the experience of chronic stereotype threat is hypothesized to lead to domain disidentification and eventual domain abandonment. Stereotype threat is 1 explanation why African Americans and Hispanic/Latino(a)s "leak" from each juncture of the academic scientific pipeline in disproportionately greater numbers than their White and Asian counterparts. Using structural equation modeling, we tested the stereotype threat-disidentification hypothesis across 3 academic years with a national longitudinal panel of undergraduate minority science students. Experience of stereotype threat was associated with scientific disidentification, which in turn predicted a significant decline in the intention to pursue a scientific career. Race/ethnicity moderated this effect, whereby the effect was evident for Hispanic/Latino(a) students but not for all African American students. We discuss findings in terms of understanding chronic stereotype threat.

Polarizing news? Representations of threat and efficacy in leading US newspapers' coverage of climate change.

Science.gov (United States)

Feldman, Lauren; Hart, P Sol; Milosevic, Tijana

2017-05-01

This study examines non-editorial news coverage in leading US newspapers as a source of ideological differences on climate change. A quantitative content analysis compared how the threat of climate change and efficacy for actions to address it were represented in climate change coverage across The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and USA Today between 2006 and 2011. Results show that The Wall Street Journal was least likely to discuss the impacts of and threat posed by climate change and most likely to include negative efficacy information and use conflict and negative economic framing when discussing actions to address climate change. The inclusion of positive efficacy information was similar across newspapers. Also, across all newspapers, climate impacts and actions to address climate change were more likely to be discussed separately than together in the same article. Implications for public engagement and ideological polarization are discussed.

Skill Levels of Prospective Physics Teachers on Problem Posing

Science.gov (United States)

Cildir, Sema; Sezen, Nazan

2011-01-01

Problem posing is one of the topics which the educators thoroughly accentuate. Problem posing skill is defined as an introvert activity of a student's learning. In this study, skill levels of prospective physics teachers on problem posing were determined and their views on problem posing were evaluated. To this end, prospective teachers were given…

Self-Construal Priming Modulates Self-Evaluation under Social Threat

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tianyang Zhang

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Previous studies have shown that Westerners evaluate themselves in an especially flattering way when faced with a social-evaluative threat. The current study first investigated whether East Asians also have a similar pattern by recruiting Chinese participants and using social-evaluative threat manipulations in which participants perform self-evaluation tasks while adopting different social-evaluative feedbacks (Experiment 1. Then further examined whether the different response patterns can be modulated by different types of self-construal by using social-evaluative threat manipulations in conjunction with a self-construal priming task (Experiment 2. The results showed that, as opposed to Westerners' pattern, Chinese participants rated themselves as having significantly greater above-average effect only when faced with the nonthreatening feedback but not the social-evaluative threat. More importantly, we found that self-construal modulated the self-evaluation under social-evaluative threat: following independent self-construal priming, participants tended to show a greater above-average effect when faced with a social-evaluative threat. However, this pattern in conjunction with a social threat disappeared after participants received interdependent self-construal priming or neutral priming. These findings suggest that the effects of social-evaluative threat on self-evaluation are not culturally universal and is strongly modulated by self-construal priming.

The global threat reduction initiative's radiological security cooperation with Russia - 59361

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Blanchard, Tiffany A.; Abramson, William J.; Russell, James W. Jr.; Roberts, Catherine K.

2012-01-01

The United States (U.S.) Department of Energy (DOE) / National Nuclear Security Administration's (NNSA) Global Threat Reduction Initiative (GTRI) supports both U.S. and international threat reduction goals by securing vulnerable nuclear and radiological material located at civilian sites throughout the world. GTRI's approach to reducing the threat posed by vulnerable, high-activity radioactive sources includes removing and disposing of orphan or disused radioactive sources; implementing physical security upgrades at civilian sites containing radioactive sources; and establishing a cooperative sustainability program at sites to ensure that upgrades are maintained. For many years GTRI has collaborated successfully with the Russian Federation and international partners to improve radiological security in Russia. This paper provides a synopsis of GTRI's accomplishments and cooperation with Russia in the following areas: 1.) recovering and disposing of orphan and disused radioactive sources, 2.) recovering and disposing of radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs), and 3.) providing physical security upgrades at civilian sites that contain vulnerable radiological material. The success of GTRI's program to secure radiological material in the Russian Federation over the past decade is due largely to the hard work, technical expertise, and tenacity of the U.S. laboratory teams and the Russian partner organizations with whom GTRI has worked. GTRI plans to continue building on this history of cooperation in order to recover and secure additional, vulnerable radioactive sources in locations throughout Russia. GTRI also is committed to sustainability efforts so that facilities in Russia receiving physical protection equipment and training are prepared to eventually assume responsibility for those security upgrades. In the years to come, GTRI will combine financial support with capacity building to enhance Russia's domestic programs to address these challenges. Through

Muscle utilization patterns vary by skill levels of the practitioners across specific yoga poses (asanas).

Science.gov (United States)

Ni, Meng; Mooney, Kiersten; Balachandran, Anoop; Richards, Luca; Harriell, Kysha; Signorile, Joseph F

2014-08-01

To compare muscle activation patterns in 14 dominant side muscles during different yoga poses across three skill levels. Mixed repeated-measures descriptive study. University neuromuscular research laboratory, Miami, US. A group of 36 yoga practitioners (9 M/27 F; mean ± SD, 31.6 ± 12.6 years) with at least 3 months yoga practice experience. Each of the 11 surya namaskar poses A and B was performed separately for 15s and the surface electromyography for 14 muscles were recorded. Normalized root mean square of the electromyographic signal (NrmsEMG) for 14 muscles (5 upper body, 4 trunk, 5 lower body). There were significant main effects of pose for all fourteen muscles except middle trapezius (p<.02) and of skill level for the vastus medialis; p=.027). A significant skill level × pose interaction existed for five muscles (pectoralis major sternal head, anterior deltoid, medial deltoid, upper rectus abdominis and gastrocnemius lateralis; p<.05). Post hoc analyses using Bonferroni comparisons indicated that different poses activated specific muscle groups; however, this varied by skill level. Our results indicate that different poses can produce specific muscle activation patterns which may vary due to practitioners' skill levels. This information can be used in designing rehabilitation and training programs and for cuing during yoga training. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The concept of ego threat in social and personality psychology: is ego threat a viable scientific construct?

Science.gov (United States)

Leary, Mark R; Terry, Meredith L; Batts Allen, Ashley; Tate, Eleanor B

2009-08-01

Although widely invoked as an explanation for psychological phenomena, ego threat has been conceptualized and induced in a variety of ways. Most contemporary research conceptualizes ego threat as a threat to a person's self-image or self-esteem, but experimental operationalizations of ego threat usually confound threats to self-esteem with threats to public image or decreased control over negative events, leading to an inability to distinguish the effects of threats to people's personal egos from threats to public image or threats to feelings of control. This article reviews research on ego threat, discusses experimental manipulations that confound ego threat with other processes, and makes recommendations regarding the use of ego threat as a construct in personality and social psychology.

Prefrontal inhibition of threat processing protects working memory from interference.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Robert James Clarke

2013-05-01

Full Text Available Bottom-up processes can interrupt ongoing cognitive processing in order to adaptively respond to emotional stimuli of high potential significance, such as those that threaten wellbeing. However it is vital that this interference can be modulated in certain contexts to focus on current tasks. Deficits in the ability to maintain the appropriate balance between cognitive and emotional demands can severely impact on day-to-day activities. This fMRI study examined this interaction between threat processing and cognition; 18 adult participants performed a visuospatial working memory (WM task with two load conditions, in the presence and absence of anxiety induction by threat of electric shock. Threat of shock interfered with performance in the low cognitive load condition; however interference was eradicated under high load, consistent with engagement of emotion regulation mechanisms. Under low load the amygdala showed significant activation to threat of shock that was modulated by high cognitive load. A directed top-down control contrast identified two regions associated with top-down control; ventrolateral PFC and dorsal ACC. Dynamic causal modelling provided further evidence that under high cognitive load, top-down inhibition is exerted on the amygdala and its outputs to prefrontal regions. Additionally, we hypothesised that individual differences in a separate, non-emotional top-down control task would predict the recruitment of dorsal ACC and ventrolateral PFC during top-down control of threat. Consistent with this, performance on a separate dichotic listening task predicted dorsal ACC and ventrolateral PFC activation during high WM load under threat of shock, though activation in these regions did not directly correlate with WM performance. Together, the findings suggest that under high cognitive load and threat, top-down control is exerted by dACC and vlPFC to inhibit threat processing, thus enabling WM performance without threat

Person-Independent Head Pose Estimation Using Biased Manifold Embedding

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sethuraman Panchanathan

2008-02-01

Full Text Available Head pose estimation has been an integral problem in the study of face recognition systems and human-computer interfaces, as part of biometric applications. A fine estimate of the head pose angle is necessary and useful for several face analysis applications. To determine the head pose, face images with varying pose angles can be considered to be lying on a smooth low-dimensional manifold in high-dimensional image feature space. However, when there are face images of multiple individuals with varying pose angles, manifold learning techniques often do not give accurate results. In this work, we propose a framework for a supervised form of manifold learning called Biased Manifold Embedding to obtain improved performance in head pose angle estimation. This framework goes beyond pose estimation, and can be applied to all regression applications. This framework, although formulated for a regression scenario, unifies other supervised approaches to manifold learning that have been proposed so far. Detailed studies of the proposed method are carried out on the FacePix database, which contains 181 face images each of 30 individuals with pose angle variations at a granularity of 1∘. Since biometric applications in the real world may not contain this level of granularity in training data, an analysis of the methodology is performed on sparsely sampled data to validate its effectiveness. We obtained up to 2∘ average pose angle estimation error in the results from our experiments, which matched the best results obtained for head pose estimation using related approaches.

To Strike a Pose: No Stereotype Backlash for Power Posing Women

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Miriam Rennung

2016-09-01

Full Text Available Power posing, the adoption of open and powerful postures, has effects that parallel those of actual social power. This study explored the social evaluation of adopting powerful versus powerless body postures in men and women regarding perceived warmth, competence, and the likelihood of eliciting admiration, envy, pity, and contempt. Previous findings suggest that the display of power by women may have side effects due to gender stereotyping, namely reduced warmth ratings and negative emotional reactions. An experiment (N = 2,473 asked participants to rate pictures of men and women who adopted high-power or low-power body postures. High-power posers were rated higher on competence, admiration, envy, and contempt compared to low-power posers, whereas the opposite was true for pity. There was no impact of power posing on perceived warmth. Contrary to expectations, the poser’s gender did not moderate any of the effects. These findings suggest that nonverbal displays of power do influence fundamental dimensions of social perception and their accompanying emotional reactions but result in comparably positive and negative evaluations for both genders.

Poultry red mite (Dermanyssus gallinae) infestation: a broad impact parasitological disease that still remains a significant challenge for the egg-laying industry in Europe.

Science.gov (United States)

Sigognault Flochlay, Annie; Thomas, Emmanuel; Sparagano, Olivier

2017-08-01

The poultry red mite, Dermanyssus gallinae, has been described for decades as a threat to the egg production industry, posing serious animal health and welfare concerns, adversely affecting productivity, and impacting public health. Research activities dedicated to controlling this parasite have increased significantly. Their veterinary and human medical impact, more particularly their role as a disease vector, is better understood. Nevertheless, red mite infestation remains a serious concern, particularly in Europe, where the prevalence of red mites is expected to increase, as a result of recent hen husbandry legislation changes, increased acaricide resistance, climate warming, and the lack of a sustainable approach to control infestations. The main objective of the current work was to review the factors contributing to this growing threat and to discuss their recent development in Europe. We conclude that effective and sustainable treatment approach to control poultry red mite infestation is urgently required, included integrated pest management.

Stereotype threat in salary negotiations is mediated by reservation salary.

Science.gov (United States)

Tellhed, Una; Björklund, Fredrik

2011-04-01

Women are stereotypically perceived as worse negotiators than men, which may make them ask for less salary than men when under stereotype threat (Kray et al., 2001). However, the mechanisms of stereotype threat are not yet properly understood. The current study investigated whether stereotype threat effects in salary negotiations can be explained by motivational factors. A total of 116 business students negotiated salary with a confederate and were either told that this was diagnostic of negotiating ability (threat manipulation) or not. Measures of minimum (reservation) and ideal (aspiration) salary goals and regulatory focus were collected. The finding (Kray et al., 2001) that women make lower salary requests than men when under stereotype threat was replicated. Women in the threat condition further reported lower aspiration salary, marginally significantly lower reservation salary and less eagerness/more vigilance than men. Reservation salary mediated the stereotype threat effect, and there was a trend for regulatory focus to mediate the effect. Thus, reservation salary partly explains why women ask for less salary than men under stereotype threat. Female negotiators may benefit from learning that stereotype threat causes sex-differences in motivation. © 2010 The Authors. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology © 2010 The Scandinavian Psychological Associations.

Robust head pose estimation via supervised manifold learning.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Chao; Song, Xubo

2014-05-01

Head poses can be automatically estimated using manifold learning algorithms, with the assumption that with the pose being the only variable, the face images should lie in a smooth and low-dimensional manifold. However, this estimation approach is challenging due to other appearance variations related to identity, head location in image, background clutter, facial expression, and illumination. To address the problem, we propose to incorporate supervised information (pose angles of training samples) into the process of manifold learning. The process has three stages: neighborhood construction, graph weight computation and projection learning. For the first two stages, we redefine inter-point distance for neighborhood construction as well as graph weight by constraining them with the pose angle information. For Stage 3, we present a supervised neighborhood-based linear feature transformation algorithm to keep the data points with similar pose angles close together but the data points with dissimilar pose angles far apart. The experimental results show that our method has higher estimation accuracy than the other state-of-art algorithms and is robust to identity and illumination variations. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Weapons of mass destruction - current security threat

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Durdiak, J.; Gafrik, A.; Pulis, P.; Susko, M.

2005-01-01

This publication brings a complex and comprehensive view of the weapons of mass destruction phenomenon in the context of present military and political situation. It emphasizes the threat posed by proliferation of these destructive devices and their carriers as well as the threat present in their possession by unpredictable totalitarian regimes or terrorist groups. The publication is structured into four basic parts: Introduction Into The Topic, Nuclear Weapons, Chemical Weapons and Biological Weapons. The Introduction reflects the latest developments on the field of military technologies, which lead to the development of new destructive devices with characteristics comparable to basic types of WMDs - nuclear, chemical and biological. Based on the definition of WMD as 'weapon systems with enormous impact causing mass destruction, population, equipment and material losses', the modern mass destruction devices are assorted here, such as ecological, radiological and beam weapons, aerosol and container intelligent ammunition, the outburst of dangerous chemical substances from infrastructure, non-conventional weapons and military devices. The Nuclear Weapons part depicts the most destructive device of mass destruction mankind ever invented in close detail. It maps the history of most significant discoveries in nuclear physics, development and construction of the first nuclear weapons, accumulation of nuclear warheads and their carriers in the Cold war era, attempts of nuclear disarmament and reducing the number of nuclear weapons in possession of superpowers and their proliferation in the world's crisis regions including North Korea and Iran. The chapters devoted to theoretical grounds and physical principles of nuclear and thermonuclear weapons' functioning, the main categories and types, as well as destructive effects and consequences of use contain an adequate mathematical apparatus. This chapter's conclusion brings the overview of nuclear armament of states that

Students’ Mathematical Creative Thinking through Problem Posing Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Ulfah, U.; Prabawanto, S.; Jupri, A.

2017-09-01

The research aims to investigate the differences in enhancement of students’ mathematical creative thinking ability of those who received problem posing approach assisted by manipulative media and students who received problem posing approach without manipulative media. This study was a quasi experimental research with non-equivalent control group design. Population of this research was third-grade students of a primary school in Bandung city in 2016/2017 academic year. Sample of this research was two classes as experiment class and control class. The instrument used is a test of mathematical creative thinking ability. Based on the results of the research, it is known that the enhancement of the students’ mathematical creative thinking ability of those who received problem posing approach with manipulative media aid is higher than the ability of those who received problem posing approach without manipulative media aid. Students who get learning problem posing learning accustomed in arranging mathematical sentence become matter of story so it can facilitate students to comprehend about story

Poland and Global Threats

Science.gov (United States)

Kleer, Jerzy

2016-01-01

This essay seeks to present the specifics of global threats, as well as the reasons for them being universal in nature, and for their persistence. A certain classification of the threats is also engaged in. At the same time, an attempt is made to show the specific threats present - irrespective of their global counterparts - in different regions, and even in different states. The genesis and nature of the latter are demonstrated in a somewhat ad hoc manner by reference to the threats considered to face Poland. If the global threats are truly universal, and arise out of the changes taking place around the world in the last half-century (primarily around the twin phenomena of globalisation and the information revolution), a specific reverse kind of situation applies to decolonisation, plus the collapse of the communist system and the transformation into market economies that apply to formerly communist countries. Equally, some at least of the threats facing Poland may have even a longer history, given that they are very much influenced by past economic and political development, as well as the dominant cultural system.

Manifolds for pose tracking from monocular video

Science.gov (United States)

Basu, Saurav; Poulin, Joshua; Acton, Scott T.

2015-03-01

We formulate a simple human-pose tracking theory from monocular video based on the fundamental relationship between changes in pose and image motion vectors. We investigate the natural embedding of the low-dimensional body pose space into a high-dimensional space of body configurations that behaves locally in a linear manner. The embedded manifold facilitates the decomposition of the image motion vectors into basis motion vector fields of the tangent space to the manifold. This approach benefits from the style invariance of image motion flow vectors, and experiments to validate the fundamental theory show reasonable accuracy (within 4.9 deg of the ground truth).

Are All Interventions Created Equal? A Multi-Threat Approach to Tailoring Stereotype Threat Interventions

OpenAIRE

Shapiro, Jenessa R.; Williams, Amy M.; Hambarchyan, Mariam

2012-01-01

To date, stereotype threat interventions have been considered interchangeable. Across 4 experiments, the present research demonstrates that stereotype threat interventions need to be tailored to the specific form of experienced stereotype threat to be effective. The Multi-Threat Framework (Shapiro & Neuberg, 2007) distinguishes between group-as-target stereotype threats—concerns that a stereotype-relevant performance will reflect poorly on the abilities of one’s group—and self-as-target stere...

The lighter side of advertising: investigating posing and lighting biases.

Science.gov (United States)

Thomas, Nicole A; Burkitt, Jennifer A; Patrick, Regan E; Elias, Lorin J

2008-11-01

People tend to display the left cheek when posing for a portrait; however, this effect does not appear to generalise to advertising. The amount of body visible in the image and the sex of the poser might also contribute to the posing bias. Portraits also exhibit lateral lighting biases, with most images being lit from the left. This effect might also be present in advertisements. A total of 2801 full-page advertisements were sampled and coded for posing direction, lighting direction, sex of model, and amount of body showing. Images of females showed an overall leftward posing bias, but the biases in males depended on the amount of body visible. Males demonstrated rightward posing biases for head-only images. Overall, images tended to be lit from the top left corner. The two factors of posing and lighting biases appear to influence one another. Leftward-lit images had more leftward poses than rightward, while the opposite occurred for rightward-lit images. Collectively, these results demonstrate that the posing biases in advertisements are dependent on the amount of body showing in the image, and that biases in lighting direction interact with these posing biases.

Threat modeling designing for security

CERN Document Server

Shostack, Adam

2014-01-01

Adam Shostack is responsible for security development lifecycle threat modeling at Microsoft and is one of a handful of threat modeling experts in the world. Now, he is sharing his considerable expertise into this unique book. With pages of specific actionable advice, he details how to build better security into the design of systems, software, or services from the outset. You'll explore various threat modeling approaches, find out how to test your designs against threats, and learn effective ways to address threats that have been validated at Microsoft and other top companies. Systems secur

Coupled bias-variance tradeoff for cross-pose face recognition.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Annan; Shan, Shiguang; Gao, Wen

2012-01-01

Subspace-based face representation can be looked as a regression problem. From this viewpoint, we first revisited the problem of recognizing faces across pose differences, which is a bottleneck in face recognition. Then, we propose a new approach for cross-pose face recognition using a regressor with a coupled bias-variance tradeoff. We found that striking a coupled balance between bias and variance in regression for different poses could improve the regressor-based cross-pose face representation, i.e., the regressor can be more stable against a pose difference. With the basic idea, ridge regression and lasso regression are explored. Experimental results on CMU PIE, the FERET, and the Multi-PIE face databases show that the proposed bias-variance tradeoff can achieve considerable reinforcement in recognition performance.

Animated pose templates for modeling and detecting human actions.

Science.gov (United States)

Yao, Benjamin Z; Nie, Bruce X; Liu, Zicheng; Zhu, Song-Chun

2014-03-01

This paper presents animated pose templates (APTs) for detecting short-term, long-term, and contextual actions from cluttered scenes in videos. Each pose template consists of two components: 1) a shape template with deformable parts represented in an And-node whose appearances are represented by the Histogram of Oriented Gradient (HOG) features, and 2) a motion template specifying the motion of the parts by the Histogram of Optical-Flows (HOF) features. A shape template may have more than one motion template represented by an Or-node. Therefore, each action is defined as a mixture (Or-node) of pose templates in an And-Or tree structure. While this pose template is suitable for detecting short-term action snippets in two to five frames, we extend it in two ways: 1) For long-term actions, we animate the pose templates by adding temporal constraints in a Hidden Markov Model (HMM), and 2) for contextual actions, we treat contextual objects as additional parts of the pose templates and add constraints that encode spatial correlations between parts. To train the model, we manually annotate part locations on several keyframes of each video and cluster them into pose templates using EM. This leaves the unknown parameters for our learning algorithm in two groups: 1) latent variables for the unannotated frames including pose-IDs and part locations, 2) model parameters shared by all training samples such as weights for HOG and HOF features, canonical part locations of each pose, coefficients penalizing pose-transition and part-deformation. To learn these parameters, we introduce a semi-supervised structural SVM algorithm that iterates between two steps: 1) learning (updating) model parameters using labeled data by solving a structural SVM optimization, and 2) imputing missing variables (i.e., detecting actions on unlabeled frames) with parameters learned from the previous step and progressively accepting high-score frames as newly labeled examples. This algorithm belongs to a

Formulas in inverse and ill-posed problems

CERN Document Server

Anikonov, Yu E

1997-01-01

The Inverse and Ill-Posed Problems Series is a series of monographs publishing postgraduate level information on inverse and ill-posed problems for an international readership of professional scientists and researchers. The series aims to publish works which involve both theory and applications in, e.g., physics, medicine, geophysics, acoustics, electrodynamics, tomography, and ecology.

Fast human pose estimation using 3D Zernike descriptors

Science.gov (United States)

Berjón, Daniel; Morán, Francisco

2012-03-01

Markerless video-based human pose estimation algorithms face a high-dimensional problem that is frequently broken down into several lower-dimensional ones by estimating the pose of each limb separately. However, in order to do so they need to reliably locate the torso, for which they typically rely on time coherence and tracking algorithms. Their losing track usually results in catastrophic failure of the process, requiring human intervention and thus precluding their usage in real-time applications. We propose a very fast rough pose estimation scheme based on global shape descriptors built on 3D Zernike moments. Using an articulated model that we configure in many poses, a large database of descriptor/pose pairs can be computed off-line. Thus, the only steps that must be done on-line are the extraction of the descriptors for each input volume and a search against the database to get the most likely poses. While the result of such process is not a fine pose estimation, it can be useful to help more sophisticated algorithms to regain track or make more educated guesses when creating new particles in particle-filter-based tracking schemes. We have achieved a performance of about ten fps on a single computer using a database of about one million entries.

Transfer between Pose and Illumination Training in Face Recognition

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Chang Hong; Bhuiyan, Md. Al-Amin; Ward, James; Sui, Jie

2009-01-01

The relationship between pose and illumination learning in face recognition was examined in a yes-no recognition paradigm. The authors assessed whether pose training can transfer to a new illumination or vice versa. Results show that an extensive level of pose training through a face-name association task was able to generalize to a new…

An improved silhouette for human pose estimation

Science.gov (United States)

Hawes, Anthony H.; Iftekharuddin, Khan M.

2017-08-01

We propose a novel method for analyzing images that exploits the natural lines of a human poses to find areas where self-occlusion could be present. Errors caused by self-occlusion cause several modern human pose estimation methods to mis-identify body parts, which reduces the performance of most action recognition algorithms. Our method is motivated by the observation that, in several cases, occlusion can be reasoned using only boundary lines of limbs. An intelligent edge detection algorithm based on the above principle could be used to augment the silhouette with information useful for pose estimation algorithms and push forward progress on occlusion handling for human action recognition. The algorithm described is applicable to computer vision scenarios involving 2D images and (appropriated flattened) 3D images.

Pose estimation for mobile robots working on turbine blade

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ma, X.D.; Chen, Q.; Liu, J.J.; Sun, Z.G.; Zhang, W.Z. [Tsinghua Univ., Beijing (China). Key Laboratory for Advanced Materials Processing Technology, Ministry of Education, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering

2009-03-11

This paper discussed a features point detection and matching task technique for mobile robots used in wind turbine blade applications. The vision-based scheme used visual information from the robot's surrounding environment to match successive image frames. An improved pose estimation algorithm based on a scale invariant feature transform (SIFT) was developed to consider the characteristics of local images of turbine blades, pose estimation problems, and conditions. The method included a pre-subsampling technique for reducing computation and bidirectional matching for improving precision. A random sample consensus (RANSAC) method was used to estimate the robot's pose. Pose estimation conditions included a wide pose range; the distance between neighbouring blades; and mechanical, electromagnetic, and optical disturbances. An experimental platform was used to demonstrate the validity of the proposed algorithm. 20 refs., 6 figs.

Temporal subtraction of chest radiographs compensating pose differences

Science.gov (United States)

von Berg, Jens; Dworzak, Jalda; Klinder, Tobias; Manke, Dirk; Kreth, Adrian; Lamecker, Hans; Zachow, Stefan; Lorenz, Cristian

2011-03-01

Temporal subtraction techniques using 2D image registration improve the detectability of interval changes from chest radiographs. Although such methods are well known for some time they are not widely used in radiologic practice. The reason is the occurrence of strong pose differences between two acquisitions with a time interval of months to years in between. Such strong perspective differences occur in a reasonable number of cases. They cannot be compensated by available image registration methods and thus mask interval changes to be undetectable. In this paper a method is proposed to estimate a 3D pose difference by the adaptation of a 3D rib cage model to both projections. The difference between both is then compensated for, thus producing a subtraction image with virtually no change in pose. The method generally assumes that no 3D image data is available from the patient. The accuracy of pose estimation is validated with chest phantom images acquired under controlled geometric conditions. A subtle interval change simulated by a piece of plastic foam attached to the phantom becomes visible in subtraction images generated with this technique even at strong angular pose differences like an anterior-posterior inclination of 13 degrees.

Threat-sensitive anti-intraguild predation behaviour: maternal strategies to reduce offspring predation risk in mites.

Science.gov (United States)

Walzer, Andreas; Schausberger, Peter

2011-01-01

Predation is a major selective force for the evolution of behavioural characteristics of prey. Predation among consumers competing for food is termed intraguild predation (IGP). From the perspective of individual prey, IGP differs from classical predation in the likelihood of occurrence because IG prey is usually more rarely encountered and less profitable because it is more difficult to handle than classical prey. It is not known whether IGP is a sufficiently strong force to evolve interspecific threat sensitivity in antipredation behaviours, as is known from classical predation, and if so whether such behaviours are innate or learned. We examined interspecific threat sensitivity in antipredation in a guild of predatory mite species differing in adaptation to the shared spider mite prey (i.e. Phytoseiulus persimilis, Neoseiulus californicus and Amblyseius andersoni). We first ranked the players in this guild according to the IGP risk posed to each other: A. andersoni was the strongest IG predator; P. persimilis was the weakest. Then, we assessed the influence of relative IGP risk and experience on maternal strategies to reduce offspring IGP risk: A. andersoni was insensitive to IGP risk. Threat sensitivity in oviposition site selection was induced by experience in P. persimilis but occurred independently of experience in N. californicus. Irrespective of experience, P. persimilis laid fewer eggs in choice situations with the high- rather than low-risk IG predator. Our study suggests that, similar to classical predation, IGP may select for sophisticated innate and learned interspecific threat-sensitive antipredation responses. We argue that such responses may promote the coexistence of IG predators and prey.

A review of cooperative and uncooperative spacecraft pose determination techniques for close-proximity operations

Science.gov (United States)

Opromolla, Roberto; Fasano, Giancarmine; Rufino, Giancarlo; Grassi, Michele

2017-08-01

The capability of an active spacecraft to accurately estimate its relative position and attitude (pose) with respect to an active/inactive, artificial/natural space object (target) orbiting in close-proximity is required to carry out various activities like formation flying, on-orbit servicing, active debris removal, and space exploration. According to the specific mission scenario, the pose determination task involves both theoretical and technological challenges related to the search for the most suitable algorithmic solution and sensor architecture, respectively. As regards the latter aspect, electro-optical sensors represent the best option as their use is compatible with mass and power limitation of micro and small satellites, and their measurements can be processed to estimate all the pose parameters. Overall, the degree of complexity of the challenges related to pose determination largely varies depending on the nature of the targets, which may be actively/passively cooperative, uncooperative but known, or uncooperative and unknown space objects. In this respect, while cooperative pose determination has been successfully demonstrated in orbit, the uncooperative case is still under study by universities, research centers, space agencies and private companies. However, in both the cases, the demand for space applications involving relative navigation maneuvers, also in close-proximity, for which pose determination capabilities are mandatory, is significantly increasing. In this framework, a review of state-of-the-art techniques and algorithms developed in the last decades for cooperative and uncooperative pose determination by processing data provided by electro-optical sensors is herein presented. Specifically, their main advantages and drawbacks in terms of achieved performance, computational complexity, and sensitivity to variability of pose and target geometry, are highlighted.

Countering Insider Threats

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Probst, Christian W.; Hunker, Jeffrey; Gollmann, Dieter

threat, and to develop a common vision of how an insider can be categorized as well as an integrated approach that allows a qualitative reasoning about the threat and the possibilities of attacks. This report gives an overview of the discussions and presentations during the week, as well as the outcome...

PORT SECURITY-Threats and Vulnerabilities

OpenAIRE

Kusi, Bernard

2015-01-01

The main objective of this thesis is to identify the threats and the vulnerabilities concerning Takoradi port, and finally recommend measure to overcome the identified threats and vul-nerabilities. Various categories of potential threats and vulnerabilities have been studied throughout the literature review. However, because each port presents a unique sets of threats and vulnerabilities, there was a need to look critically into how Takoradi port operations are being conducted in other to ide...

Non-standard and improperly posed problems

CERN Document Server

Straughan, Brian; Ames, William F

1997-01-01

Written by two international experts in the field, this book is the first unified survey of the advances made in the last 15 years on key non-standard and improperly posed problems for partial differential equations.This reference for mathematicians, scientists, and engineers provides an overview of the methodology typically used to study improperly posed problems. It focuses on structural stability--the continuous dependence of solutions on the initial conditions and the modeling equations--and on problems for which data are only prescribed on part of the boundary.The book addresses continuou

An examination of age-based stereotype threat about cognitive decline: Implications for stereotype threat research and theory development

Science.gov (United States)

Barber, Sarah J.

2017-01-01

“Stereotype threat” is often thought of as a singular construct, with moderators and mechanisms that are stable across groups and domains. However, this is not always true. To illustrate this, the current review focuses on the stereotype threat that older adults face about their cognitive abilities. Using Shapiro and Neuberg's (2007) Multi-Threat Framework, I first provide evidence that this is a self-concept threat, and not a group-reputation threat. Because this differs from the form(s) of threat experienced by other groups (e.g., the threat that minority students face about their intellectual abilities), the moderators of threat observed in other groups (i.e., group identification) do not always generalize to age-based stereotype threat about cognitive decline. Looking beyond the form(s) of threat elicited, this review also provides evidence that the mechanisms underlying stereotype threat effects may vary across the lifespan. Due to age-related improvements in emotion regulation abilities, stereotype threat does not seem to reduce older adults' executive control resources. Overall, this review highlights the need to approach the concept of stereotype threat with more granularity. This will allow us to design more effective stereotype threat interventions. It will also shed light on why certain effects “fail to replicate” across domains or groups. PMID:28073332

Method of orthogonally splitting imaging pose measurement

Science.gov (United States)

Zhao, Na; Sun, Changku; Wang, Peng; Yang, Qian; Liu, Xintong

2018-01-01

In order to meet the aviation's and machinery manufacturing's pose measurement need of high precision, fast speed and wide measurement range, and to resolve the contradiction between measurement range and resolution of vision sensor, this paper proposes an orthogonally splitting imaging pose measurement method. This paper designs and realizes an orthogonally splitting imaging vision sensor and establishes a pose measurement system. The vision sensor consists of one imaging lens, a beam splitter prism, cylindrical lenses and dual linear CCD. Dual linear CCD respectively acquire one dimensional image coordinate data of the target point, and two data can restore the two dimensional image coordinates of the target point. According to the characteristics of imaging system, this paper establishes the nonlinear distortion model to correct distortion. Based on cross ratio invariability, polynomial equation is established and solved by the least square fitting method. After completing distortion correction, this paper establishes the measurement mathematical model of vision sensor, and determines intrinsic parameters to calibrate. An array of feature points for calibration is built by placing a planar target in any different positions for a few times. An terative optimization method is presented to solve the parameters of model. The experimental results show that the field angle is 52 °, the focus distance is 27.40 mm, image resolution is 5185×5117 pixels, displacement measurement error is less than 0.1mm, and rotation angle measurement error is less than 0.15°. The method of orthogonally splitting imaging pose measurement can satisfy the pose measurement requirement of high precision, fast speed and wide measurement range.

A Study on OS Selection Using ANP Based Choquet Integral in Terms of Cyber Threats

OpenAIRE

Goztepe, Kerim

2016-01-01

Critical systems are today exposed to new kinds of security threats. Cyber security is determine with cyberspace safe from threats, it is called cyber-threats. Cyber-threats is applied the malicious use of information and communication technologies or the behaviour of attackers. Because of the importance of cyber threats, operating system (OS) selection is a critical decision that can significantly affect future competitiveness and performance of an organization. It is increasingly valuable i...

The Threat Among Us: Insiders Intensify Aviation Terrorism

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Krull, Katie E. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)

2016-08-19

Aviation terrorism is powerful and symbolic, and will likely remain a staple target for terrorists aiming to inflict chaos and cause mass casualties similar to the 9/11 attacks on the U.S. The majority of international and domestic aviation terrorist attacks involves outsiders, or people who do not have direct access to or affiliation with a target through employment. However, several significant attacks and plots against the industry involved malicious employees motivated by suicide or devotion to a terrorist organization. Malicious insiders’ access and knowledge of aviation security, systems, networks, and infrastructure is valuable to terrorists, providing a different pathway for attacking the industry through the insider threat. Indicators and warnings of insider threats in these cases exist, providing insight into how security agencies, such as the Transportation Security Administration, can better predict and identify insider involvement. Understanding previous aviation insider threat events will likely aid in stimulating proactive security measures, rather than reactive responses. However, similar to traditional airport security measures, there are social, political, and economic challenges in protecting against the insider threat, including privacy concerns and cost-benefit analysis.

The structure and economic significance of government guarantees in Croatia and the European Union

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marko Primorac

2016-03-01

Full Text Available In the aftermath of the financial crisis, when countries are facing difficulties in raising the amounts of revenue needed to cover the expenditure side of the budget, fiscal risks can pose a significant threat to the sustainability of public finance. This became particularly evident in the case of public enterprises and their liabilities, which often increased public debt because of difficulties in meeting their financial obligations. The aim of this paper is to evaluate fiscal risks from government guarantees in Croatia and the European Union in general. Moreover, the paper aims to analyse the dynamics of the value and structure of government guarantees in Croatia in the period from 2009 to first half of 2015. Particular emphasis is placed on the impact of government guarantees on direct public debt in the context of methodological changes in the registration of public debt.

Pose estimation of industrial objects towards robot operation

Science.gov (United States)

Niu, Jie; Zhou, Fuqiang; Tan, Haishu; Cao, Yu

2017-10-01

With the advantages of wide range, non-contact and high flexibility, the visual estimation technology of target pose has been widely applied in modern industry, robot guidance and other engineering practices. However, due to the influence of complicated industrial environment, outside interference factors, lack of object characteristics, restrictions of camera and other limitations, the visual estimation technology of target pose is still faced with many challenges. Focusing on the above problems, a pose estimation method of the industrial objects is developed based on 3D models of targets. By matching the extracted shape characteristics of objects with the priori 3D model database of targets, the method realizes the recognition of target. Thus a pose estimation of objects can be determined based on the monocular vision measuring model. The experimental results show that this method can be implemented to estimate the position of rigid objects based on poor images information, and provides guiding basis for the operation of the industrial robot.

Threats during sex work and association with mental health among young female sex workers in Hong Kong.

Science.gov (United States)

Mo, Phoenix K H; Mak, Winnie W S; Kwok, Yvonne T Y; Xin, Meiqi; Chan, Charlie W L; Yip, Louise W M

2018-08-01

Young female sex workers (YFSWs) are confronted with significant threats during sex work. The present cross-sectional study examined different levels of threats (i.e., threats to life and health, threats to humanity, threats to control of work and financial security, and the threats to future) experienced by 87 YFSWs (age 16-25) in Hong Kong, and identified their association with mental health (i.e., psychological well-being) together with other factors, including childhood trauma, self-efficacy, hope, and social support. Results showed that the participants encountered a significant number of threats. More than half reported that they had a condom removed by clients during sex (51.7%); or have been humililated by clients (51.7%). Because of sex work, about a quarter (25.3%) have had sexually transmitted disease, and respectively 10.3% and 12.6% have had abortion and unplanned pregnancy. The majority have had friends found out that they engaged in sex work (72.4%). They also showed a high level of worry about the various threats. Multiple linear regression analysis showed that childhood trauma (β = -.26) and worry about threats during sex work (β = -.22) were significantly negative predictors, while self-efficacy (β = .20) and hope (β = .27) were significantly positive predictors of mental health. Future services should improve YFSWs' skills to minimize potential threats during female sex work, address the structural correlates and relieve their worries, and empower them with more hope and self-efficacy in choosing clients.

Multi-view 3D Human Pose Estimation in Complex Environment

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hofmann, K.M.; Gavrila, D.M.

2012-01-01

We introduce a framework for unconstrained 3D human upper body pose estimation from multiple camera views in complex environment. Its main novelty lies in the integration of three components: single-frame pose recovery, temporal integration and model texture adaptation. Single-frame pose recovery

Counter-terrorism threat prediction architecture

Science.gov (United States)

Lehman, Lynn A.; Krause, Lee S.

2004-09-01

This paper will evaluate the feasibility of constructing a system to support intelligence analysts engaged in counter-terrorism. It will discuss the use of emerging techniques to evaluate a large-scale threat data repository (or Infosphere) and comparing analyst developed models to identify and discover potential threat-related activity with a uncertainty metric used to evaluate the threat. This system will also employ the use of psychological (or intent) modeling to incorporate combatant (i.e. terrorist) beliefs and intent. The paper will explore the feasibility of constructing a hetero-hierarchical (a hierarchy of more than one kind or type characterized by loose connection/feedback among elements of the hierarchy) agent based framework or "family of agents" to support "evidence retrieval" defined as combing, or searching the threat data repository and returning information with an uncertainty metric. The counter-terrorism threat prediction architecture will be guided by a series of models, constructed to represent threat operational objectives, potential targets, or terrorist objectives. The approach would compare model representations against information retrieved by the agent family to isolate or identify patterns that match within reasonable measures of proximity. The central areas of discussion will be the construction of an agent framework to search the available threat related information repository, evaluation of results against models that will represent the cultural foundations, mindset, sociology and emotional drive of typical threat combatants (i.e. the mind and objectives of a terrorist), and the development of evaluation techniques to compare result sets with the models representing threat behavior and threat targets. The applicability of concepts surrounding Modeling Field Theory (MFT) will be discussed as the basis of this research into development of proximity measures between the models and result sets and to provide feedback in support of model

Stereotype threat and female communication styles.

Science.gov (United States)

von Hippel, Courtney; Wiryakusuma, Cindy; Bowden, Jessica; Shochet, Megan

2011-10-01

A large body of research has documented the performance-debilitating effects of stereotype threat for individuals, but there is a paucity of research exploring interpersonal consequences of stereotype threat. Two experiments tested the hypothesis that stereotype threat would change the style in which women communicate. Results indicate that women who experience stereotype threat regarding leadership abilities react against the stereotype by adopting a more masculine communication style. Study 2 provides evidence that self-affirmation eliminates this effect of stereotype threat on women's communication styles. A third study demonstrates an ironic consequence of this effect of stereotype threat on women's communication--when women under stereotype threat adopt a more masculine communication style, they are rated as less warm and likeable, and evaluators indicate less willingness to comply with their requests. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

Methods of RVD object pose estimation and experiments

Science.gov (United States)

Shang, Yang; He, Yan; Wang, Weihua; Yu, Qifeng

2007-11-01

Methods of measuring a RVD (rendezvous and docking) cooperative object's pose from monocular and binocular images respectively are presented. The methods solve the initial values first and optimize the object pose parameters by bundle adjustment. In the disturbance-rejecting binocular method, chosen measurement system parameters of one camera's exterior parameters are modified simultaneously. The methods need three or more cooperative target points to measure the object's pose accurately. Experimental data show that the methods converge quickly and stably, provide accurate results and do not need accurate initial values. Even when the chosen measurement system parameters are subjected to some amount of disturbance, the binocular method manages to provide fairly accurate results.

Single-frame 3D human pose recovery from multiple views

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hofmann, M.; Gavrila, D.M.

2009-01-01

We present a system for the estimation of unconstrained 3D human upper body pose from multi-camera single-frame views. Pose recovery starts with a shape detection stage where candidate poses are generated based on hierarchical exemplar matching in the individual camera views. The hierarchy used in

Turkish Primary School Teachers' Opinions about Problem Posing

Science.gov (United States)

Kilic, Cigdem

2013-01-01

Problem posing is one of the most important topics in a mathematics education. Through problem posing, students gain mathematical abilities and concepts and teachers can evaluate their students and arrange adequate learning environments. The aim of the present study is to investigate Turkish primary school teachers' opinions about problem posing…

Standard diffusive systems are well-posed linear systems

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Matignon, Denis; Zwart, Heiko J.

2004-01-01

The class of well-posed linear systems as introduced by Salamon has become a well-understood class of systems, see e.g. the work of Weiss and the book of Staffans. Many partial partial differential equations with boundary control and point observation can be formulated as a well-posed linear system.

An Ecological Assessment of the Pandemic Threat of Zika Virus.

Science.gov (United States)

Carlson, Colin J; Dougherty, Eric R; Getz, Wayne

2016-08-01

The current outbreak of Zika virus poses a severe threat to human health. While the range of the virus has been cataloged growing slowly over the last 50 years, the recent explosive expansion in the Americas indicates that the full potential distribution of Zika remains uncertain. Moreover, many studies rely on its similarity to dengue fever, a phylogenetically closely related disease of unknown ecological comparability. Here we compile a comprehensive spatially-explicit occurrence dataset from Zika viral surveillance and serological surveys based in its native range, and construct ecological niche models to test basic hypotheses about its spread and potential establishment. The hypothesis that the outbreak of cases in Mexico and North America are anomalous and outside the native ecological niche of the disease, and may be linked to either genetic shifts between strains, or El Nino or similar climatic events, remains plausible at this time. Comparison of the Zika niche against the known distribution of dengue fever suggests that Zika is more constrained by the seasonality of precipitation and diurnal temperature fluctuations, likely confining autochthonous non-sexual transmission to the tropics without significant evolutionary change. Projecting the range of the diseases in conjunction with three major vector species (Aedes africanus, Ae. aegypti, and Ae. albopictus) that transmit the pathogens, under climate change, suggests that Zika has potential for northward expansion; but, based on current knowledge, our models indicate Zika is unlikely to fill the full range its vectors occupy, and public fear of a vector-borne Zika epidemic in the mainland United States is potentially informed by biased or limited scientific knowledge. With recent sexual transmission of the virus globally, we caution that our results only apply to the vector-borne transmission route of the pathogen, and while the threat of a mosquito-carried Zika pandemic may be overstated in the media

The Threat Effect of Active Labor Market Programs: A Systematic Review

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Filges, Trine; Hansen, Anne Toft

2017-01-01

This paper is a systematic review of the threat effect of active labor market programs for unemployed individuals. The threat effect is the induced change in the hazard rate of leaving unemployment prior to program participation. Studies included in the review all estimated a threat effect...... a hazard rate of 1.27 for the pooled estimate. It has thus been concluded that active labor market programs constitute a significant threat effect......., with the participants in all cases being unemployed individuals in receipt of benefit of some kind during their tenure of unemployment. Seven of these studies have been included in a meta-analysis: The meta-analysis, which has been carried out using a random effects model to account for heterogeneity, indicated...

Education in Grenada--Marxism or Pan-Africanism? [and] Churches in Grenada: Doing Theology in the Struggles of the People. [and] Grenada's New Airport: A Treat or a Threat?

Science.gov (United States)

Alexander, E. Curtis

Reported are the author's personal accounts of a tour of Grenada to determine the extent to which Marxist-Leninist thought was being taught in schools, the relationship between the clergy and the government of Grenada, and whether the new international airport posed a threat to U.S. national security. In the new educational system, a Centre for…

Pose estimation for augmented reality applications using genetic algorithm.

Science.gov (United States)

Yu, Ying Kin; Wong, Kin Hong; Chang, Michael Ming Yuen

2005-12-01

This paper describes a genetic algorithm that tackles the pose-estimation problem in computer vision. Our genetic algorithm can find the rotation and translation of an object accurately when the three-dimensional structure of the object is given. In our implementation, each chromosome encodes both the pose and the indexes to the selected point features of the object. Instead of only searching for the pose as in the existing work, our algorithm, at the same time, searches for a set containing the most reliable feature points in the process. This mismatch filtering strategy successfully makes the algorithm more robust under the presence of point mismatches and outliers in the images. Our algorithm has been tested with both synthetic and real data with good results. The accuracy of the recovered pose is compared to the existing algorithms. Our approach outperformed the Lowe's method and the other two genetic algorithms under the presence of point mismatches and outliers. In addition, it has been used to estimate the pose of a real object. It is shown that the proposed method is applicable to augmented reality applications.

Posing Problems to Understand Children's Learning of Fractions

Science.gov (United States)

Cheng, Lu Pien

2013-01-01

In this study, ways in which problem posing activities aid our understanding of children's learning of addition of unlike fractions and product of proper fractions was examined. In particular, how a simple problem posing activity helps teachers take a second, deeper look at children's understanding of fraction concepts will be discussed. The…

Bio-threat microparticle simulants

Science.gov (United States)

Farquar, George Roy; Leif, Roald N

2012-10-23

A bio-threat simulant that includes a carrier and DNA encapsulated in the carrier. Also a method of making a simulant including the steps of providing a carrier and encapsulating DNA in the carrier to produce the bio-threat simulant.

Bio-threat microparticle simulants

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Farquar, George Roy; Leif, Roald

2014-09-16

A bio-threat simulant that includes a carrier and DNA encapsulated in the carrier. Also a method of making a simulant including the steps of providing a carrier and encapsulating DNA in the carrier to produce the bio-threat simulant.

INTERNATIONAL LEGAL ASPECTS OF DEALING WITH THE CONTEMPORARY TERRORISM THREATS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vesna Poposka

2017-05-01

Full Text Available Recent challenges in international security posed by two terrorist organizations, Al Qaeda and ISIS, have highlighted an urgent domestic and foreign policy challenge. Terrorism has been, for more than a decade, top headline in the world media, and the cost of terrorist activities is expressed in numerous human lives and enormous material damage. Yet to date, international organizations and governments have not been successful in the attempt to find a common definition or uniform approach. Up to now, the approaches towards terrorist activities differ from case to case. There is no single legal regime to deal with terrorist activities, and the legal regime is what gives the answer and the framework for the counter-terrorist activities of the security forces, in order to be able to deal with the threat. This paper will attempt to answer at least some of the dilemmas.

Work-related threats and violence in human service sectors

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Andersen, Lars Peter Sønderbo; Hogh, Annie; Biering, Karin

2018-01-01

BACKGROUND: Threats and violence at work are major concerns for employees in many human service sectors. The prevention of work-related violence is a major challenge for employees and management. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to identify prospective associations between psycho-social w......BACKGROUND: Threats and violence at work are major concerns for employees in many human service sectors. The prevention of work-related violence is a major challenge for employees and management. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to identify prospective associations between psycho...... rewards at work, low role clarity, many role conflicts, many work-family conflicts and low organizational justice had statistically significant associations with high levels of work-related threats. Furthermore, high emotional demands, low predictability, low role clarity, many role conflicts, many work......-family conflicts, low supervisor quality and low support from nearest supervisor had statistically significant associations with high levels of work-related violence. Finally, across the four sectors both similar and different associations between psycho-social work environment and work-related violence...

Non-Traditional Security Threats in the Border Areas: Terrorism, Piracy, Environmental Degradation in Southeast Asian Maritime Domain

Science.gov (United States)

Dabova, E. L.

2013-11-01

In addition to facilitating peaceful trade and economic development, sovereign territory, territorial waters and international waters are being used by various criminal groups that pose threats to governments, businesses and civilian population in Southeast Asia. Nonstate criminal maritime activities were not receiving appropriate attention as they were overshadowed by traditional military security challenges. Yet more and more frequently, the non-traditional actors challenge lines of communication, jeopardize access to strategic resources, complicate traditional defence tasks, and harm the environment. Understanding the nature of non-traditional threats, and the ways to combat them, requires international legal, historical and political science analysis within a united problem-oriented approach. A fair critique to pure interest, power and knowledge -based theories of regime formation was developed by E.K. Leonard's1, who explained the evolution of the international system from the global governance perspective. The present study is based on the premise that pure nation-state approaches are incapable of providing a theoretical ground for addressing the growing influence of international criminal networks in South East Asia. From an international relations theory perspective, the author of this study agrees with D.Snidal2 that the hegemonic stability theory has "limits" and is insufficient in describing modern challenges to sustainable international security regime, including non-traditional threats, where collective action is more efficient from an interest and capability standpoint. At the same time the author of this study does not share the viewpoint on "marginalization"3 of international law in current international order due to its fragmentation and regionalization4 and "global power shifts"5 . The United Nations, as a global institution at the top of the vertical hierarchy of international legal order, and the EU as an example of "self-contained" regime along

Stereotype threat and social function in opioid substitution therapy patients.

Science.gov (United States)

von Hippel, Courtney; Henry, Julie D; Terrett, Gill; Mercuri, Kimberly; McAlear, Karen; Rendell, Peter G

2017-06-01

People with a history of substance abuse are subject to widespread stigmatization. It seems likely that this societal disapproval will result in feelings of stereotype threat, or the belief that one is the target of demeaning stereotypes. If so, stereotype threat has the potential to contribute to functional difficulties including poor social outcomes. Eighty drug users on opioid substitution therapy and 84 demographically matched controls completed measures of mental health and social function. The opioid substitution therapy group were additionally asked to complete a measure that focused on their feelings of stereotype threat in relation to their drug use history. Bivariate correlations and hierarchical regression analyses were conducted to establish the magnitude and specificity of the relationship between stereotype threat and social functioning. Relative to controls, the opioid substitution therapy group reported higher levels of negative affect and schizotypy, and poorer social functioning, with all three of these indices significantly correlated with their feelings of stereotype threat. The results also showed that stereotype threat contributed significant unique variance to social functioning in the opioid substitution therapy group, even after taking into account other background, clinical, and mental health variables. Social functioning is an important aspect of recovery, yet these data indicate that people with a history of drug abuse who believe they are the target of stereotypical attitudes have poorer social functioning. This relationship holds after controlling for the impact of other variables on social functioning, including mental health. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed. Concerns about being stereotyped can shape the social experiences of opioid substitution therapy patients. Opioid substitution therapy patients who feel negatively stereotyped experience greater social function deficits, and this

The emerging response of the insurance industry to the threat of climate change

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Leggett, J.

1994-01-01

The insurance industry is waking up fast to the threat anthropogenic enhancement of the greenhouse effect poses to its future market security. This has been in large measure because of a suspicious escalation in losses from windstorms and drought-related wildfire in recent years. Articulating worst-case analysis fears of a global-warming future, senior industry figures in London, Zurich, Munich, Tokyo and New York have spoken of the potential for a global collapse of the insurance industry. Such an eventuality would have negative consequences in many areas of economic activity. These consequences have been little explored or appreciated in the climate-change debate to date. In some developing countries, meanwhile, withdrawal of catastrophe insurance cover is already threatening development. (author). 16 refs

Promoting dental hygiene to children: comparing traditional and interactive media following threat appeals.

Science.gov (United States)

Panic, Katarina; Cauberghe, Veroline; De Pelsmacker, Patrick

2014-01-01

Until now, social marketing campaigns mainly targeted children using traditional media. However, little is known about the effectiveness of computer games to communicate health-related information to children. This study compares the impact of an interactive game as a medium to provide health information and improve children's dietary habits to the impact of more traditional media. Using a 2 × 3 between-subject factorial design with 190 children (7-9 years old), this study investigates the effect of threat messages (weak vs. strong) concerning dental hygiene on behavioral outcome (snack choice), and how this effect is moderated by the type of medium used to communicate subsequent health information after the threat appeal (computer game, information brochure, narrative story). Results show a positive significant effect of perceived threat on children's adaptive behavior. However, this effect only remains significant when afterwards children are exposed to a narrative health-related story. When children play a game or read a brochure, they need to devote more attention to process this content, distracting them from the original threat message. In sum, when a threat message is followed by additional health information, the medium through which this information is presented influences the effectiveness of the preceding threat message.

DOE site-specific threat assessment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

West, D.J.; Al-Ayat, R.A.; Judd, B.R.

1985-01-01

A facility manager faced with the challenges of protecting a nuclear facility against potential threats must consider the likelihood and consequences of such threats, know the capabilities of the facility safeguards and security systems, and make informed decisions about the cost-effectivness of safeguards and security upgrades. To help meet these challenges, the San Francisco Operations Office of the Department of Energy, in conjunction with the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory, has developed a site-specific threat assessment approach and a quantitative model to improve the quality and consistency of site-specific threat assessment and resultant security upgrade decisions at sensitive Department of Energy facilities. 5 figs

Exotic mosquito threats require strategic surveillance and response planning.

Science.gov (United States)

Webb, Cameron E; Doggett, Stephen L

2016-12-14

Mosquito-borne diseases caused by endemic pathogens such as Ross River, Barmah Forest and Murray Valley encephalitis viruses are an annual concern in New South Wales (NSW), Australia. More than a dozen mosquito species have been implicated in the transmission of these pathogens, with each mosquito occupying a specialised ecological niche that influences their habitat associations, host feeding preferences and the environmental drivers of their abundance. The NSW Arbovirus Surveillance and Mosquito Monitoring Program provides an early warning system for potential outbreaks of mosquito-borne disease by tracking annual activity of these mosquitoes and their associated pathogens. Although the program will effectively track changes in local mosquito populations that may increase with a changing climate, urbanisation and wetland rehabilitation, it will be less effective with current surveillance methodologies at detecting or monitoring changes in exotic mosquito threats, where different surveillance strategies need to be used. Exotic container-inhabiting mosquitoes such as Aedes aegypti and Ae. albopictus pose a threat to NSW because they are nuisance-biting pests and vectors of pathogens such as dengue, chikungunya and Zika viruses. International movement of humans and their belongings have spread these mosquitoes to many regions of the world. In recent years, these two mosquitoes have been detected by the Australian Government Department of Agriculture and Water Resources at local airports and seaports. To target the detection of these exotic mosquitoes, new trapping technologies and networks of surveillance locations are required. Additionally, incursions of these mosquitoes into urban areas of the state will require strategic responses to minimise substantial public health and economic burdens to local communities.

Web-based visualisation of head pose and facial expressions changes: monitoring human activity using depth data

OpenAIRE

Kalliatakis, Grigorios; Vidakis, Nikolaos; Triantafyllidis, Georgios

2017-01-01

Despite significant recent advances in the field of head pose estimation and facial expression recognition, raising the cognitive level when analysing human activity presents serious challenges to current concepts. Motivated by the need of generating comprehensible visual representations from different sets of data, we introduce a system capable of monitoring human activity through head pose and facial expression changes, utilising an affordable 3D sensing technology (Microsoft Kinect sensor)...

TPPA and tobacco control: threats to APEC countries.

Science.gov (United States)

Sy, Deborah K; Stumberg, Robert K

2014-11-01

Twelve-member countries of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) are negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA), a free trade agreement to facilitate international trade and investment. As reported by multiple sources, the TPPA would grant the same trade benefits and legal protections to tobacco products, services and investments that it would provide to other sectors. Malaysia proposed excluding tobacco control measures from the scope of all TPPA chapters while the US proposed only to establish a consultation process in tobacco-related disputes and to declare that tobacco control measures serve a health objective within the scope of the general exceptions. The article analyses selected TPPA trade and investment rules and shows how they strengthen the ability of tobacco companies or a country to challenge the most progressive tobacco control measures. In the absence of a complete TPPA text, the analysis is based on specific leaked chapters, legal analysis from observers in the negotiations, existing free trade agreements among the TPPA parties and positions of the tobacco industry and its allies. Five TPPA chapters pose the most significant threats to tobacco control measures: Investment, Regulatory Coherence, Services, Intellectual Property and Technical Barriers to Trade. Trade negotiators should expand safeguards to ensure that the TPPA does no harm. The most effective would be to exclude (carve out) tobacco control measures from the scope of all TPPA chapters, as Malaysia has proposed. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.

Prototyping of CBRN threat assessment system. Phase 1

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ina, Shinichiro; Suzuki, Tomoyuki; Maeno, Akihiro; Sakaue, Motoki

2015-01-01

Recently, chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear threats, that is, CBRN threats have emerged. In order to support the Japan Self Defense Forces unit coping with the CBRN threats, it is important to take measures against these invisible threats. Our CBRN threat assessment system will make invisible CBRN threats visible. This report describes a prototyping of the CBRN threat assessment system (PHASE 1) carried out from fiscal year 2012-2014. (author)

Psychoanalysis and the nuclear threat

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Levine, H.B.; Jacobs, D.; Rubin, L.J.

1988-01-01

{ital Psychoanalysis and the Nuclear Threat} provides coverage of the dynamic and clinical considerations that follow from life in the nuclear age. Of special clinical interest are chapters dealing with the developmental consequences of the nuclear threat in childhood, adolescence, and adulthood, and those exploring the technical issues raised by the occurrence in analytic and psychotherapeutic hours of material related to the nuclear threat. Additional chapters bring a psychoanalytic perspective to bear on such issues as the need to have enemies, silence as the real crime, love, work, and survival in the nuclear age, the relationship of the nuclear threat to issues of mourning and melancholia, apocalyptic fantasies, the paranoid process, considerations of the possible impact of gender on the nuclear threat, and the application of psychoanalytic thinking to nuclear arms strategy. Finally, the volume includes the first case report in the English language---albeit a brief psychotherapy---involving the treatment of a Hiroshima survivor.

Nuclear power threats, public opposition and green electricity adoption: Effects of threat belief appraisal and fear arousal

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hartmann, Patrick; Apaolaza, Vanessa; D'Souza, Clare; Echebarria, Carmen; Barrutia, Jose M.

2013-01-01

This study analyses the extent to which willingness to oppose nuclear power and intention to adopt green electricity are related to the cognitive and emotional appraisal of threats deriving from nuclear power. The analysis draws on a theoretical framework which introduces emotional fear arousal as a direct behavioural antecedent of coping behaviour into a model based on cognitive centred Protection Motivation Theory (PMT, Maddux and Rogers, 1983; Rogers, 1983) and the Extended Parallel Processing Model (EPPM, Witte, 1992, 1998). Hypothesized relations are tested in a nationally representative online study conducted in April and May 2012, one year after the Fukushima accident. Results support the hypothesized influences of perceived threat, fear arousal and perceived coping efficacy. Support for the proposed effects of fear control is rather limited. Findings contribute to extending previous knowledge on the role of cognitive and emotional appraisal processes induced by awareness of threats from nuclear power as behavioural antecedents of both opposing nuclear power and adopting green electricity. Findings of the study have implications for nuclear power policy and activism, as well as for institutional and commercial promoters of voluntary residential green electricity adoption. - Highlights: • Nationally representative online survey on nuclear power conducted in Spain in April and May 2012. • Opposition to nuclear power and green electricity adoption are related to threat beliefs. • Emotional fear arousal motivates nuclear opposition and green electricity uptake. • Significant behavioural effects of coping efficacy are confirmed. • Influences of fear control on behaviour intentions are rather weak

Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact: Curecanti-Lost Canyon 230-kV Transmission Line Reroute Project, Montrose County, Colorado

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

N/A

2000-03-20

The Department of Energy (DOE), Western Area Power Administration (Western) is proposing to reroute a section of the Curecanti-Lost Canyon 230-kilovolt (kV) transmission line, in Montrose County, Colorado. A portion of the transmission line, situated 11 miles southeast of Montrose, Colorado, crosses Waterdog Peak, an area of significant geologic surface activity, which is causing the transmission line's lattice steel towers to shift. This increases stress to structure hardware and conductors, and poses a threat to the integrity of the transmission system. Western proposes to relocate the lattice steel towers and line to a more geologically stable area. The existing section of transmission line and the proposed relocation route cross Bureau of Land Management and private land holdings.

Culture, threat, and mental illness stigma: identifying culture-specific threat among Chinese-American groups.

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Lawrence H; Purdie-Vaughns, Valerie; Kotabe, Hiroki; Link, Bruce G; Saw, Anne; Wong, Gloria; Phelan, Jo C

2013-07-01

We incorporate anthropological insights into a stigma framework to elucidate the role of culture in threat perception and stigma among Chinese groups. Prior work suggests that genetic contamination that jeopardizes the extension of one's family lineage may comprise a culture-specific threat among Chinese groups. In Study 1, a national survey conducted from 2002 to 2003 assessed cultural differences in mental illness stigma and perceptions of threat in 56 Chinese-Americans and 589 European-Americans. Study 2 sought to empirically test this culture-specific threat of genetic contamination to lineage via a memory paradigm. Conducted from June to August 2010, 48 Chinese-American and 37 European-American university students in New York City read vignettes containing content referring to lineage or non-lineage concerns. Half the participants in each ethnic group were assigned to a condition in which the illness was likely to be inherited (genetic condition) and the rest read that the illness was unlikely to be inherited (non-genetic condition). Findings from Study 1 and 2 were convergent. In Study 1, culture-specific threat to lineage predicted cultural variation in stigma independently and after accounting for other forms of threat. In Study 2, Chinese-Americans in the genetic condition were more likely to accurately recall and recognize lineage content than the Chinese-Americans in the non-genetic condition, but that memorial pattern was not found for non-lineage content. The identification of this culture-specific threat among Chinese groups has direct implications for culturally-tailored anti-stigma interventions. Further, this framework might be implemented across other conditions and cultural groups to reduce stigma across cultures. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Zika Virus: An Emerging Worldwide Threat

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Irfan A. Rather

2017-07-01

Full Text Available ZIKA virus (ZIKV poses a severe threat to the world. Recent outbreaks of ZIKV after 2007 along with its quick transmission have made this virus a matter of international concern. The virus shows symptoms that are similar to those caused in the wake of dengue virus (DENV and other flaviviruses, which makes it difficult to discern the viral infection. Diagnosis is further complicated as the virus cross-reacts with antibodies of other viruses. Currently, molecular diagnosis of the virus is being performed by RT-PCR and IgM-captured enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (MAC-ELISA. The real brunt of the virus is, however, borne by children and adults alike. Case studies of the ZIKV outbreaks in the French Polynesia and other places have suggested that there is a close link between the ZIKV and Gullian-Barre syndrome (GBS. The GBS has closely followed in areas facing ZIKV outbreaks. Although solid evidence is yet to emerge, clinical data integration has revealed a large number of ZIKV patients having GBS. Moreover, the amniotic fluids, blood cord, and miscarriage tissues of mothers have been detected with ZIKV, which indicates that the virus either gets transferred from mother to fetus or seeks direct entry in the fetus, causing microcephaly and other brain anomalies in the newborn babies. Studies on mice have confirmed the link between the ZIKV infection during pregnancy and microcephaly in babies. Reports have highlighted the sexual transmission of the ZIKV, as it has been detected in the semen and saliva of affected persons. The intensity with which the ZIKA is spreading can collapse the health sector of several countries, which are poor. A comprehensive strategy is a need of an hour to combat this virus so as to prevent its transmission and avert the looming threat. At the same time, more research on the cure of the ZIKV is imperative.

Sensor-guided threat countermeasure system

Science.gov (United States)

Stuart, Brent C.; Hackel, Lloyd A.; Hermann, Mark R.; Armstrong, James P.

2012-12-25

A countermeasure system for use by a target to protect against an incoming sensor-guided threat. The system includes a laser system for producing a broadband beam and means for directing the broadband beam from the target to the threat. The countermeasure system comprises the steps of producing a broadband beam and directing the broad band beam from the target to blind or confuse the incoming sensor-guided threat.

Point Cloud Based Relative Pose Estimation of a Satellite in Close Range

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lujiang Liu

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Determination of the relative pose of satellites is essential in space rendezvous operations and on-orbit servicing missions. The key problems are the adoption of suitable sensor on board of a chaser and efficient techniques for pose estimation. This paper aims to estimate the pose of a target satellite in close range on the basis of its known model by using point cloud data generated by a flash LIDAR sensor. A novel model based pose estimation method is proposed; it includes a fast and reliable pose initial acquisition method based on global optimal searching by processing the dense point cloud data directly, and a pose tracking method based on Iterative Closest Point algorithm. Also, a simulation system is presented in this paper in order to evaluate the performance of the sensor and generate simulated sensor point cloud data. It also provides truth pose of the test target so that the pose estimation error can be quantified. To investigate the effectiveness of the proposed approach and achievable pose accuracy, numerical simulation experiments are performed; results demonstrate algorithm capability of operating with point cloud directly and large pose variations. Also, a field testing experiment is conducted and results show that the proposed method is effective.

Creativity of Field-dependent and Field-independent Students in Posing Mathematical Problems

Science.gov (United States)

Azlina, N.; Amin, S. M.; Lukito, A.

2018-01-01

This study aims at describing the creativity of elementary school students with different cognitive styles in mathematical problem-posing. The posed problems were assessed based on three components of creativity, namely fluency, flexibility, and novelty. The free-type problem posing was used in this study. This study is a descriptive research with qualitative approach. Data collections were conducted through written task and task-based interviews. The subjects were two elementary students. One of them is Field Dependent (FD) and the other is Field Independent (FI) which were measured by GEFT (Group Embedded Figures Test). Further, the data were analyzed based on creativity components. The results show thatFD student’s posed problems have fulfilled the two components of creativity namely fluency, in which the subject posed at least 3 mathematical problems, and flexibility, in whichthe subject posed problems with at least 3 different categories/ideas. Meanwhile,FI student’s posed problems have fulfilled all three components of creativity, namely fluency, in which thesubject posed at least 3 mathematical problems, flexibility, in which thesubject posed problems with at least 3 different categories/ideas, and novelty, in which the subject posed problems that are purely the result of her own ideas and different from problems they have known.

Is supergravity well-posed?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Isenberg, J.; Bao, D.; Yasskin, P.B.

1983-01-01

One rather fundamental question concerning supergravity remains unresolved: Is supergravity a well-posed field theory? That is, does a set of certain (Cauchy) data specified on some initial spacelike surface determine a unique, causally propagating spacetime solution of the supergravity field equations (at least in some finite neighborhood of the initial surface)? In this paper, the authors give a very brief report on work directed towards answering this question. (Auth.)

Friendship Characteristics, Threat Appraisals, and Varieties of Jealousy About Romantic Partners’ Friendships

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Timothy R. Worley

2014-12-01

Full Text Available This study examined the role of friendship sex composition, friendship history, and threat appraisals in the experience of jealousy about a romantic partner’s involvement in extradyadic friendships. Using a survey, 201 individuals responded to scenarios describing a romantic partner’s involvement in a significant friendship outside the romantic dyad. A partner’s involvement in a cross-sex friendship was associated with greater perceptions of threat to both the existence and quality of the romantic relationship than was a partner’s involvement in a same-sex friendship. Further, the specific forms of jealousy experienced about partners’ friendships were dependent on the threat appraisals individuals associated with the friendships. Appraisals of relational existence threat mediated the influence of friendship characteristics (i.e., sex composition and history on sexual jealousy and companionship jealousy, while appraisals of relational quality threat mediated the influence of friendship characteristics on intimacy jealousy, power jealousy, and companionship jealousy. This study points toward the central role of threat appraisals in mediating associations between rival characteristics and various forms of jealousy about a partner’s friendships.

Susceptibility and hardening of electronic systems to fast transient threats: new challenges ahead

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F. Sabath

2004-01-01

Full Text Available The field of susceptibility and hardening of electronic systems to transient threats has experienced a significant growth during the past ten years. Driven by the development in the area of non-lethal electromagnetic weapons it has become necessary to extend the classical set of transient threats, consisting of LEMP, ESD and NEMP, by a fast transient threat with an extreme bandwidth. The investigation of the susceptibility to those UWB threats, characterized by a bandwidth of more than a quarter of the center frequency, rise times of less than 200 ps and pulse durations in the ns regime, is of special interest. This paper presents an overview of current challenges of the hardening against UWB threats. It discusses recent research trends in transient susceptibility measurements, protection concepts and methods of analysis.

Pose-Invariant Face Recognition via RGB-D Images.

Science.gov (United States)

Sang, Gaoli; Li, Jing; Zhao, Qijun

2016-01-01

Three-dimensional (3D) face models can intrinsically handle large pose face recognition problem. In this paper, we propose a novel pose-invariant face recognition method via RGB-D images. By employing depth, our method is able to handle self-occlusion and deformation, both of which are challenging problems in two-dimensional (2D) face recognition. Texture images in the gallery can be rendered to the same view as the probe via depth. Meanwhile, depth is also used for similarity measure via frontalization and symmetric filling. Finally, both texture and depth contribute to the final identity estimation. Experiments on Bosphorus, CurtinFaces, Eurecom, and Kiwi databases demonstrate that the additional depth information has improved the performance of face recognition with large pose variations and under even more challenging conditions.

Evaluating Threats in Multinational Marine Ecosystems: A Coast Salish First Nations and Tribal Perspective.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Joseph K Gaydos

Full Text Available Despite the merit of managing natural resources on the scale of ecosystems, evaluating threats and managing risk in ecosystems that span multiple countries or jurisdictions can be challenging. This requires each government involved to consider actions in concert with actions being taken in other countries by co-managing entities. Multiple proposed fossil fuel-related and port development projects in the Salish Sea, a 16,925 km2 inland sea shared by Washington State (USA, British Columbia (Canada, and Indigenous Coast Salish governments, have the potential to increase marine vessel traffic and negatively impact natural resources. There is no legal mandate or management mechanism requiring a comprehensive review of the potential cumulative impacts of these development activities throughout the Salish Sea and across the international border. This project identifies ongoing and proposed energy-related development projects that will increase marine vessel traffic in the Salish Sea and evaluates the threats each project poses to natural resources important to the Coast Salish. While recognizing that Coast Salish traditions identify all species as important and connected, we used expert elicitation to identify 50 species upon which we could evaluate impact. These species were chosen because Coast Salish depend upon them heavily for harvest revenue or as a staple food source, they were particularly culturally or spiritually significant, or they were historically part of Coast Salish lifeways. We identified six development projects, each of which had three potential impacts (pressures associated with increased marine vessel traffic: oil spill, vessel noise and vessel strike. Projects varied in their potential for localized impacts (pressures including shoreline development, harbor oil spill, pipeline spill, coal dust accumulation and nearshore LNG explosion. Based on available published data, impact for each pressure/species interaction was rated as

Using Motivational Interviewing to reduce threats in conversations about environmental behavior

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Florian Erik Klonek

2015-07-01

Full Text Available Human behavior contributes to a waste of environmental resources and our society is looking for ways to reduce this problem. However, humans may perceive feedback about their environmental behavior as threatening. According to self-determination theory (SDT, threats decrease intrinsic motivation for behavior change. According to self-affirmation theory (SAT, threats can harm individuals’ self-integrity. Therefore, individuals should show self-defensive biases, e.g., in terms of presenting counter-arguments when presented with environmental behavior change. The current study examines how change recipients respond to threats from change agents in interactions about environmental behavior change. Moreover, we investigate how Motivational Interviewing (MI—an intervention aimed at increasing intrinsic motivation—can reduce threats at both the social and cognitive level. We videotaped 68 dyadic interactions with change agents who either did or did not use MI (control group. We coded agents verbal threats and recipients’ verbal expressions of motivation. Recipients also rated agents’ level of confrontation and empathy (i.e., cognitive reactions. As hypothesized, threats were significantly lower when change agents used MI. Perceived confrontations converged with observable social behavior of change agents in both groups. Moreover, behavioral threats showed a negative association with change recipients’ expressed motivation (i.e., reasons to change. Contrary to our expectations, we found no relation between change agents’ verbal threats and change recipients’ verbally expressed self-defenses (i.e., sustain talk. Our results imply that MI reduces the adverse impact of threats in conversations about environmental behavior change on both the social and cognitive level. We discuss theoretical implications of our study in the context of SAT and SDT and suggest practical implications for environmental change agents in organizations.

Using Motivational Interviewing to reduce threats in conversations about environmental behavior.

Science.gov (United States)

Klonek, Florian E; Güntner, Amelie V; Lehmann-Willenbrock, Nale; Kauffeld, Simone

2015-01-01

Human behavior contributes to a waste of environmental resources and our society is looking for ways to reduce this problem. However, humans may perceive feedback about their environmental behavior as threatening. According to self-determination theory (SDT), threats decrease intrinsic motivation for behavior change. According to self-affirmation theory (SAT), threats can harm individuals' self-integrity. Therefore, individuals should show self-defensive biases, e.g., in terms of presenting counter-arguments when presented with environmental behavior change. The current study examines how change recipients respond to threats from change agents in interactions about environmental behavior change. Moreover, we investigate how Motivational Interviewing (MI) - an intervention aimed at increasing intrinsic motivation - can reduce threats at both the social and cognitive level. We videotaped 68 dyadic interactions with change agents who either did or did not use MI (control group). We coded agents verbal threats and recipients' verbal expressions of motivation. Recipients also rated agents' level of confrontation and empathy (i.e., cognitive reactions). As hypothesized, threats were significantly lower when change agents used MI. Perceived confrontations converged with observable social behavior of change agents in both groups. Moreover, behavioral threats showed a negative association with change recipients' expressed motivation (i.e., reasons to change). Contrary to our expectations, we found no relation between change agents' verbal threats and change recipients' verbally expressed self-defenses (i.e., sustain talk). Our results imply that MI reduces the adverse impact of threats in conversations about environmental behavior change on both the social and cognitive level. We discuss theoretical implications of our study in the context of SAT and SDT and suggest practical implications for environmental change agents in organizations.

Breast-related stereotype threat contributes to a symptom cluster in women with breast cancer.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Jie; Gao, Wei; Yu, Li-Xiang; Zhu, Song-Ying; Cao, Feng-Lin

2017-05-01

To investigate the prevalence of breast-related stereotype threat and its effects on a symptom cluster consisting of anxiety, depression and fatigue and on each symptom. The stereotype that breasts are a sign of women's femininity results in patients with breast cancer fearing diminished femininity and rejection, which may induce psychological problems that co-occur as a symptom cluster. Cross-sectional study. A total of 131 patients with breast cancer postmastectomy completed the study. A question measuring breast-related stereotype threat, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale and the Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Fatigue Scale were used to assess their breast-related stereotype threat and symptoms of anxiety, depression and fatigue. Of the 131 patients who answered the breast-related stereotype threat question, 86 (65·6%) reported breast-related stereotype threat. They did not differ significantly in social and clinical characteristics compared with those without the stereotype, but did report significantly higher levels of the symptom cluster and each symptom (anxiety, depression and fatigue). The odds ratios of the stereotype were significant for the symptom cluster, depression and fatigue (odds ratios = 2·52-3·98, p stereotype threat was common in patients with breast cancer. There was about a twofold increase in their risk of experiencing the symptom cluster and symptoms of depression and fatigue. In clinical practice, breast-related stereotype threat should be measured together with prevalent symptoms (e.g. anxiety, depression and fatigue) in patients with breast cancer. Our findings will aid the development of interventions for improving the mental health of women with breast cancer. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

A Cyber Security Risk Assessment of Hospital Infrastructure including TLS/SSL and other Threats

OpenAIRE

Millar, Stuart

2016-01-01

Cyber threats traditionally target governments, financial institutions and businesses. However, of growing concern is the threat to healthcare organizations. This study conducts a cyber security risk assessment of a theoretical hospital environment, to include TLS/SSL, which is an encryption protocol for network communications, plus other physical, logical and human threats. Despite significant budgets in the UK for the NHS, the spend on cyber security appears worryingly low and many hospital...

N deposition as a threat to the World's protected areas under the Convention on Biological Diversity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bleeker, A.; Hicks, W.K.; Dentener, F.; Galloway, J.; Erisman, J.W.

2011-01-01

This paper combines the world's protected areas (PAs) under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), common classification systems of ecosystem conservation status, and current knowledge on ecosystem responses to nitrogen (N) deposition to determine areas most at risk. The results show that 40% (approx. 11% of total area) of PAs currently receive >10 kg N/ha/yr with projections for 2030 indicating that this situation is not expected to change. Furthermore, 950 PAs are projected to receive >30 kg N/ha/yr by 2030 (approx. twice the 2000 number), of which 62 (approx. 11,300 km 2 ) are also Biodiversity Hotspots and G200 ecoregions; with forest and grassland ecosystems in Asia particularly at risk. Many of these sites are known to be sensitive to N deposition effects, both in terms of biodiversity changes and ecosystem services they provide. Urgent assessment of high risk areas identified in this study is recommended to inform the conservation efforts of the CBD. - Highlights: → Significant areas of the Protected Areas Programme under the CBD will likely be under threat of high N deposition levels by the year 2030.→ Approx. 950 PAs are projected to receive N deposition levels of more than 30 kg N/ha/yr by 2030.→ 62 of these sites are also Biodiversity Hotspots and G200 ecoregions, where forest and grassland ecosystems in Asia will be particularly at risk.→ Many of these sites are known to be sensitive to N deposition effects, both in terms of biodiversity changes and ecosystem services they provide → Urgent assessment of high risk areas identified in this study is recommended to inform the conservation efforts of the CBD. - Significant areas of the UNEP Protected Areas Programme under the CBD receive high N deposition rates that are likely to increase in the future, especially in Asia, and may pose a significant threat to biodiversity.

Perspective projection for variance pose face recognition from camera calibration

Science.gov (United States)

Fakhir, M. M.; Woo, W. L.; Chambers, J. A.; Dlay, S. S.

2016-04-01

Variance pose is an important research topic in face recognition. The alteration of distance parameters across variance pose face features is a challenging. We provide a solution for this problem using perspective projection for variance pose face recognition. Our method infers intrinsic camera parameters of the image which enable the projection of the image plane into 3D. After this, face box tracking and centre of eyes detection can be identified using our novel technique to verify the virtual face feature measurements. The coordinate system of the perspective projection for face tracking allows the holistic dimensions for the face to be fixed in different orientations. The training of frontal images and the rest of the poses on FERET database determine the distance from the centre of eyes to the corner of box face. The recognition system compares the gallery of images against different poses. The system initially utilises information on position of both eyes then focuses principally on closest eye in order to gather data with greater reliability. Differentiation between the distances and position of the right and left eyes is a unique feature of our work with our algorithm outperforming other state of the art algorithms thus enabling stable measurement in variance pose for each individual.

Multi-Task Convolutional Neural Network for Pose-Invariant Face Recognition

Science.gov (United States)

Yin, Xi; Liu, Xiaoming

2018-02-01

This paper explores multi-task learning (MTL) for face recognition. We answer the questions of how and why MTL can improve the face recognition performance. First, we propose a multi-task Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) for face recognition where identity classification is the main task and pose, illumination, and expression estimations are the side tasks. Second, we develop a dynamic-weighting scheme to automatically assign the loss weight to each side task, which is a crucial problem in MTL. Third, we propose a pose-directed multi-task CNN by grouping different poses to learn pose-specific identity features, simultaneously across all poses. Last but not least, we propose an energy-based weight analysis method to explore how CNN-based MTL works. We observe that the side tasks serve as regularizations to disentangle the variations from the learnt identity features. Extensive experiments on the entire Multi-PIE dataset demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work using all data in Multi-PIE for face recognition. Our approach is also applicable to in-the-wild datasets for pose-invariant face recognition and achieves comparable or better performance than state of the art on LFW, CFP, and IJB-A datasets.

Organizational Security Threats Related to Portable Data Storage Devices: Qualitative Exploratory Inquiry

Science.gov (United States)

Cooper, Paul K.

2017-01-01

There has been a significant growth of portable devices capable of storing both personal data as well as sensitive organizational data. This growth of these portable devices has led to an increased threat of cyber-criminal activity. The purpose of this study was to gain a better understanding of security threats to the data assets of organizations…

One Health Perspectives on Emerging Public Health Threats

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sukhyun Ryu

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Antimicrobial resistance and emerging infectious diseases, including avian influenza, Ebola virus disease, and Zika virus disease have significantly affected humankind in recent years. In the premodern era, no distinction was made between animal and human medicine. However, as medical science developed, the gap between human and animal science grew deeper. Cooperation among human, animal, and environmental sciences to combat emerging public health threats has become an important issue under the One Health Initiative. Herein, we presented the history of One Health, reviewed current public health threats, and suggested opportunities for the field of public health through better understanding of the One Health paradigm.

Metals and metalloids in PM10 in Nandan County, Guangxi, China, and the health risks posed.

Science.gov (United States)

Guo, Guanghui; Song, Bo; Xia, Deshang; Yang, Zijie; Wang, Fopeng

2018-03-16

Intense mining, smelting, and tailing activities of polymetallic ore deposits have affected the environment in Nandan County, Guangxi, China. Samples of particulates with aerodynamic diameters low or equal 10 μm (PM 10 ) were collected in Nandan County to investigate the concentrations of and health risks posed by 17 metals and metalloids in the PM 10 . The metal and metalloid concentrations were lower than those found in other industrial cities. The mean Cr concentration was 7.48 ng/m 3 . Significant higher metal and metalloid concentrations were found in PM 10 from mining areas (Dachang and Chehe) than from the control area (Liuzhai) (p metalloids in PM 10 at all the sites were low, but the non-carcinogenic risks posed to children by all the metals and metalloids together exceeded the safe level (i.e., risk value > 1). The carcinogenic risks posed by Cd, Ni, and Pb were negligible at all sites, while As, Co, and Cr posed potential carcinogenic risks to the residents.

Does by-catch pose a threat for the conservation of seabird populations in the southern Ionian Sea (eastern Mediterranean? A questionnaire based survey of local fisheries

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

G. KARRIS

2013-09-01

Full Text Available A significant number of studies worldwide have shown that incidental catches (by-catch of seabirds in fishing gear might pose a considerable risk for the conservation of their populations. Nevertheless reliable data on by-catch rates of seabirds in European marine ecosystems are patchy and need to be improved. This study constitutes a first attempt at the evaluation of by-catch rates in the southern Ionian Sea. Data were obtained by distributing a specific questionnaire to the fishers of Zakynthos Island. 150 professional fishers (representing 90% of the local fishing fleet participated in the research, and were interviewed during July-December 2010. The information collected showed that commercial longline and (to a lesser extent gillnet fishery gears caused incidental catches mostly of Scopoli’s Shearwater and Mediterranean Shag. The temporal analysis of the incidental bird mortality showed that seabirds were more susceptible to be trapped in fishery gears set around sunrise during spring and summer whereas spatial analysis of by-catch data indicated variations in the number of seabirds caught in different fishery areas.

Endogenous Pain Modulation Induced by Extrinsic and Intrinsic Psychological Threat in Healthy Individuals.

Science.gov (United States)

Gibson, William; Moss, Penny; Cheng, Tak Ho; Garnier, Alexandre; Wright, Anthony; Wand, Benedict M

2018-03-01

Many factors interact to influence threat perception and the subsequent experience of pain. This study investigated the effect of observing pain (extrinsic threat) and intrinsic threat of pain to oneself on pressure pain threshold (PPT). Forty socially connected pairs of healthy volunteers were threat-primed and randomly allocated to experimental or control roles. An experimental pain modulation paradigm was applied, with non-nociceptive threat cues used as conditioning stimuli. In substudy 1, the extrinsic threat to the experimental participant was observation of the control partner in pain. The control participant underwent hand immersion in noxious and non-noxious water baths in randomized order. Change in the observing participant's PPT from baseline to mid- and postimmersion was calculated. A significant interaction was found for PPT between conditions and test time (F 2,78  = 24.9, P Extrinsic and intrinsic threat of pain, in the absence of any afferent input therefore influences pain modulation. This may need to be considered in studies that use noxious afferent input with populations who show dysfunctional pain modulation. The effect on endogenous analgesia of observing another's pain and of threat of pain to oneself was investigated. Extrinsic as well as intrinsic threat cues, in the absence of any afferent input, increased pain thresholds, suggesting that mere threat of pain may initiate analgesic effects in traditional noxious experimental paradigms. Copyright © 2017 The American Pain Society. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The past, present and future supernova threat to Earth's biosphere

Science.gov (United States)

Beech, Martin

2011-12-01

A brief review of the threat posed to Earth's biosphere via near-by supernova detonations is presented. The expected radiation dosage, cosmic ray flux and expanding blast wave collision effects are considered, and it is argued that a typical supernova must be closer than ˜10-pc before any appreciable and potentially harmful atmosphere/biosphere effects are likely to occur. In contrast, the critical distance for Gamma-ray bursts is of order 1-kpc. In spite of the high energy effects potentially involved, the geological record provides no clear-cut evidence for any historic supernova induced mass extinctions and/or strong climate change episodes. This, however, is mostly a reflection of their being numerous possible (terrestrial and astronomical) forcing mechanisms acting upon the biosphere and the difficulty of distinguishing between competing scenarios. Key to resolving this situation, it is suggested, is the development of supernova specific extinction and climate change linked ecological models. Moving to the future, we estimate that over the remaining lifetime of the biosphere (˜2 Gyr) the Earth might experience 1 GRB and 20 supernova detonations within their respective harmful threat ranges. There are currently at least 12 potential pre-supernova systems within 1-kpc of the Sun. Of these systems IK Pegasi is the closest Type Ia pre-supernova candidate and Betelgeuse is the closest potential Type II supernova candidate. We review in some detail the past, present and future behavior of these two systems. Developing a detailed evolutionary model we find that IK Pegasi will likely not detonate until some 1.9 billion years hence, and that it affords absolutely no threat to Earth's biosphere. Betelgeuse is the closest, reasonably well understood, pre-supernova candidate to the Sun at the present epoch, and may undergo detonation any time within the next several million years. The stand-off distance of Betelgeuse at the time of its detonation is estimated to fall

Autonomic Nervous System Responses to Hearing-Related Demand and Evaluative Threat.

Science.gov (United States)

Mackersie, Carol L; Kearney, Lucia

2017-10-12

This paper consists of 2 parts. The purpose of Part 1 was to review the potential influence of internal (person-related) factors on listening effort. The purpose of Part 2 was to present, in support of Part 1, preliminary data illustrating the interactive effects of an external factor (task demand) and an internal factor (evaluative threat) on autonomic nervous system measures. For Part 1, we provided a brief narrative review of motivation and stress as modulators of listening effort. For Part 2, we described preliminary data from a study using a repeated-measures (2 × 2) design involving manipulations of task demand (high, low) and evaluative threat (high, low). The low-demand task consisted of repetition of sentences from a narrative. The high-demand task consisted of answering questions about the narrative, requiring both comprehension and recall. During the high evaluative threat condition, participants were filmed and told that their video recordings would be evaluated by a panel of experts. During the low evaluative threat condition, no filming occurred; participants were instructed to "do your best." Skin conductance (sympathetic nervous system activity) and heart rate variability (HRV, parasympathetic activity) were measured during the listening tasks. The HRV measure was the root mean square of successive differences of adjacent interbeat intervals. Twelve adults with hearing loss participated. Skin conductance increased and HRV decreased relative to baseline (no task) for all listening conditions. Skin conductance increased significantly with an increase in evaluative threat, but only for the more demanding task. There was no significant change in HRV in response to increasing evaluative threat or task demand. Listening effort may be influenced by factors other than task difficulty, as reviewed in Part 1. This idea is supported by the preliminary data indicating that the sympathetic nervous system response to task demand is modulated by social evaluative

Threat in Context: School Moderation of the Impact of Social Identity Threat on Racial/Ethnic Achievement Gaps

Science.gov (United States)

Hanselman, Paul; Bruch, Sarah K.; Gamoran, Adam; Borman, Geoffrey D.

2014-01-01

Schools with very few and relatively low-performing marginalized students may be most likely to trigger social identity threats (including stereotype threats) that contribute to racial disparities. We test this hypothesis by assessing variation in the benefits of a self-affirmation intervention designed to counteract social identity threat in a…

Military Expenditure, Threats, and Growth

OpenAIRE

Aizenman, Joshua; Glick, Reuven

2003-01-01

This paper clarifies one of the puzzling results of the economic growth literature: the impact of military expenditure is frequently found to be non-significant or negative, yet most countries spend a large fraction of their GDP on defense and the military. We start by empirical evaluation of the non- linear interactions between military expenditure, external threats, corruption, and other relevant controls. While growth falls with higher levels of military spending, given the values of the o...

Threats: power, family mealtimes, and social influence.

Science.gov (United States)

Hepburn, Alexa; Potter, Jonathan

2011-03-01

One of the most basic topics in social psychology is the way one agent influences the behaviour of another. This paper will focus on threats, which are an intensified form of attempted behavioural influence. Despite the centrality to the project of social psychology, little attention has been paid to threats. This paper will start to rectify this oversight. It reviews early examples of the way social psychology handles threats and highlights key limitations and presuppositions about the nature and role of threats. By contrast, we subject them to a programme of empirical research. Data comprise video records of a collection of family mealtimes that include preschool children. Threats are recurrent in this material. A preliminary conceptualization of features of candidate threats from this corpus will be used as an analytic start point. A series of examples are used to explicate basic features and dimensions that build the action of threatening. The basic structure of the threats uses a conditional logic: if the recipient continues problem action/does not initiate required action then negative consequences will be produced by the speaker. Further analysis clarifies how threats differ from warnings and admonishments. Sequential analysis suggests threats set up basic response options of compliance or defiance. However, recipients of threats can evade these options by, for example, reworking the unpleasant upshot specified in the threat, or producing barely minimal compliance. The implications for broader social psychological concerns are explored in a discussion of power, resistance, and asymmetry; the paper ends by reconsidering the way social influence can be studied in social psychology. ©2010 The British Psychological Society.

What Threats to Human Health Does Space Radiation Pose in Orbit

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Honglu; Semones, Eddie; Weyland, Mark; Zapp, Neal; Cucinotta, Francis A.

2011-01-01

The Space Shuttle program spanned more than the entire length of a solar cycle. Investigations aimed towards understanding the health risks of the astronauts from exposures to space radiation involved mostly physical measurements of the dose and the linear energy transfer (LET) spectrum. Measurement of the dose rate on the Shuttle provided invariable new data for different periods of the solar cycle, whereas measurement of the LET spectrum using the tissue equivalent proportional counter (TEPC) produced the most complete mapping of the radiation environment of the low Earth orbits (LEO). Exposures to the Shuttle astronauts were measured by the personal dosimeter worn by the crewmembers. Analysis of over 300 personal dosimeter readings indicated a dependence on the mission duration, the altitude and inclination of the orbit, and the solar cycle, with the crewmembers on the launch and repair of the Hubble telescope receiving the highest doses due to the altitude of the mission. Secondary neutrons inside the Shuttle were determined by recoil protons or with Bonner spheres, and may contribute significantly to the risks of the crewmembers. In addition, the skin dose and the doses received at different organs were compared using a human phantom onboard a Shuttle mission. A number of radiobiology investigations wer e also performed. The biological doses were determined on six astronauts/cosmonauts on long-duration Shuttle/Mir missions and on two crewmembers on a Hubble repair mission by analyzing the damages in the chromosomes of the crewmembers? white blood cells. Several experiments were also conducted to address the question of possible synergistic effects of spaceflight, microgravity in particular, on the repair of radiation-induced DNA damages. The experimental design included exposure of cells before launch, during flight, or after landing. These physical and biological studies were invaluable in predicting the health risks for astronauts on ISS and future

Fear, threat and efficacy in threat appeals: Message involvement as a key mediator to message acceptance

OpenAIRE

Cauberghe, Verolien; De Pelsmacker, Patrick; JANSSENS, Wim; Dens, Nathalie

2009-01-01

In a sample of 170 youngsters, the effect of two versions of a public service announcement (PSA) threat appeal against speeding, placed in four different contexts. on evoked fear, perceived threat (severity and probability of occurrence), perceived response efficacy and self-efficacy, message involvement and anti-speeding attitude and anti-speeding intention is investigated. Evoked fear and perceived threat and efficacy independently influence message involvement...

Insider Threat to Computer Security at Nuclear Facilities

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

West, Rebecca Lynn [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

2018-01-29

After completing this session, you should be able to: Describe the Insider Threat; Characterize the cyber insider threat; Describe preventive measures against the insider threat; Describe protective measures against the insider threat.

Drogue pose estimation for unmanned aerial vehicle autonomous aerial refueling system based on infrared vision sensor

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Shanjun; Duan, Haibin; Deng, Yimin; Li, Cong; Zhao, Guozhi; Xu, Yan

2017-12-01

Autonomous aerial refueling is a significant technology that can significantly extend the endurance of unmanned aerial vehicles. A reliable method that can accurately estimate the position and attitude of the probe relative to the drogue is the key to such a capability. A drogue pose estimation method based on infrared vision sensor is introduced with the general goal of yielding an accurate and reliable drogue state estimate. First, by employing direct least squares ellipse fitting and convex hull in OpenCV, a feature point matching and interference point elimination method is proposed. In addition, considering the conditions that some infrared LEDs are damaged or occluded, a missing point estimation method based on perspective transformation and affine transformation is designed. Finally, an accurate and robust pose estimation algorithm improved by the runner-root algorithm is proposed. The feasibility of the designed visual measurement system is demonstrated by flight test, and the results indicate that our proposed method enables precise and reliable pose estimation of the probe relative to the drogue, even in some poor conditions.

Methodology for national risk analysis and prioritization of toxic industrial chemicals.

Science.gov (United States)

Taxell, Piia; Engström, Kerstin; Tuovila, Juha; Söderström, Martin; Kiljunen, Harri; Vanninen, Paula; Santonen, Tiina

2013-01-01

The identification of chemicals that pose the greatest threat to human health from incidental releases is a cornerstone in public health preparedness for chemical threats. The present study developed and applied a methodology for the risk analysis and prioritization of industrial chemicals to identify the most significant chemicals that pose a threat to public health in Finland. The prioritization criteria included acute and chronic health hazards, physicochemical and environmental hazards, national production and use quantities, the physicochemical properties of the substances, and the history of substance-related incidents. The presented methodology enabled a systematic review and prioritization of industrial chemicals for the purpose of national public health preparedness for chemical incidents.

Driver head pose tracking with thermal camera

Science.gov (United States)

Bole, S.; Fournier, C.; Lavergne, C.; Druart, G.; Lépine, T.

2016-09-01

Head pose can be seen as a coarse estimation of gaze direction. In automotive industry, knowledge about gaze direction could optimize Human-Machine Interface (HMI) and Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS). Pose estimation systems are often based on camera when applications have to be contactless. In this paper, we explore uncooled thermal imagery (8-14μm) for its intrinsic night vision capabilities and for its invariance versus lighting variations. Two methods are implemented and compared, both are aided by a 3D model of the head. The 3D model, mapped with thermal texture, allows to synthesize a base of 2D projected models, differently oriented and labeled in yaw and pitch. The first method is based on keypoints. Keypoints of models are matched with those of the query image. These sets of matchings, aided with the 3D shape of the model, allow to estimate 3D pose. The second method is a global appearance approach. Among all 2D models of the base, algorithm searches the one which is the closest to the query image thanks to a weighted least squares difference.

A Support System for the Electric Appliance Control Using Pose Recognition

Science.gov (United States)

Kawano, Takuya; Yamamoto, Kazuhiko; Kato, Kunihito; Hongo, Hitoshi

In this paper, we propose an electric appliance control support system for aged and bedridden people using pose recognition. We proposed a pose recognition system that distinguishes between seven poses of the user on the bed. First, the face and arm regions of the user are detected by using the skin color. Our system focuses a recognition region surrounding the face region. Next, the higher order local autocorrelation features within the region are extracted. The linear discriminant analysis creates the coefficient matrix that can optimally distinguish among training data from the seven poses. Our algorithm can recognize the seven poses even if the subject wears different clothes and slightly shifts or slants on the bed. From the experimental results, our system achieved an accuracy rate of over 99 %. Then, we show that it possibles to construct one of a user-friendly system.

Orchard establishment, precocity, and eco-physiological traits of several pomegranate cultivars

Science.gov (United States)

California faces many threats to food security, ranging from water limitations resulting from long-term drought to invasive pests and disease. Major tree crops, such as citrus and avocado, are threatened by Citrus Greening and Fusarium Dieback, respectively, posing significant economic threats to gr...

Flexible Polyhedral Surfaces with Two Flat Poses

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hellmuth Stachel

2015-05-01

Full Text Available We present three types of polyhedral surfaces, which are continuously flexible and have not only an initial pose, where all faces are coplanar, but pass during their self-motion through another pose with coplanar faces (“flat pose”. These surfaces are examples of so-called rigid origami, since we only admit exact flexions, i.e., each face remains rigid during the motion; only the dihedral angles vary. We analyze the geometry behind Miura-ori and address Kokotsakis’ example of a flexible tessellation with the particular case of a cyclic quadrangle. Finally, we recall Bricard’s octahedra of Type 3 and their relation to strophoids.

Which US States Pose the Greatest Threats to Military Readiness and Public Health? Public Health Policy Implications for a Cross-sectional Investigation of Cardiorespiratory Fitness, Body Mass Index, and Injuries Among US Army Recruits.

Science.gov (United States)

Bornstein, Daniel B; Grieve, George L; Clennin, Morgan N; McLain, Alexander C; Whitsel, Laurie P; Beets, Michael W; Hauret, Keith G; Jones, Bruce H; Sarzynski, Mark A

2018-01-09

Many states in the southern region of the United States are recognized for higher rates of obesity, physical inactivity, and chronic disease. These states are therefore recognized for their disproportionate public health burden. The purpose of this study was to investigate state-level distributions of cardiorespiratory fitness, body mass index (BMI), and injuries among US Army recruits in order to determine whether or not certain states may also pose disproportionate threats to military readiness and national security. Sex-specific state-level values for injuries and fitness among 165 584 Army recruits were determined. Next, the relationship between median cardiorespiratory fitness and injury incidence at the state level was examined using Spearman correlations. Finally, multivariable Poisson regression models stratified by sex examined state-level associations between fitness and injury incidence, while controlling for BMI, and other covariates. Cardiorespiratory fitness and training-related injury incidence. A cluster of 10 states from the south and southeastern regions (Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas) produced male or female recruits who were significantly less fit and/or more likely to become injured than recruits from other US states. Compared with the "most fit states," the incidence of injuries increased by 22% (95% CI, 17-28; P < .001) and 28% (95% CI, 19-36; P < .001) in male and female recruits from the "least fit states," respectively. The impact of policies, systems, and environments on physical activity behavior, and subsequently fitness and health, has been clearly established. Advocacy efforts aimed at active living policies, systems, and environmental changes to improve population health often fail. However, advocating for active living policies to improve national security may prove more promising, particularly with legislators. Results from this study demonstrate

Modulation of the startle reflex by heat pain: does threat play a role?

Science.gov (United States)

Horn-Hofmann, C; Lautenbacher, S

2015-02-01

Previous studies have indicated that the startle reflex is potentiated by phasic, but not by tonic, heat pain, although the latter is seen as more strongly associated with emotional responses and more similar to clinical pain. The threat value of pain might be a decisive variable, which is not influenced alone by stimulus duration. This study aimed at comparing startle responses to tonic heat pain stimulation with varying degrees of threat. We hypothesized that the expectation of unpredictable temperature increases would evoke higher threat and thereby potentiate startle compared with the expectation of constant stimulation. Healthy, pain-free subjects (n = 40) underwent painful stimulation in two conditions (low/high threat) in balanced order. The only difference between the two conditions was that in the high-threat condition 50% of the trials were announced to include a short further noxious temperature increase at the end. Startle tones were presented prior to this temperature increase still in the phase of anticipation. We observed startle potentiation in the high-threat compared with the low-threat condition, but only in those participants who took part first in the high-threat condition. Habituation could not account for these findings, as we detected no significant decline of startle responses in the course of both conditions. Our results suggest that subjective threat might indeed be decisive for the action of pain on startle; the threat level appears not only influenced by actual expectations but also by previous experiences with pain as threatening or not. © 2014 European Pain Federation - EFIC®

Coupled multiview autoencoders with locality sensitivity for three-dimensional human pose estimation

Science.gov (United States)

Yu, Jialin; Sun, Jifeng; Luo, Shasha; Duan, Bichao

2017-09-01

Estimating three-dimensional (3D) human poses from a single camera is usually implemented by searching pose candidates with image descriptors. Existing methods usually suppose that the mapping from feature space to pose space is linear, but in fact, their mapping relationship is highly nonlinear, which heavily degrades the performance of 3D pose estimation. We propose a method to recover 3D pose from a silhouette image. It is based on the multiview feature embedding (MFE) and the locality-sensitive autoencoders (LSAEs). On the one hand, we first depict the manifold regularized sparse low-rank approximation for MFE and then the input image is characterized by a fused feature descriptor. On the other hand, both the fused feature and its corresponding 3D pose are separately encoded by LSAEs. A two-layer back-propagation neural network is trained by parameter fine-tuning and then used to map the encoded 2D features to encoded 3D poses. Our LSAE ensures a good preservation of the local topology of data points. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed method.

Stereotype threat spillover: how coping with threats to social identity affects aggression, eating, decision making, and attention.

Science.gov (United States)

Inzlicht, Michael; Kang, Sonia K

2010-09-01

Stereotype threat spillover is a situational predicament in which coping with the stress of stereotype confirmation leaves one in a depleted volitional state and thus less likely to engage in effortful self-control in a variety of domains. We examined this phenomenon in 4 studies in which we had participants cope with stereotype and social identity threat and then measured their performance in domains in which stereotypes were not "in the air." In Study 1 we examined whether taking a threatening math test could lead women to respond aggressively. In Study 2 we investigated whether coping with a threatening math test could lead women to indulge themselves with unhealthy food later on and examined the moderation of this effect by personal characteristics that contribute to identity-threat appraisals. In Study 3 we investigated whether vividly remembering an experience of social identity threat results in risky decision making. Finally, in Study 4 we asked whether coping with threat could directly influence attentional control and whether the effect was implemented by inefficient performance monitoring, as assessed by electroencephalography. Our results indicate that stereotype threat can spill over and impact self-control in a diverse array of nonstereotyped domains. These results reveal the potency of stereotype threat and that its negative consequences might extend further than was previously thought. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved).

Power and threat in intergroup conflict : How emotional and behavioral responses depend on amount and content of threat

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kamans, Elanor; Otten, Sabine; Gordijn, Ernestine H.

We propose that in intergroup conflict threat content is important in understanding the reactions of those who experience threats the most: the powerless. Studies 1 and 2 show that powerless groups experience more threat than powerful groups, resulting in the experience of both more anger and fear.

Insular threat associations within taxa worldwide.

Science.gov (United States)

Leclerc, Camille; Courchamp, Franck; Bellard, Céline

2018-04-23

The global loss of biodiversity can be attributed to numerous threats. While pioneer studies have investigated their relative importance, the majority of those studies are restricted to specific geographic regions and/or taxonomic groups and only consider a small subset of threats, generally in isolation despite their frequent interaction. Here, we investigated 11 major threats responsible for species decline on islands worldwide. We applied an innovative method of network analyses to disentangle the associations of multiple threats on vertebrates, invertebrates, and plants in 15 insular regions. Biological invasions, wildlife exploitation, and cultivation, either alone or in association, were found to be the three most important drivers of species extinction and decline on islands. Specifically, wildlife exploitation and cultivation are largely associated with the decline of threatened plants and terrestrial vertebrates, whereas biological invasions mostly threaten invertebrates and freshwater fish. Furthermore, biodiversity in the Indian Ocean and near the Asian coasts is mostly affected by wildlife exploitation and cultivation compared to biological invasions in the Pacific and Atlantic insular regions. We highlighted specific associations of threats at different scales, showing that the analysis of each threat in isolation might be inadequate for developing effective conservation policies and managements.

Predictive Validity of Explicit and Implicit Threat Overestimation in Contamination Fear

Science.gov (United States)

Green, Jennifer S.; Teachman, Bethany A.

2012-01-01

We examined the predictive validity of explicit and implicit measures of threat overestimation in relation to contamination-fear outcomes using structural equation modeling. Undergraduate students high in contamination fear (N = 56) completed explicit measures of contamination threat likelihood and severity, as well as looming vulnerability cognitions, in addition to an implicit measure of danger associations with potential contaminants. Participants also completed measures of contamination-fear symptoms, as well as subjective distress and avoidance during a behavioral avoidance task, and state looming vulnerability cognitions during an exposure task. The latent explicit (but not implicit) threat overestimation variable was a significant and unique predictor of contamination fear symptoms and self-reported affective and cognitive facets of contamination fear. On the contrary, the implicit (but not explicit) latent measure predicted behavioral avoidance (at the level of a trend). Results are discussed in terms of differential predictive validity of implicit versus explicit markers of threat processing and multiple fear response systems. PMID:24073390

Inverse and Ill-posed Problems Theory and Applications

CERN Document Server

Kabanikhin, S I

2011-01-01

The text demonstrates the methods for proving the existence (if et all) and finding of inverse and ill-posed problems solutions in linear algebra, integral and operator equations, integral geometry, spectral inverse problems, and inverse scattering problems. It is given comprehensive background material for linear ill-posed problems and for coefficient inverse problems for hyperbolic, parabolic, and elliptic equations. A lot of examples for inverse problems from physics, geophysics, biology, medicine, and other areas of application of mathematics are included.

Assessing the potential threat landscape of a proposed reintroduction site for carnivores.

Science.gov (United States)

Page, Samantha K; Parker, Daniel M; Peinke, Dean M; Davies-Mostert, Harriet T

2015-01-01

This study provides a framework to assess the feasibility of reintroducing carnivores into an area, using African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus) as an example. The Great Fish River Nature Reserve in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa, has been identified as a potential reserve to reintroduce wild dogs, and we applied this framework to provide a threat assessment of the surrounding area to determine potential levels of human-wildlife conflict. Although 56% of neighbouring landowners and local communities were positive about a wild dog reintroduction, data collected from questionnaire surveys revealed that human-wild dog conflict is a potential threat to wild dog survival in the area. Additional potential threats include diseases, snaring, poaching and hunting wild dogs for the use of traditional medicine. A threat index was developed to establish which properties harboured the greatest threats to wild dogs. This index was significantly influenced by the respondent's first language (isiXhosa had more positive indices), education level (poorer education was synonymous with more positive threat indices), land use (wildlife ranching being the most negative) and land tenure (community respondents had more positive indices than private landowners). Although threats are present, they can be effectively mitigated through strategies such as carnivore education programs, vaccination campaigns and anti-snare patrols to promote a successful reintroduction of this endangered canid.

Assessing the potential threat landscape of a proposed reintroduction site for carnivores.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Samantha K Page

Full Text Available This study provides a framework to assess the feasibility of reintroducing carnivores into an area, using African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus as an example. The Great Fish River Nature Reserve in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa, has been identified as a potential reserve to reintroduce wild dogs, and we applied this framework to provide a threat assessment of the surrounding area to determine potential levels of human-wildlife conflict. Although 56% of neighbouring landowners and local communities were positive about a wild dog reintroduction, data collected from questionnaire surveys revealed that human-wild dog conflict is a potential threat to wild dog survival in the area. Additional potential threats include diseases, snaring, poaching and hunting wild dogs for the use of traditional medicine. A threat index was developed to establish which properties harboured the greatest threats to wild dogs. This index was significantly influenced by the respondent's first language (isiXhosa had more positive indices, education level (poorer education was synonymous with more positive threat indices, land use (wildlife ranching being the most negative and land tenure (community respondents had more positive indices than private landowners. Although threats are present, they can be effectively mitigated through strategies such as carnivore education programs, vaccination campaigns and anti-snare patrols to promote a successful reintroduction of this endangered canid.

Examining the relationships between challenge and threat cognitive appraisals and coaching behaviours in football coaches.

Science.gov (United States)

Dixon, Martin; Turner, Martin J; Gillman, Jamie

2017-12-01

Previous research demonstrates that sports coaching is a stressful activity. This article investigates coaches' challenge and threat cognitive appraisals of stressful situations and their impact on coaching behaviour, using Blascovich and Mendes' (2000) biopsychosocial model as a theoretical framework. A cross-sectional correlational design was utilised to examine the relationships between irrational beliefs (Shortened general attitude and belief scale), challenge and threat appraisals (Appraisal of life events scale), and coaching behaviours (Leadership scale for sports) of 105 professional football academy coaches. Findings reveal significant positive associations between challenge appraisals and social support, and between threat appraisals and autocratic behaviour, and a significant negative association between threat appraisals and positive feedback. Results also show that higher irrational beliefs are associated with greater threat, and lesser challenge cognitive appraisals. However, no associations were revealed between irrational beliefs and challenge cognitive appraisals. Additionally, findings demonstrate a positive relationship between age and training and instruction. Results suggest that practitioners should help coaches to appraise stressful situations as a challenge to promote positive coaching behaviours.

Forecasting Lightning Threat Using WRF Proxy Fields

Science.gov (United States)

McCaul, E. W., Jr.

2010-01-01

Objectives: Given that high-resolution WRF forecasts can capture the character of convective outbreaks, we seek to: 1. Create WRF forecasts of LTG threat (1-24 h), based on 2 proxy fields from explicitly simulated convection: - graupel flux near -15 C (captures LTG time variability) - vertically integrated ice (captures LTG threat area). 2. Calibrate each threat to yield accurate quantitative peak flash rate densities. 3. Also evaluate threats for areal coverage, time variability. 4. Blend threats to optimize results. 5. Examine sensitivity to model mesh, microphysics. Methods: 1. Use high-resolution 2-km WRF simulations to prognose convection for a diverse series of selected case studies. 2. Evaluate graupel fluxes; vertically integrated ice (VII). 3. Calibrate WRF LTG proxies using peak total LTG flash rate densities from NALMA; relationships look linear, with regression line passing through origin. 4. Truncate low threat values to make threat areal coverage match NALMA flash extent density obs. 5. Blend proxies to achieve optimal performance 6. Study CAPS 4-km ensembles to evaluate sensitivities.

Trajectory Planning with Pose Feedback for a Dual-Arm Space Robot

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yicheng Liu

2016-01-01

Full Text Available In order to obtain high precision path tracking for a dual-arm space robot, a trajectory planning method with pose feedback is proposed to be introduced into the design process in this paper. Firstly, pose error kinematic models are derived from the related kinematics and desired pose command for the end-effector and the base, respectively. On this basis, trajectory planning with pose feedback is proposed from a control perspective. Theoretical analyses show that the proposed trajectory planning algorithm can guarantee that pose error converges to zero exponentially for both the end-effector and the base when the robot is out of singular configuration. Compared with the existing algorithms, the proposed algorithm can lead to higher precision path tracking for the end-effector. Furthermore, the algorithm renders the system good anti-interference property for the base. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed trajectory planning algorithm.

America’s Food: Does Anthrax Pose A Threat?

Science.gov (United States)

2002-04-01

a 1996 JAMA article, “Unexplained Severe Illness Possibly Associated with Consumption of Kombucha Tea - Iowa 1995.”13 For clarification, the... Kombucha “mush- room” is a “ symbiotic colony of several species of yeast and bacteria that are bound to- gether by a surrounding membrane.”14 Dr. Sadjadi...described an outbreak in Iran of cuta- 9 neous anthrax related to the Kombucha mushroom. In 1996 in a village on the outskirts of Tehran, 20 people

Does modern piracy pose a threat to maritime transport?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andrzej Makowski

2011-12-01

Full Text Available The article is an attempt to answer the question whether the observed since 2005 “renaissance” of piracy in the Somali region and the Gulf of Aden (in general, we can speak of the eastern part of the Indian Ocean, is in a position to threaten the international chains of supplies in their global dimension. The conducted analysis of lines of maritime transport compared with the number of pirate attacks and their consequences on the individual sea areas helped to establish that, answering the main question raised in the title of the article, we can certainly say that it does not.

Establishing 'design basis threat' in Norway

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Maerli, M.B.; Naadland, E.; Reistad, O.

2002-01-01

Full text: INFCIRC 225 (Rev. 4) assumes that a state's physical protection system should be based on the state's evaluation of the threat, and that this should be reflected in the relevant legislation. Other factors should also be considered, including the state's emergency response capabilities and the existing and relevant measures of the state's system of accounting for and control of nuclear material. A design basis threat developed from an evaluation by the state of the threat of unauthorized removal of nuclear material and of sabotage of nuclear material and nuclear facilities is an essential element of a state's system of physical protection. The state should continuously review the threat, and evaluate the implications of any changes in that threat for the required levels and the methods of physical protection. As part of a national design basis threat assessment, this paper evaluates the risk of nuclear or radiological terrorism and sabotage in Norway. Possible scenarios are presented and plausible consequences are discussed with a view to characterize the risks. The need for more stringent regulatory requirements will be discussed, together with the (positive) impact of improved systems and procedures of physical protection on nuclear emergency planning. Special emphasis is placed on discussing the design basis threat for different scenarios in order to systemize regulatory efforts to update the current legislation, requirement for operators' contingency planning, response efforts and the need for emergency exercises. (author)

The Efficacy of Choice Threats within School Accountability Systems: Results from Legislatively Induced Experiments. PEPG 05-01

Science.gov (United States)

West, Martin R.; Peterson, Paul E.

2005-01-01

Stigma and school voucher threats under a revised 2002 Florida accountability law have positive impacts on student performance. Stigma and public school choice threats under the U.S. federal accountability law, No Child Left Behind, do not have similar effects in Florida. Significant impacts of stigma, when combined with the voucher threat, are…

Determining the Performances of Pre-Service Primary School Teachers in Problem Posing Situations

Science.gov (United States)

Kilic, Cigdem

2013-01-01

This study examined the problem posing strategies of pre-service primary school teachers in different problem posing situations (PPSs) and analysed the issues they encounter while posing problems. A problem posing task consisting of six PPSs (two free, two structured, and two semi-structured situations) was delivered to 40 participants.…

Reducing the Effect of Stereotype Threat: The Role of Coaction Contexts and Regulatory Fit

Science.gov (United States)

Wen, Fangfang; Zuo, Bin; Wu, Yang; Dong, Xuanhao; Wang, Wei

2016-01-01

Two experiments examined the effects of competition and cooperation contexts, as well as regulatory fit, on reducing the negative influence of stereotype threat. Experiment 1 demonstrated that in high stereotype threat conditions, participants in the cooperation context scored significantly higher on a math test than those in the competition…

Insider Threat Mitigation Workshop Instructional Materials

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gibbs, Philip [Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States); Larsen, Robert [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); O' Brien, Mike [Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States); Rodriquez, Jose [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

2008-01-01

Insiders represent a formidable threat to nuclear facilities. This set of workshop materials covers methodologies to analyze and approaches to mitigate the threat of an insider attempting abrupt theft of nuclear materials. This report is a compilation of workshop materials consisting of lectures on technical and administrative measures used in Physical Protection (PP) and Material Control and Accounting (MC&A) and methods for analyzing their effectiveness against a postulated insider threat.

Head Pose Estimation Using Multilinear Subspace Analysis for Robot Human Awareness

Science.gov (United States)

Ivanov, Tonislav; Matthies, Larry; Vasilescu, M. Alex O.

2009-01-01

Mobile robots, operating in unconstrained indoor and outdoor environments, would benefit in many ways from perception of the human awareness around them. Knowledge of people's head pose and gaze directions would enable the robot to deduce which people are aware of the its presence, and to predict future motions of the people for better path planning. To make such inferences, requires estimating head pose on facial images that are combination of multiple varying factors, such as identity, appearance, head pose, and illumination. By applying multilinear algebra, the algebra of higher-order tensors, we can separate these factors and estimate head pose regardless of subject's identity or image conditions. Furthermore, we can automatically handle uncertainty in the size of the face and its location. We demonstrate a pipeline of on-the-move detection of pedestrians with a robot stereo vision system, segmentation of the head, and head pose estimation in cluttered urban street scenes.

The impact of Stereotype Threat on the simulated driving performance of older drivers.

Science.gov (United States)

Joanisse, Mélanie; Gagnon, Sylvain; Voloaca, Mihnea

2013-01-01

Older drivers are perceived as being dangerous and overly cautious by other drivers. We tested the hypothesis that this negative stereotype has a direct influence on the performance of older drivers. Based on the Stereotype Threat literature, we predicted that older driving performance would be altered after exposure to a Stereotype Threat. Sixty-one older drivers aged 65 and above completed a simulated driving assessment course. Prior to testing, half of the participants were told that the objective of the study was to investigate why older adults aged 65 and above were more implicated in on-road accidents (Stereotype Threat condition) and half were showed a neutral statement. Results confirmed that exposure to the threat significantly altered driving performance. Older adults in the Stereotype Threat condition made more driving mistakes than those in the control group. Interestingly, under a Stereotype Threat condition, older adults tended to commit more speeding infractions. We also observed that domain identification (whether driving is deemed important or not) moderated the impact of the threat. Taken together, these results support recent older drivers' performance models suggesting that the interaction between individual and social factors need to be considered when examining older drivers' performance. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Linking terrestrial and marine conservation planning and threats analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Tallis, Heather; Ferdaña, Zach; Gray, Elizabeth

2008-02-01

The existence of the Gulf of Mexico dead zone makes it clear that marine ecosystems can be damaged by terrestrial inputs. Marine and terrestrial conservation planning need to be aligned in an explicit fashion to fully represent threats to marine systems. To integrate conservation planning for terrestrial and marine systems, we used a novel threats assessment that included 5 cross-system threats in a site-prioritization exercise for the Pacific Northwest coast ecoregion (U.S.A.). Cross-system threats are actions or features in one ecological realm that have effects on species in another realm. We considered bulkheads and other forms of shoreline hardening threats to terrestrial systems and roads, logging, agriculture, and urban areas threats to marine systems. We used 2 proxies of freshwater influence on marine environments, validated against a mechanistic model and field observations, to propagate land-based threats into marine sites. We evaluated the influence of cross-system threats on conservation priorities by comparing MARXAN outputs for 3 scenarios that identified terrestrial and marine priorities simultaneously: (1) no threats, (2) single-system threats, and (3) single- and cross-system threats. Including cross-system threats changed the threat landscape dramatically. As a result the best plan that included only single-system threats identified 323 sites (161,500 ha) at risk from cross-system threats. Including these threats changed the location of best sites. By comparing the best and sum solutions of the single- and cross-system scenarios, we identified areas ideal for preservation or restoration through integrated management. Our findings lend quantitative support to the call for explicitly integrated decision making and management action in terrestrial and marine ecosystems.

Pose-invariant face recognition using Markov random fields.

Science.gov (United States)

Ho, Huy Tho; Chellappa, Rama

2013-04-01

One of the key challenges for current face recognition techniques is how to handle pose variations between the probe and gallery face images. In this paper, we present a method for reconstructing the virtual frontal view from a given nonfrontal face image using Markov random fields (MRFs) and an efficient variant of the belief propagation algorithm. In the proposed approach, the input face image is divided into a grid of overlapping patches, and a globally optimal set of local warps is estimated to synthesize the patches at the frontal view. A set of possible warps for each patch is obtained by aligning it with images from a training database of frontal faces. The alignments are performed efficiently in the Fourier domain using an extension of the Lucas-Kanade algorithm that can handle illumination variations. The problem of finding the optimal warps is then formulated as a discrete labeling problem using an MRF. The reconstructed frontal face image can then be used with any face recognition technique. The two main advantages of our method are that it does not require manually selected facial landmarks or head pose estimation. In order to improve the performance of our pose normalization method in face recognition, we also present an algorithm for classifying whether a given face image is at a frontal or nonfrontal pose. Experimental results on different datasets are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.

Pose Estimation and Adaptive Robot Behaviour for Human-Robot Interaction

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Svenstrup, Mikael; Hansen, Søren Tranberg; Andersen, Hans Jørgen

2009-01-01

Abstract—This paper introduces a new method to determine a person’s pose based on laser range measurements. Such estimates are typically a prerequisite for any human-aware robot navigation, which is the basis for effective and timeextended interaction between a mobile robot and a human. The robot......’s pose. The resulting pose estimates are used to identify humans who wish to be approached and interacted with. The interaction motion of the robot is based on adaptive potential functions centered around the person that respect the persons social spaces. The method is tested in experiments...

Bomb Threat Assessments. Fact Sheet

Science.gov (United States)

Tunkel, Ronald F.

2010-01-01

This information provides a brief, summary outline of how investigators should assess anonymous bomb threats at schools. Applying these principles may help administrators and law enforcement personnel accurately assess the viability and credibility of a threat and appropriately gauge their response. Any credible evidence provided by teachers or…

Stereotype threat in classroom settings: the interactive effect of domain identification, task difficulty and stereotype threat on female students' maths performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Keller, Johannes

2007-06-01

Stereotype threat research revealed that negative stereotypes can disrupt the performance of persons targeted by such stereotypes. This paper contributes to stereotype threat research by providing evidence that domain identification and the difficulty level of test items moderate stereotype threat effects on female students' maths performance. The study was designed to test theoretical ideas derived from stereotype threat theory and assumptions outlined in the Yerkes-Dodson law proposing a nonlinear relationship between arousal, task difficulty and performance. Participants were 108 high school students attending secondary schools. Participants worked on a test comprising maths problems of different difficulty levels. Half of the participants learned that the test had been shown to produce gender differences (stereotype threat). The other half learned that the test had been shown not to produce gender differences (no threat). The degree to which participants identify with the domain of maths was included as a quasi-experimental factor. Maths-identified female students showed performance decrements under conditions of stereotype threat. Moreover, the stereotype threat manipulation had different effects on low and high domain identifiers' performance depending on test item difficulty. On difficult items, low identifiers showed higher performance under threat (vs. no threat) whereas the reverse was true in high identifiers. This interaction effect did not emerge on easy items. Domain identification and test item difficulty are two important factors that need to be considered in the attempt to understand the impact of stereotype threat on performance.

An anti-disturbing real time pose estimation method and system

Science.gov (United States)

Zhou, Jian; Zhang, Xiao-hu

2011-08-01

Pose estimation relating two-dimensional (2D) images to three-dimensional (3D) rigid object need some known features to track. In practice, there are many algorithms which perform this task in high accuracy, but all of these algorithms suffer from features lost. This paper investigated the pose estimation when numbers of known features or even all of them were invisible. Firstly, known features were tracked to calculate pose in the current and the next image. Secondly, some unknown but good features to track were automatically detected in the current and the next image. Thirdly, those unknown features which were on the rigid and could match each other in the two images were retained. Because of the motion characteristic of the rigid object, the 3D information of those unknown features on the rigid could be solved by the rigid object's pose at the two moment and their 2D information in the two images except only two case: the first one was that both camera and object have no relative motion and camera parameter such as focus length, principle point, and etc. have no change at the two moment; the second one was that there was no shared scene or no matched feature in the two image. Finally, because those unknown features at the first time were known now, pose estimation could go on in the followed images in spite of the missing of known features in the beginning by repeating the process mentioned above. The robustness of pose estimation by different features detection algorithms such as Kanade-Lucas-Tomasi (KLT) feature, Scale Invariant Feature Transform (SIFT) and Speed Up Robust Feature (SURF) were compared and the compact of the different relative motion between camera and the rigid object were discussed in this paper. Graphic Processing Unit (GPU) parallel computing was also used to extract and to match hundreds of features for real time pose estimation which was hard to work on Central Processing Unit (CPU). Compared with other pose estimation methods, this new

Threats Management Throughout the Software Service Life-Cycle

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Erlend Andreas Gjære

2014-04-01

Full Text Available Software services are inevitably exposed to a fluctuating threat picture. Unfortunately, not all threats can be handled only with preventive measures during design and development, but also require adaptive mitigations at runtime. In this paper we describe an approach where we model composite services and threats together, which allows us to create preventive measures at design-time. At runtime, our specification also allows the service runtime environment (SRE to receive alerts about active threats that we have not handled, and react to these automatically through adaptation of the composite service. A goal-oriented security requirements modelling tool is used to model business-level threats and analyse how they may impact goals. A process flow modelling tool, utilising Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN and standard error boundary events, allows us to define how threats should be responded to during service execution on a technical level. Throughout the software life-cycle, we maintain threats in a centralised threat repository. Re-use of these threats extends further into monitoring alerts being distributed through a cloud-based messaging service. To demonstrate our approach in practice, we have developed a proof-of-concept service for the Air Traffic Management (ATM domain. In addition to the design-time activities, we show how this composite service duly adapts itself when a service component is exposed to a threat at runtime.

An overview of non-traditional nuclear threats

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Geelhood, B.D.; Wogman, N.A.

2005-01-01

In view of the terrorist threats to the United States, the country needs to consider new vectors and weapons related to nuclear and radiological threats against our homeland. The traditional threat vectors, missiles and bombers, have expanded to include threats arriving through the flow of commerce. The new commerce-related vectors include: sea cargo, truck cargo, rail cargo, air cargo, and passenger transport. The types of weapons have also expanded beyond nuclear warheads to include radiation dispersal devices (RDD) or 'dirty' bombs. The consequences of these nuclear and radiological threats are both economic and life threatening. The defense against undesirable materials entering our borders involves extensive radiation monitoring at ports of entry. The radiation and other signatures of potential nuclear and radiological threats are examined along with potential sensors to discover undesirable items in the flow of commerce. Techniques to improve radiation detection are considered. A strategy of primary and secondary screening is proposed to rapidly clear most cargo and carefully examine suspect cargo. (author)

THE MYTH OF THE RUSSIAN EXISTENTIAL THREAT

Science.gov (United States)

2016-04-01

Putin’s intent. What we can do is learn from his actions, and what we see suggests growing Russian capabilities, significant military modernization...AU/ACSC/POWELL, N/AY16 AIR COMMAND AND STAFF COLLEGE AIR UNIVERSITY THE MYTH OF THE RUSSIAN EXISTENTIAL THREAT...The methodology focuses on Russian capability, capacity, and intention to threaten NATO members’ existence. While Russia does possess nuclear weapons

Stereotype threat can reduce older adults' memory errors.

Science.gov (United States)

Barber, Sarah J; Mather, Mara

2013-01-01

Stereotype threat often incurs the cost of reducing the amount of information that older adults accurately recall. In the current research, we tested whether stereotype threat can also benefit memory. According to the regulatory focus account of stereotype threat, threat induces a prevention focus in which people become concerned with avoiding errors of commission and are sensitive to the presence or absence of losses within their environment. Because of this, we predicted that stereotype threat might reduce older adults' memory errors. Results were consistent with this prediction. Older adults under stereotype threat had lower intrusion rates during free-recall tests (Experiments 1 and 2). They also reduced their false alarms and adopted more conservative response criteria during a recognition test (Experiment 2). Thus, stereotype threat can decrease older adults' false memories, albeit at the cost of fewer veridical memories, as well.

Terrorism threats and preparedness in Canada: the perspective of the Canadian public.

Science.gov (United States)

Gibson, Stacey; Lemyre, Louise; Clément, Mélanie; Markon, Marie-Pierre L; Lee, Jennifer E C

2007-06-01

Although Canada has not experienced a major terrorist attack, an increased global pending threat has put preparedness at the top of the Canadian government's agenda. Given its strong multicultural community and close proximity to the recently targeted United States, the Canadian experience is unique. However, minimal research exists on the public's reactions to terrorism threats and related preparedness strategies. In order for response initiatives to be optimally effective, it is important that the public's opinions regarding terrorism and preparedness be considered. This qualitative study examined perceptions of terrorism threats among Canadians living in Central and Eastern Canada (N = 75) in the fall of 2004. Conceptualizations of terrorism threat, psychosocial impacts, and sense of preparedness were explored in a series of qualitative interviews. Findings revealed that the majority of Canadians did not feel overly threatened by terrorist attacks, due in part to a perception of terrorist threats as related to global sociopolitical events and a positive Canadian identity. In addition, while most respondents did not feel they were individually affected by the threat of terrorism, there was some concern regarding larger societal impacts, such as increased paranoia, discrimination, and threats to civil liberties. Participants' views on preparedness focused largely on the utility of emergency preparedness strategies and the factors that could mitigate or inhibit preparedness at the individual and institutional levels, with a specific focus on education. Finally, the significant relevance of these findings in shaping terrorism preparedness, both in Canada and generally, is discussed.

Locating binding poses in protein-ligand systems using reconnaissance metadynamics

Science.gov (United States)

Söderhjelm, Pär; Tribello, Gareth A.; Parrinello, Michele

2012-01-01

A molecular dynamics-based protocol is proposed for finding and scoring protein-ligand binding poses. This protocol uses the recently developed reconnaissance metadynamics method, which employs a self-learning algorithm to construct a bias that pushes the system away from the kinetic traps where it would otherwise remain. The exploration of phase space with this algorithm is shown to be roughly six to eight times faster than unbiased molecular dynamics and is only limited by the time taken to diffuse about the surface of the protein. We apply this method to the well-studied trypsin–benzamidine system and show that we are able to refind all the poses obtained from a reference EADock blind docking calculation. These poses can be scored based on the length of time the system remains trapped in the pose. Alternatively, one can perform dimensionality reduction on the output trajectory and obtain a map of phase space that can be used in more expensive free-energy calculations. PMID:22440749

Mathematical Thinking and Creativity through Mathematical Problem Posing and Solving

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

María F. Ayllón

2016-04-01

Full Text Available This work shows the relationship between the development of mathematical thinking and creativity with mathematical problem posing and solving. Creativity and mathematics are disciplines that do not usually appear together. Both concepts constitute complex processes sharing elements, such as fluency (number of ideas, flexibility (range of ideas, novelty (unique idea and elaboration (idea development. These factors contribute, among others, to the fact that schoolchildren are competent in mathematics. The problem solving and posing are a very powerful evaluation tool that shows the mathematical reasoning and creative level of a person. Creativity is part of the mathematics education and is a necessary ingredient to perform mathematical assignments. This contribution presents some important research works about problem posing and solving related to the development of mathematical knowledge and creativity. To that end, it is based on various beliefs reflected in the literature with respect to notions of creativity, problem solving and posing.

A Grasp-Pose Generation Method Based on Gaussian Mixture Models

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Wenjia Wu

2015-11-01

Full Text Available A Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM-based grasp-pose generation method is proposed in this paper. Through offline training, the GMM is set up and used to depict the distribution of the robot's reachable orientations. By dividing the robot's workspace into small 3D voxels and training the GMM for each voxel, a look-up table covering all the workspace is built with the x, y and z positions as the index and the GMM as the entry. Through the definition of Task Space Regions (TSR, an object's feasible grasp poses are expressed as a continuous region. With the GMM, grasp poses can be preferentially sampled from regions with high reachability probabilities in the online grasp-planning stage. The GMM can also be used as a preliminary judgement of a grasp pose's reachability. Experiments on both a simulated and a real robot show the superiority of our method over the existing method.

Stereotype Threat, Test Anxiety, and Mathematics Performance

Science.gov (United States)

Tempel, Tobias; Neumann, Roland

2014-01-01

We investigated the combined effects of stereotype threat and trait test anxiety on mathematics test performance. Stereotype threat and test anxiety interacted with each other in affecting performance. Trait test anxiety predicted performance only in a diagnostic condition that prevented stereotype threat by stereotype denial. A state measure of…

Status, progress and plans for the U.S. Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration, Global Threat Reduction Initiative

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bieniawski, Andrew

2005-01-01

This presentation discusses the efforts under the US Department of Energy/National Nuclear Security Administration's Global Threat Reduction Initiative, also known as GTRI. On May 26, 2004, then Secretary of Energy Abraham established GTRI. GTRI is a cooperative program to provide international support for countries' national programs to identify, secure, recover or facilitate the disposition of vulnerable nuclear and radiological materials around the world that pose a potential threat to the international community. The formation of GTRI consolidated a number of nonproliferation programs you may be familiar with that work together to minimize and, to the extent possible, eliminate the use of highly enriched uranium (HEU) in civil nuclear applications worldwide. In particular, the Office of Global Threat Reduction, which was set up to implement GTRI, has oversight of the Reduced Enrichment for Research and Test Reactors program, the Foreign Research Reactor Spent Nuclear Fuel Acceptance program, and the Russian Research Reactor Fuel Return program. This consolidation allows these three programs to work in concert to bring about the elimination of research reactor materials as a source of proliferation concern. This speech is highlighting the work that these programs have undertaken in cooperation with the global research reactor community and the importance placed on fuel development under the RERTR program It contains an update on the work done to support the US - Russian Presidential Bratislava Summit Statement

Threats to economic security of the region

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Y. A. Salikov

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Various aspects of economic security are in sight of the researchers for more than two decades. Today in the economic literature widely presents the conceptual aspects of economic safety of the state. Theoretical and methodological foundations of the study of this multifaceted problem lies in the researches of many domestic and foreign scientists, which are the basic levels of economic security. Among the priority levels include, in our view, the regional level (meso-level and actual problems of economic security studied to date lack detail. Economic development regions of the country has its own specifics, which is projected to the achieving of regional and national economic security. The article summarizes the approaches to definition of essence of the category “economic security of the region” and was given its author’s interpretation, considers the reasons of appearance and development of crisis situations causing threats to the economic security of the region. Given that the prevention of threats and reduction of their consequences is the basis of regional economic security, the article identifies the main threats to economic security, as well as the peculiarities of their manifestations (for example, the most significant threats to economic security of the Voronezh region, as well as the proposed activities in support of regional economic security and stated objectives of regional economic policy, the solution of which is aimed at ensuring the economic security of the region. In addition, it is proved that the actual problems of economic security must be constantly in sight of the regional leadership and find its solution in government documents and policy programmes promising socio-economic development of the region.

A randomized controlled study of power posing before public speaking exposure for social anxiety disorder: No evidence for augmentative effects.

Science.gov (United States)

Davis, Michelle L; Papini, Santiago; Rosenfield, David; Roelofs, Karin; Kolb, Sarah; Powers, Mark B; Smits, Jasper A J

2017-12-01

This manuscript details a randomized controlled study designed to test the efficacy of power posing (i.e., briefly holding postures associated with dominance and power) as an augmentative strategy for exposure therapy for social anxiety disorder (SAD). Seventy-three individuals diagnosed with SAD were assigned to one of three conditions: power posing, submissive posing, or rest (no posing) prior to participating in an exposure therapy session. Participants were assessed for between-group differences in pre- and post-manipulation salivary hormone levels, within-session subjective experiences of fear, and pre- and 1-week post-treatment SAD severity outcome measures. Though the intervention resulted in decreased SAD symptom severity one week later, analyses revealed no significant between-group differences on any tested variables. Accordingly, this study provides no evidence to suggest that power posing impacts hormone levels or exposure therapy outcomes. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

CLASSIFICATION OF THREATS OF ECONOMIC SECURITY OF TAJIKISTAN

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Blinichkina N. Yu.

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Ensuring of the state economic security suggests the fight against threats to such security. At the same time it is extremely important, firstly, to understand the essence of a threat to economic security and, secondly, to identify the common characteristics of threats allowing to systematize them and to determine the necessary measures to neutralize them on this basis. The traditional approach offers a classification of economic security threats depending on areas of their origin but it is impossible to determine the gravity of the threat to the economy and ways of neutralizing it.In this context we propose allocation of the economic threats to five groups depends on a number of characteristics that determine the level of their negative impact to the economy. Such classification of threats to economic security of Tajikistan helped to determine neutralization of which of them requires outside support, what requires priority within the framework of the strategy of economic security and national economic policy, and what does not require serious government efforts and may be neutralized automatically during neutralization of the other threats.

Self-esteem, authoritarianism, and democratic values in the face of threat.

Science.gov (United States)

Shaffer, Barbara A; Hastings, Brad M

2004-08-01

This study investigated the associations among terrorist threat, right-wing authoritarianism, self-esteem, and their relations in support for democratic values. Students (n = 140) completed Altemeyer's Right-Wing Authoritarianism Scale, Rosenberg's Self-esteem Scale, and the Democratic Values Scale. The participants also read an editorial regarding the events of 9/11/01 and completed two mortality-salience questions to induce a sense of threat. Results showed that self-esteem was a significant contributor to the prediction of scores on the Democratic Values Scale. Furthermore, the interaction between self-esteem and right-wing authoritarianism explained significant variance in the Democratic Values Scale scores. The results are interpreted in light of theories addressing authoritarianism and self-esteem.

Threat-related selective attention predicts treatment success in childhood anxiety disorders.

Science.gov (United States)

Legerstee, Jeroen S; Tulen, Joke H M; Kallen, Victor L; Dieleman, Gwen C; Treffers, Philip D A; Verhulst, Frank C; Utens, Elisabeth M W J

2009-02-01

The present study examined whether threat-related selective attention was predictive of treatment success in children with anxiety disorders and whether age moderated this association. Specific components of selective attention were examined in treatment responders and nonresponders. Participants consisted of 131 children with anxiety disorders (aged 8-16 years), who received standardized cognitive-behavioral therapy. At pretreatment, a pictorial dot-probe task was administered to assess selective attention. Both at pretreatment and posttreatment, diagnostic status of the children was evaluated with a semistructured clinical interview (the Anxiety Disorders Interview Schedule for Children). Selective attention for severely threatening pictures at pretreatment assessment was predictive of treatment success. Examination of the specific components of selective attention revealed that nonresponders showed difficulties to disengage their attention away from severe threat. Treatment responders showed a tendency not to engage their attention toward severe threat. Age was not associated with selective attention and treatment success. Threat-related selective attention is a significant predictor of treatment success in children with anxiety disorders. Clinically anxious children with difficulties disengaging their attention away from severe threat profit less from cognitive-behavioral therapy. For these children, additional training focused on learning to disengage attention away from anxiety-arousing stimuli may be beneficial.

Investigation of Problem-Solving and Problem-Posing Abilities of Seventh-Grade Students

Science.gov (United States)

Arikan, Elif Esra; Ünal, Hasan

2015-01-01

This study aims to examine the effect of multiple problem-solving skills on the problem-posing abilities of gifted and non-gifted students and to assess whether the possession of such skills can predict giftedness or affect problem-posing abilities. Participants' metaphorical images of problem posing were also explored. Participants were 20 gifted…

The role of ingroup threat and conservative ideologies on prejudice against immigrants in two samples of Italian adults.

Science.gov (United States)

Caricati, Luca; Mancini, Tiziana; Marletta, Giuseppe

2017-01-01

This research investigated the relationship among perception of ingroup threats (realistic and symbolic), conservative ideologies (social dominance orientation [SDO] and right-wing authoritarianism [RWA]), and prejudice against immigrants. Data were collected with a cross-sectional design in two samples: non-student Italian adults (n = 223) and healthcare professionals (n = 679). Results were similar in both samples and indicated that symbolic and realistic threats, as well as SDO and RWA, positively and significantly predicted anti-immigrant prejudice. Moreover, the model considering SDO and RWA as mediators of threats' effects on prejudice showed a better fit than the model in which ingroup threats mediated the effects of SDO and RWA on prejudice against immigrants. Accordingly, SDO and RWA partially mediated the effect of both symbolic and realistic threats, which maintained a significant effect on prejudice against immigrants, however.

49 CFR 1544.303 - Bomb or air piracy threats.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 49 Transportation 9 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Bomb or air piracy threats. 1544.303 Section 1544... AND COMMERCIAL OPERATORS Threat and Threat Response § 1544.303 Bomb or air piracy threats. (a) Flight.... (d) Notification. Upon receipt of any bomb threat against the security of a flight or facility, or...

Stereotype threat affects financial decision making.

Science.gov (United States)

Carr, Priyanka B; Steele, Claude M

2010-10-01

The research presented in this article provides the first evidence that one's decision making can be influenced by concerns about stereotypes and the devaluation of one's identity. Many studies document gender differences in decision making, and often attribute these differences to innate and stable factors, such as biological and hormonal differences. In three studies, we found that stereotype threat affected decision making and led to gender differences in loss-aversion and risk-aversion behaviors. In Study 1, women subjected to stereotype threat in academic and business settings were more loss averse than both men and women who were not facing the threat of being viewed in light of negative stereotypes. We found no gender differences in loss-aversion behavior in the absence of stereotype threat. In Studies 2a and 2b, we found the same pattern of effects for risk-aversion behavior that we had observed for loss-aversion behavior. In addition, in Study 2b, ego depletion mediated the effects of stereotype threat on women's decision making. These results suggest that individuals' decision making can be influenced by stereotype concerns.

A Quantitative Threats Analysis for the Florida Manatee (Trichechus manatus latirostris)

Science.gov (United States)

Runge, Michael C.; Sanders-Reed, Carol A.; Langtimm, Catherine A.; Fonnesbeck, Christopher J.

2007-01-01

example of the type of results generated, we estimated that the probability of the manatee population falling to less than 250 adults on either the Atlantic or Gulf coasts (from a current statewide population size of near 3300) within 100 years is 8.6%. Complete removal of the watercraft threat alone would reduce this risk to 0.4%; complete removal of the warm-water threat to 4.2%; removal of both threats would reduce the risk to 0.1%. The modeling approach we have taken also allows us to consider partial removal of threats, as well as removal of multiple threats simultaneously. We believe the measure we have proposed (probability of quasi-extinction over y years, with quasi-extinction defined as dropping below a threshold of z on either coast) is a suitable measure of status that integrates a number of the elements that are relevant to interpretation under the ESA (it directly integrates risk of extinction and reduction of range, and indirectly integrates loss of genetic diversity). But the identification of the time frame of interest and the tolerable risk of quasi-extinction are policy decisions, and an ecology-based quasi-extinction threshold has not yet been determined. We have endeavored to provide results over a wide range of these parameters to give decision-makers useful information to assess status. This assessment of threats suggests that watercraft-related mortality is having the greatest impact on manatee population growth and resilience. Elimination of this single threat would greatly reduce the probability of quasi-extinction. Loss of warm-water is also a significant threat, particularly over the long-term. Red tide and entanglement, while noticeable threats, have had less of an impact on the manatee population. The effect of water control structures may have already been largely mitigated. We did not, however, consider an exhaustive list of threats. Other threats (e.g., reduction of food resources due to storms and development) may play a

Beyond the Dirty Dozen: A Proposed Methodology for Assessing Future Bioweapon Threats.

Science.gov (United States)

Cieslak, Theodore J; Kortepeter, Mark G; Wojtyk, Ronald J; Jansen, Hugo-Jan; Reyes, Ricardo A; Smith, James O

2018-01-01

Defense policy planners and countermeasure developers are often faced with vexing problems involving the prioritization of resources and efforts. This is especially true in the area of Biodefense, where each new emerging infectious disease outbreak brings with it questions regarding the causative agent's potential for weaponization. Recent experience with West Nile Virus, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, Monkeypox, and H1N1 Influenza highlights this problem. Appropriately, in each of these cases, the possibility of bioterrorism was raised, although each outbreak ultimately proved to have a natural origin. In fact, determining whether an outbreak has an unnatural origin can be quite difficult. Thus, the questions remain: could the causative agents of these and other emerging infectious disease outbreaks pose a future weaponization threat? And how great is that threat? Should precious resources be diverted from other defense efforts in order to prepare for possible hostile employment of novel diseases by belligerents? Answering such critical questions requires some form of systematic threat assessment. Through extensive collaborative work conducted within NATO's Biomedical Advisory Council, we developed a scoring matrix for evaluating the weaponization potential of the causative agents of such diseases and attempted to validate our matrix by examining the reproducibility of data using known threat agents. Our matrix included 12 attributes of a potential weapon and was provided, along with detailed scoring instructions, to 12 groups of biodefense experts in 6 NATO nations. Study participants were asked to score each of these 12 attributes on a scale of 0-3: Infectivity, Infection-to-Disease Ratio (Reliability), Predictability (& Incubation Period), Morbidity & Mortality (Virulence), Ease of Large-Scale Production & Storage, Aerosol Stability, Atmospheric Stability, Ease of Dispersal, Communicability, Prophylactic Countermeasure Availability, Therapeutic

GLOBAL WARMING: IS A NEW THREAT?

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ayca Eminoglu

2008-09-30

In the Post Cold War era, the concepts of ''security'', ''national security'', and ''international security'' have changed with regard to their contents and meanings. Such developments made states to renew their national security policies. Security is a special form of politics as well. All security issues are political problems but not all political conflicts are security issues. In the Post Cold War era, differentiating and increasing numbers of elements that constitutes threat changed the concept of threat and widen the capacity of security. In this term, many elements lost its effect of being a threat but also new threatening elements emerged. Environmental problems, human rights, mass migration, micro nationalism, ethnic conflicts, religious fundamentalism, contagious diseases, international terrorism, economic instabilities, drug and weapon smuggling and human trafficking are the new problems emerged in international security agenda. Environmental problems no longer take place in security issues and can be mentioned as a ''low security'' issue. They are threats to the global commons i.e. the oceans, the seas, the ozone layer and the climate system, which are life supports for mankind as a whole. Global warming is one of the most important environmental issues of our day that effects human life in every field and can be defined as a 'serious threat to international security'. Because of global warming, environmental changes will occur and these changes will cause conflicting issues in international relations. Because of global warming dwindling freshwater supplies, food shortages, political instability and other conflicts may take place. Some IR scholars see a need for global cooperation in order to face the threat. At the background of global warming and its effects, states have to get preventive measures and normally, each state form its own measures, therefore as a

Cyber Threats to Nuclear Infrastructures

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Robert S. Anderson; Paul Moskowitz; Mark Schanfein; Trond Bjornard; Curtis St. Michel

2010-07-01

Nuclear facility personnel expend considerable efforts to ensure that their facilities can maintain continuity of operations against both natural and man-made threats. Historically, most attention has been placed on physical security. Recently however, the threat of cyber-related attacks has become a recognized and growing world-wide concern. Much attention has focused on the vulnerability of the electric grid and chemical industries to cyber attacks, in part, because of their use of Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems. Lessons learned from work in these sectors indicate that the cyber threat may extend to other critical infrastructures including sites where nuclear and radiological materials are now stored. In this context, this white paper presents a hypothetical scenario by which a determined adversary launches a cyber attack that compromises the physical protection system and results in a reduced security posture at such a site. The compromised security posture might then be malevolently exploited in a variety of ways. The authors conclude that the cyber threat should be carefully considered for all nuclear infrastructures.

Cyber Threats to Nuclear Infrastructures

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anderson, Robert S.; Moskowitz, Paul; Schanfein, Mark; Bjornard, Trond; St. Michel, Curtis

2010-01-01

Nuclear facility personnel expend considerable efforts to ensure that their facilities can maintain continuity of operations against both natural and man-made threats. Historically, most attention has been placed on physical security. Recently however, the threat of cyber-related attacks has become a recognized and growing world-wide concern. Much attention has focused on the vulnerability of the electric grid and chemical industries to cyber attacks, in part, because of their use of Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems. Lessons learned from work in these sectors indicate that the cyber threat may extend to other critical infrastructures including sites where nuclear and radiological materials are now stored. In this context, this white paper presents a hypothetical scenario by which a determined adversary launches a cyber attack that compromises the physical protection system and results in a reduced security posture at such a site. The compromised security posture might then be malevolently exploited in a variety of ways. The authors conclude that the cyber threat should be carefully considered for all nuclear infrastructures.

Preparatory power posing affects nonverbal presence and job interview performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Cuddy, Amy J C; Wilmuth, Caroline A; Yap, Andy J; Carney, Dana R

2015-07-01

The authors tested whether engaging in expansive (vs. contractive) "power poses" before a stressful job interview--preparatory power posing--would enhance performance during the interview. Participants adopted high-power (i.e., expansive, open) poses or low-power (i.e., contractive, closed) poses, and then prepared and delivered a speech to 2 evaluators as part of a mock job interview. All interview speeches were videotaped and coded for overall performance and hireability and for 2 potential mediators: verbal content (e.g., structure, content) and nonverbal presence (e.g., captivating, enthusiastic). As predicted, those who prepared for the job interview with high- (vs. low-) power poses performed better and were more likely to be chosen for hire; this relation was mediated by nonverbal presence, but not by verbal content. Although previous research has focused on how a nonverbal behavior that is enacted during interactions and observed by perceivers affects how those perceivers evaluate and respond to the actor, this experiment focused on how a nonverbal behavior that is enacted before the interaction and unobserved by perceivers affects the actor's performance, which, in turn, affects how perceivers evaluate and respond to the actor. This experiment reveals a theoretically novel and practically informative result that demonstrates the causal relation between preparatory nonverbal behavior and subsequent performance and outcomes. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

An outbreak of Leishmania major from an endemic to a non-endemic region posed a public health threat in Iraq from 2014-2017: Epidemiological, molecular and phylogenetic studies.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mariwan M M Al-Bajalan

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL is a neglected worldwide, zoonotic, vector-borne, tropical disease that is a threat to public health. This threat may spread from endemic to non-endemic areas. Current research has exploited epidemiological, molecular and phylogenetical studies to determine the danger of an outbreak of CL in the borderline area between northern and central Iraq from 2014-2017.For the first time, using sequence analysis of the cytochrome b gene, the occurrence of CL in the borderline area between northern and central Iraq was confirmed to be due to Leishmania major. The phylogenetic analysis indicated that it was closely related to the L. major MRHO/IR/75/ER strain in Iran.In conclusion, the genotype confirmation of the L. major strain will improve our understanding of the epidemiology of the disease. This is important for facilitating control programs to prevent the further spread of CL. Furthermore, this area could be considered as a model for further research on the risk of global CL epidemics in other non-endemic countries where both reservoir hosts and sandfly vectors are present.

An outbreak of Leishmania major from an endemic to a non-endemic region posed a public health threat in Iraq from 2014-2017: Epidemiological, molecular and phylogenetic studies.

Science.gov (United States)

Al-Bajalan, Mariwan M M; Al-Jaf, Sirwan M A; Niranji, Sherko S; Abdulkareem, Dler R; Al-Kayali, Khudhair K; Kato, Hirotomo

2018-03-01

Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is a neglected worldwide, zoonotic, vector-borne, tropical disease that is a threat to public health. This threat may spread from endemic to non-endemic areas. Current research has exploited epidemiological, molecular and phylogenetical studies to determine the danger of an outbreak of CL in the borderline area between northern and central Iraq from 2014-2017. For the first time, using sequence analysis of the cytochrome b gene, the occurrence of CL in the borderline area between northern and central Iraq was confirmed to be due to Leishmania major. The phylogenetic analysis indicated that it was closely related to the L. major MRHO/IR/75/ER strain in Iran. In conclusion, the genotype confirmation of the L. major strain will improve our understanding of the epidemiology of the disease. This is important for facilitating control programs to prevent the further spread of CL. Furthermore, this area could be considered as a model for further research on the risk of global CL epidemics in other non-endemic countries where both reservoir hosts and sandfly vectors are present.

Threat Assessment in College Settings

Science.gov (United States)

Cornell, Dewey

2010-01-01

In 2007, the landscape of campus safety changed abruptly with the Virginia Tech shooting and the subsequent wave of anonymous threats in colleges across the country. In response to the tragedy, the Virginia state legislature mandated that every public institution of higher education establish a "threat assessment team." Both the FBI and the U.S.…

How you perceive threat determines your behavior

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Orlando Fernandes Junior

2013-10-01

Full Text Available The prioritization of processing emotional stimuli usually produces deleterious effects on task performance when it distracts from a task. One common explanation is that brain resources are consumed by emotional stimuli, diverting resources away from executing the task. Viewing unpleasant stimuli also generates defensive reactions, and these responses may be at least partially responsible for the effect of the emotional modulation observed in various reaction time (RT paradigms. We investigated whether modulatory effects on RT vary if we presented threat stimuli to prompt different defensive responses. To trigger different responses, we manipulated threat perception by moving the direction of threatening stimuli. Threatening or neutral stimuli were presented as distractors during a bar orientation discrimination task. The results demonstrated that threat stimuli directed towards the observer produced a decrease in RT; in contrast, threat stimuli directed away from the observer produced an increase in RT, when compared to neutral stimuli. Accelerated RT during direct threat stimuli was attributed to increased motor preparation resulting from strong activation of the defense response cascade. In contrast, no direct threat stimuli likely activated the defense cascade, but less intensively, prompting immobility. Different threat stimuli produced varying effects, which was interpreted as evidence that the modulation of RT by emotional stimuli represents the summation of attentional and motivational effects. Additionally, participants who had been previously exposed to diverse types of violent crime were more strongly influenced by direct threat stimuli. In sum, our data support the concept that emotions are indeed action tendencies.

Information security practices emerging threats and perspectives

CERN Document Server

Awad, Ahmed; Woungang, Isaac

2017-01-01

This book introduces novel research targeting technical aspects of protecting information security and establishing trust in the digital space. New paradigms, and emerging threats and solutions are presented in topics such as application security and threat management; modern authentication paradigms; digital fraud detection; social engineering and insider threats; cyber threat intelligence; intrusion detection; behavioral biometrics recognition; hardware security analysis. The book presents both the important core and the specialized issues in the areas of protection, assurance, and trust in information security practice. It is intended to be a valuable resource and reference for researchers, instructors, students, scientists, engineers, managers, and industry practitioners. .

Affective significance enhances covert attention: roles of anxiety and word familiarity.

Science.gov (United States)

Calvo, Manuel G; Eysenck, Michael W

2008-11-01

To investigate the processing of emotional words by covert attention, threat-related, positive, and neutral word primes were presented parafoveally (2.2 degrees away from fixation) for 150 ms, under gaze-contingent foveal masking, to prevent eye fixations. The primes were followed by a probe word in a lexical-decision task. In Experiment 1, results showed a parafoveal threat-anxiety superiority: Parafoveal prime threat words facilitated responses to probe threat words for high-anxiety individuals, in comparison with neutral and positive words, and relative to low-anxiety individuals. This reveals an advantage in threat processing by covert attention, without differences in overt attention. However, anxiety was also associated with greater familiarity with threat words, and the parafoveal priming effects were significantly reduced when familiarity was covaried out. To further examine the role of word knowledge, in Experiment 2, vocabulary and word familiarity were equated for low- and high-anxiety groups. In these conditions, the parafoveal threat-anxiety advantage disappeared. This suggests that the enhanced covert-attention effect depends on familiarity with words.

Simulated ICJ Judgment : Revisiting the Lawfulness of the Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Winston P. Nagan

2012-04-01

Full Text Available The author prepared this simulated judgment at the request of Cadmus editors to demonstrate that there is ample ground for revisiting and revising the landmark 1996 advisory opinion of the ICJ on the legality of nuclear weapons. The ICJ failed to anticipate the proliferation of nuclear weapons, which expands the evolution of the concept of sovereignty, the potential cataclysmic impact of nuclear war on climate change, the multiplication of nuclear-weapon-free zones as evidence of a widespread rejection, mounting evidence regarding the physical and psychological harm, and unwillingness of the nuclear weapons states to fulfill their obligations under the NPT. This article challenges the notion that a few sovereign states should be the sole arbiters of international law and affirms the legitimate claim of the global community of protection from the existential threat posed by nuclear weapons. The use or threat of use undermines foundational values of the international legal system and the specific rules of self-defense and humanitarian law. The contribution seeks to give an accentuated role for the explicit use of the fundamental values of international legal order, in crafting an innovative methodology for the formulation of the judgment. The very existence of these weapons undermines the rights of all of humanity. The ICJ should be moved to categorically declare the use and possession of nuclear weapons a crime against humanity.

An Examination of Age-Based Stereotype Threat About Cognitive Decline.

Science.gov (United States)

Barber, Sarah J

2017-01-01

"Stereotype threat" is often thought of as a singular construct, with moderators and mechanisms that are stable across groups and domains. However, this is not always true. To illustrate this, the current review focuses on the stereotype threat that older adults face about their cognitive abilities. Drawing upon the multithreat framework, I first provide evidence that this is a self-concept threat and not a group-reputation threat. Because this differs from the forms of stereotype threat experienced by other groups (e.g., the threat that minority students face about their intellectual abilities), the moderators of stereotype threat observed in other groups (i.e., group identification) do not always generalize to age-based stereotype threat about cognitive decline. Looking beyond the forms of stereotype threat elicited, this review also provides evidence that the mechanisms underlying stereotype-threat effects may vary across the adult life span. Because of age-related improvements in emotion-regulation abilities, stereotype threat does not seem to reduce older adults' executive-control resources. Overall, this review highlights the need to approach the concept of stereotype threat with more granularity, allowing researchers to design more effective stereotype-threat interventions. It will also shed light on why certain stereotype threat effects "fail to replicate" across domains or groups.

Posed versus spontaneous facial expressions are modulated by opposite cerebral hemispheres.

Science.gov (United States)

Ross, Elliott D; Pulusu, Vinay K

2013-05-01

Clinical research has indicated that the left face is more expressive than the right face, suggesting that modulation of facial expressions is lateralized to the right hemisphere. The findings, however, are controversial because the results explain, on average, approximately 4% of the data variance. Using high-speed videography, we sought to determine if movement-onset asymmetry was a more powerful research paradigm than terminal movement asymmetry. The results were very robust, explaining up to 70% of the data variance. Posed expressions began overwhelmingly on the right face whereas spontaneous expressions began overwhelmingly on the left face. This dichotomy was most robust for upper facial expressions. In addition, movement-onset asymmetries did not predict terminal movement asymmetries, which were not significantly lateralized. The results support recent neuroanatomic observations that upper versus lower facial movements have different forebrain motor representations and recent behavioral constructs that posed versus spontaneous facial expressions are modulated preferentially by opposite cerebral hemispheres and that spontaneous facial expressions are graded rather than non-graded movements. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

The relative pose estimation of aircraft based on contour model

Science.gov (United States)

Fu, Tai; Sun, Xiangyi

2017-02-01

This paper proposes a relative pose estimation approach based on object contour model. The first step is to obtain a two-dimensional (2D) projection of three-dimensional (3D)-model-based target, which will be divided into 40 forms by clustering and LDA analysis. Then we proceed by extracting the target contour in each image and computing their Pseudo-Zernike Moments (PZM), thus a model library is constructed in an offline mode. Next, we spot a projection contour that resembles the target silhouette most in the present image from the model library with reference of PZM; then similarity transformation parameters are generated as the shape context is applied to match the silhouette sampling location, from which the identification parameters of target can be further derived. Identification parameters are converted to relative pose parameters, in the premise that these values are the initial result calculated via iterative refinement algorithm, as the relative pose parameter is in the neighborhood of actual ones. At last, Distance Image Iterative Least Squares (DI-ILS) is employed to acquire the ultimate relative pose parameters.

Problems and Tools for the Detection of Threats to Personnel Security in the Region

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Natalia Victorovna Kuznetsova

2016-12-01

Full Text Available The investigation of threats negatively affecting the state and the development of human resources as well as the varieties of security threats is of particular importance in the theory and practice of personnel security measures. The purpose of the article is to identify and classify the ideas of the main threats to personnel security of the region (the research is carried out on the example of the Irkutsk region. On the basis of the content analysis of Russian regulatory legal acts and scientific publications, external and internal threats to personnel security of the region are highlighted. As a result, the list of threats to personnel security of the region consisting of 37 stands is composed. The political, economic, demographic, social, technical and technological, ecological, legal, ethnocultural forms of threats are demonstrated. The authors came to the conclusion that the internal threats to personnel security of the region (first of all socio-economic are dominant. An assessment of the urgency and relevance of the threats to the personnel security of the region is given. With the use of the technology of the hierarchical factorial analysis, the types of threats (factors of the lowest level were identified and their influence on the general level of the urgency of personnel security threats (a factor of the highest level is estimated. It is revealed that legal threats, as well as threats caused by the low labour potential of the region, have the most significant impact on the estimation of the urgency of threats. The study applies the following analysis methods — a content analysis, the analysis of linear and cross-distribution, hierarchical factor and correlation analysis. The analysis is based on the data of the expert survey conducted in the Irkutsk region (2015. To determine the relationship (coherence of the expert evaluations, the Kendall’s coefficient of concordance is calculated. The received results can be used for studying

Threats to information security in a highly organized system of the “Smart city”

Science.gov (United States)

Kurcheeva, G. I.; Denisov, V. V.; Khvorostov, V. A.

2017-01-01

The article discusses issues related to comprehensive development and introduction of technologies such as “Smart city”. The urgency of accelerating the development of such highly organized systems, primarily in terms of reducing threats to information security, is emphasized in the paper. In accordance with authors’ analysis of the composition and structure of the threats to information security, “Accessibility”, “Integrity” and “Confidentiality” are highlighted. Violation of any of them leads to harmful effects on the information and other system resources. The protection of “Accessibility” mobilizes one third of all efforts to ensure information security that must be taken into account when allocating protective actions. The threats associated with failure of the supporting infrastructure are also significantly reduced. But the threats associated with failures of the system itself and failures of users are clearly increasing. There is a high level of society and production informatization, and the threats to information security are changing accordingly.

Design, Development, and Innovation of an Interactive Multimedia Training Simulator for Responding to Air Transportation Bomb Threats

Science.gov (United States)

Chung, Christopher A.; Marwaha, Shweta

2005-01-01

This paper describes an interactive multimedia simulator for air transportation bomb threat training. The objective of this project is to improve the air transportation sector s capability to respond to bomb threats received by commercial airports and aircraft. The simulator provides realistic training on receiving and responding to a variety of bomb threats that might not otherwise be possible due to time, cost, or operational constraints. Validation analysis indicates that the use of the simulator resulted in statistically significant increases in individual ability to respond to these types of bomb threats.

Pose and Solve Varignon Converse Problems

Science.gov (United States)

Contreras, José N.

2014-01-01

The activity of posing and solving problems can enrich learners' mathematical experiences because it fosters a spirit of inquisitiveness, cultivates their mathematical curiosity, and deepens their views of what it means to do mathematics. To achieve these goals, a mathematical problem needs to be at the appropriate level of difficulty,…

Identity threat at work: how social identity threat and situational cues contribute to racial and ethnic disparities in the workplace.

Science.gov (United States)

Emerson, Katherine T U; Murphy, Mary C

2014-10-01

Significant disparities remain between racial and ethnic minorities' and Whites' experiences of American workplaces. Traditional prejudice and discrimination approaches explain these gaps in hiring, promotion, satisfaction, and well-being by pointing to the prejudice of people within organizations such as peers, managers, and executives. Grounded in social identity threat theory, this theoretical review instead argues that particular situational cues-often communicated by well-meaning, largely unprejudiced employees and managers-signal to stigmatized groups whether their identity is threatened and devalued or respected and affirmed. First, we provide an overview of how identity threat shapes the psychological processes of racial and ethnic minorities by heightening vigilance to certain situational cues in the workplace. Next, we outline several of these cues and their role in creating and sustaining perceptions of identity threat (or safety). Finally, we provide empirically grounded suggestions that organizations may use to increase identity safety among their employees of color. Taken together, the research demonstrates how situational cues contribute to disparate psychological experiences for racial and ethnic minorities at work, and suggests that by altering threatening cues, organizations may create more equitable, respectful, and inclusive environments where all people may thrive. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved).

Altered brain activation and connectivity during anticipation of uncertain threat in trait anxiety.

Science.gov (United States)

Geng, Haiyang; Wang, Yi; Gu, Ruolei; Luo, Yue-Jia; Xu, Pengfei; Huang, Yuxia; Li, Xuebing

2018-06-08

In the research field of anxiety, previous studies generally focus on emotional responses following threat. A recent model of anxiety proposes that altered anticipation prior to uncertain threat is related with the development of anxiety. Behavioral findings have built the relationship between anxiety and distinct anticipatory processes including attention, estimation of threat, and emotional responses. However, few studies have characterized the brain organization underlying anticipation of uncertain threat and its role in anxiety. In the present study, we used an emotional anticipation paradigm with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine the aforementioned topics by employing brain activation and general psychophysiological interactions (gPPI) analysis. In the activation analysis, we found that high trait anxious individuals showed significantly increased activation in the thalamus, middle temporal gyrus (MTG), and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC), as well as decreased activation in the precuneus, during anticipation of uncertain threat compared to the certain condition. In the gPPI analysis, the key regions including the amygdala, dmPFC, and precuneus showed altered connections with distributed brain areas including the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC), inferior parietal sulcus (IPS), insula, para-hippocampus gyrus (PHA), thalamus, and MTG involved in anticipation of uncertain threat in anxious individuals. Taken together, our findings indicate that during the anticipation of uncertain threat, anxious individuals showed altered activations and functional connectivity in widely distributed brain areas, which may be critical for abnormal perception, estimation, and emotion reactions during the anticipation of uncertain threat. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

SIP threats detection system

OpenAIRE

Vozňák, Miroslav; Řezáč, Filip

2010-01-01

The paper deals with detection of threats in IP telephony, the authors developed a penetration testing system that is able to check up the level of protection from security threats in IP telephony. The SIP server is a key komponent of VoIP infrastructure and often becomes the aim of attacks and providers have to ensure the appropriate level of security. We have developed web-based penetration system which is able to check the SIP server if can face to the most common attacks.The d...

Coping with global environmental change, disasters and security. Threats, challenges, vulnerabilities and risks

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Brauch, Hans Guenter [Freie Univ. Berlin (Germany). Dept. of Political and Social Sciences; UNU-EHS, Bonn (DE). College of Associated Scientists and Advisors (CASA); Oswald Spring, Ursula [National Univ. of Mexico, Cuernavaca (MX). Regional Multidisciplinary Research Centre (CRIM); Mesjasz, Czeslaw [Cracow Univ. of Exonomics (Poland). Faculty of Management; Grin, John [Amsterdam Univ. (Netherlands). Dept. of Political Science; Dutch Knowledge network for Systems Innovations and Transitions (KSI), Amsterdam (Netherlands); Kameri-Mbote, Patricia [Strathmore Univ., Nairobi (Kenya). Dept. of Law; International Environmental Law Research Centre, Nairobi (Kenya); Chourou, Bechir [Univ. of Tunis-Carthage, Hammam-Chatt (Tunisia); Dunay, Pal [Geneva Centre for Security Policy (Switzerland). International Training Course in Security Policy; Birkmann, Joern (eds.) [United Nations Univ. (UNU), Bonn (DE). Inst. for Environment and Human Security (EHS)

2011-07-01

This policy-focused Global Environmental and Human Security Handbook for the Anthropo-cene (GEHSHA) addresses new security threats, challenges, vulnerabilities and risks posed by global environmental change and disasters. In 6 forewords, 5 preface essays 95 peer reviewed chapcountries analyse in 10 parts concepts of military and political hard security and economic, social, environmental soft security with a regional focus on the Near East, North and Sub-Sahara Africa and Asia and on hazards in urban centres. The major focus is on coping with global environmental change: climate change, desertification, water, food and health and with hazards and strategies on social vulnerability and resilience building and scientific, international, regional and national political strategies, policies and measures including early warning of conflicts and hazards. The book proposes a political geo-ecology and discusses a 'Fourth Green Revolution' for the Anthropocene era of earth history. (orig.)

The nuclear threat and the Nuclear Threat Initiative

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Curtis, Charles

2001-01-01

Full text: President and chief operating officer of the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI), was invited by the IAEA Director General to speak about NTI and its mission at the IAEA Safeguards Symposium. Established by CNN founder Ted Turner and former U.S. Senator Sam Nunn, NTI is a charitable organization working to strengthen global security by reducing the risk of use and preventing the spread of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons. The foundation is global, concentrating not just on the United States, Russia, and other nations of the former Soviet Union, but also on those regions of greatest proliferation concern in Asia and the Middle East. NTI is working to close what it perceives as an increasingly dangerous gap between the threat from nuclear, biological and chemical weapons and the global response. NTI is supported by a pledge from Mr. Turner of at least $250 million over five years, among the largest sums any private individual has ever invested in these security issues. NTI's Board of Directors, an international team of experienced and knowledgeable experts, determines the overall direction of the foundation. (author)

Head Pose Estimation on Eyeglasses Using Line Detection and Classification Approach

Science.gov (United States)

Setthawong, Pisal; Vannija, Vajirasak

This paper proposes a unique approach for head pose estimation of subjects with eyeglasses by using a combination of line detection and classification approaches. Head pose estimation is considered as an important non-verbal form of communication and could also be used in the area of Human-Computer Interface. A major improvement of the proposed approach is that it allows estimation of head poses at a high yaw/pitch angle when compared with existing geometric approaches, does not require expensive data preparation and training, and is generally fast when compared with other approaches.

Airborne Particulate Threat Assessment

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Patrick Treado; Oksana Klueva; Jeffrey Beckstead

2008-12-31

Aerosol threat detection requires the ability to discern between threat agents and ambient background particulate matter (PM) encountered in the environment. To date, Raman imaging technology has been demonstrated as an effective strategy for the assessment of threat agents in the presence of specific, complex backgrounds. Expanding our understanding of the composition of ambient particulate matter background will improve the overall performance of Raman Chemical Imaging (RCI) detection strategies for the autonomous detection of airborne chemical and biological hazards. Improving RCI detection performance is strategic due to its potential to become a widely exploited detection approach by several U.S. government agencies. To improve the understanding of the ambient PM background with subsequent improvement in Raman threat detection capability, ChemImage undertook the Airborne Particulate Threat Assessment (APTA) Project in 2005-2008 through a collaborative effort with the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), under cooperative agreement number DE-FC26-05NT42594. During Phase 1 of the program, a novel PM classification based on molecular composition was developed based on a comprehensive review of the scientific literature. In addition, testing protocols were developed for ambient PM characterization. A signature database was developed based on a variety of microanalytical techniques, including scanning electron microscopy, FT-IR microspectroscopy, optical microscopy, fluorescence and Raman chemical imaging techniques. An automated particle integrated collector and detector (APICD) prototype was developed for automated collection, deposition and detection of biothreat agents in background PM. During Phase 2 of the program, ChemImage continued to refine the understanding of ambient background composition. Additionally, ChemImage enhanced the APICD to provide improved autonomy, sensitivity and specificity. Deliverables included a Final Report detailing our

Subconscious detection of threat as reflected by an enhanced response bias.

Science.gov (United States)

Windmann, S; Krüger, T

1998-12-01

Neurobiological and cognitive models of unconscious information processing suggest that subconscious threat detection can lead to cognitive misinterpretations and false alarms, while conscious processing is assumed to be perceptually and conceptually accurate and unambiguous. Furthermore, clinical theories suggest that pathological anxiety results from a crude preattentive warning system predominating over more sophisticated and controlled modes of processing. We investigated the hypothesis that subconscious detection of threat in a cognitive task is reflected by enhanced "false signal" detection rather than by selectively enhanced discrimination of threat items in 30 patients with panic disorder and 30 healthy controls. We presented a tachistoscopic word-nonword discrimination task and a subsequent recognition task and analyzed the data by means of process-dissociation procedures. In line with our expectations, subjects of both groups showed more false signal detection to threat than to neutral stimuli as indicated by an enhanced response bias, whereas indices of discriminative sensitivity did not show this effect. In addition, patients with panic disorder showed a generally enhanced response bias in comparison to healthy controls. They also seemed to have processed the stimuli less elaborately and less differentially. Results are consistent with the assumption that subconscious threat detection can lead to misrepresentations of stimulus significance and that pathological anxiety is characterized by a hyperactive preattentive alarm system that is insufficiently controlled by higher cognitive processes. Copyright 1998 Academic Press.

Three-Week Bright-Light Intervention Has Dose-Related Effects on Threat-Related Corticolimbic Reactivity and Functional Coupling

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Fisher, Patrick M; Madsen, Martin K; Mc Mahon, Brenda

2014-01-01

environmental stimuli (e.g., threat) and may underlie these effects. Serotonin signaling modulates this circuit and is implicated in the pathophysiology of seasonal and other affective disorders. METHODS: We evaluated the effects of a bright-light intervention protocol on threat-related corticolimbic reactivity......-related amygdala and prefrontal reactivity in a dose-dependent manner. Conversely, amygdala-prefrontal and intraprefrontal functional coupling increased significantly in a dose-dependent manner. Genotype status significantly moderated bright-light intervention effects on intraprefrontal functional coupling....... CONCLUSIONS: This is the first study to evaluate the effects of clinically relevant bright-light intervention on threat-related brain function. We show that amygdala-prefrontal reactivity and communication are significantly affected by bright-light intervention, an effect partly moderated by genotype...

Attribute And-Or Grammar for Joint Parsing of Human Pose, Parts and Attributes.

Science.gov (United States)

Park, Seyoung; Nie, Xiaohan; Zhu, Song-Chun

2017-07-25

This paper presents an attribute and-or grammar (A-AOG) model for jointly inferring human body pose and human attributes in a parse graph with attributes augmented to nodes in the hierarchical representation. In contrast to other popular methods in the current literature that train separate classifiers for poses and individual attributes, our method explicitly represents the decomposition and articulation of body parts, and account for the correlations between poses and attributes. The A-AOG model is an amalgamation of three traditional grammar formulations: (i)Phrase structure grammar representing the hierarchical decomposition of the human body from whole to parts; (ii)Dependency grammar modeling the geometric articulation by a kinematic graph of the body pose; and (iii)Attribute grammar accounting for the compatibility relations between different parts in the hierarchy so that their appearances follow a consistent style. The parse graph outputs human detection, pose estimation, and attribute prediction simultaneously, which are intuitive and interpretable. We conduct experiments on two tasks on two datasets, and experimental results demonstrate the advantage of joint modeling in comparison with computing poses and attributes independently. Furthermore, our model obtains better performance over existing methods for both pose estimation and attribute prediction tasks.

Three Essays on Information Security Policies

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Yubao

2011-01-01

Information security breaches pose a significant and increasing threat to national security and economic well-being. In the Symantec Internet Security Threat Report (2003), companies surveyed experienced an average of about 30 attacks per week. Anecdotal evidence suggests that losses from cyber-attacks can run into millions of dollars. The CSI-FBI…

Applying the multi-threat framework of stereotype threat in the context of digital gaming

OpenAIRE

Pennington, C. R.; Kaye, L. K.; McCann, J. J.

2018-01-01

Females often report experiencing stigmatisation pertaining to their competency in digital gaming communities. Employing the principles of the multi-threat framework of stereotype threat, the current research examined the impact of gender-related stereotypes on females' gaming performance and related self-perceptions. In Experiment 1, 90 females were assigned to one of three conditions in which they were primed that their performance would be either diagnostic of their personal (self-as-targe...

Microbial Threats to Health. Emerging Infections: Microbial Threats to Health in the United States.

Science.gov (United States)

1992-10-01

and HIV in- fection. Although in the United States, HIV infection occurs predominately in male homosexuals and intravenous substance abusers, the rate...Davis. W. A., J. G. Kane, and V. G. Garagusi. 1978. Human Aerononas infections : a review of the literature and a case report of endocarditis ...AD-A257 841 AD____ GRANT NO: DAMD17-90-Z-0047 TITLE: MICROBIAL THREATS TO HEALTH SUBTITLE: REmerging Infections - Microbial Threats to Health in the

The DANGERTOME Personal Risk Threat Assessment Scale: An Instrument to Help Aid Immediate Threat Assessment for Counselors, Faculty, and Teachers

Science.gov (United States)

Juhnke, Gerald A.

2010-01-01

Threats of violence are not uncommon to counselors, faculty, or teachers. Each must be taken seriously, quickly analyzed, and safety procedures implemented. Yet, there exists a paucity of brief, face-to-face, assessments designed to aid threat assessment. To address this paucity, the author created The DANGERTOME Personal Risk Threat Assessment…

Categorization of questions posed before and after inquiry-based learning

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sandra Milena García González

2014-07-01

Full Text Available Posing research questions is the central ability of the scientific thought. This article examines the ability of sixth grade children to pose researchable questions before and after a three months’ work on a didactic sequence based on the inquiry school model. According to their purpose, the questions asked by children, after reading a text, were classified into researchable questions -susceptible to be empirically explored-, questions about a cause, and questions on a piece of data. The results show that the amount and the type of questions the students were able to pose during the intervention changed, from most of questions on data or information, to most of researchable questions, subsequently, the importance of designing teaching approaches to foster this ability was proved.

Hypersonic Threats to the Homeland

Science.gov (United States)

2017-03-28

ADAM) system . This ground based system protects 7 soldiers against rocket threats and utilizes a 10 kW laser with an effective range out to...early warning systems for response to hypersonic threats . The integration of directed energy defensive systems with Space Based Infrared Sensors (SBIRS...and early warning radars already in operation will save costs. By capitalizing on Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system capabilities

Evaluative threat and ambulatory blood pressure: cardiovascular effects of social stress in daily experience.

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, Timothy W; Birmingham, Wendy; Uchino, Bert N

2012-11-01

Physiological effects of social evaluation are central in models of psychosocial influences on physical health. Experimental manipulations of evaluative threat evoke substantial cardiovascular and neuroendocrine responses in laboratory studies, but only preliminary evidence is available regarding naturally occurring evaluative threats in daily life. In such nonexperimental ambulatory studies, it is essential to distinguish effects of evaluative threat from related constructs known to alter stress, such as ability perceptions and concerns about appearance. 94 married, working couples (mean age 29.2 years) completed a 1-day (8 a.m. to 10 p.m.) ambulatory blood pressure protocol with random interval-contingent measurements using a Suntech monitor and Palm Pilot-based measures of control variables and momentary experiences of social-evaluative threat, concerns about appearance, and perceived ability. In hierarchical analyses for couples and multiple measurement occasions (Proc Mixed; SAS) and controlling individual differences (BMI, age, income) and potential confounds (e.g., posture, activity), higher reports of social-evaluative threat were associated with higher concurrent systolic (estimate = .87, SE = .34) and diastolic blood pressure (estimate = 1.06; SE = .26), both p social-evaluative threat remained significant when perceived ability and appearance concerns were controlled. Naturally occurring social-evaluative threat during daily activity is associated with increased systolic and diastolic blood pressure. Given associations between ambulatory blood pressure and risk of cardiovascular disease, the findings support conceptual models of threats to the social self as a potentially important influence on physical health.

Key issues in body armour: threats, materials and design

OpenAIRE

Horsfall, Ian

2012-01-01

This chapter will examine the mechanics and materials of body armour in military, police and some security related applications to protect the wearer from penetrative threats. These threats will include battlefield threats such as shell fragments and high velocity bullets, and threats to law enforcement personnel such as handgun bullets and knives. Regardless of whether the threat is a high velocity bullet, or a knife, the essential requirements of body armour are the same; first an interacti...

Artificial Intelligence: Threat or Boon to Radiologists?

Science.gov (United States)

Recht, Michael; Bryan, R Nick

2017-11-01

The development and integration of machine learning/artificial intelligence into routine clinical practice will significantly alter the current practice of radiology. Changes in reimbursement and practice patterns will also continue to affect radiology. But rather than being a significant threat to radiologists, we believe these changes, particularly machine learning/artificial intelligence, will be a boon to radiologists by increasing their value, efficiency, accuracy, and personal satisfaction. Copyright © 2017 American College of Radiology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Automatic generation of statistical pose and shape models for articulated joints.

Science.gov (United States)

Xin Chen; Graham, Jim; Hutchinson, Charles; Muir, Lindsay

2014-02-01

Statistical analysis of motion patterns of body joints is potentially useful for detecting and quantifying pathologies. However, building a statistical motion model across different subjects remains a challenging task, especially for a complex joint like the wrist. We present a novel framework for simultaneous registration and segmentation of multiple 3-D (CT or MR) volumes of different subjects at various articulated positions. The framework starts with a pose model generated from 3-D volumes captured at different articulated positions of a single subject (template). This initial pose model is used to register the template volume to image volumes from new subjects. During this process, the Grow-Cut algorithm is used in an iterative refinement of the segmentation of the bone along with the pose parameters. As each new subject is registered and segmented, the pose model is updated, improving the accuracy of successive registrations. We applied the algorithm to CT images of the wrist from 25 subjects, each at five different wrist positions and demonstrated that it performed robustly and accurately. More importantly, the resulting segmentations allowed a statistical pose model of the carpal bones to be generated automatically without interaction. The evaluation results show that our proposed framework achieved accurate registration with an average mean target registration error of 0.34 ±0.27 mm. The automatic segmentation results also show high consistency with the ground truth obtained semi-automatically. Furthermore, we demonstrated the capability of the resulting statistical pose and shape models by using them to generate a measurement tool for scaphoid-lunate dissociation diagnosis, which achieved 90% sensitivity and specificity.

Gender, Stereotype Threat and Mathematics Test Scores

OpenAIRE

Ming Tsui; Xiao Y. Xu; Edmond Venator

2011-01-01

Problem statement: Stereotype threat has repeatedly been shown to depress womens scores on difficult math tests. An attempt to replicate these findings in China found no support for the stereotype threat hypothesis. Our math test was characterized as being personally important for the student participants, an atypical condition in most stereotype threat laboratory research. Approach: To evaluate the effects of this personal demand, we conducted three experiments. Results: ...

Sexual orientation and self-rated health: the role of social capital, offence, threat of violence, and violence.

Science.gov (United States)

Axelsson, Jakob; Modén, Birgit; Rosvall, Maria; Lindström, Martin

2013-07-01

To study the association between sexual orientation and self-rated health, including trust, offence, threat of violence, and violence. DESIGN/SETTING/PARTICIPANTS/MEASUREMENT: The 2008 Public Health Survey in Skåne is a cross-sectional postal questionnaire study. A total of 28,198 persons aged 18-80 years responded (55%). Logistic regressions analysed the association between sexual orientation and self-rated health. 27.4% of all men and 30.0% of all women rated their health as poor. Poor self-rated health was significantly more prevalent in higher age, among immigrants, people with lower education, low social support, low trust, experience of being offended, experience of threat of violence and violence, and bisexual and other orientation. Homosexual and bisexual men and women had higher age-adjusted odds ratios of having felt offended compared to heterosexual respondents. The odds ratios of low trust, threat of violence (men), and experience of violence (women) were significant for respondents with bisexual orientation but not for respondents with homosexual orientation. In the age-adjusted model, no significant association was observed between homosexual orientation and poor self-rated health among women. All other associations between sexual orientation and health were significant in the age-adjusted model but non-significant in the multiple models. Associations between sexual orientation and health disappear after multiple adjustments including trust and experience of offence, threat of violence, and violence. The study suggests that the group with bisexual orientation seems to be more exposed to low social capital (trust), threat of violence, and violence than the group with homosexual orientation.

Conservatism and the neural circuitry of threat: economic conservatism predicts greater amygdala–BNST connectivity during periods of threat vs safety

Science.gov (United States)

Muftuler, L Tugan; Larson, Christine L

2018-01-01

Abstract Political conservatism is associated with an increased negativity bias, including increased attention and reactivity toward negative and threatening stimuli. Although the human amygdala has been implicated in the response to threatening stimuli, no studies to date have investigated whether conservatism is associated with altered amygdala function toward threat. Furthermore, although an influential theory posits that connectivity between the amygdala and bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) is important in initiating the response to sustained or uncertain threat, whether individual differences in conservatism modulate this connectivity is unknown. To test whether conservatism is associated with increased reactivity in neural threat circuitry, we measured participants’ self-reported social and economic conservatism and asked them to complete high-resolution fMRI scans while under threat of an unpredictable shock and while safe. We found that economic conservatism predicted greater connectivity between the BNST and a cluster of voxels in the left amygdala during threat vs safety. These results suggest that increased amygdala–BNST connectivity during threat may be a key neural correlate of the enhanced negativity bias found in conservatism. PMID:29126127

Mitigation of the threat posed to transfusion by donors traveling to Zika-affected areas: a Canadian risk-based approach.

Science.gov (United States)

Germain, Marc; Delage, Gilles; O'Brien, Sheila F; Grégoire, Yves; Fearon, Margaret; Devine, Dana

2017-10-01

The recent spread of the Zika virus to the Americas and the recognition that it can cause severe disease in the developing fetus has prompted the adoption of measures to mitigate the risk that this virus might pose to transfusion safety. In nonendemic countries, the risk to transfusion results from donors traveling to an endemic region. Canada implemented a 21-day temporary deferral for prospective donors who traveled to such regions. We present the rationale for this policy, including a quantitative risk assessment supported by a Monte Carlo simulation. The model considered the following parameters, each with specified values and ranges: the probability that a donor recently returned from a Zika-endemic region, the duration of travel to this region, the daily risk of acquiring Zika while in an endemic region, and the incubation and viremic periods. We ran the simulation 20 times, each with 10 million iterations. In the absence of any travel deferral, 32 donors (range, 20-46 donors) would be able to donate while still being at risk of transmitting Zika, corresponding to a rate of 1:312,500 (range, 1:217,000 to 1:500,000). None of these donors would be viremic beyond 21 days after returning from their travel, with a risk estimated at less than 1:200,000,000. A 21-day temporary travel deferral offers an extremely wide margin of safety for the possible transmission of Zika by a donation obtained from someone who recently returned from a country where the virus is circulating. © 2017 AABB.

Stereotype Threat Lowers Older Adults' Self-Reported Hearing Abilities.

Science.gov (United States)

Barber, Sarah J; Lee, Soohyoung Rain

2015-01-01

Although stereotype threat is a well-documented phenomenon, previous studies examining it in older adults have almost exclusively focused on objective cognitive outcomes. Considerably less attention has been paid to the impact of stereotype threat on older adults' subjective assessments of their own abilities or to the impact of stereotype threat in noncognitive domains. Older adults are stereotyped as having experienced not only cognitive declines, but physical declines as well. The current study tested the prediction that stereotype threat can negatively influence older adults' subjective hearing abilities. To test this, 115 adults (mean age 50.03 years, range 41-67) read either a positive or negative description about how aging affects hearing. All participants then answered a questionnaire in which they assessed their own hearing abilities. The impact of stereotype threat on self-reported hearing was moderated by chronological age. Participants in their 40s and early 50s were unaffected by the stereotype threat manipulation. In contrast, participants in their late 50s and 60s rated their hearing as being subjectively worse when under stereotype threat. The current study provides a clear demonstration that stereotype threat negatively impacts older adults' subjective assessments of their own abilities. It is also the first study to demonstrate an effect of stereotype threat within the domain of hearing. These results have important implications for researchers investigating age-related hearing decline. Stereotype threat can lead to overestimation of the prevalence of age-related hearing decline. It can also serve as a confounding variable when examining the psychosocial correlates of hearing loss. Because of this, researchers studying age-related hearing loss should aim to provide a stereotype threat-free testing environment and also include assessments of stereotype threat within their studies. © 2015 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Stereotype threat lowers older adults’ self-reported hearing abilities

Science.gov (United States)

Barber, Sarah J.; Lee, Soohyoung Rain

2016-01-01

Background Although stereotype threat is a well-documented phenomenon, previous studies examining it in older adults have almost exclusively focused on objective cognitive outcomes. Considerably less attention has been paid to the impact of stereotype threat on older adults’ subjective assessments of their own abilities or to the impact of stereotype threat in non-cognitive domains. Objective Older adults are stereotyped as having experienced not only cognitive declines, but physical declines as well. The current study tested the prediction that stereotype threat can negatively influence older adult's subjective hearing abilities. Methods To test this, 115 adults (M age = 50.02, range = 41-67) read either a positive or negative description about how aging affects hearing. All participants then answered a questionnaire in which they assessed their own hearing abilities. Results The impact of stereotype threat on self-reported hearing was moderated by chronological age. Participants in their 40's and early 50's were unaffected by the stereotype threat manipulation. In contrast, participants in their late 50's and 60's rated their hearing as being subjectively worse when under stereotype threat. Conclusion The current study provides a clear demonstration that stereotype threat negatively impacts older adults’ subjective assessments of their own abilities. It is also the first study to demonstrate an effect of stereotype threat within the domain of hearing. These results have important implications for researchers investigating age-related hearing decline. Stereotype threat can lead to overestimation of the prevalence of age-related hearing decline. It can also serve as a confounding variable when examining the psychosocial correlates of hearing loss. Because of this, researchers studying age-related hearing loss should aim to provide a stereotype-threat free testing environment and also include assessments of stereotype threat within their studies. PMID:26461273

Does increased postural threat lead to more conscious control of posture?

Science.gov (United States)

Huffman, J L; Horslen, B C; Carpenter, M G; Adkin, A L

2009-11-01

Although it is well established that postural threat modifies postural control, little is known regarding the underlying mechanism(s) responsible for these changes. It is possible that changes in postural control under conditions of elevated postural threat result from a shift to a more conscious control of posture. The purpose of this study was to determine the influence of elevated postural threat on conscious control of posture and to determine the relationship between conscious control and postural control measures. Forty-eight healthy young adults stood on a force plate at two different surface heights: ground level (LOW) and 3.2-m above ground level (HIGH). Centre of pressure measures calculated in the anterior-posterior (AP) direction were mean position (AP-MP), root mean square (AP-RMS) and mean power frequency (AP-MPF). A modified state-specific version of the Movement Specific Reinvestment Scale was used to measure conscious motor processing (CMP) and movement self-consciousness (MSC). Balance confidence, fear of falling, perceived stability, and perceived and actual anxiety indicators were also collected. A significant effect of postural threat was found for movement reinvestment as participants reported more conscious control and a greater concern about their posture at the HIGH height. Significant correlations between CMP and MSC with AP-MP were observed as participants who consciously controlled and were more concerned for their posture leaned further away from the platform edge. It is possible that changes in movement reinvestment can influence specific aspects of posture (leaning) but other aspects may be immune to these changes (amplitude and frequency).

Application of Shape Similarity in Pose Selection and Virtual Screening in CSARdock2014 Exercise.

Science.gov (United States)

Kumar, Ashutosh; Zhang, Kam Y J

2016-06-27

To evaluate the applicability of shape similarity in docking-based pose selection and virtual screening, we participated in the CSARdock2014 benchmark exercise for identifying the correct docking pose of inhibitors targeting factor XA, spleen tyrosine kinase, and tRNA methyltransferase. This exercise provides a valuable opportunity for researchers to test their docking programs, methods, and protocols in a blind testing environment. In the CSARdock2014 benchmark exercise, we have implemented an approach that uses ligand 3D shape similarity to facilitate docking-based pose selection and virtual screening. We showed here that ligand 3D shape similarity between bound poses could be used to identify the native-like pose from an ensemble of docking-generated poses. Our method correctly identified the native pose as the top-ranking pose for 73% of test cases in a blind testing environment. Moreover, the pose selection results also revealed an excellent correlation between ligand 3D shape similarity scores and RMSD to X-ray crystal structure ligand. In the virtual screening exercise, the average RMSD for our pose prediction was found to be 1.02 Å, and it was one of the top performances achieved in CSARdock2014 benchmark exercise. Furthermore, the inclusion of shape similarity improved virtual screening performance of docking-based scoring and ranking. The coefficient of determination (r(2)) between experimental activities and docking scores for 276 spleen tyrosine kinase inhibitors was found to be 0.365 but reached 0.614 when the ligand 3D shape similarity was included.

Motivational indicators of protective behaviour in response to urban water shortage threat

Science.gov (United States)

Mankad, Aditi; Greenhill, Murni; Tucker, David; Tapsuwan, Sorada

2013-05-01

The present study examined the role of protection motivation variables in predicting rainwater tank adoption among urban householders. A regression analysis found that subjective knowledge, threat appraisal, response efficacy, response costs, subjective norms and social norms significantly predicted adaptive behavioural intentions (F(6, 399) = 50.769, p accounted for 43% of the variance in intentions to install a rainwater tank as a protective measure against future water shortages. Results further indicated that several variables uniquely contributed to the prediction of rainwater tank adoption (listed in order of relative contribution: response efficacy, threat appraisal, response costs, subjective knowledge and subjective norms). This suggests that people who perceive there is a real water shortage threat, and believe that rainwater tanks are effective in relieving the threat and require minimal or manageable effort to obtain, are more likely to install a tank on their property as a protective measure. Implications of these results are discussed from a research and policy perspective. Recommendations for future motivational research in the area of urban decentralised system acceptance and adoption are presented.

Stereotype Threat Among Black and White Women in Health Care Settings

Science.gov (United States)

Abdou, Cleopatra M.; Fingerhut, Adam W.

2016-01-01

The first of its kind, the present experiment applied stereotype threat—the threat of being judged by or confirming negative group-based stereotypes—to the health sciences. Black and White women (N = 162) engaged in a virtual health care situation. In the experimental condition, one’s ethnic identity and negative stereotypes of Black women specifically were made salient. As predicted, Black women in the stereotype threat condition who were strongly identified as Black (in terms of having explored what their ethnic identity means to them and the role it plays in their lives) reported significantly greater anxiety while waiting to see the doctor in the virtual health care setting than all other women. It is hypothesized that stereotype threat experienced in health care settings is one overlooked social barrier contributing to disparities in health care utilization and broader health disparities among Black women. PMID:25045944

An Improved Method of Pose Estimation for Lighthouse Base Station Extension.

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Yi; Weng, Dongdong; Li, Dong; Xun, Hang

2017-10-22

In 2015, HTC and Valve launched a virtual reality headset empowered with Lighthouse, the cutting-edge space positioning technology. Although Lighthouse is superior in terms of accuracy, latency and refresh rate, its algorithms do not support base station expansion, and is flawed concerning occlusion in moving targets, that is, it is unable to calculate their poses with a small set of sensors, resulting in the loss of optical tracking data. In view of these problems, this paper proposes an improved pose estimation algorithm for cases where occlusion is involved. Our algorithm calculates the pose of a given object with a unified dataset comprising of inputs from sensors recognized by all base stations, as long as three or more sensors detect a signal in total, no matter from which base station. To verify our algorithm, HTC official base stations and autonomous developed receivers are used for prototyping. The experiment result shows that our pose calculation algorithm can achieve precise positioning when a few sensors detect the signal.

Does the sight of physical threat induce a tactile processing bias? Modality-specific attentional facilitation induced by viewing threatening pictures.

Science.gov (United States)

Van Damme, Stefaan; Gallace, Alberto; Spence, Charles; Crombez, Geert; Moseley, G Lorimer

2009-02-09

Threatening stimuli are thought to bias spatial attention toward the location from which the threat is presented. Although this effect is well-established in the visual domain, little is known regarding whether tactile attention is similarly affected by threatening pictures. We hypothesised that tactile attention might be more affected by cues implying physical threat to a person's bodily tissues than by cues implying general threat. In the present study, participants made temporal order judgments (TOJs) concerning which of a pair of tactile (or auditory) stimuli, one presented to either hand, at a range of inter-stimulus intervals, had been presented first. A picture (showing physical threat, general threat, or no threat) was presented in front of one or the other hand shortly before the tactile stimuli. The results revealed that tactile attention was biased toward the side on which the picture was presented, and that this effect was significantly larger for physical threat pictures than for general threat or neutral pictures. By contrast, the bias in auditory attention toward the side of the picture was significantly larger for general threat pictures than for physical threat pictures or neutral pictures. These findings therefore demonstrate a modality-specific effect of physically threatening cues on the processing of tactile stimuli, and of generally threatening cues on auditory information processing. These results demonstrate that the processing of tactile information from the body part closest to the threatening stimulus is prioritized over tactile information from elsewhere on the body.

From repulsion to attraction: species- and spatial context-dependent threat sensitive response of the spider mite Tetranychus urticae to predatory mite cues

Science.gov (United States)

Fernández Ferrari, M. Celeste; Schausberger, Peter

2013-06-01

Prey perceiving predation risk commonly change their behavior to avoid predation. However, antipredator strategies are costly. Therefore, according to the threat-sensitive predator avoidance hypothesis, prey should match the intensity of their antipredator behaviors to the degree of threat, which may depend on the predator species and the spatial context. We assessed threat sensitivity of the two-spotted spider mite, Tetranychus urticae, to the cues of three predatory mites, Phytoseiulus persimilis, Neoseiulus californicus, and Amblyseius andersoni, posing different degrees of risk in two spatial contexts. We first conducted a no-choice test measuring oviposition and activity of T. urticae exposed to chemical traces of predators or traces plus predator eggs. Then, we tested the site preference of T. urticae in choice tests, using artificial cages and leaves. In the no-choice test, T. urticae deposited their first egg later in the presence of cues of P. persimilis than of the other two predators and cue absence, indicating interspecific threat-sensitivity. T. urticae laid also fewer eggs in the presence of cues of P. persimilis and A. andersoni than of N. californicus and cue absence. In the artificial cage test, the spider mites preferred the site with predator traces, whereas in the leaf test, they preferentially resided on leaves without traces. We argue that in a nonplant environment, chemical predator traces do not indicate a risk for T. urticae, and instead, these traces function as indirect habitat cues. The spider mites were attracted to these cues because they associated them with the existence of a nearby host plant.

49 CFR 1546.301 - Bomb or air piracy threats.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 49 Transportation 9 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Bomb or air piracy threats. 1546.301 Section 1546... Threat Response § 1546.301 Bomb or air piracy threats. No foreign air carrier may land or take off an airplane in the United States after receiving a bomb or air piracy threat against that airplane, unless the...

International trade drives biodiversity threats in developing nations.

Science.gov (United States)

Lenzen, M; Moran, D; Kanemoto, K; Foran, B; Lobefaro, L; Geschke, A

2012-06-06

Human activities are causing Earth's sixth major extinction event-an accelerating decline of the world's stocks of biological diversity at rates 100 to 1,000 times pre-human levels. Historically, low-impact intrusion into species habitats arose from local demands for food, fuel and living space. However, in today's increasingly globalized economy, international trade chains accelerate habitat degradation far removed from the place of consumption. Although adverse effects of economic prosperity and economic inequality have been confirmed, the importance of international trade as a driver of threats to species is poorly understood. Here we show that a significant number of species are threatened as a result of international trade along complex routes, and that, in particular, consumers in developed countries cause threats to species through their demand of commodities that are ultimately produced in developing countries. We linked 25,000 Animalia species threat records from the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List to more than 15,000 commodities produced in 187 countries and evaluated more than 5 billion supply chains in terms of their biodiversity impacts. Excluding invasive species, we found that 30% of global species threats are due to international trade. In many developed countries, the consumption of imported coffee, tea, sugar, textiles, fish and other manufactured items causes a biodiversity footprint that is larger abroad than at home. Our results emphasize the importance of examining biodiversity loss as a global systemic phenomenon, instead of looking at the degrading or polluting producers in isolation. We anticipate that our findings will facilitate better regulation, sustainable supply-chain certification and consumer product labelling.

Threats to and viability of the giant anteater, Myrmecophaga tridactyla (Pilosa: Myrmecophagidae, in a protected Cerrado remnant encroached by urban expansion in central Brazil

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Milena F. Diniz

2013-04-01

Full Text Available Urbanization poses a serious threat to wildlife populations inhabiting native vegetation remnants surrounded by the expanding urban and suburban sprawl. The close contact with human activities causes not only direct impacts, such as habitat loss, but also indirect negative effects, such as population isolation, roadkills and anthropogenic fires. The Parque Nacional de Brasília is a large Cerrado remnant almost completely surrounded by the city of Brasília, in central Brazil. Here, we use population viability analysis to model the impacts of urbanization on a population of Myrmecophaga tridactyla (Linnaeus, 1758 inhabiting that park. Our results show that roadkill mortality is by far the most serious threat to the long-term persistence of the giant anteater in the study site. The implementation of measures to better control vehicle speed in the vicinity of the park is urgently needed if we expect the giant anteater population to be effectively protected in the Parque Nacional de Brasília.

Enhancing students’ mathematical problem posing skill through writing in performance tasks strategy

Science.gov (United States)

Kadir; Adelina, R.; Fatma, M.

2018-01-01

Many researchers have studied the Writing in Performance Task (WiPT) strategy in learning, but only a few paid attention on its relation to the problem-posing skill in mathematics. The problem-posing skill in mathematics covers problem reformulation, reconstruction, and imitation. The purpose of the present study was to examine the effect of WiPT strategy on students’ mathematical problem-posing skill. The research was conducted at a Public Junior Secondary School in Tangerang Selatan. It used a quasi-experimental method with randomized control group post-test. The samples were 64 students consists of 32 students of the experiment group and 32 students of the control. A cluster random sampling technique was used for sampling. The research data were obtained by testing. The research shows that the problem-posing skill of students taught by WiPT strategy is higher than students taught by a conventional strategy. The research concludes that the WiPT strategy is more effective in enhancing the students’ mathematical problem-posing skill compared to the conventional strategy.

Psychometric and demographic predictors of the perceived risk of terrorist threats and the willingness to pay for terrorism risk management programs.

Science.gov (United States)

Mumpower, Jeryl L; Shi, Liu; Stoutenborough, James W; Vedlitz, Arnold

2013-10-01

A 2009 national telephone survey of 924 U.S. adults assessed perceptions of terrorism and homeland security issues. Respondents rated severity of effects, level of understanding, number affected, and likelihood of four terrorist threats: poisoned water supply; explosion of a small nuclear device in a major U.S. city; an airplane attack similar to 9/11; and explosion of a bomb in a building, train, subway, or highway. Respondents rated perceived risk and willingness to pay (WTP) for dealing with each threat. Demographic, attitudinal, and party affiliation data were collected. Respondents rated bomb as highest in perceived risk but gave the highest WTP ratings to nuclear device. For both perceived risk and WTP, psychometric variables were far stronger predictors than were demographic ones. OLS regression analyses using both types of variables to predict perceived risk found only two significant demographic predictors for any threat--Democrat (a negative predictor for bomb) and white male (a significant positive predictor for airline attack). In contrast, among psychometric variables, severity, number affected, and likelihood were predictors of all four threats and level of understanding was a predictor for one. For WTP, education was a negative predictor for three threats; no other demographic variables were significant predictors for any threat. Among psychometric variables, perceived risk and number affected were positive predictors of WTP for all four threats; severity and likelihood were predictors for three; level of understanding was a significant predictor for two. © 2013 Society for Risk Analysis.

The emerging threat of domestic terrorism: a systematic review of evolving needs, threats, and opportunities

OpenAIRE

Wright, Lynn M.

2014-01-01

Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited The domestic terrorist threat in the United States is active and complex, with ongoing threats from violent left- and right-wing extremist groups, and radicalization and recruitment efforts by international terrorist groups. In response, domestic intelligence agencies, at all levels of government, have instituted reforms and improvements since 9/11, but there are still gaps in information-sharing and community engagement. For example, ...

Stereotype threat as a determinant of burnout or work engagement. Mediating role of positive and negative emotions.

Science.gov (United States)

Bedyńska, Sylwia; Żołnierczyk-Zreda, Dorota

2015-01-01

Stereotype threat as an example of serious interpersonal strain at workplace can lead either to impaired work engagement or it can motivate workers to strengthen their efforts to disconfirm a stereotype and can result in excessive work engagement. Thus, the basic aim of the study was to examine whether stereotype threat is related to burnout or to work engagement. The mediating role of the negative and positive emotions were also tested in the classical approach. Mediational analysis revealed a linear relation of stereotype threat and burnout, mediated by negative emotions and a quadratic relationship between stereotype threat and work engagement. In the latter analysis none of the mediators were significant. Therefore, the results showed that both burnout and work engagement are associated with stereotype threat at the workplace, probably depending on the stage of response to the stereotype threat. Further research should confirm these associations in a longitudinal study.

Neural correlates of threat perception: neural equivalence of conspecific and heterospecific mobbing calls is learned.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marc T Avey

Full Text Available Songbird auditory areas (i.e., CMM and NCM are preferentially activated to playback of conspecific vocalizations relative to heterospecific and arbitrary noise. Here, we asked if the neural response to auditory stimulation is not simply preferential for conspecific vocalizations but also for the information conveyed by the vocalization. Black-capped chickadees use their chick-a-dee mobbing call to recruit conspecifics and other avian species to mob perched predators. Mobbing calls produced in response to smaller, higher-threat predators contain more "D" notes compared to those produced in response to larger, lower-threat predators and thus convey the degree of threat of predators. We specifically asked whether the neural response varies with the degree of threat conveyed by the mobbing calls of chickadees and whether the neural response is the same for actual predator calls that correspond to the degree of threat of the chickadee mobbing calls. Our results demonstrate that, as degree of threat increases in conspecific chickadee mobbing calls, there is a corresponding increase in immediate early gene (IEG expression in telencephalic auditory areas. We also demonstrate that as the degree of threat increases for the heterospecific predator, there is a corresponding increase in IEG expression in the auditory areas. Furthermore, there was no significant difference in the amount IEG expression between conspecific mobbing calls or heterospecific predator calls that were the same degree of threat. In a second experiment, using hand-reared chickadees without predator experience, we found more IEG expression in response to mobbing calls than corresponding predator calls, indicating that degree of threat is learned. Our results demonstrate that degree of threat corresponds to neural activity in the auditory areas and that threat can be conveyed by different species signals and that these signals must be learned.

Neural Correlates of Threat Perception: Neural Equivalence of Conspecific and Heterospecific Mobbing Calls Is Learned

Science.gov (United States)

Avey, Marc T.; Hoeschele, Marisa; Moscicki, Michele K.; Bloomfield, Laurie L.; Sturdy, Christopher B.

2011-01-01

Songbird auditory areas (i.e., CMM and NCM) are preferentially activated to playback of conspecific vocalizations relative to heterospecific and arbitrary noise [1]–[2]. Here, we asked if the neural response to auditory stimulation is not simply preferential for conspecific vocalizations but also for the information conveyed by the vocalization. Black-capped chickadees use their chick-a-dee mobbing call to recruit conspecifics and other avian species to mob perched predators [3]. Mobbing calls produced in response to smaller, higher-threat predators contain more “D” notes compared to those produced in response to larger, lower-threat predators and thus convey the degree of threat of predators [4]. We specifically asked whether the neural response varies with the degree of threat conveyed by the mobbing calls of chickadees and whether the neural response is the same for actual predator calls that correspond to the degree of threat of the chickadee mobbing calls. Our results demonstrate that, as degree of threat increases in conspecific chickadee mobbing calls, there is a corresponding increase in immediate early gene (IEG) expression in telencephalic auditory areas. We also demonstrate that as the degree of threat increases for the heterospecific predator, there is a corresponding increase in IEG expression in the auditory areas. Furthermore, there was no significant difference in the amount IEG expression between conspecific mobbing calls or heterospecific predator calls that were the same degree of threat. In a second experiment, using hand-reared chickadees without predator experience, we found more IEG expression in response to mobbing calls than corresponding predator calls, indicating that degree of threat is learned. Our results demonstrate that degree of threat corresponds to neural activity in the auditory areas and that threat can be conveyed by different species signals and that these signals must be learned. PMID:21909363

Neural correlates of threat perception: neural equivalence of conspecific and heterospecific mobbing calls is learned.

Science.gov (United States)

Avey, Marc T; Hoeschele, Marisa; Moscicki, Michele K; Bloomfield, Laurie L; Sturdy, Christopher B

2011-01-01

Songbird auditory areas (i.e., CMM and NCM) are preferentially activated to playback of conspecific vocalizations relative to heterospecific and arbitrary noise. Here, we asked if the neural response to auditory stimulation is not simply preferential for conspecific vocalizations but also for the information conveyed by the vocalization. Black-capped chickadees use their chick-a-dee mobbing call to recruit conspecifics and other avian species to mob perched predators. Mobbing calls produced in response to smaller, higher-threat predators contain more "D" notes compared to those produced in response to larger, lower-threat predators and thus convey the degree of threat of predators. We specifically asked whether the neural response varies with the degree of threat conveyed by the mobbing calls of chickadees and whether the neural response is the same for actual predator calls that correspond to the degree of threat of the chickadee mobbing calls. Our results demonstrate that, as degree of threat increases in conspecific chickadee mobbing calls, there is a corresponding increase in immediate early gene (IEG) expression in telencephalic auditory areas. We also demonstrate that as the degree of threat increases for the heterospecific predator, there is a corresponding increase in IEG expression in the auditory areas. Furthermore, there was no significant difference in the amount IEG expression between conspecific mobbing calls or heterospecific predator calls that were the same degree of threat. In a second experiment, using hand-reared chickadees without predator experience, we found more IEG expression in response to mobbing calls than corresponding predator calls, indicating that degree of threat is learned. Our results demonstrate that degree of threat corresponds to neural activity in the auditory areas and that threat can be conveyed by different species signals and that these signals must be learned.

Teach it Yourself - Fast Modeling of Industrial Objects for 6D Pose Estimation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sølund, Thomas; Rajeeth Savarimuthu, Thiusius; Glent Buch, Anders

2015-01-01

In this paper, we present a vision system that allows a human to create new 3D models of novel industrial parts by placing the part in two different positions in the scene. The two shot modeling framework generates models with a precision that allows the model to be used for 6D pose estimation wi....... In addition, the models are applied in a pose estimation application, evaluated with 37 different scenes with 61 unique object poses. The pose estimation results show a mean translation error on 4.97 mm and a mean rotation error on 3.38 degrees....

Digital Threat and Vulnerability Management: The SVIDT Method

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Roland W. Scholz

2017-04-01

Full Text Available The Digital Revolution is inducing major threats to many types of human systems. We present the SVIDT method (a Strengths, Vulnerability, and Intervention Assessment related to Digital Threats for managing the vulnerabilities of human systems with respect to digital threats and changes. The method first performs a multilevel system–actor analysis for assessing vulnerabilities and strengths with respect to digital threats. Then, the method identifies threat scenarios that may become real. By constructing, evaluating, and launching interventions against all identified digital threats and their critical negative outcomes, the resilience of a specific human system can be improved. The evaluation of interventions is done when strengthening the adaptive capacity, i.e., a system’s capability to cope with negative outcomes that may take place in the future. The SVIDT method is embedded in the framework of coupled human–environment systems, the theory of risk and vulnerability assessment, types of adaptation (assimilation vs. accommodation, and a comprehensive sustainability evaluation. The SVIDT method is exemplarily applied to an enterprise (i.e., a Swiss casino for which online gaming has become an essential digital-business field. The discussion reflects on the specifics of digital threats and discusses both the potential benefits and limitations of the SVIDT method.

Inclusion of Premeditated Threats in the Safety Methodology for NPPs

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Levanon, I.

2014-01-01

During the last decade the global effort to prevent terrorism or to mitigate its harm, if prevention fails, has increased. The nuclear power community was involved in this effort trying to prevent terrorist attacks on NPPs (Nuclear Power Plants). A natural extension of terror restraining is the prevention of any premeditated damage to the plant, including acts of state. The pre-feasibility study of an Israeli NPP, conducted by the Ministry of National Infrastructures, has identified the risk of hostile damage to the NPP as a major obstacle to the establishment of nuclear power in Israel, second only to the refusal of nuclear exporting nations to sell an NPP to Israelv. The General Director of the Ministry and the Head of the IAEC (Israeli Atomic Energy Commission) have approved continuation of the pre-feasibility study. This synopsis presents a study, regarding premeditated threats to NPPs, commissioned by the Ministry of National Infrastructures as part of the continuation. It focuses on the safety aspect of premeditated threats originating outside the plant, although a significant part of the analysis can be extended to other subjects such as theft or diversion of strategic materials. The study deals only with methodology and does not encompass specific threats or protection measures. Conclusions and recommendations and marked by bold italics Arial font. The theory of nuclear safety regarding non-premeditated safety events (equipment failures, human errors, natural events, etc.) is well developed. The study refers to these events and the theory attached to them as c lassical , distinguishing them from premeditated events. The study defines two postulates, related to premeditated threats: Correspondence – We should adopt the classical methodology whenever possible. Regulation – The safety of an NPP from premeditated threats requires examination, approval and inspection by a regulator. Key issues of the methodology with substantial differences from the

Democratization and Political Change as Threats to Collective Sentiments: Testing Durkheim in Russia.

Science.gov (United States)

Pridemore, William Alex; Kim, Sang-Weon

2006-05-01

Durkheim argued that acute political crises result in increased homicide rates because they pose a threat to sentiments about the collective. Though crucial to Durkheim's work on homicide, this idea remains untested. The authors took advantage of the natural experiment of the collapse of the Soviet Union to examine this hypothesis. Using data from Russian regions (N = 78) and controlling for measures of anomie and other covariates, the authors estimated the association between political change and change in homicide rates between 1991 and 2000. Results indicated that regions exhibiting less support for the Communist Party in 2000 (and thus greater change in political ideals because the Party had previously exercised complete control) were regions with greater increases in homicide rates. Thus, while democratization may be a positive development relative to the Communist juggernaut of the past, it appears that the swift political change in Russia is partially responsible for the higher rates of violence there following the collapse of the Soviet Union.

ONKALO POSE experiment. Phase 3: execution and monitoring

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Valli, J.; Hakala, M.; Wanne, T.; Kantia, P.; Siren, T.

2014-01-01

In-depth knowledge of the in situ stress state at the Olkiluoto site is critical for stability assessment both prior to and after deposition of spent nuclear fuel in order to understand and avoid potential damage to the rock at the site. Posiva's Olkiluoto Spalling Experiment (POSE) was designed specifically for this purpose with three primary goals: establish the in situ spalling/damage strength of Olkiluoto migmatitic gneiss, establish the state of in situ stress at the -345 m depth level and act as a Prediction-Outcome (P-O) exercise. Phases 1 and 2 of POSE are outlined in WR 2012-60. The objectives of the third phase of the POSE experiment are the same as the original objectives outlined above. This report outlines the execution and results of the third phase of the POSE experiment. The third phase of the experiment involved internally heating the third experimental hole (ONK-EH3) of the POSE niche in order to cause a symmetrical thermal stress increase around the hole due to the thermal expansion of rock. This thermomechanically induced stress increase, coupled with the estimated existing in situ stress state, should cause the maximum principal stress around the hole to exceed the predicted spalling strength of the rock around the hole. ONK-EH3 is located almost completely in pegmatitic granite. Four fractures near the top of the hole were mapped after boring ONK-EH3, and a tensile failure located at the contact between mica-rich gneiss and pegmatitic granite was observed 18 months after boring, prior to the experiment. Based on predictive calculations and the estimated in situ state of stress, the maximum principal stress magnitude should reach ca. 100 MPa when the temperature was just below 100 deg C after 12 weeks of heating. There were problems with the heater control unit at the beginning of the experiment, after which heating proceeded according to plan. The crack damage threshold of pegmatitic granite has been determined to be 85 ±17 MPa at Olkiluoto

Olfactory recognition of predators by nocturnal lizards: safety outweighs thermal benefits

OpenAIRE

Jonathan K. Webb; David A. Pike; Richard Shine

2009-01-01

Many prey species are faced with multiple predators that differ in the degree of danger posed. The threat-sensitive predator avoidance hypothesis predicts that prey should assess the degree of threat posed by different predators and match their behavior according to current levels of risk. To test this prediction, we compared the behavioral responses of nocturnal velvet geckos, Oedura lesueurii, to chemicals from 2 snakes that pose different threats: the dangerous broad-headed snake Hoploceph...

Conservatism and the neural circuitry of threat: economic conservatism predicts greater amygdala-BNST connectivity during periods of threat vs safety.

Science.gov (United States)

Pedersen, Walker S; Muftuler, L Tugan; Larson, Christine L

2018-01-01

Political conservatism is associated with an increased negativity bias, including increased attention and reactivity toward negative and threatening stimuli. Although the human amygdala has been implicated in the response to threatening stimuli, no studies to date have investigated whether conservatism is associated with altered amygdala function toward threat. Furthermore, although an influential theory posits that connectivity between the amygdala and bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) is important in initiating the response to sustained or uncertain threat, whether individual differences in conservatism modulate this connectivity is unknown. To test whether conservatism is associated with increased reactivity in neural threat circuitry, we measured participants' self-reported social and economic conservatism and asked them to complete high-resolution fMRI scans while under threat of an unpredictable shock and while safe. We found that economic conservatism predicted greater connectivity between the BNST and a cluster of voxels in the left amygdala during threat vs safety. These results suggest that increased amygdala-BNST connectivity during threat may be a key neural correlate of the enhanced negativity bias found in conservatism. © The Author (2017). Published by Oxford University Press.

Optical neural network system for pose determination of spinning satellites

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Andrew; Casasent, David

1990-01-01

An optical neural network architecture and algorithm based on a Hopfield optimization network are presented for multitarget tracking. This tracker utilizes a neuron for every possible target track, and a quadratic energy function of neural activities which is minimized using gradient descent neural evolution. The neural net tracker is demonstrated as part of a system for determining position and orientation (pose) of spinning satellites with respect to a robotic spacecraft. The input to the system is time sequence video from a single camera. Novelty detection and filtering are utilized to locate and segment novel regions from the input images. The neural net multitarget tracker determines the correspondences (or tracks) of the novel regions as a function of time, and hence the paths of object (satellite) parts. The path traced out by a given part or region is approximately elliptical in image space, and the position, shape and orientation of the ellipse are functions of the satellite geometry and its pose. Having a geometric model of the satellite, and the elliptical path of a part in image space, the three-dimensional pose of the satellite is determined. Digital simulation results using this algorithm are presented for various satellite poses and lighting conditions.

Teachers Implementing Mathematical Problem Posing in the Classroom: Challenges and Strategies

Science.gov (United States)

Leung, Shuk-kwan S.

2013-01-01

This paper reports a study about how a teacher educator shared knowledge with teachers when they worked together to implement mathematical problem posing (MPP) in the classroom. It includes feasible methods for getting practitioners to use research-based tasks aligned to the curriculum in order to encourage children to pose mathematical problems.…

Addressing the psychosocial and communication challenges posed by radiological/nuclear terrorism: key developments since NCRP Report No. 138.

Science.gov (United States)

Becker, Steven M

2005-11-01

One of the most innovative aspects of NCRP Report No. 138 (Management of Terrorist Incidents Involving Radioactive Material) was the high priority it accorded to psychosocial and communication issues. While previous discussions of radiological and nuclear terrorism had occasionally referred to these topics, NCRP Report No. 138 was the first report of its kind to recognize the profound challenges posed by these issues and to place them at the heart of preparedness and response efforts. In the years since the report's release, a host of important developments have taken place in relation to psychosocial and communication issues. This paper reviews key changes and advances in five broad areas: (1) training exercises, (2) policy and guidance development, (3) findings on hospital and clinician needs, (4) survey research on public perceptions of radiological terrorism, and (5) risk communication for radiological and nuclear terrorism situations. The article concludes with a discussion of continuing psychosocial and communication challenges, including critical areas needing further attention as the nation moves to meet the threat of terrorism involving radioactive materials.

Assessment of naked mole-rat distribution and threats in Eastern Ethiopia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mengistu Wale

2016-08-01

Full Text Available Objective: To identify the distribution, threats and community attitudes towards naked molerat in Eastern Ethiopia. Methods: Data were collected through direct observation and interview and Chi-square at 95% confidence interval was used for significance test. Results: Naked mole-rat was identified in Fafan, City/Shinele, Eastern Hararghe Zone and Dire Dawa Administrative. The main threats of naked mole-rat identified were agricultural expansion, human killing and lack of awareness. From a total of 100 respondents, 92% of them considered naked mole-rat as pest as a result that 46% of them participated in direct killing. Literacy rate significantly affects the willingness to participate in the conservation of naked mole-rat (χ2 = 7.478, df = 1, P < 0.05. From a total of 26% respondents who did not show the willingness to participate in the conservation, 80.8% of them were illiterate. Conclusions: Naked mole-rat is fairly common in many of the study sites. However, rapid shift from nomadic life style to cultivation of crops and lacks of awareness were the main threats of naked mole-rat. Therefore, since there is no conservation action currently, further comprehensive study is required to design conservation plan for this species.

A multi-camera system for real-time pose estimation

Science.gov (United States)

Savakis, Andreas; Erhard, Matthew; Schimmel, James; Hnatow, Justin

2007-04-01

This paper presents a multi-camera system that performs face detection and pose estimation in real-time and may be used for intelligent computing within a visual sensor network for surveillance or human-computer interaction. The system consists of a Scene View Camera (SVC), which operates at a fixed zoom level, and an Object View Camera (OVC), which continuously adjusts its zoom level to match objects of interest. The SVC is set to survey the whole filed of view. Once a region has been identified by the SVC as a potential object of interest, e.g. a face, the OVC zooms in to locate specific features. In this system, face candidate regions are selected based on skin color and face detection is accomplished using a Support Vector Machine classifier. The locations of the eyes and mouth are detected inside the face region using neural network feature detectors. Pose estimation is performed based on a geometrical model, where the head is modeled as a spherical object that rotates upon the vertical axis. The triangle formed by the mouth and eyes defines a vertical plane that intersects the head sphere. By projecting the eyes-mouth triangle onto a two dimensional viewing plane, equations were obtained that describe the change in its angles as the yaw pose angle increases. These equations are then combined and used for efficient pose estimation. The system achieves real-time performance for live video input. Testing results assessing system performance are presented for both still images and video.

Does stereotype threat influence performance of girls in stereotyped domains? A meta-analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Flore, Paulette C; Wicherts, Jelte M

2015-02-01

Although the effect of stereotype threat concerning women and mathematics has been subject to various systematic reviews, none of them have been performed on the sub-population of children and adolescents. In this meta-analysis we estimated the effects of stereotype threat on performance of girls on math, science and spatial skills (MSSS) tests. Moreover, we studied publication bias and four moderators: test difficulty, presence of boys, gender equality within countries, and the type of control group that was used in the studies. We selected study samples when the study included girls, samples had a mean age below 18years, the design was (quasi-)experimental, the stereotype threat manipulation was administered between-subjects, and the dependent variable was a MSSS test related to a gender stereotype favoring boys. To analyze the 47 effect sizes, we used random effects and mixed effects models. The estimated mean effect size equaled -0.22 and significantly differed from 0. None of the moderator variables was significant; however, there were several signs for the presence of publication bias. We conclude that publication bias might seriously distort the literature on the effects of stereotype threat among schoolgirls. We propose a large replication study to provide a less biased effect size estimate. Copyright © 2014 Society for the Study of School Psychology. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

An integrated approach to risk assessment and mitigating the CBRN threat

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bokan, S.

2009-01-01

CBRN mass casualty events threat mitigation remains today the highest international priority. Although significant progress has been made, the national security requirements for efforts to combat Weapons of Mass Destruction and Weapons of Mass Disruption will be of the highest national priority in the near future. An integration of a number of approaches is essential in the risk assessment and mitigating the CBRN treat. Preparedness measures and procedures, engineering, science and technology, policy, medical, and emergency response are essential to reduce the threat from the proliferation and use of weapons of mass destruction (WMD). Improved coordination between international, public and private security entities is also essential task to hopefully prevent the terrorist attacks. In this lecture, it will be presented very important scientific approach to risk assessment of potential use of nuclear, radiological, biological or chemical weapons in terrorist actions. An integrated approach for mitigating the CBRN threat, crisis management and preparedness measures for prevention and reduction of potential consequences, will be presented.(author)

The Threat of Aerobic Vaginitis to Pregnancy and Neonatal Morbidity.

Science.gov (United States)

Kaambo, Eveline; Africa, Charlene W J

2017-06-01

Aerobic vaginitis (AV) is an endogenous opportunistic infection brought about by the disruption of the normal vaginal microbiota. Its early diagnosis and treatment during pregnancy may reduce the risk of negative pregnancy outcomes. The aim of this review was to report on the aerobic bacteria most prevalent in AV and to provide evidence of the threat of untreated AV on pregnancy outcomes. More than 300 papers on preterm delivery were extracted from several research domains and filtered to include only AV-associated bacteria such as Staphylococcus aureus, Enterococcus faecalis, Escherichia coli and Group B streptococci and their association with adverse pregnancy outcomes. Due to the diverse sample groups, study techniques and outcomes, a meta-analysis was not conducted. The review revealed that the association of AV with adverse pregnancy outcomes has not been as widely researched as bacterial vaginosis (BV) and needs further investigation. Furthermore, the frequent misdiagnosis of AV coupled with the emerging antimicrobial resistance associated with bacteria implicated in AV and neonatal nosocomial infections pose a problem for prophylaxis and treatment to reduce the risk of maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality.

Assessing Local and Surrounding Threats to the Protected Area Network in a Biodiversity Hotspot: The Hengduan Mountains of Southwest China.

Science.gov (United States)

Ye, Xin; Liu, Guohua; Li, Zongshan; Wang, Hao; Zeng, Yuan

2015-01-01

Protected areas (PAs) not only serve as refuges of biodiversity conservation but are also part of large ecosystems and are vulnerable to change caused by human activity from surrounding lands, especially in biodiversity hotspots. Assessing threats to PAs and surrounding areas is therefore a critical step in effective conservation planning. We apply a threat framework as a means of quantitatively assessing local and surrounding threats to different types of PAs with gradient buffers, and to main ecoregions in the Hengduan Mountain Hotspot of southwest China. Our findings show that national protected areas (NPAs) have lower and significantly lower threat values (pprotected areas (PPAs) and other protected areas (OPAs), respectively, which indicates that NPAs are lands with a lower threat level and higher levels of protection and management. PAs have clear edge effects, as the proportion of areas with low threat levels decline dramatically in the 5-kilometer buffers just outside the PAs. However, NPAs suffered greater declines (58.3%) than PPAs (34.8%) and OPAs (33.4%) in the 5-kilometer buffers. Moreover, a significant positive correlation was found between the size of PAs and the proportion of areas with low threat levels that they contained in both PAs and PA buffers (p<0.01). To control or mitigate current threats at the regional scale, PA managers often require quantitative information related to threat intensities and spatial distribution. The threat assessment in the Hengduan Mountain Hotspot will be useful to policy makers and managers in their efforts to establish effective plans and target-oriented management strategies.

A deep learning approach for pose estimation from volumetric OCT data.

Science.gov (United States)

Gessert, Nils; Schlüter, Matthias; Schlaefer, Alexander

2018-05-01

Tracking the pose of instruments is a central problem in image-guided surgery. For microscopic scenarios, optical coherence tomography (OCT) is increasingly used as an imaging modality. OCT is suitable for accurate pose estimation due to its micrometer range resolution and volumetric field of view. However, OCT image processing is challenging due to speckle noise and reflection artifacts in addition to the images' 3D nature. We address pose estimation from OCT volume data with a new deep learning-based tracking framework. For this purpose, we design a new 3D convolutional neural network (CNN) architecture to directly predict the 6D pose of a small marker geometry from OCT volumes. We use a hexapod robot to automatically acquire labeled data points which we use to train 3D CNN architectures for multi-output regression. We use this setup to provide an in-depth analysis on deep learning-based pose estimation from volumes. Specifically, we demonstrate that exploiting volume information for pose estimation yields higher accuracy than relying on 2D representations with depth information. Supporting this observation, we provide quantitative and qualitative results that 3D CNNs effectively exploit the depth structure of marker objects. Regarding the deep learning aspect, we present efficient design principles for 3D CNNs, making use of insights from the 2D deep learning community. In particular, we present Inception3D as a new architecture which performs best for our application. We show that our deep learning approach reaches errors at our ground-truth label's resolution. We achieve a mean average error of 14.89 ± 9.3 µm and 0.096 ± 0.072° for position and orientation learning, respectively. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Stereotype Threat Alters the Subjective Experience of Memory.

Science.gov (United States)

Mazerolle, Marie; Régner, Isabelle; Rigalleau, François; Huguet, Pascal

2015-01-01

There is now evidence that negative age-related stereotypes about memory reduce older adults' memory performance, and inflate age differences in this domain. Here, we examine whether stereotype threat may also influence the basic feeling that one is more or less able to remember. Using the Remember/Know paradigm, we demonstrated that stereotype threat conducted older adults to a greater feeling of familiarity with events, while failing to retrieve any contextual detail. This finding indicates that stereotype threat alters older adults' subjective experience of memory, and strengthens our understanding of the mechanisms underlying stereotype threat effects.

Living in the Nuclear Age: Families and the threat of nuclear war

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Demorest, D.M.

1991-01-01

The main interest of this research was to add to the body of knowledge about the possible psychological impact of the nuclear threat on the family unit. Data were utilized from the Family Interaction, Stress and Nuclear War study conducted by Jules Riskin, M.D. and Victoria Dickerson, Ph.D. at the Mental Research Institute in Palo Alto, California. The sample consisted of ten families who were recruited for this study. In order to examine family-interaction variables and the impact of the threat of nuclear war, a standardized semi-structured family interview was conducted. Topics ranged from ordinary activities to external, non-nuclear stresses such as landslides or hurricanes, to the topic of nuclear war. A distinction is drawn between a family's level of nuclear concern while they discuss nuclear issues and a family's level of nuclear concern when viewed in the context of their overall pattern of family communication. In terms of family coping, family nuclear concern was found to be significantly related to two family-coping strategies. Families who utilized the coping strategies of seeking spiritual support and mobilizing the family to acquire and accept help were significantly less concerned about the threat of nuclear war

National Identification, Endorsement of Acculturation Ideologies and Prejudice: The Impact of the Perceived Threat of Immigration

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Constantina Badea

2018-05-01

Full Text Available This paper examines how the perceived threat of immigration affects the links between national identification, endorsement of assimilation or multiculturalism, and prejudice against immigrants in France. One hundred thirty-five French undergraduates completed a questionnaire measuring these factors. Path analysis showed that higher national identification increased perception of immigrants as a threat, which in turn predicted increased endorsement of assimilation for immigrants. The link between endorsement of assimilation and prejudice was not significant. In contrast, lower national identification decreased perception of immigrants as a threat and, in turn, increased endorsement of multiculturalism and reduced levels of prejudice. An alternative model specifying perception of threat as an outcome of preferences for multiculturalism or assimilation did not fit the data well. Results suggest that perceived threat from immigration is the key factor that guides the preferences of the majority group for acculturation ideologies and, through these preferences, shapes intergroup attitudes.

Advances in chemical sensing technologies for VOCs in breath for security/threat assessment, illicit drug detection, and human trafficking activity.

Science.gov (United States)

Giannoukos, S; Agapiou, A; Taylor, S

2018-01-17

On-site chemical sensing of compounds associated with security and terrorist attacks is of worldwide interest. Other related bio-monitoring topics include identification of individuals posing a threat from illicit drugs, explosive manufacturing, as well as searching for victims of human trafficking and collapsed buildings. The current status of field analytical technologies is directed towards the detection and identification of vapours and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Some VOCs are associated with exhaled breath, where research is moving from individual breath testing (volatilome) to cell breath (microbiome) and most recently to crowd breath metabolites (exposome). In this paper, an overview of field-deployable chemical screening technologies (both stand-alone and those with portable characteristics) is given with application to early detection and monitoring of human exposome in security operations. On-site systems employed in exhaled breath analysis, i.e. mass spectrometry (MS), optical spectroscopy and chemical sensors are reviewed. Categories of VOCs of interest include (a) VOCs in human breath associated with exposure to threat compounds, and (b) VOCs characteristic of, and associated with, human body odour (e.g. breath, sweat). The latter are relevant to human trafficking scenarios. New technological approaches in miniaturised detection and screening systems are also presented (e.g. non-scanning digital light processing linear ion trap MS (DLP-LIT-MS), nanoparticles, mid-infrared photo-acoustic spectroscopy and hyphenated technologies). Finally, the outlook for rapid and precise, real-time field detection of threat traces in exhaled breath is revealed and discussed.

The effects of stereotype threat on cognitive function in ecstasy users.

Science.gov (United States)

Cole, J C; Michailidou, K; Jerome, L; Sumnall, H R

2006-07-01

Stereotype threat occurs when individuals, believed to be intellectually inferior, perform badly on cognitive tests they perceive to confirm stereotypes about them. Due to the wide media coverage of studies purporting to show cognitive deficits in ecstasy users it is possible that they experience stereotype threat. This study tested ecstasy and non-ecstasy using polysubstance misusers on a variety of cognitive tests after they had been exposed to stereotype threat. This priming consisted of exposing them to information about the long-term effects of ecstasy which either stated that ecstasy caused memory loss or that it did not. Ecstasy users that had been primed that ecstasy did not cause cognitive deficits performed better than the other three groups on the delayed portion of the prose recall task from the Rivermead Behavioural Memory Test battery. There were no other statistically significant differences between any of the groups on any of the other cognitive tests used. This suggests that stereotype threat exists in ecstasy users and may be influencing their performance in experiments designed to identify cognitive deficits. In order to prevent this occurring in future studies, experimenters must be careful how they conduct their experiments and discuss their results with the media.

Recovering the 3d Pose and Shape of Vehicles from Stereo Images

Science.gov (United States)

Coenen, M.; Rottensteiner, F.; Heipke, C.

2018-05-01

The precise reconstruction and pose estimation of vehicles plays an important role, e.g. for autonomous driving. We tackle this problem on the basis of street level stereo images obtained from a moving vehicle. Starting from initial vehicle detections, we use a deformable vehicle shape prior learned from CAD vehicle data to fully reconstruct the vehicles in 3D and to recover their 3D pose and shape. To fit a deformable vehicle model to each detection by inferring the optimal parameters for pose and shape, we define an energy function leveraging reconstructed 3D data, image information, the vehicle model and derived scene knowledge. To minimise the energy function, we apply a robust model fitting procedure based on iterative Monte Carlo model particle sampling. We evaluate our approach using the object detection and orientation estimation benchmark of the KITTI dataset (Geiger et al., 2012). Our approach can deal with very coarse pose initialisations and we achieve encouraging results with up to 82 % correct pose estimations. Moreover, we are able to deliver very precise orientation estimation results with an average absolute error smaller than 4°.

Eastern forest environmental threat assessment center

Science.gov (United States)

Southern Research Station. USDA Forest Service

2010-01-01

The Eastern Forest Environmental Threat Assessment Center (EFETAC) provides the latest research and expertise concerning threats to healthy forests – such as insects and disease, wildland loss, invasive species, wildland fire, and climate change – to assist forest landowners, managers and scientists throughout the East. Established in 2005, EFETAC is a joint effort of...

The Nature of the Bioterrorism Threat

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Regens, J. L.

2003-02-25

This analysis provides an overview of the nature of the bioterrorism threat. It identifies potential CDC Class A biological agents that are likely candidates for use in a terrorist incident and describes the known sources of vulnerability. The paper also summarizes S&T resources/needs and assesses response options for achieving effective biodefense against terrorist threats.

Bomb Threats and Bomb Search Techniques.

Science.gov (United States)

Department of the Treasury, Washington, DC.

This pamphlet explains how to be prepared and plan for bomb threats and describes procedures to follow once a call has been received. The content covers (1) preparation for bomb threats, (2) evacuation procedures, (3) room search methods, (4) procedures to follow once a bomb has been located, and (5) typical problems that search teams will…

Teaching Human Poses Interactively to a Social Robot

Science.gov (United States)

Gonzalez-Pacheco, Victor; Malfaz, Maria; Fernandez, Fernando; Salichs, Miguel A.

2013-01-01

The main activity of social robots is to interact with people. In order to do that, the robot must be able to understand what the user is saying or doing. Typically, this capability consists of pre-programmed behaviors or is acquired through controlled learning processes, which are executed before the social interaction begins. This paper presents a software architecture that enables a robot to learn poses in a similar way as people do. That is, hearing its teacher's explanations and acquiring new knowledge in real time. The architecture leans on two main components: an RGB-D (Red-, Green-, Blue- Depth) -based visual system, which gathers the user examples, and an Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) system, which processes the speech describing those examples. The robot is able to naturally learn the poses the teacher is showing to it by maintaining a natural interaction with the teacher. We evaluate our system with 24 users who teach the robot a predetermined set of poses. The experimental results show that, with a few training examples, the system reaches high accuracy and robustness. This method shows how to combine data from the visual and auditory systems for the acquisition of new knowledge in a natural manner. Such a natural way of training enables robots to learn from users, even if they are not experts in robotics. PMID:24048336

Teaching Human Poses Interactively to a Social Robot

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Miguel A. Salichs

2013-09-01

Full Text Available The main activity of social robots is to interact with people. In order to do that, the robot must be able to understand what the user is saying or doing. Typically, this capability consists of pre-programmed behaviors or is acquired through controlled learning processes, which are executed before the social interaction begins. This paper presents a software architecture that enables a robot to learn poses in a similar way as people do. That is, hearing its teacher’s explanations and acquiring new knowledge in real time. The architecture leans on two main components: an RGB-D (Red-, Green-, Blue- Depth -based visual system, which gathers the user examples, and an Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR system, which processes the speech describing those examples. The robot is able to naturally learn the poses the teacher is showing to it by maintaining a natural interaction with the teacher. We evaluate our system with 24 users who teach the robot a predetermined set of poses. The experimental results show that, with a few training examples, the system reaches high accuracy and robustness. This method shows how to combine data from the visual and auditory systems for the acquisition of new knowledge in a natural manner. Such a natural way of training enables robots to learn from users, even if they are not experts in robotics.

An Investigation of Eighth Grade Students' Problem Posing Skills (Turkey Sample)

Science.gov (United States)

Arikan, Elif Esra; Ünal, Hasan

2015-01-01

To pose a problem refers to the creative activity for mathematics education. The purpose of the study was to explore the eighth grade students' problem posing ability. Three learning domains such as requiring four operations, fractions and geometry were chosen for this reason. There were two classes which were coded as class A and class B. Class A…

Analyzing Pre-Service Primary Teachers' Fraction Knowledge Structures through Problem Posing

Science.gov (United States)

Kilic, Cigdem

2015-01-01

In this study it was aimed to determine pre-service primary teachers' knowledge structures of fraction through problem posing activities. A total of 90 pre-service primary teachers participated in this study. A problem posing test consisting of two questions was used and the participants were asked to generate as many as problems based on the…

Fungus diseases of poplar that pose a threat to Italy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Castellani, E.; Cellerino, G.P.; Garibaldi, A.

1981-01-01

European Economic Community Directive No. 7793 on the exchange of, and trade in, plant material between member countries specified Hypoxylon mammatum, Mycosphaerella populorum, Melampsora medusae and Xanthomonas populi as the causal agents of serious poplar diseases the introduction of which into Italy should be avoided. Information is given on the geographic distribution, morphology and biology of the four pathogens, together with notes on the symptoms of attack, host plants and damage caused. Control measures to avoid their introduction and spread are suggested.

Using physics-based pose predictions and free energy perturbation calculations to predict binding poses and relative binding affinities for FXR ligands in the D3R Grand Challenge 2

Science.gov (United States)

Athanasiou, Christina; Vasilakaki, Sofia; Dellis, Dimitris; Cournia, Zoe

2018-01-01

Computer-aided drug design has become an integral part of drug discovery and development in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry, and is nowadays extensively used in the lead identification and lead optimization phases. The drug design data resource (D3R) organizes challenges against blinded experimental data to prospectively test computational methodologies as an opportunity for improved methods and algorithms to emerge. We participated in Grand Challenge 2 to predict the crystallographic poses of 36 Farnesoid X Receptor (FXR)-bound ligands and the relative binding affinities for two designated subsets of 18 and 15 FXR-bound ligands. Here, we present our methodology for pose and affinity predictions and its evaluation after the release of the experimental data. For predicting the crystallographic poses, we used docking and physics-based pose prediction methods guided by the binding poses of native ligands. For FXR ligands with known chemotypes in the PDB, we accurately predicted their binding modes, while for those with unknown chemotypes the predictions were more challenging. Our group ranked #1st (based on the median RMSD) out of 46 groups, which submitted complete entries for the binding pose prediction challenge. For the relative binding affinity prediction challenge, we performed free energy perturbation (FEP) calculations coupled with molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. FEP/MD calculations displayed a high success rate in identifying compounds with better or worse binding affinity than the reference (parent) compound. Our studies suggest that when ligands with chemical precedent are available in the literature, binding pose predictions using docking and physics-based methods are reliable; however, predictions are challenging for ligands with completely unknown chemotypes. We also show that FEP/MD calculations hold predictive value and can nowadays be used in a high throughput mode in a lead optimization project provided that crystal structures of

School Shooting : Threat Detection and Classification in Textual Leakage

OpenAIRE

Khan, Ajmal

2013-01-01

The continual occurrence of school shooting incidents underscores the need of taking preventive measures. Inductive measures of threat assessment have proved to be a bad strategy to solve the problem and new research is focusing on deductive approaches. Deductive threat assessment approaches are gaining ground and efforts are underway to mine text for automatic detection of threats in written text. Automatic detection and classification of threats in the digital world can help the decision ma...

Improving attitudes toward mathematics learning with problem posing in class VIII

Science.gov (United States)

Vionita, Alfha; Purboningsih, Dyah

2017-08-01

This research is classroom action research which is collaborated to improve student's behavior toward math and mathematics learning at class VIII by using problem posing approach. The subject of research is all of students grade VIIIA which consist of 32 students. This research has been held on two period, first period is about 3 times meeting, and second period is about 4 times meeting. The instrument of this research is implementation of learning observation's guidance by using problem posing approach. Cycle test has been used to measure cognitive competence, and questionnaire to measure the students' behavior in mathematics learning process. The result of research shows the students' behavior has been improving after using problem posing approach. It is showed by the behavior's criteria of students that has increasing result from the average in first period to high in second period. Furthermore, the percentage of test result is also improve from 68,75% in first period to 78,13% in second period. On the other hand, the implementation of learning observation by using problem posing approach has also improving and it is showed by the average percentage of teacher's achievement in first period is 89,2% and student's achievement 85,8%. These results get increase in second period for both teacher and students' achievement which are 94,4% and 91,11%. As a result, students' behavior toward math learning process in class VIII has been improving by using problem posing approach.

Modeling Vacuum Arcs On Spacecraft Solar Panel Arrays, Phase I

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Spacecraft charging and subsequent vacuum arcing poses a significant threat to satellites in LEO and GEO plasma conditions. Localized arc discharges can cause a...

Snake fungal disease: an emerging threat to wild snakes.

Science.gov (United States)

Lorch, Jeffrey M; Knowles, Susan; Lankton, Julia S; Michell, Kathy; Edwards, Jaime L; Kapfer, Joshua M; Staffen, Richard A; Wild, Erik R; Schmidt, Katie Z; Ballmann, Anne E; Blodgett, Doug; Farrell, Terence M; Glorioso, Brad M; Last, Lisa A; Price, Steven J; Schuler, Krysten L; Smith, Christopher E; Wellehan, James F X; Blehert, David S

2016-12-05

Since 2006, there has been a marked increase in the number of reports of severe and often fatal fungal skin infections in wild snakes in the eastern USA. The emerging condition, referred to as snake fungal disease (SFD), was initially documented in rattlesnakes, where the infections were believed to pose a risk to the viability of affected populations. The disease is caused by Ophidiomyces ophiodiicola, a fungus recently split from a complex of fungi long referred to as the Chrysosporium anamorph of Nannizziopsis vriesii (CANV). Here we review the current state of knowledge about O. ophiodiicola and SFD. In addition, we provide original findings which demonstrate that O. ophiodiicola is widely distributed in eastern North America, has a broad host range, is the predominant cause of fungal skin infections in wild snakes and often causes mild infections in snakes emerging from hibernation. This new information, together with what is already available in the scientific literature, advances our knowledge of the cause, pathogenesis and ecology of SFD. However, additional research is necessary to elucidate the factors driving the emergence of this disease and develop strategies to mitigate its impacts.This article is part of the themed issue 'Tackling emerging fungal threats to animal health, food security and ecosystem resilience'. © 2016 The Author(s).

Sustainable land management (SLM) practices in drylands: how do they address desertification threats?

Science.gov (United States)

Schwilch, G; Liniger, H P; Hurni, H

2014-11-01

Managing land sustainably is a huge challenge, especially under harsh climatic conditions such as those found in drylands. The socio-economic situation can also pose challenges, as dryland regions are often characterized by remoteness, marginality, low-productive farming, weak institutions, and even conflict. With threats from climate change, disputes over water, competing claims on land, and migration increasing worldwide, the demands for sustainable land management (SLM) measures will only increase in the future. Within the EU-funded DESIRE project, researchers and stakeholders jointly identified existing SLM technologies and approaches in 17 dryland study sites located in the Mediterranean and around the world. In order to evaluate and share this valuable SLM experience, local researchers documented the SLM technologies and approaches in collaboration with land users, utilizing the internationally recognized WOCAT questionnaires. This article provides an analysis of 30 technologies and 8 approaches, enabling an initial evaluation of how SLM addresses prevalent dryland threats, such as water scarcity, soil degradation, vegetation degradation and low production, climate change, resource use conflicts, and migration. Among the impacts attributed to the documented technologies, those mentioned most were diversified and enhanced production and better management of water and soil degradation, whether through water harvesting, improving soil moisture, or reducing runoff. Favorable local-scale cost-benefit relationships were mainly found when considered over the long term. Nevertheless, SLM was found to improve people's livelihoods and prevent further outmigration. More field research is needed to reinforce expert assessments of SLM impacts and provide the necessary evidence-based rationale for investing in SLM.

Sustainable Land Management (SLM) Practices in Drylands: How Do They Address Desertification Threats?

Science.gov (United States)

Schwilch, G.; Liniger, H. P.; Hurni, H.

2014-11-01

Managing land sustainably is a huge challenge, especially under harsh climatic conditions such as those found in drylands. The socio-economic situation can also pose challenges, as dryland regions are often characterized by remoteness, marginality, low-productive farming, weak institutions, and even conflict. With threats from climate change, disputes over water, competing claims on land, and migration increasing worldwide, the demands for sustainable land management (SLM) measures will only increase in the future. Within the EU-funded DESIRE project, researchers and stakeholders jointly identified existing SLM technologies and approaches in 17 dryland study sites located in the Mediterranean and around the world. In order to evaluate and share this valuable SLM experience, local researchers documented the SLM technologies and approaches in collaboration with land users, utilizing the internationally recognized WOCAT questionnaires. This article provides an analysis of 30 technologies and 8 approaches, enabling an initial evaluation of how SLM addresses prevalent dryland threats, such as water scarcity, soil degradation, vegetation degradation and low production, climate change, resource use conflicts, and migration. Among the impacts attributed to the documented technologies, those mentioned most were diversified and enhanced production and better management of water and soil degradation, whether through water harvesting, improving soil moisture, or reducing runoff. Favorable local-scale cost-benefit relationships were mainly found when considered over the long term. Nevertheless, SLM was found to improve people's livelihoods and prevent further outmigration. More field research is needed to reinforce expert assessments of SLM impacts and provide the necessary evidence-based rationale for investing in SLM.

Unreliability as a Threat to Understanding Psychopathology: The Cautionary Tale of Attentional Bias

Science.gov (United States)

Rodebaugh, Thomas L.; Scullin, Rachel B.; Langer, Julia K.; Dixon, David J.; Huppert, Jonathan D.; Bernstein, Amit; Zvielli, Ariel; Lenze, Eric J.

2016-01-01

The use of unreliable measures constitutes a threat to our understanding of psychopathology, because advancement of science using both behavioral and biologically-oriented measures can only be certain if such measurements are reliable. Two pillars of NIMH’s portfolio – the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) initiative for psychopathology and the target engagement initiative in clinical trials – cannot succeed without measures that possess the high reliability necessary for tests involving mediation and selection based on individual differences. We focus on the historical lack of reliability of attentional bias measures as an illustration of how reliability can pose a threat to our understanding. Our own data replicate previous findings of poor reliability for traditionally-used scores, which suggests a serious problem with the ability to test theories regarding attentional bias. This lack of reliability may also suggest problems with the assumption (in both theory and the formula for the scores) that attentional bias is consistent and stable across time. In contrast, measures accounting for attention as a dynamic process in time show good reliability in our data. The field is sorely in need of research reporting findings and reliability for attentional bias scores using multiple methods, including those focusing on dynamic processes over time. We urge researchers to test and report reliability of all measures, considering findings of low reliability not just as a nuisance but as an opportunity to modify and improve upon the underlying theory. Full assessment of reliability of measures will maximize the possibility that RDoC (and psychological science more generally) will succeed. PMID:27322741

Macrobend optical sensing for pose measurement in soft robot arms

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sareh, Sina; Noh, Yohan; Liu, Hongbin; Althoefer, Kaspar; Li, Min; Ranzani, Tommaso

2015-01-01

This paper introduces a pose-sensing system for soft robot arms integrating a set of macrobend stretch sensors. The macrobend sensory design in this study consists of optical fibres and is based on the notion that bending an optical fibre modulates the intensity of the light transmitted through the fibre. This sensing method is capable of measuring bending, elongation and compression in soft continuum robots and is also applicable to wearable sensing technologies, e.g. pose sensing in the wrist joint of a human hand. In our arrangement, applied to a cylindrical soft robot arm, the optical fibres for macrobend sensing originate from the base, extend to the tip of the arm, and then loop back to the base. The connectors that link the fibres to the necessary opto-electronics are all placed at the base of the arm, resulting in a simplified overall design. The ability of this custom macrobend stretch sensor to flexibly adapt its configuration allows preserving the inherent softness and compliance of the robot which it is installed on. The macrobend sensing system is immune to electrical noise and magnetic fields, is safe (because no electricity is needed at the sensing site), and is suitable for modular implementation in multi-link soft continuum robotic arms. The measurable light outputs of the proposed stretch sensor vary due to bend-induced light attenuation (macrobend loss), which is a function of the fibre bend radius as well as the number of repeated turns. The experimental study conducted as part of this research revealed that the chosen bend radius has a far greater impact on the measured light intensity values than the number of turns (if greater than five). Taking into account that the bend radius is the only significantly influencing design parameter, the macrobend stretch sensors were developed to create a practical solution to the pose sensing in soft continuum robot arms. Henceforward, the proposed sensing design was benchmarked against an electromagnetic

Modeling and simulation of botnet based cyber-threats

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kasprzyk Rafał

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The paper presents an analysis of cyber-threats, with particular emphasis on the threats resulting from botnet activity. Botnets are the most common types of threats and often perceived as crucial in terms of national security. Their classification and methods of spreading are the basis for creating cyberspace model including the presence of different types of cyber-threats. A well-designed cyberspace model enables to construct an experimental environment that allows for the analysis of botnet characteristics, testing its resistance to various events and simulation of the spread and evolution. For this purpose, dedicated platforms with capabilities and functional characteristics to meet these requirements have been proposed.

Distance Measurement Methods for Improved Insider Threat Detection

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Owen Lo

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Insider threats are a considerable problem within cyber security and it is often difficult to detect these threats using signature detection. Increasing machine learning can provide a solution, but these methods often fail to take into account changes of behaviour of users. This work builds on a published method of detecting insider threats and applies Hidden Markov method on a CERT data set (CERT r4.2 and analyses a number of distance vector methods (Damerau–Levenshtein Distance, Cosine Distance, and Jaccard Distance in order to detect changes of behaviour, which are shown to have success in determining different insider threats.

The opportunity-threat theory of decision-making under risk

OpenAIRE

Mohan Pandey

2018-01-01

A new theory of decision-making under risk, the Opportunity-Threat Theory is proposed. Analysis of risk into opportunity and threat components allows description of behavior as a combination of opportunity seeking and threat aversion. Expected utility is a special case of this model. The final evaluation is an integration of the impacts of opportunity and threat with this expectation. The model can account for basic results as well as several ``new paradoxes'' that refuted c...

A Feasibility Study on Detection of Insider Threats based on Human Bio-signals

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Suh, Young A; Yim, Man-Sung [KAIST, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

2016-10-15

The insider threat means that trusted workers in an organization might carry out harmful acts from the negligent use of classified data to potentially sabotage the workplace. Surveys and studies conducted over the last decade have consistently shown the critical nature of the insider threats problem, in both government and private sectors. The shortcomings of existing systems, such as mental self-assessment and peer review, are very subjective, biased-assessments and employed infrequently. To overcome these limitations, this study investigates the feasibility of detecting and predicting an insider threat by using human biodata, from smart wearable devices. This paper showed the feasibility of predicting and detecting insider threats using EEG, GSR and ECG signals. In the section 2.1, two research hypotheses were established to identify the significant difference on EEG, GSR and ECG signals when the subject decided bad action and is the placed in deceit situation. These hypotheses were tested using two kinds of pilot experiments in the form of input (stimulus) and output (checking response of physiological signals and reaction time)

Cloud computing approaches for prediction of ligand binding poses and pathways.

Science.gov (United States)

Lawrenz, Morgan; Shukla, Diwakar; Pande, Vijay S

2015-01-22

We describe an innovative protocol for ab initio prediction of ligand crystallographic binding poses and highly effective analysis of large datasets generated for protein-ligand dynamics. We include a procedure for setup and performance of distributed molecular dynamics simulations on cloud computing architectures, a model for efficient analysis of simulation data, and a metric for evaluation of model convergence. We give accurate binding pose predictions for five ligands ranging in affinity from 7 nM to > 200 μM for the immunophilin protein FKBP12, for expedited results in cases where experimental structures are difficult to produce. Our approach goes beyond single, low energy ligand poses to give quantitative kinetic information that can inform protein engineering and ligand design.

Yoga Poses Increase Subjective Energy and State Self-Esteem in Comparison to ‘Power Poses’

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Agnieszka Golec de Zavala

2017-05-01

Full Text Available Research on beneficial consequences of yoga focuses on the effects of yogic breathing and meditation. Less is known about the psychological effects of performing yoga postures. The present study investigated the effects of yoga poses on subjective sense of energy and self-esteem. The effects of yoga postures were compared to the effects of ‘power poses,’ which arguably increase the sense of power and self-confidence due to their association with interpersonal dominance (Carney et al., 2010. The study tested the novel prediction that yoga poses, which are not associated with interpersonal dominance but increase bodily energy, would increase the subjective feeling of energy and therefore increase self-esteem compared to ‘high power’ and ‘low power’ poses. A two factorial, between participants design was employed. Participants performed either two standing yoga poses with open front of the body (n = 19, two standing yoga poses with covered front of the body (n = 22, two expansive, high power poses (n = 21, or two constrictive, low power poses (n = 20 for 1-min each. The results showed that yoga poses in comparison to ‘power poses’ increased self-esteem. This effect was mediated by an increased subjective sense of energy and was observed when baseline trait self-esteem was controlled for. These results suggest that the effects of performing open, expansive body postures may be driven by processes other than the poses’ association with interpersonal power and dominance. This study demonstrates that positive effects of yoga practice can occur after performing yoga poses for only 2 min.

Pervasive competition between threat and reward in the brain.

Science.gov (United States)

Choi, Jong Moon; Padmala, Srikanth; Spechler, Philip; Pessoa, Luiz

2014-06-01

In the current functional MRI study, we investigated interactions between reward and threat processing. Visual cues at the start of each trial informed participants about the chance of winning monetary reward and/or receiving a mild aversive shock. We tested two competing hypothesis: according to the 'salience hypothesis', in the condition involving both reward and threat, enhanced activation would be observed because of increased salience; according to the 'competition hypothesis', the processing of reward and threat would trade-off against each other, leading to reduced activation. Analysis of skin conductance data during a delay phase revealed an interaction between reward and threat processing, such that the effect of reward was reduced during threat and the effect of threat was reduced during reward. Analysis of imaging data during the same task phase revealed interactions between reward and threat processing in several regions, including the midbrain/ventral tegmental area, caudate, putamen, bed nucleus of the stria terminalis, anterior insula, middle frontal gyrus and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex. Taken together, our findings reveal conditions during which reward and threat trade-off against each other across multiple sites. Such interactions are suggestive of competitive processes and may reflect the organization of opponent systems in the brain. © The Author (2013). Published by Oxford University Press. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Monocular-Based 6-Degree of Freedom Pose Estimation Technology for Robotic Intelligent Grasping Systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tao Liu

2017-02-01

Full Text Available Industrial robots are expected to undertake ever more advanced tasks in the modern manufacturing industry, such as intelligent grasping, in which robots should be capable of recognizing the position and orientation of a part before grasping it. In this paper, a monocular-based 6-degree of freedom (DOF pose estimation technology to enable robots to grasp large-size parts at informal poses is proposed. A camera was mounted on the robot end-flange and oriented to measure several featured points on the part before the robot moved to grasp it. In order to estimate the part pose, a nonlinear optimization model based on the camera object space collinearity error in different poses is established, and the initial iteration value is estimated with the differential transformation. Measuring poses of the camera are optimized based on uncertainty analysis. Also, the principle of the robotic intelligent grasping system was developed, with which the robot could adjust its pose to grasp the part. In experimental tests, the part poses estimated with the method described in this paper were compared with those produced by a laser tracker, and results show the RMS angle and position error are about 0.0228° and 0.4603 mm. Robotic intelligent grasping tests were also successfully performed in the experiments.

A pose estimation method for unmanned ground vehicles in GPS denied environments

Science.gov (United States)

Tamjidi, Amirhossein; Ye, Cang

2012-06-01

This paper presents a pose estimation method based on the 1-Point RANSAC EKF (Extended Kalman Filter) framework. The method fuses the depth data from a LIDAR and the visual data from a monocular camera to estimate the pose of a Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV) in a GPS denied environment. Its estimation framework continuy updates the vehicle's 6D pose state and temporary estimates of the extracted visual features' 3D positions. In contrast to the conventional EKF-SLAM (Simultaneous Localization And Mapping) frameworks, the proposed method discards feature estimates from the extended state vector once they are no longer observed for several steps. As a result, the extended state vector always maintains a reasonable size that is suitable for online calculation. The fusion of laser and visual data is performed both in the feature initialization part of the EKF-SLAM process and in the motion prediction stage. A RANSAC pose calculation procedure is devised to produce pose estimate for the motion model. The proposed method has been successfully tested on the Ford campus's LIDAR-Vision dataset. The results are compared with the ground truth data of the dataset and the estimation error is ~1.9% of the path length.

Stress appraisals and cellular aging: A key role for anticipatory threat in the relationship between psychological stress and telomere length

Science.gov (United States)

O’Donovan, Aoife; Tomiyama, A. Janet; Lin, Jue; Puterman, Eli; Adler, Nancy E.; Kemeny, Margaret; Wolkowitz, Owen M.; Blackburn, Elizabeth H.; Epel, Elissa S.

2012-01-01

Chronic psychological stressis a risk factor formultiple diseases of aging. Accelerated cellular aging as indexed by short telomere length has emerged as a potential common biological mechanism linking various forms of psychological stress and diseases of aging. Stress appraisals determine the degree and type of biological stress responses and altered stress appraisals may be a common psychological mechanism linking psychological stress and diseases of aging. However, no previous studies have examined the relationship between stress appraisals and telomere length. We exposed chronically stressed female caregivers and non-caregiving controls (N= 50; M age = 62.14±6.10) to a standardized acute laboratory stressor and measured their anticipatory and retrospective threat and challenge appraisals of the stressor. We hypothesized that threat and challenge appraisals would be associated with shorter and longer telomere length respectively, and that chronic care giving stress would influence telomere length through altered stress appraisals. Higher anticipatory threat appraisals were associated with shorter age-adjusted telomere length (β = −.32, p = .03), but challenge appraisals and retrospective threat appraisals showed no independent association with telomere length. Caregivers reported significantly higher anticipatory (β = −.36, p = .006)and retrospective (β = −.29, p = .03) threat appraisals than controls, but similar challenge appraisals. Although there was no significant main effect of caregiver status on telomere length, care giving had a significant indirect effect on telomere length through anticipatory threat appraisals. Exaggerated anticipatory threat appraisals may be a common and modifiable psychological mechanism of psychological stress effects on cellular aging. PMID:22293459

Avoidance of a moving threat in the common chameleon (Chamaeleo chamaeleon): rapid tracking by body motion and eye use.

Science.gov (United States)

Lev-Ari, Tidhar; Lustig, Avichai; Ketter-Katz, Hadas; Baydach, Yossi; Katzir, Gadi

2016-08-01

A chameleon (Chamaeleo chamaeleon) on a perch responds to a nearby threat by moving to the side of the perch opposite the threat, while bilaterally compressing its abdomen, thus minimizing its exposure to the threat. If the threat moves, the chameleon pivots around the perch to maintain its hidden position. How precise is the body rotation and what are the patterns of eye movement during avoidance? Just-hatched chameleons, placed on a vertical perch, on the side roughly opposite to a visual threat, adjusted their position to precisely opposite the threat. If the threat were moved on a horizontal arc at angular velocities of up to 85°/s, the chameleons co-rotated smoothly so that (1) the angle of the sagittal plane of the head relative to the threat and (2) the direction of monocular gaze, were positively and significantly correlated with threat angular position. Eye movements were role-dependent: the eye toward which the threat moved maintained a stable gaze on it, while the contralateral eye scanned the surroundings. This is the first description, to our knowledge, of such a response in a non-flying terrestrial vertebrate, and it is discussed in terms of possible underlying control systems.

Prejudice against international students: the role of threat perceptions and authoritarian dispositions in U.S. students.

Science.gov (United States)

Charles-Toussaint, Gifflene C; Crowson, H Michael

2010-01-01

International students provide a variety of benefits to higher education institutions within the United States (J. J. Lee, 2007; J. J. Lee & C. Rice, 2007). Despite these benefits, many international students experience prejudice and discrimination by American students. The purpose of the present study was to examine several potential predictors of prejudice against international students: perceptions of international students as symbolic and realistic threats, right-wing authoritarianism, and social dominance orientation. A simultaneous regression analysis that the authors based on 188 students at a Southwestern university revealed that perceptions of symbolic and realistic threats and social dominance orientation were each positive and significant predictors of prejudice. Mediation analyses suggested that the effects of right-wing authoritarianism on prejudice is fully mediated through perceived symbolic threat and partially mediated by realistic threat.

Multispectral embedding-based deep neural network for three-dimensional human pose recovery

Science.gov (United States)

Yu, Jialin; Sun, Jifeng

2018-01-01

Monocular image-based three-dimensional (3-D) human pose recovery aims to retrieve 3-D poses using the corresponding two-dimensional image features. Therefore, the pose recovery performance highly depends on the image representations. We propose a multispectral embedding-based deep neural network (MSEDNN) to automatically obtain the most discriminative features from multiple deep convolutional neural networks and then embed their penultimate fully connected layers into a low-dimensional manifold. This compact manifold can explore not only the optimum output from multiple deep networks but also the complementary properties of them. Furthermore, the distribution of each hierarchy discriminative manifold is sufficiently smooth so that the training process of our MSEDNN can be effectively implemented only using few labeled data. Our proposed network contains a body joint detector and a human pose regressor that are jointly trained. Extensive experiments conducted on four databases show that our proposed MSEDNN can achieve the best recovery performance compared with the state-of-the-art methods.

Insider threat to secure facilities: data analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1980-01-01

Three data sets drawn from industries that have experienced internal security breaches are analyzed. The industries and the insider security breaches are considered analogous in one or more respects to insider threats potentially confronting managers in the nuclear industry. The three data sets are: bank fraud and embezzlement (BF and E), computer-related crime, and drug theft from drug manufacturers and distributors. A careful analysis by both descriptive and formal statistical techniques permits certain general conclusions on the internal threat to secure industries to be drawn. These conclusions are discussed and related to the potential insider threat in the nuclear industry. 49 tabs

A combined emitter threat assessment method based on ICW-RCM

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Ying; Wang, Hongwei; Guo, Xiaotao; Wang, Yubing

2017-08-01

Considering that the tradition al emitter threat assessment methods are difficult to intuitively reflect the degree of target threaten and the deficiency of real-time and complexity, on the basis of radar chart method(RCM), an algorithm of emitter combined threat assessment based on ICW-RCM (improved combination weighting method, ICW) is proposed. The coarse sorting is integrated with fine sorting in emitter combined threat assessment, sequencing the emitter threat level roughly accordance to radar operation mode, and reducing task priority of the low-threat emitter; On the basis of ICW-RCM, sequencing the same radar operation mode emitter roughly, finally, obtain the results of emitter threat assessment through coarse and fine sorting. Simulation analyses show the correctness and effectiveness of this algorithm. Comparing with classical method of emitter threat assessment based on CW-RCM, the algorithm is visual in image and can work quickly with lower complexity.

Dual-Use Threat Assessment Framework - An Attempt to Quantify the Risk

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stephen, E. R.; Lavigne, J. J.; Colton, B.

2007-01-01

Advances in the biosciences over the past decade have been rapid and transformative. While these advances offer significant benefit to society, they also provide very significant challenges in terms of security. Concerns over misuse and/or accidental use/release (dual use) although not new, are now being viewed through the security lens. There is a wide-spread view that public or private sector scientists, supported through investments by pharmaceutical, environmental and agricultural interests working in the fields that comprise biotechnology, posses the ability to assess the implications of their own work and work within a regime of self-control that is for the most part self-governing (codes of practice). On the other end of the spectrum are those that would codify or legislative control. All this is being done in the absence of a mechanism for quantifying the threat. This presentation will discuss the development of an assessment framework that addresses both actual and potential threats. The framework was developed based on available intelligence and other open source information along with interviews with those persons familiar with the concept of dual use and the multiple, sometimes competing agendas of a variety of interest groups. The framework will help to bring some clarity to the discussion and at the same time, help to inform those that are positioned to respond to the threat. (author)

Atmospheric pollutants in peri-urban forests of Quercus ilex: evidence of pollution abatement and threats for vegetation.

Science.gov (United States)

García-Gómez, Héctor; Aguillaume, Laura; Izquieta-Rojano, Sheila; Valiño, Fernando; Àvila, Anna; Elustondo, David; Santamaría, Jesús M; Alastuey, Andrés; Calvete-Sogo, Héctor; González-Fernández, Ignacio; Alonso, Rocío

2016-04-01

Peri-urban vegetation is generally accepted as a significant remover of atmospheric pollutants, but it could also be threatened by these compounds, with origin in both urban and non-urban areas. To characterize the seasonal and geographical variation of pollutant concentrations and to improve the empirical understanding of the influence of Mediterranean broadleaf evergreen forests on air quality, four forests of Quercus ilex (three peri-urban and one remote) were monitored in different areas in Spain. Concentrations of nitrogen dioxide (NO2), ammonia (NH3), nitric acid (HNO3) and ozone (O3) were measured during 2 years in open areas and inside the forests and aerosols (PM10) were monitored in open areas during 1 year. Ozone was the only air pollutant expected to have direct phytotoxic effects on vegetation according to current thresholds for the protection of vegetation. The concentrations of N compounds were not high enough to directly affect vegetation but could be contributing through atmospheric N deposition to the eutrophization of these ecosystems. Peri-urban forests of Q. ilex showed a significant below-canopy reduction of gaseous concentrations (particularly NH3, with a mean reduction of 29-38%), which indicated the feasibility of these forests to provide an ecosystem service of air quality improvement. Well-designed monitoring programs are needed to further investigate air quality improvement by peri-urban ecosystems while assessing the threat that air pollution can pose to vegetation.

Irish Marine Institute biotoxin, phytoplankton and remote sensing data for Harmful Algal Event monitoring Identification Information (NODC Accession 0000668)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The presence of harmful algal species, which produce toxins, pose a significant threat to public health and coastal aquaculture activities. For example, estimated...

Emerging and Future Cyber Threats to Critical Systems

OpenAIRE

Djambazova , Edita; Almgren , Magnus; Dimitrov , Kiril; Jonsson , Erland

2010-01-01

Part 2: Adversaries; International audience; This paper discusses the emerging and future cyber threats to critical systems identified during the EU/FP7 project ICT-FORWARD. Threats were identified after extensive discussions with both domain experts and IT security professionals from academia, industry, and government organizations. The ultimate goal of the work was to identify the areas in which cyber threats could occur and cause serious and undesirable consequences, based on the character...

Methods for intraoperative, sterile pose-setting of patient-specific microstereotactic frames

Science.gov (United States)

Vollmann, Benjamin; Müller, Samuel; Kundrat, Dennis; Ortmaier, Tobias; Kahrs, Lüder A.

2015-03-01

This work proposes new methods for a microstereotactic frame based on bone cement fixation. Microstereotactic frames are under investigation for minimal invasive temporal bone surgery, e.g. cochlear implantation, or for deep brain stimulation, where products are already on the market. The correct pose of the microstereotactic frame is either adjusted outside or inside the operating room and the frame is used for e.g. drill or electrode guidance. We present a patientspecific, disposable frame that allows intraoperative, sterile pose-setting. Key idea of our approach is bone cement between two plates that cures while the plates are positioned with a mechatronics system in the desired pose. This paper includes new designs of microstereotactic frames, a system for alignment and first measurements to analyze accuracy and applicable load.

Making 2D face recognition more robust using AAMs for pose compensation

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Huisman, Peter; Munster, Ruud; Moro-Ellenberger, Stephanie; Veldhuis, Raymond N.J.; Bazen, A.M.

2006-01-01

The problem of pose in 2D face recognition is widely acknowledged. Commercial systems are limited to near frontal face images and cannot deal with pose deviations larger than 15 degrees from the frontal view. This is a problem, when using face recognition for surveillance applications in which

Integrating Worked Examples into Problem Posing in a Web-Based Learning Environment

Science.gov (United States)

Hsiao, Ju-Yuan; Hung, Chun-Ling; Lan, Yu-Feng; Jeng, Yoau-Chau

2013-01-01

Most students always lack of experience and perceive difficult regarding problem posing. The study hypothesized that worked examples may have benefits for supporting students' problem posing activities. A quasi-experiment was conducted in the context of a business mathematics course for examining the effects of integrating worked examples into…

Technologies to counter aviation security threats

Science.gov (United States)

Karoly, Steve

2017-11-01

The Aviation and Transportation Security Act (ATSA) makes TSA responsible for security in all modes of transportation, and requires that TSA assess threats to transportation, enforce security-related regulations and requirements, and ensure the adequacy of security measures at airports and other transportation facilities. Today, TSA faces a significant challenge and must address a wide range of commercial, military grade, and homemade explosives and these can be presented in an infinite number of configurations and from multiple vectors. TSA screens 2 million passengers and crew, and screens almost 5 million carry-on items and 1.2 million checked bags daily. As TSA explores new technologies for improving efficiency and security, those on the forefront of research and development can help identify unique and advanced methods to combat terrorism. Research and Development (R&D) drives the development of future technology investments that can address an evolving adversary and aviation threat. The goal is to rethink the aviation security regime in its entirety, and rather than focusing security at particular points in the enterprise, distribute security from the time a reservation is made to the time a passenger boards the aircraft. The ultimate objective is to reengineer aviation security from top to bottom with a continued focus on increasing security throughout the system.

Microbiological air pollution of production room of the meat processing plant as a potential threat to the workers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Barbara Breza-Boruta

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Introduction. Production rooms of the meat plants are the specific environment that require constant monitoring of microbiological air purity. Bioaerosols pose a threat to the safety of produced food and a considerable risk to health of exposed workers. The aim of this study was to estimate the air microbiological pollution in production rooms of the meat processing plant and exposure of the workers to biological aerosol. Material and methods. Air samples were collected at 3 stands in production rooms during winter, with the compaction method using the impactor MAS-100. The total number of bacteria and moulds, Staphylococci and bacteria of the family Enterobacteriaceae were determined in the studied bioaerosol. The concentration of microorganisms was presented in the form of colony forming units in 1m3 of air. Results. The highest concentration of mesophylic bacteria was found at stand 1 – at the freezing tunnel; whereas the highest contamination with staphylococci and fungal aerosol was found in the room where several workers were employed at packing frozen food. Among determined fungi predominated moulds of the genera: Penicillium, Alternaria and Cladosporium. Also species of potentially pathogenic fungi which produce toxins and have allergizing properties were detected in the studied bioaerosol. Bacteria of the family Enterobacteriaceae, which also may cause many infavourable health effects in exposed people, occurred at all stands. Conclusion. The concentration level and microbial composition in the inhaled air make valuable information for determination of occupational risk and a potential threat to workers of their workstations. Potentially pathogenic microorganisms present in the studied air (staphylococci, bacteria of the family Enterobacteriaceae and some moulds according to the Directive 2000/54/EC l belong to the 2nd group of risk and threat of harmful biological agents. Identification of biological threats makes it easier for the

Game Theoretic Risk Analysis of Security Threats

CERN Document Server

Bier, Vicki M

2008-01-01

Introduces reliability and risk analysis in the face of threats by intelligent agents. This book covers applications to networks, including problems in both telecommunications and transportation. It provides a set of tools for applying game theory TO reliability problems in the presence of intentional, intelligent threats

Advanced Insider Threat Mitigation Workshop Instructional Materials

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gibbs, Philip [Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States); Larsen, Robert [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); O' Brien, Mike [Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States); Edmunds, Tom [Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)

2009-02-01

Insiders represent a formidable threat to nuclear facilities. This set of workshop materials covers methodologies to analyze and approaches to mitigate the threat of an insider attempting abrupt and protracted theft of nuclear materials. This particular set of materials is an update of a January 2008 version to add increased emphasis on Material Control and Accounting and its role with respect to protracted insider nuclear material theft scenarios. This report is a compilation of workshop materials consisting of lectures on technical and administrative measures used in Physical Protection (PP) and Material Control and Accounting (MC&A) and methods for analyzing their effectiveness against a postulated insider threat. The postulated threat includes both abrupt and protracted theft scenarios. Presentation is envisioned to be through classroom instruction and discussion. Several practical and group exercises are included for demonstration and application of the analysis approach contained in the lecture/discussion sessions as applied to a hypothetical nuclear facility.

Implicit self-esteem compensation: automatic threat defense.

Science.gov (United States)

Rudman, Laurie A; Dohn, Matthew C; Fairchild, Kimberly

2007-11-01

Four experiments demonstrated implicit self-esteem compensation (ISEC) in response to threats involving gender identity (Experiment 1), implicit racism (Experiment 2), and social rejection (Experiments 3-4). Under conditions in which people might be expected to suffer a blow to self-worth, they instead showed high scores on 2 implicit self-esteem measures. There was no comparable effect on explicit self-esteem. However, ISEC was eliminated following self-affirmation (Experiment 3). Furthermore, threat manipulations increased automatic intergroup bias, but ISEC mediated these relationships (Experiments 2-3). Thus, a process that serves as damage control for the self may have negative social consequences. Finally, pretest anxiety mediated the relationship between threat and ISEC (Experiment 3), whereas ISEC negatively predicted anxiety among high-threat participants (Experiment 4), suggesting that ISEC may function to regulate anxiety. The implications of these findings for automatic emotion regulation, intergroup bias, and implicit self-esteem measures are discussed. (c) 2007 APA, all rights reserved.

Head Pose Estimation from Passive Stereo Images

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Breitenstein, Michael D.; Jensen, Jeppe; Høilund, Carsten

2009-01-01

function. Our algorithm incorporates 2D and 3D cues to make the system robust to low-quality range images acquired by passive stereo systems. It handles large pose variations (of ±90 ° yaw and ±45 ° pitch rotation) and facial variations due to expressions or accessories. For a maximally allowed error of 30...

Gauging U.S. Emergency Medical Services workers' willingness to respond to pandemic influenza using a threat- and efficacy-based assessment framework.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Daniel J Barnett

2010-03-01

Full Text Available Emergency Medical Services workers' willingness to report to duty in an influenza pandemic is essential to healthcare system surge amidst a global threat. Application of Witte's Extended Parallel Process Model (EPPM has shown utility for revealing influences of perceived threat and efficacy on non-EMS public health providers' willingness to respond in an influenza pandemic. We thus propose using an EPPM-informed assessment of EMS workers' perspectives toward fulfilling their influenza pandemic response roles.We administered an EPPM-informed snapshot survey about attitudes and beliefs toward pandemic influenza response, to a nationally representative, stratified random sample of 1,537 U.S. EMS workers from May-June 2009 (overall response rate: 49%. Of the 586 respondents who met inclusion criteria (currently active EMS providers in primarily EMS response roles, 12% indicated they would not voluntarily report to duty in a pandemic influenza emergency if asked, 7% if required. A majority (52% indicated their unwillingness to report to work if risk of disease transmission to family existed. Confidence in personal safety at work (OR = 3.3 and a high threat/high efficacy ("concerned and confident" EPPM profile (OR = 4.7 distinguished those who were more likely to voluntarily report to duty. Although 96% of EMS workers indicated that they would probably or definitely report to work if they were guaranteed a pandemic influenza vaccine, only 59% had received an influenza immunization in the preceding 12 months.EMS workers' response willingness gaps pose a substantial challenge to prehospital surge capacity in an influenza pandemic. "Concerned and confident" EMS workers are more than four times as likely to fulfill pandemic influenza response expectations. Confidence in workplace safety is a positively influential modifier of their response willingness. These findings can inform insights into interventions for enhancing EMS workers' willingness to respond

41 CFR 60-741.22 - Direct threat defense.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES Discrimination Prohibited § 60-741.22 Direct threat defense. The contractor may... individual or others in the workplace. (See § 60-741.2(y) defining direct threat.) ...

Threat evaluation for impact assessment in situation analysis systems

Science.gov (United States)

Roy, Jean; Paradis, Stephane; Allouche, Mohamad

2002-07-01

Situation analysis is defined as a process, the examination of a situation, its elements, and their relations, to provide and maintain a product, i.e., a state of situation awareness, for the decision maker. Data fusion is a key enabler to meeting the demanding requirements of military situation analysis support systems. According to the data fusion model maintained by the Joint Directors of Laboratories' Data Fusion Group, impact assessment estimates the effects on situations of planned or estimated/predicted actions by the participants, including interactions between action plans of multiple players. In this framework, the appraisal of actual or potential threats is a necessary capability for impact assessment. This paper reviews and discusses in details the fundamental concepts of threat analysis. In particular, threat analysis generally attempts to compute some threat value, for the individual tracks, that estimates the degree of severity with which engagement events will potentially occur. Presenting relevant tracks to the decision maker in some threat list, sorted from the most threatening to the least, is clearly in-line with the cognitive demands associated with threat evaluation. A key parameter in many threat value evaluation techniques is the Closest Point of Approach (CPA). Along this line of thought, threatening tracks are often prioritized based upon which ones will reach their CPA first. Hence, the Time-to-CPA (TCPA), i.e., the time it will take for a track to reach its CPA, is also a key factor. Unfortunately, a typical assumption for the computation of the CPA/TCPA parameters is that the track velocity will remain constant. When a track is maneuvering, the CPA/TCPA values will change accordingly. These changes will in turn impact the threat value computations and, ultimately, the resulting threat list. This is clearly undesirable from a command decision-making perspective. In this regard, the paper briefly discusses threat value stabilization

Improved pose and affinity predictions using different protocols tailored on the basis of data availability

Science.gov (United States)

Prathipati, Philip; Nagao, Chioko; Ahmad, Shandar; Mizuguchi, Kenji

2016-09-01

The D3R 2015 grand drug design challenge provided a set of blinded challenges for evaluating the applicability of our protocols for pose and affinity prediction. In the present study, we report the application of two different strategies for the two D3R protein targets HSP90 and MAP4K4. HSP90 is a well-studied target system with numerous co-crystal structures and SAR data. Furthermore the D3R HSP90 test compounds showed high structural similarity to existing HSP90 inhibitors in BindingDB. Thus, we adopted an integrated docking and scoring approach involving a combination of both pharmacophoric and heavy atom similarity alignments, local minimization and quantitative structure activity relationships modeling, resulting in the reasonable prediction of pose [with the root mean square deviation (RMSD) values of 1.75 Å for mean pose 1, 1.417 Å for the mean best pose and 1.85 Å for the mean all poses] and affinity (ROC AUC = 0.702 at 7.5 pIC50 cut-off and R = 0.45 for 180 compounds). The second protein, MAP4K4, represents a novel system with limited SAR and co-crystal structure data and little structural similarity of the D3R MAP4K4 test compounds to known MAP4K4 ligands. For this system, we implemented an exhaustive pose and affinity prediction protocol involving docking and scoring using the PLANTS software which considers side chain flexibility together with protein-ligand fingerprints analysis assisting in pose prioritization. This protocol through fares poorly in pose prediction (with the RMSD values of 4.346 Å for mean pose 1, 4.69 Å for mean best pose and 4.75 Å for mean all poses) and produced reasonable affinity prediction (AUC = 0.728 at 7.5 pIC50 cut-off and R = 0.67 for 18 compounds, ranked 1st among 80 submissions).

Identifying key conservation threats to Alpine birds through expert knowledge

Science.gov (United States)

Pedrini, Paolo; Brambilla, Mattia; Rolando, Antonio; Girardello, Marco

2016-01-01

Alpine biodiversity is subject to a range of increasing threats, but the scarcity of data for many taxa means that it is difficult to assess the level and likely future impact of a given threat. Expert opinion can be a useful tool to address knowledge gaps in the absence of adequate data. Experts with experience in Alpine ecology were approached to rank threat levels for 69 Alpine bird species over the next 50 years for the whole European Alps in relation to ten categories: land abandonment, climate change, renewable energy, fire, forestry practices, grazing practices, hunting, leisure, mining and urbanization. There was a high degree of concordance in ranking of perceived threats among experts for most threat categories. The major overall perceived threats to Alpine birds identified through expert knowledge were land abandonment, urbanization, leisure and forestry, although other perceived threats were ranked highly for particular species groups (renewable energy and hunting for raptors, hunting for gamebirds). For groups of species defined according to their breeding habitat, open habitat species and treeline species were perceived as the most threatened. A spatial risk assessment tool based on summed scores for the whole community showed threat levels were highest for bird communities of the northern and western Alps. Development of the approaches given in this paper, including addressing biases in the selection of experts and adopting a more detailed ranking procedure, could prove useful in the future in identifying future threats, and in carrying out risk assessments based on levels of threat to the whole bird community. PMID:26966659